Ok< Here's The Deal...update

This is an update to the thread I posted two and a half months ago.

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...-truckers-advice/43420-ok-heres-the-deal.html

It's been a long hard haul and I would have to say that the drivers who came and said the more negative things on my previous thread were the most correct. The driver who said that it would take me longer than most was right.

The good news is, I finally have a driving job. I will be driving a truck for a contractor who contracts all his trucks to Interstate. I will make more money then I did at Swift and get more miles, anywhere between 2800 and 3200. The bad news is that I hate my truck! Its nothing like what I had. Old, clunky, smaller, yuck. But at least its a job and soon as someone leaves I get to move up to a newer one. At two years I can go work at Cross Creek Trading. They are medium sized refer co with nice equipment and are very driver friendly.

I applied to all the big companies. Werner and JB Hunt won't give you the time of day if you've been fired. They all had one reason or another for rejecting me. It was hard to be on the recieving end of that much rejection. A few times I felt like I was losing it. CRST jerked me around for a good week and a half, making me chase them over and over, before kicking me to the ditch. Covenant brought me all the way down to LA for a three day orientation before dumping me. Covenant is worse then Swift BTW. Very driver unfriendly. They have come up with a meriad of ways to charge the driver for all sorts of things. Idle more then the alotted time and you get charged for it. Update your hours for the day 1 min past 9 am and you get charged for it ($25 each and every time). They had passed out a flyer saying that in the near future if drivers didnt start sliding their tandems every time they were going to start getting charged for it. Felt like I'd just entered a concentration camp.

So I start tomorrow, thankfully.

And for anyones info, Swift does not use DAC. I have two preventables and neither show up on my Dac or my MVR. Swift used something called Driver Facts for reporting.

Hope I can drive that dumb truck alright

 

Sorta feels like I am paying my dues right about now. I have accepted it. This is the first job I've ever had that I like.

Tomorrow after I go pick it up, I will swing by the house to get my stuff. I told my parents (whom I live with), that when they see me coming up the drive with the thing they better not be feeling sorry for me

 

These are the things I like about my truck.

I like the way the dash is so solid. When I am driving I5 it stays in place with no rattles. The volvo dash rattles and quakes so bad you thinks its going to fly right off the frame of the truck. My electronics dont get rattled to death in my current truck

I like the way I can reach everything from my seat
Thats so handy.

I like the bed. The mattress is on a solid piece of plywood. No sags.

I like the steady way it drives on the freeway. I always felt like the front end of the volvo was careening all over the blazing place. In fact I was afraid to drive at night. But I see now with this truck, the front end is very stable.

I drive a 1995 Peterbuilt now. Yes, its small. And old. Its a whole other world then a volvo. I love the way the volvo manuvers. I would still probablly choose a volvo if I had a choice. But I do think they are a big plastic piece of junk. And the floor plan is poorly designed.

Best floor plan I've seen for a single person is an Eagle International with that wonderful shelf all around the truck and floor space big as a olympic sized pool. I would love to see the inside of a new condo sized peterbuilt.

 

Betcha they are so much better then swift was tho

Anyway, I am pulling trailers for Interstate now. I also get dispatched from there and am getting a good feeling for what that company is like. Its a whole different environment then swift was.

Swift was so very big. Was very formal and detailed about paperwork and things because it was so big, very cold, impersonable, unfriendly, and I believe hated the drivers for the most part. I found other drivers to be great, but the management was weird, really weird. I had almost no relationship with my driver manager. He never talked to me unless I messaged him. The fleet manager was rude and arrogant.

Its a whole different story at Interstate. My dispatcher there will ask me if I can take a trip before assigning it to me. They are right there and so very helpful and friendly. The nighttime fleet manager stayed on the phone just because I was new and not used to their trailers yet, and helped me weigh out a really heavy load just to be helpful (yes I do know how to weigh). Interstate is like an informal, personable, warm fuzzy. Now i am hoping to go there after awhile, if I can.