Owner operators vs. company drivers

Once you get your CDL licence, now you have to find someone to work for.

You could work for a large Maryland trucking company, OR you could work for a small owner operator.

Owner operators frequently work within tiny profit margins, and the skyrocketing cost of diesel fuel isn't making it any easier for the little business owner.

What are the pros and cons of each?

If you have bad stuff on your driving record OR if you have experience is one type of driving but not another, working for a small outfit might be just what you need to round out your CDL driving resume.

Off Road driving vs. on road driving.

These two are very different beasts.

Different skill sets. The suspension of an off road dump truck/ concrete mixer/ or what have you is MUCH stiffer. When you raise the bed of a dump truck, the center of gravity shifts.

It's VERY easy to flip a dump truck over, you must make sure that both rear wheels are level or you'll turn the damn thing over.

The turning radius of a concrete mixer is surprising. If you turn AGAINST the rotation of the drum, you can turn as fast as you'd like.

Turn WITH the rotation of the drum and you're buthole will be suckin naugahyde (the artificial leather seats are made of)!

Think about this: Both a dump truck and a concrete mixer are 20 ton loads, the max you can carry on a truck's back (in Maryland anyway)... but the dump truck's center of gravity is on the truck's frame, or near your butt.

A mixer is carrying a liquid load, one that's rotating, and the center of gravity is behind your head.

It only takes one time for the wheels to leave the ground (just for a moment) and you'll learn to NEVER DO THAT AGAIN.

(note) When I write about driving a truck, remember this:
I've been fired at least once, for everything you could possibly think of to NOT do.
So when I tell you DON'T Do X, Y or Z, I know what I'm talking about.





This site is not responsible for libel, any driver who ever worked for a truck company is welcome to rate any company they worked for, of course if they got fired, they might not give an accurate discription of what it was like to work there.