It can seem hard to make a decent living these days without a college education.
CDL Test Answers: Pass The First Time!…
I worked in a profession called seismograph exploration most of my adult life until it became impossible to be able to go home to stay with my wife every day because the job was requiring me to travel more and more.
I was becoming desperate to stay at home and make a decent living. This desperation led me to become a local cdl driver. For some of you that aren’t familiar with cdl jobs, you might assume that all CDL drivers travel, so your first question is, what is a local CDL driver?
A local cdl driver is a driver with a cdl (commercial driver’s license), that drives a vehicle(usually a truck) for work close enough to where they live that they get to go home every day after work. Local truck drivers deliver food, oil field substances or supplies, cattle, drive a garbage truck, pick up medical waste or even drive a city bus. There is an endless amount of opportunity, especially when you consider that you can have a class A,B or C CDL.
There’s a lot more to it than this so let me explain everything so you can decide for yourself whether or not it would be something that you are interested in.
What Is A Local CDL A Driver?
First you need a class a CDL. A class A CDL basically lets you drive what most people consider a truck driver driving. That would be an eighteen-wheeler tractor with a 48 – 53 foot trailer.
To operate a tractor trailer combination with a gross weight of 26,001 pounds or more and the capacity to tow more than 10,000 pounds, you need a class A CDL. This is considered the universal CDL because if you have a class A CDL then you automatically have a class B as well. It gives you more options for jobs because you can legally do more.
With certain endorsements, like a hazmat you can do even more. An endorsement is just something that you have to test for at the drivers license office where you get your CDL. You can just get the basic CDL where you just pull a normal trailer and haul freight that isn’t going to explode or you can get a tanker endorsement and a hazmat endorsement , so you have even more options and you can make more money. There are plenty of local hazmat tanker jobs available, but I will explain that in more detail later.
My first glance at the job boards like indeed.com show me that a couple of the most common local class A cdl drivers are fuel haulers and delivery drivers. Let me explain what they do…
Class A CDL Local Fuel Transport Driver
A fuel transport driver or fuel hauler drives the tanker to where the store fuel, loads their tanker, and then droves to gas stations to unload fuel there. You need a tanker and hazmat endorsement because you will be pulling a tanker which requires extra knowledge and skills. The tanker endorsement requires you to learn about things like surge and baffles.
Baffles are spaced inside the tanker or tank. They are like walls with several holes in them. The purpose of baffles is to keep the fluid you are hauling from rushing frontwards or backwards rapidly which can make you lose control of your semi.
Milk tankers can be dangerous as well because of this even though the milk is not flammable because milk tankers do not have baffles, so the milk can rush to the front or the back even faster. Milk tankers do not have baffles because bacteria can build up on the baffles which would ruin the milk.
Surge is used to describe the fluid rushing to the front or the back to fast. You have to be very careful when driving a tanker. If you slam on the brakes to hard, the surge from the fluid can actually push your truck into a vehicle in front of you.
Class A CDL Freight or Food Service Delivery Driver
I always see a lot of these types of jobs advertised. This is what I do for a living. I work for US Foods, so I will try not to run my mouth too much. Freight and food service both usually have a huge distribution warehouse somewhere. Freight comes into the warehouse and then is loaded into several trailers for the drivers to deliver on local routes. Some of the trailers are even relayed to cities farther away for other local drivers to deliver goods on local routes.
Usually when you see doubles or two trailers on the road they are relaying shorter trailers for two different drivers to take out on local routes.
The main difference is food service uses refrigerated trailers whereas normal freight doesn’t require it. A refrigerated trailer is called a reefer trailer. It usually has a freezer towards the front of the trailer and then cooler and dry goods are in the rest of the trailer because they can be stored at the same temperature.
Food service delivery drivers usually pull a ramp out of the back of their trailer, load boxes of food on a dolley/hand cart and take it into a convenience store, school, restaurant, fast food place etc. Sometimes they have a liftgate on the back of the trailer to raise and lower whole pallets of goods that can be dropped off.
Normal freight usually has a liftgate for pallets and is usually whole pallets of goods but sometimes it is a ramp and dolley just like food service.
Some of these jobs, food service especially can be pretty physical, but some people enjoy that aspect because they can drive a truck and stay in shape.
These are a couple of the main CDL A local jobs that I see advertised but there are many others. You just have to look at the job boards like glassdoor.com and indeed.com and type your location and cdl A local into the search features.
There are plenty of local CDL A jobs in the oil field, construction, hauling cattle etc. There are tons of options, don’t forget about Pepsi, Coke, and beer companies.
What Is A Local Class B CDL Driver?
It’s basically the same types of jobs as a local class A CDL driver but you aren’t pulling a trailer. There are local class CDL jobs driving a box truck in normal freight or food service delivery like Sysco or you can drive for Pepsi and Coke or beer companies.
There are also jobs in construction driving a cement truck or dump truck because you aren’t pulling a trailer.
If you get your hazmat, you can get a local job driving in the oilfield. I’ve advertisements for fuel truck that is a straight truck with a smaller tank on the back that you use to drive out to certain locations and fuel equipment that people are using.
I see lots of companies advertising for box truck drivers from Stericycle doing paper shredding and medical waste to Norco delivering welding supplies. The welding supplies is a good example of a box truck job that you would need a Hazmat for. Hazmat is short for hazardous materials. It is an endorsement that you have to pass a written test and background check for.
For these types of jobs, you need a class B CDL…
You need a class B CDL to drive a vehicle that has a gross weight of 26,001 pounds or more and the capacity to tow 10,000 pounds or less. As stated above, you can drive straight trucks, buses, garbage trucks, dump trucks, delivery trucks, and cement mixers and usually don’t have a trailer. You can operate certain hazmat vehicles if you have a hazmat or passenger vans of 16 people or less. Again, these are local jobs because you get to go home every night.
What Is A Local Class C CDL Driver?
When class C CDL comes up, the first job that pops into my mind is any kind of bus from a school bus, party bus or city bus. Again, anything local so that you are home every night.
The main stipulations here are 16 – 23 passengers and any vehicle that is not class A or B. It is also necessary for the transportation of hazardous materials in any vehicle that is required to have placards and is not a class A or B.
“Local drivers are typically company drivers, which means they work for one specific company. They follow a regular route and stay within 250 miles of their home terminal.
PROS
You usually start in the morning and end in the afternoon and evening with weekends off. There are night driving local jobs, but you can leave those for the party animals if you want to.
You spend less time behind the wheel so you get to move around more and keep your blood circulating so you can stay healthier.
You can usually drive the same routes regularly, so it is easier to avoid surprises, especially in the wintertime.
CONS
The pay is less than over the road but still decent.
You may end up having to unload a lot of freight during the day. Some people like this and some don’t. There are local jobs where you don’t have to unload freight.
Some companies really try to squeeze a lot of hours out of you since you are working local. Even if you start at 6 in the morning, you may be working until after 6 in the evening.
Driving Locally Versus Over the Road
If you drive over the road you are gong to be delivering all different types of freight around the U.S. and maybe even to Canada. You will be away from home all week or maybe even weeks at a time.
Local truck drivers don’t have to drive as many miles and are going to be home every night. Local drivers get health insurance and 401K just like any other job. You don’t have to go over the road to get these benefits. You get home cooked meals and sleep in your own bed.
Most local truck drivers get some form of exercise or at least more freedom to get out of their trucks whereas over the road drivers spend most of the day sitting in their truck so being a local l truck driver is much healthier
Frequently Asked Questions About What Is a Local CDL Driver:
What Is Local Truck Driving?
Local truck drivers are home every night. The routes are usually within a 200-mile radius and can be a 10-hour workday.
How Much Do Local CDL Drivers Make?
There are so many different types of local CDL jobs that you can make anywhere for 30,000 – 100,000 a year or more.
How many hours can a local CDL driver work?
You can work up to 14 hours during the day, but you can only drive for 11 hours during the day. The 3 hours of not driving is for breaks or unloading freight etc. At he end of your shift you can not clock back in for ten hours. You can only work 8 hours at the start of your shift before you have to take a 30-minute break. You can only work 60 hours over seven straight days or 70 hours over eight straight days before you have to be off for at least 36 hours.
How Do I Become A Local CDL Driver?
You just have to be able to pass a DOT physical and get your CDL. Once you have your CDL, got get a local CDL job.
Do Local Truck Drivers Make Good Money?
It depends on how hard you want to work or how much risk you are willing to take. Most of the delivery jobs pay hourly and pay overtime, usually starting around 19 dollars an hour and higher. If you get your hazmat, you can get a local job with more risk like hauling fuel or even crude oil which can pay up to 100,000 per year or more.
Conclusion
I became a food service delivery driver because I was looking for something where I could go home every night but also get some exercise, so I didn’t have to sit in a truck every day. If you want to become a local CDL delivery driver you can go to any trucking school or there are companies that will pay for your cdl training or let you train on the job to get your CDL. With my local food service delivery job, I get a lot of exercise, I only work four days a week and I have weekends off so what are you waiting for! Go get that CDL and get yourself a local CDL driving job!