How did you like driving a box truck? I’m eligible to retire soon (at 50!!) and am looking for post-retirement jobs.
I liked it fine when with Panther and V3. When the company the truck was contracted to got fired by Panther (and the next company) and was doing their own dispatching ... not so much.
With Panther we were to turn down a run if the deadhead was 150 miles or more. When doing their own dispatching, the deadhead was never under 350 miles, usually a little more. Worst I got was a 600 mile deadhead at a reduced rate to the truck. 350 miles was the company owner's "sweet spot" for deadhead.
We could not turn down a load. Basically we all went from contractor to employee, with a 90% to 95% pay cut, and still had to turn in our income taxes and SS ourselves, out of what little we did make. The company sure didn't deduct taxes or SS. They would have had to match the at least the SS payments.
It got better when the truck owner ended the contract, and moved all his trucks to V3.
I had to retire in 2016, because I couldn't pass the DOT physical anymore.
I don't know if you are aware. You'll need a minimum Class B drivers license, even if you get put in a cargo van. (usually company policy requires a Class B for the cargo van drivers ... insurance, I think.) Class A, of course, if you go for semi. A DOT physical is required every 2 years. Every year if something is borderline.
Do not count on home time more than once a month or every other month when there is freight to be hauled.
I'm single, and went 3 years with no hometime to Florida, where I lived. I did take home time with my co-driver, who lives in New Hampshire, once a month or every other month, during that time. I didn't mind too much. No pay while on hometime.
Getting certified for crossing the northern and southern border isn't worth the hassel ... especially the southern one. (the companies I drove for wouldn't let their trucks cross the southern border, anyway. Too dangerous.)
Freight coming or going from either is brought to a cross dock. You wouldn't deliver to the final destination on the other side of either border, nor pick up direct from the shipper and take to the final destination in the states. It takes hours to get through Customs both directions, as well.
"Home" for the most part is where the truck is parked while you reset your daily or weekly clock. (10 hours and 36 hours respectivley.)
Some companies do let you bring your spouse as a passenger, if they do not have a class B license and sign on as your co-driver.
Box trucks have to keep logs, just like the semi trucks. Not a big deal, as electronic logs are required by the Federal DOT fo the last 8 or 9 years.A bunch of "super truckers" who kept multipul paper logs left the industry because they had to follow the rules/laws for drive and rest time. Makes the roads safer, IMHO. Fewer speeding and falling asleep at thewheel, moving when road and weather conditions say "PARK IT!!! AIN'T NO LOAD WORTH WRECKING YOUR TRUCK!!!" The contracts specify no penalties if he freight is delayed because of road condition/construction/weather/traffic and other things beyond the drivers control, anyway. Better to parkthe truck when the raods are covered with sno and ice for a day or two until they arre cleard and be late, than wreck he truck, possibly die or kill an innocent, and never get the freight there, or picked up. (the "super truckers"/"stupid truckers" disagreed, of course.)
Oh, and don't trust your GPS, even if you program it how tall you are and how heavy you are (bridge restrictions), or to avoid tolls. (with luck, you'll have the magic blue box in the cab (and that tate uses the pre-pass. Kansas, for example, takes it when you get on the toll road, but not when you get off.) so you don't have to pay cash at the toll booths. Mine still tried to send me on toll roads, to Canada and back to deliver a load from NJ to PA adding 1200 miles to the trip ... if I could have gone through Canada from ME to MI and back to PA, over bridges that couldn't take my weight, and under overpasses with 10 and 11 foot clearance. (I was 13 foot 6 tall suspension up, 13 foot suspension down.)
I strongly advise to NOT go to the NYC Metro area, which includes Jamaica, NY, AKA: "JFK International Airport", and D.C. (Oh, you have to pay cash for Customs clearance to pick up a load, and labor to get loaded/unloaded at most of the airports.)
A high toll to get into NYC via any bridge or tunnel, and the tunnels are too low for the truck to clear, unless equipped with a suspension drop. I was in a single axle truck (front steer axle don't count). The last time I went over the George Washington Bridge into NYC it cost 69 bucks. Thet charge by the number of axles and wheels. It has gone up since. On the "plus side" they don't charge (or didn't charge) a toll when you
leave NYC. A friend drives an 18 wheeler. It costs him something like $300 to go into New York. (all roads into the state of New York are toll roads, by the way, even if you enter up state.)
It is also not uncommon when making a delivery in NYC for a solo driver to run out of drive time* because of how long it takes to get loaded or unloaded, requiring they be towed out of the state to a truck stop or rest area, or to the rest stop just before the MA border if they have to go farther north, so they can reset their daily clock. It was 10 hours drive time or up to 14 hours combined drive time and non-driving on the clock efore you had to take a ten hour consecutive hour break per day. You are on the clock getting loded and unloaded.)
Note you onlyget paid by the mile, (unless you have to sit over 2 hours before they start to load/unload, then you get lay-over pay. I was at 25 for the lay over, and that wasn't per hour.
The pay rate quoted when you sign on is to the truck, not your pocket. Even as a contract driver, all fuel and oil cost came out of the rate charged for the load. They put a 30 or 40% advance on the fuel card so I could (sometimes) fill both tanks. (truck held 150 gallons in two 75 gallon tanks. When I had a codriver, we only had to fill up the tanks at shift change. Solo, I filled up at the end of the day, and when I left the truck stop. I had to idle all night for heat in the winter, and to prevent the fuel from jelling, and for AC in the summer, or where it was warm in the winter. For 4 or 5 years, the only time the engine was shut down was to check the oil and water, for servicing, and when on hometime and I wasn't in the truck, or the rare dock that required the engine to be shut down.)
Good Luck if you decide to drive. It isn't for everyone. Go with a company that is signed on with Panther or V3. They will keep you busy.
I have talked to BOLT drivers who've sat for weeks with no load.
