Over The Road

Over the road trucking or OTR Jobs can be a blast if you don't mind being away from home 2 to 3 weeks at a time. Some trucking companies will keep new drivers out as much as 4 to 6. I can't imagine why, but they do it. It's a harsh reality of the trucking lifestyle.

As an over the road trucker you typical will go from location to location depending on where the highest paying freight takes you from where ever your last stop was.

However, there are exceptions.
You can be over the road and come back in to the home terminal if your carrier specializes in freight from a particular customer from the area.

For example, I hauled furniture all over the country but after getting empty for the most part I would get a load coming right back to North Carolina to pick up more furniture.

As an over the road driver at most companies you run all 48 contiguous states. For new drivers most trucking companies will have forced dispatched loads.

If you are not forced then you will be conditioned to not be picky. This is done by having to sit and wait for extended periods of time for a 2nd load should you turn the first one down.

(Forced dispatch simply means you don't have the choice to take the load or not, you take every load they send you. This is how most trucking companies that hire new drivers operate.)

Of course, this is just one of examples of the types of instances when having a good relationship with the people you work with will be a benefit to you. (Your dispatcher especially) This is also where you have a good job performance works in your favor.

Think about it, if you are a good truck driver who is dependable and with a good personality, they want you to be happy. If you are the opposite, that guy with the pleasant personality would get more desirable load and you with a bad attitude would get the less desirable loads.

They don't care if you quit, you are almost a liability to the company anyway, if nothing else you are a pain.

This treatment according to attitude is a principle that applies throughout life. It is natural that if you are pleasant to interact with people will like interacting and working with you. If you are difficult to interact with, you will have difficulty getting along with people.
This is why the attitude matters. Over the road drivers can sometimes take pets and a spouse on the truck if the trucking company has a policy in place that permits it.

Over the Road Pay

A new OTR driver, will average between $25,000 and $35,000 the first year of trucking. I know some companies advertise more. If you make that advertised amount consider yourself blessed. Some drivers will make higher than the normal range but it is best to expect what is normal and allow yourself to be pleasantly surprised if it works out better.

More information about trucker pay

Usually drivers will get paid by the mile. Sometimes however, they may get percentage of the load.

What does OTR drivers haul

OTR drivers can pull all types of trailers and so can haul anything from general freight to heavy equipment. You can be OTR and pull a flatbed or or pull refrigerated trailers.

Type of Trucking Jobs
Over The Road

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