Why Long Hauls Are the Most Lucrative for Truck Drivers

Have you ever considered becoming a truck driver? The long hours away from home are a huge deterrent for many people. However, if you don't want to be tied down to one place and love driving. Trucking can be a very lucrative career path. The farther you travel and the longer you stay on the road, the more money you make. It's a hard life but equally rewarding.

Types of Hauls

The different types of trucking hauls can be classified best by distance. The kind of haul determines the lifestyle of a trucker. They decide how much money truckers can make. Along with how much time they can spend at home with family. Here are the different types of hauls:

Local Short Hauls

There are local short hauls within a fifty to a hundred and fifty miles radius. The driver is usually back home by dinner or to put his kids to sleep if he's late. Local hauls aren't in high demand depending on where you live and are very competitive since drivers prefer to be at home at night.

Local Long Hauls

These hauls range from above two hundred miles to more than five hundred miles. These are better paying than short hauls and still lie within the same state. The driver usually has to sleep one night in the cabin or hotel when he must take his reset after fourteen hours of driving.

These are also very competitive since drivers prefer staying in the same state and being home whenever possible. While you try to negotiate a higher rate, a more desperate driver will accept it at a lower price. Brokers are aware of this and use that to their advantage.

Inter-State Hauls

These hauls require you to cross into the next state or across a few states. Drivers usually take two days to go and two days coming back. These are far more lucrative than local hauls, for example, from Ohio to Alabama. A haul like this one means the driver will only be home on weekends.

These hauls require more drivers since drivers like to stay within their own state. These hauls also need drivers to invest in the right GPS or other trucking equipment like ELDs for compliance. Driving twelve thousand miles and back sounds like a daunting task, but the money is usually worth it.

Coast to Coast Hauls

These are the most lucrative and distant hauls. It takes a lone truck driver six or seven days to reach and go back. If there's a team of two drivers, that time gets cut in half. Usually, drivers get another load to take home with them.

Truck drivers are gone for one to two weeks, and if they get another good offer, a little out of the way home, even longer. This means they live on the road. Many drivers avoid taking coast to coast or super long hauls so that they can control when they go home. However, here are the reasons why these are the most expensive loads:

Negotiations

Since it takes a considerable commitment to spend at least two weeks on the road, one going and one coming back, very few drivers accept cross-country loads. Brokers have to be careful while dealing with drivers. They cannot risk losing drivers too often.

Most fresh produce or Amazon loads are time-sensitive. They end up paying more because they can't wait for a more desperate driver to accept lower pay. Since there is so much distance to cover, payment is negotiated per mile. So it is easier for the driver to get a higher profit.

Military Loads

The US military is one of the highest-paying trucking clients out there. They expect you to be on time, with updated gear and an excellent safety score. They also only want US citizens are their drivers and no green card holders for safety concerns since you have to enter the base to deliver.

Seasonal Loads

When it's peach season, you can expect to make ten thousand dollars with a flatbed truck from Georgia to Washington or California. Similarly, there are many loads from the Midwest to everywhere else during harvest season. Seasonal products create little seasons of high-priority, high-paying loads that are great opportunities for long-haul truck drivers.

Conclusion

All in all, you have to give up spending even weekends at home and live like a nomad to become a long-haul truck driver. This is a huge commitment, and since many people are ready to make it, there is a massive demand for long-haul truck drivers. It's a tough life, but you become the very backbone of the US economy and make a pretty penny for yourself.