Whats it like ????

[UnionJack]

I Have driven otr in the past and i got out of it for personal reasons that where family related, anyway i am considering jumping back into the bizz. I want to Expidite. I understand what the bissiness is but i would like to know what its like to work in it? I am planning to drive for a fleet owner and learn then go from there. I would love to here ANYONES input on the life of a driver, what its like, what can i expect as far as income and what i must do to earn it? Thanks to any and all!!!

Also my fiance is thinking of getting her CDL and joining me in the truck so we can run team. What kind of income could a husband /wife team expect to earn?

 

[NoProblem]

Well, for one thing, its a whole lot easier to be otr in a straight truck than it is in a semi with a 53' trailer. For the driving part of it, after driving a t/t, driving a s/t is like driving around in a sports car - although I think I appreciate the s/t most when I want to eat or park it for the night. Generally you can pull into a nice restaurant instead of being confined to truck stop food, and so far I have never encountered a truck stop that I could not weasel my way into for the night no matter how packed it was.

As far as your income is concerned, I would say that you can expect to net anywhere between $300 and $1500+ per week depending on which company you haul for while driving someone elses s/t. My guess is that overall, the average net pay for s/t drivers who do not own the truck is in the $400 to $500 per week neighborhood rolling some 1500 miles per week - just a guess mind you based on my own experience in expediting and talking with maybe a few dozen other drivers who drive someone elses s/t - your milage will vary.

Overall, I have found the people in expediting to be much nicer, more friendly and professional than in "truck load", even the shippers. I have found driver respect to be much higher in expediting than in truck load - not that drivers are treated like royalty, but we are treated better IMO.

As far as life on the road goes, expediting is alot like otr in many ways. IMO, the main difference is that the delivery times are generally a whole lot shorter than in truck load. Its very rare to get dispatched on an expedite load going 400 miles that delivers in two days - more like 10 or 12 hours is the norm.

IMO, the worst part of expediting is getting that call (or QCOM) for an all night run, right before you are ready to turn in for the night after numerous failed attempts to sleep while you were sitting all day. That can be pretty rough.

All in all, I rate expediting a 9.9 out of 10 in comparison to otr in a semi. In comparison, its easy money, the wait times at the docks are rarely over 15 minutes and most of the folks you deal with are happy to see you......as long as you are not late.

My advice is do what I did and go for it, see how you like it. The only regret I have is that I didn't get into expediting a whole lot sooner!

Good luck!
Steve

 

[UnionJack]

Thanks for the insight. By the way i want to run for FedEX CC or Panther2, i have also been talking to ConWay Now. Any expiriance with any of the three?

 

[Crazynuff]

If you contact the recruiter at FedEx CC she will send you complete info showing all averages for all classifactions of trucks for one year . Keep in mind a lot of these drivers only run 3 weeks a month and usually less than 2,000 miles week .

 

[hitek]

you can help your wife get her cdl, all she needs is a learners permit, you can teach her and then go take the driving and pretrip test. also, it may not bother you, actually it may not bother anyone else on the planet but when you re parked in a truck stop, your truck just looks incredibly small, sometimes that gets me a little. teams seem to make a whole lot more money than solos.

 

[Crazynuff]

Who cares how small it looks when it fits in spaces other trucks can't fit in ? It's very rare a straight truck can't find a spot to park at a truck stop while semis line up on the shoulder .

 

[hitek]

Theres definetely advantages of which I am well aware. That wasnt my point...having spent a fair amount of time driving the "big trucks" it juust looks small sometimes. Pretty much anyone going from a tractor trailer to a "6-wheeler" will feel the same way occasionally.

 

[ATeam]

Note that there is a profound difference between team and solo driving. Team can be more lucrative because a team can legally keep a truck moving non-stop for days at a time if the freight is there to haul. Solos have to stop because of the hours of service rules.

Also note that for solo or team drivers, sleep may different than what you were used to as an otr driver. As I write this, my wife and I are sitting in a truck stop near Phoenix waiting for a load. It's 5:51 AM Sunday morning. I've been awake a couple hours because of the sleep I got and when I got it on previous days. Diane is in back sleeping the night away. We could get a load offer any moment, or it may not come until Wednesday or even later (if we stay here that long, which is not likely).

Many of the otr drivers in this parking lot run on a regular schedule. Some of them are waiting to pick up or deliver in the area on Monday. Not so in expediting. In expediting, you are on call 24 hours a day (unless you place yourself out of service) and you run when the freight is there to haul. You never know what will come. The next offer may take you across town or across the nation.

 

[raceman]

My time in a TT was for the most part a short lived job in line haul. 250 miles in one direction then vack to where I started. I will just tell you that in expediting sleep was never easy. As an owner I can tell you that the TT drivers I have hired just can not get used to it. They never seem to grasp a split sleeper berth so they can be ready 24 hours a day. They just never have liked it. I have a driver right now that I have had for a pretty long time and he loves it when he is running. He hates to sit. If he is empty without an offer in three hours my phone is going crazy with his calls. When loaded he loves the job and does not want to go home. This business comes and goes so sitting here and there is part of it. If you just like the open road rolling by this may be tough on you. If you can sit and wait now and then and you can learn how to sleep at will and go at will you will love it. The trucks do look small. I always have had a problem with that myself. Raceman
Owner Two Straight Truck.
Part time driver of one of my trucks and local TT.
15mon.OTR Expediting
1 yr local Expediting
Line Haul TT 2mon.
OTR Straight Truck Plt to Plt off and on 5 years.
Based in Cincy Ohio
Currently run Express-1