Quote:
Originally Posted by tjv189
For all you experienced drivers out there, which would you prefer to get into after you have experience, OTR or LTL freight? What are some advantages/disadvantages to each that you have experienced or heard?
Although there are many people on here that have way more experience then me, at least I can answer. A worked for 2 OTR companies and 3 local including the one I am with now. Anyway, I did not waste any time going local, I never even had a year experience before doing so. I am a master of interviews and that helps. Not that I hated OTR, its just that hurricane Katrina decided to ruin my life and I had to get off the road. I also liked seeing the country doing OTR and only having a few deliveries for 2 weeks at a time, that was so easy. Plus you don't have to deal with nearly as much city streets and traffic, also you don't have to deal with nearly as many small businesses that are hard to pull a truck into. In addition, practically ALL of your freight is no touch, plus you can make your own hours. In addition, you will have much nicer trucks.
Not all local carriers are LTL. With LTL, you have alot more stops and some freight handling. For example, you will have 5-10 stops a day with some of them. The thing is, its pretty easy though for the most part. You will have like 1 pallet to go to 1 place, 2 for another, one box for another, stuff like that. Basically LTL is like UPS or FedEx delivery but with a tractor trailer, best way to describe it I think. Probably easier as far as the freight handling goes but harder as far as driving since you have a tractor trailer combo to deal with in the city. The local carriers that are not LTL, you will have 3 or 4 pulls a day, work about 8 hours and do a little dropping and hooking. Piece of cake but although these pay ok, they won't pay as much as LTL. I think the LTL carriers are some of the better paying local jobs. Although you do drive in the city being a local driver, at least you know the city unlike OTR where you have no clue. One great thing, you will have a normal life by driving local, just a regular job.
So to sum it up, if you don't mind being home every couple of weeks, go OTR and don't bother with local. Since ultimately, I feel that is truely the only significant disadvantage of going OTR. Just keep in mind, that my friend is a HUGE and I mean HUGE disadvantage. Hope this gives you some info