Local Truck Driving: Is It Worth It?
Many people come out of CDL-A school with the desire to land a local truck driving job. The reality is most companies will not take you as an inexperienced driver to work local. What this means is you will have to go over the road and gain some valuable experience before landing that dream driving job where you get to sleep in your own bed at home every night.
Local Trucking is Not as Great as it Sounds
In my experience working as a local driver, I ended up working up to 14-hour days with little pay to show for. Sure, I did get to go home every night, but my alarm was blaring again right after I fell asleep at 4AM or earlier. By the time I got home there was little free time other than to grab a bite to eat, get cleaned up and go to sleep.
The Lack of Pay Versus Over the Road
My biggest complaint with being a local truck driver aside from the grueling schedule was the lack of pay. My checks were the smallest I had ever experienced in trucking and the days were not any shorter. If you want to spend 70 hours a week to gross $800 then by all means, go ahead. But for me it just did not make any sense, so I eventually moved on to a higher paying truck job.
The Repetition
As a local driver be prepared to travel the same roads every day in and out. While this is good if you like consistency after the 50th time I started to find the trips really mind-numbing boring. I prefer the lifestyle of over the road where you wake up every day somewhere new and never have the exact same day over again.
The Traffic Congestion
If you drive local in any decent size city prepare to have to deal with more traffic than an over the road driver. You will not be traveling too far from town which means you will have to navigate your truck constantly through heavier traffic. As a driver myself I can tell you that you will want to do most of your driving on the highways that are outside of the city. Fighting heavy traffic day in and day out in a major metropolitan area as a truck driver will wear you down quick. Expect to deal with more traffic as a local driver.
More Stops
When I ran local, I averaged around six stops a day. I have heard of some driving jobs averaging ten or more. In the end what this means for a truck driver is more work versus say having a full day just cruising down the highway. You will be dealing with a lot more people and checking in and out of warehouses or stores as a local driver. This is why I prefer over the road personally. I would pick up a load on one side of the country and drive for 3 or 4 days nonstop to the next. You can throw that idea out the window when you run local.
Touch Freight
Many local truck driving jobs will require you to do more than just driving. You will be touching freight as they like to call it. And for less pay than a no touch over the road driver in many instances. Touch freight is the term used as an unloader. Trailers are huge and hold a lot of freight and I have unloaded them myself. Once you do that a dozen times you are over it and will never want to go back into a trailer and touch another pallet or box. So as a local driver not only will you be dealing the responsibilities of driving your truck and trailer from point a to point b on time but may also be required to do the equivalent work as a warehouse dock employee once you arrive at your destination.
Yard Politics
Expect to have to deal with seeing the same people day in and day out at your truck yard. Your boss and co-workers. While some people may thrive in this type of environment, I am the opposite. In my last two truck jobs I saw my boss a total of three times over 3 years. You can scratch that right off of your list as a local driver. As far as other drivers sure you run into them a lot, but they are not butting into your business-like some drivers will do while working at a local truck yard daily.
Day Cabs
One positive thing I can say about local is that you are likely to be driving a day cab. They are easier to drive versus a full sleeper cab. They will make your truck and trailer shorter overall, and you will also be able to squeeze into tight docking areas a lot easier. There is a downside though. You will not have a private area in the back of your truck to take a break and lay down and relax. So, when you are stuck at that shipper during a 2 hour delay you will be sitting up the entire time holding the steering wheel. By the time, your shift is over you will be tired of sitting for not being able to stretch your legs versus if you had access to a sleeper cab during your breaks.
48 vs 53-Foot Trailers
A lot of local driving jobs will equip you with a 48-foot trailer especially if you are doing store or residential deliveries. The advantage of this combined with a day cab is your truck and trailer will be shorter and you will be able to drive around tight corners and spaces easier. It really does make a difference versus driving a full length 53-foot trailer with a sleeper cab.
Strict Routes
As a local truck driver, you will be stuck to strict routes with little leeway on where to stop. In other words, you will have less of a selection in what truck stops to fuel up at and take your breaks. You will feel like you are driving on rails everyday versus a driver who is over the road.
Tight Scheduling
Companies want their trucks operating in the most efficient schedule so expect to have little time to waste as a local driver. You will be assigned time slots for each stop and will be expected to make them. This is just one more area of added stress as a local truck driver. Over the road drivers have greater control of their daily schedule.
The Daily Commute
One thing most truck drivers have no interest in doing after a long shift is hopping in a car and fighting 40 minutes of traffic just to get home. Once home they then have to jump back in the car and do the same to head back to their truck before starting another 14-hour shift. No thanks. I have been there, and I can tell you the daily commutes as a truck driver are no fun. We do enough driving as it is.
Summary of Being a Local Truck Driver
If you want to make less money, deal with more stress, drive a shorter tractor-trailer combination and be home every night than a local driving job may be for you. Personally, I find local driving not to be worth it. I am sure there are exceptions to it, however. But in my city the jobs pay half as much as a good over the road tucking job. They require more work with frequent stops, and many are touch freight. But if you want to get home every night or have up to 2 days off a week at your house to spend with your family than a local driving job may be right for you.
