Become a Southeast Regional Truck Driver: Pros and Cons

If you are wondering what it is like to be a Southeast regional truck driver you are in luck. I drove in all of the south-eastern lanes for over 2 years as a professional truck driver. I am going to go over the pros and cons of what a SE regional driver is likely to face out there over the road.

Five Hundred Mile Operating Radius

When I drove in the Southeast the furthest out, I would be sent was around five hundred miles and usually less than that. I was home every other day so on the following day of my trip I was always headed in the direction back home. As an over the road driver, you may cross the country with 2,000-mile trips but when you are running regional expect to stay within that region.

Miami and Atlanta Congestion

If you want the bad news up front, I have two words for you. Miami and Atlanta. Both of these mega metropolises are a stressful experience to drive though with a tractor-trailer. I was usually in Miami once or twice a week and the same went for traveling to or through Atlanta in my truck. Eventually you get used to it but whenever I had a trip not going through either of these cities my days were less stressful. It is no fun driving a truck through such congestion. The good news is the rest of the Southeast is a lot easier to drive though.

Frequent Home Time

As a Southeast regional driver, you are likely going to get to see home a lot. I was home every other day which was a big bonus, but it did get old having to unload and restock the truck every 2 days. Combine this with a commute back and forth to the truck and it equals extra work. It was still worth it though to get home and be able to do normal things even if it was only for 12 hours at a time. As an over the road driver, you are going to rarely see the house. But as a regional driver expect to be home once a week on average. Some companies will call their jobs regional and have a home time of every 2 weeks but do not be fooled because that basically is just an OTR position that just happens to run in the region of your country.

Familiar Routes and Customers

As a Southeastern driver I got use to the routes and the destinations over time. I always knew where I was headed. This helped with having to do a lot less trip planning and made the job easier and less stressful overall. This is another advantage of being a dedicated regional driver.

Dedicated Customers

A lot of regional drivers run dedicated accounts and what this means is you will be picking up and delivering to the same places over time. In my experience I drove to over one hundred Amazon warehouses in my southeast regional driving job and knew where every pickup and delivery was located. This makes your job a lot simpler once you get to know how each customer operates and where to park for your 10-hour break in advance after your load delivery.

Truck Parking in Your Hometown

When I did get to go home as a regional driver, I always had a place to park my truck. The company made sure of this. This took a lot of stress for having to find a place to park where the truck was not going to get towed or have to pay $20 a day. As an over the road driver your company may not have parking for you in your city. They may tell you that you can take the truck home but unless you have an actual spot to park your truck what this really means is find your own truck parking. This takes some planning or some luck once you do drive your truck back to your city to find a place to park your truck for your home time. As a southeast regional driver this was never a concern because I had a place to park at.

You Never Feel Far from Home

Most of the lanes I drove as a regional driver were not that far from home. For instance, I live in Florida and there would be many trips where I never left the state and other trips where I only drove up to Georgia. Because of this I never wound up on the other side of the country and was always a day’s drive away from home. It makes it a little easier to deal with being out on the road when you are driving in your own home state. The feeling of being far away from home is a little less severe.

Fresh Food in the Truck

If you like fresh food in your truck, you are going to love driving regional. Since you will be home once a week or more frequently it will be a lot easier for you to restock on your supplies versus a driver who is living out of a truck for a month at a time. With a little extra work at home there is no reason you cannot stock your truck up with a week full of meals you cooked yourself. I seldom ate in the truck stops when I was a southeast regional driver because I had much better options in my truck. Not only will you eat healthier, but you will save quite a bit a money. That truck stop food is not cheap.

Plenty of Flat Land

One of my favorite reasons for running as a southeast regional driver was the abundant amount of flatland. Every trip I made had no mountains except for one of my destinations and that was Chattanooga. And I usually only drove up there once every other month. Everywhere in the entire south is flat. Driving through the mountains is a lot more stressful and slower versus driving on flat land. This is another benefit of running in the southeast.

What is Snow?

For the several hundred thousand miles I put in driving in the southeast I only saw snow a couple times. And then it was always in North Carolina. Never did I have to drive with snow on the highway. And I only saw a couple of light flurries. In other words, you will seldom run across weather that is below freezing. As a truck driver this will make your job easier and safer. Driving on frozen roads is dangerous and you want to avoid doing so at all costs. You may want to bring your sunglasses though because driving down south will get you plenty of sun.

Wow it is Hot Outside!

During the Summer months it can get hot and driving in the south is not going to help with the exception of Florida. A lot of my runs where in Florida and while it did get hot there was always a breeze running across the state due to the proximity of the ocean. There is also a lot of cloud cover with showers that help cool down the summer months. Unlike out west where there is just sun and heat. Driving in the southeast at least has weather that sometimes helps to cool down the heat.

Knowing All of the Truck Stops

Once you drive the same roads constantly you will learn what truck stops you can stop at for each trip. Which ones you can get in and out of quickly and which ones that have long lines that you can hopefully avoid because of delays while fueling up. You will also learn which truck stops are clean and which ones are dirty. It may not sound like much of a benefit but as a regional driver you will always know where to go for your fuel stops and 30 minutes breaks.

Summary of Being a Southeast Regional Driver

If you like flat land combined with pleasant weather trucking in the southeast may be the right ticket for you. If you hate snow and mountains this may be another indicator. If you do not want to be stuck in traffic congestion all of the time running down south is also a good option. Try to avoid jobs where you will be driving in Miami or Atlanta a lot because they cause too much stress and delays for any driver. I always found it ironic that when we are working the hardest while stuck in traffic, we are getting paid the less because we earn pay by the mile or at least most of us do. If you prefer dark and damp weather drive in the Northwest. If you like traffic, try the Northeast. If you want to wear yourself down driving through mountains drive out west. If you love sitting in traffic jams with a 55 MPH speed limit drive in California. But if you like the sun with lite to moderate traffic become a southeast regional truck driver.