[ajritter04]

Home time, first and foremost, is my main concern.
I assumed (maybe incorrectly) that a dedicated route would get me home more often than the Western regional would. If they both offer the same, or similar, then I would be more open to the possibility of doing the western states.

Physical labor is my second biggest concern. While I'm not totally opposed to doing physical labor, I would prefer that it be less than what I am currently doing. Doesn't seem like a good idea to do the same (or more) work in addition to being gone a week or two at a time.

I'm still looking for other options locally, such as propane delivery and other things like that, but I'm not having much luck. Most of the jobs that don't require experience are other delivery jobs which require 12 - 14 hour days of lifting and moving similar to what I'm doing now or pay less than $9.00 an hour. That leaves the jobs in which a major requirement is 2 years or more of experience.

Stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place...which leads me here asking you guys random nonsensical questions. :lol:

Swift also has and ad in the local paper regarding casual driving positions that I'm going to call about tomorrow morning as well.
I know from reading up around here that neither Werner or Swift are top notch companies, but at this point I'm far more concerned with how much I'd be home if I decide to enter the world of OTR trucking rather than the "niceness" of the company. Being a "student" driver, I get stuck at the bottom with bottom level companies to choose from...big whoop. :wink:

You guys have been very informative though and I do thank you for it.

[darkhart44]

dump trucks , bottom dumps & mixers will get you home a night!!

and good pay!!

[PackRatTDI]

Originally Posted by fireman932003

The Dollar General run that Werner has is 100% driver unload. All the freight is floor stacked and goes from the tail of the trailer to the nose of it and to the roof. You will "Fingerprint" every single box. It is very labor intensive. Most of the stores on the DG run are very hard to get into with a small truck much less with a 18! Plus, you will get home as much as you would on the 11 western run which turns out to be about every weekend or so. The daily runs for Werner are very hard to come by! They don't usually open up very often. You will make some good money on the DG run though! BOL

It's a lot like McLane.

[ajritter04]

In the end, Werner wouldn't count my local driving as "experience" and wanted me to go out with a trainer for 175 hours.

There's a Swift terminal here in Albuquerque and they'll accept my local driving, so I'm starting out on their Wal-Mart dedicated fleet next week sometime.

It's supposed to have me home every 2 - 3 days or so....guess I'll find out.