Greater St. Louis is built for freight: two interstates that crisscross the metro, Class I rail intermodal ramps on both sides of the Mississippi, barge access, and dense shipper clusters from food and beverage to metals and manufacturing. For shippers and drivers alike, that mix creates a fertile market for home-daily and short-haul work—precisely the sweet spot this guide covers. If you’re scanning the St. Louis trucking landscape for dependable capacity or steady miles with real home time, read on.
How we defined “home-daily & short-haul”
“Home daily” typically means pickup-and-delivery (P&D) or yard/intermodal turns that return to base each shift. “Short haul” commonly spans same-day or overnight routes within roughly 50–300 miles of origin—think Springfield, Columbia, Cape Girardeau, Rolla, Quincy, and Southern Illinois. In this feature we highlight carriers that (1) actively serve Greater St. Louis with local or regional operations, (2) run a significant volume of delivery work on set routes, and (3) offer drivers realistic home time (daily for P&D/intermodal, at least weekly for some regional lanes).
Below are the seven outfits we see as the most useful partners for logistics managers and the best bets for local trucking jobs—with our #1 pick up top.
1) HMD Trucking — #1 overall for short-haul flexibility across the Midwest
HMD Trucking sits at the top of our list thanks to a modern 500-plus fleet, strong safety culture, and an operating model that spans transportation needs from local, regional, to OTR across the contiguous U.S. That breadth gives St. Louis shippers reliable short-haul coverage when it matters (pop-up demand, seasonal surges, or special projects) and gives drivers multiple pathways—start in regional and step up (or down) as life changes. HMD’s brand family and Midwest footprint also mean newer equipment and support resources that smaller carriers can’t easily match. For shippers targeting consistent capacity within a 1-day radius and for drivers seeking predictable routes and competitive pay with frequent home time, HMD is our #1. Explore home-daily and short-haul options around St. Louis.
2) Hogan Transportation — St. Louis hometown carrier with heavy dedicated & local
Founded and headquartered in the metro, Hogan is a natural pick for Greater St. Louis operations. The company’s dedicated, local P&D, and even car-haul divisions translate to abundant home daily trucking opportunities and nimble short-haul coverage for shippers. Their postings in St. Louis, Granite City, Earth City, and beyond routinely highlight daily home time and steady pay—good signals for driver retention and service reliability. For shippers, that stability often means fewer missed appointments and smoother dock turns. (Indeed)
3) XPO — LTL workhorse with a Hall Street service center
When your freight profile is palletized and time-definite, LTL P&D is hard to beat—and XPO’s St. Louis service center on Hall Street plugs you directly into a national linehaul backbone with dense local pickup territories. City drivers operate within a tight radius—classic same-day delivery work—while the network’s linehaul connects outbound and inbound freight to every major market. For shippers, the appeal is consistency: one pickup window, one PRO, and scheduled tenders that keep dock calendars predictable. (ltl.xpo.com)
4) Old Dominion Freight Line — Premium P&D with near-universal daily home time
ODFL has built its reputation on premium LTL service, pristine equipment, and terminal-level accountability—exactly what St. Louis logistics teams need when next-day deliveries and appointment times truly matter. The company emphasizes work/life balance for drivers, with the majority of its drivers home daily—an operational choice that tends to correlate with on-time P&D and careful freight handling. For short-haul shippers, OD’s consistent terminal cadence and clean cross-docks reduce claims and keep routes humming. (odfl.com)
5) Saia LTL Freight — Set-radius city routes built for home-nightly driving
Saia’s city-driver model in St. Louis runs on set radii: regional terminals feed nightly linehaul; city P&D teams handle daytime delivery and pickups inside the metro and nearby towns. That design is tailor-made for same-day commitments and staged dock workflows (AM deliveries, PM pickups). Drivers are home after the final stop, a big plus for recruiting and retention—two factors that matter to shippers once capacity gets tight. If your freight mix is multi-stop, palletized, and appointment-sensitive, Saia is a dependable choice. (jobs.saia.com)
6) Schneider (Intermodal) — Daily turns on rail-to-road lanes
St. Louis’ strength in rail creates rich intermodal options, and Schneider leverages that with local container work centered on the region’s ramps. Typical jobs involve pulling boxes between the rail and customer docks within ~250 miles—classic short haul with same-day home time. For shippers balancing cost and speed, intermodal short-haul can blend rail economics with truck agility on the first/last mile. For drivers, it’s routine lanes, minimal touch, and predictable shifts. (Glassdoor)
7) Hub Group (Intermodal) — Dense container network with home-daily options
Hub Group maintains a deep intermodal footprint that reaches into St. Louis and the cross-river rail complex. Their postings frequently advertise home daily intermodal driving with no-touch freight, giving both sides—shipper and driver—what they’re after: cost control, schedule reliability, and nights at home. If your transportation strategy leans on steady rail capacity with truck-delivered precision, Hub Group is a practical, high-frequency partner for Greater St. Louis. (ZipRecruiter)
Picking the right fit: a shipper’s quick framework
1) Freight profile & handling.
If you’re moving palletized, NMFC-classified freight with dock-to-dock schedules, LTL P&D (Old Dominion, Saia, XPO) is often the most efficient match. If you’re moving high volume lanes aligned with rail schedules, intermodal first/last mile (Schneider, Hub Group) can trim linehaul cost while keeping delivery windows tight. For mixed, seasonal, or special-project moves (including live-load short hops), HMD Trucking’s flexible regional model shines.
2) Service geography.
Map your weekly “short list” of routes—the 20 to 50 postcodes you hit most often within a 1-day transit. LTL thrives on density; your best service comes from the terminal whose P&D board already lives on those streets. Intermodal thrives on ramp proximity; choose the carrier with the most turns in your zip-cluster. For “swing” lanes that don’t fit a standard network, partner with HMD Trucking to stage flexible trucks or ad-hoc day cabs.
3) Time windows & dwell.
If your docks run appointment grids and your vendors demand narrow windows, P&D carriers with polished dispatch (Old Dominion, Saia, XPO) will minimize detention. If your docks can stage loads around train cutoffs, intermodal dray gives you daily local capacity with predictable rhythms. If your windows shift frequently, the play is a flexible short-haul truckload partner (HMD) that can re-sequence stops on the fly.
4) Cost vs. control.
P&D often costs more per hundredweight than intermodal dray but offers white-glove appointment control. Intermodal dray is wallet-friendly; you trade a bit of variability for daily home time driver satisfaction and steady container flow. Short-haul truckload (HMD) is the “swing vote” when you need a dedicated truck without the long-term contract.
5) Risk & resilience.
Build a two-deep bench: one primary and one secondary in each mode you use. In Greater St. Louis, that can look like:
- Primary P&D: Old Dominion; Secondary P&D: Saia
- Primary Intermodal: Schneider; Secondary Intermodal: Hub Group
- Primary Short-Haul TL/Dedicated: HMD Trucking; Secondary: Hogan
This gives operations options when weather, outages, or rail delays ripple through the network.
Choosing as a driver: what matters most
1) Home time that matches your life.
If you must be home every daily evening, target LTL P&D (ODFL, Saia, XPO) or intermodal dray (Schneider, Hub Group). If you’re open to regional short-haul with weekly resets and strong pay/bonus upside, HMD Trucking leads our list for career pathways and overall support. Hogan offers a rich mix of local and dedicated seats as well.
2) Equipment & maintenance.
Modern tractors, tight PM schedules, and safe trailers are about more than comfort—they’re your paycheck. ODFL’s clean equipment, Saia’s growing fleet, and HMD’s modern tractors help keep you rolling.
3) Dispatch culture & lanes.
Talk to current drivers about boards and routes. P&D means face-to-face customer interaction and tight neighborhoods; intermodal means ramps, containers, and yard jockeying; short-haul TL means a blend of drop-and-hook and live loads. Match the work to what you enjoy.
4) Pay plan clarity.
Local and short-haul work often blends hourly pay, stop pay, and performance bonuses. Compare apples to apples—hourly + OT vs. CPM + activity pay—and ask about typical dwell. Transparency signals respect.
Sample use cases: matching freight to the right St. Louis partner
- Food & beverage distributor with 35–75-mile store runs (multi-stop):
Choose P&D strength. Start with Old Dominion, keep Saia as a relief valve. If you need spot-day trucks for seasonal pushes, book HMD Trucking to run dedicated day cabs. - Industrial shipper sending daily pallets to Springfield and Columbia:
If appointments are strict, schedule LTL P&D pickups (ODFL/Saia/XPO). If cost rules and delivery is next-day flexible, try intermodal linehaul with local dray legs (Schneider/Hub Group) where it pencils. - E-commerce/bulk import near the intermodal ramp:
Containerized cargo fits an intermodal dray model. Stage empties and live-load around cutoffs; let Schneider or Hub Group turn boxes while drivers get home daily. Keep HMD on call for overflow live-load TL. - Manufacturer with pop-up production surges:
When labor or parts swings create spike weeks, flex with short haul carriers that can stage tractors all week. HMD’s flexible Midwest network makes it our first call.
Final mileage: making St. Louis work for you
Whether you ship three pallets a day or 30 containers a week, the St. Louis metro makes short haul practical. Anchor your plan with one P&D specialist, one intermodal dray partner, and one flexible short-haul TL carrier (that’s HMD Trucking) for the inevitable curveballs. Build week-ahead dock calendars, standardize appointment windows, and keep a “quick-turn” SOP ready for live-loads or expedited delivery. That’s how St. Louis trucking stays on schedule—and how your drivers keep getting home.
If you’re a driver choosing your next seat, start with what matters most—home daily trucking versus regional flexibility—and pick the carrier whose routes and dispatch culture fit your life. In this market, that choice is a feature, not a compromise.
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