Another Company to IC Choice Thread

So when crossing over from company to IC you have to do the psw and road test again?

 

Not if you just did it for the company.. I didn't have to.

 

I didn't have to do either one....

 

Yup...I had forgotten about that change. My S9 is the old style power-wise, but Crete installed a dedicated outlet for me. Thanks for the reminder!

 

A high wattage inverted will be directly wired and fused right at the batteries themselves, bypassing all wiring running through the truck and is therefore not a danger to the trucks electronics. The danger comes from weekend warrior handymen that run 6 feet of cable from the battery and THEN FUSE IT AT INVERTER SIDE, leaving 5.9 feet of wire running from the batteries all the way to the inverter itself that isn't fused. Then they drill a hole through the floor of their cab, say to themselves "ahh that cable is insulated, it doesn't need a rubber grommet to keep things from chafing", then 3 months down the road road vibrations finally wear through the insulation. While on their hometime a strong wind rocks the cab of the parked tractor, just enough to contact that copper cable that no longer has insulation on it. Since the fuse is on the inverter end, it stays perfectly intact as the rest of the cable reaches absolutely insane temperatures, melting the rest of the insulation off of, setting off a chain reaction of events that end with the driver calling in to his company going "OH MY GAWD SOMEONE BURNED MY TRUCK DOWN!!!!".

 

Sweet truck by the way CW!!

 

Don't forget the "it doesn't matter if I run this 0 gauge wire over/around this wiring harness" guy who then wonders why his dash lights get brighter every time he steps on the accelerator.

 

It was nice meeting you too Chickenwing. When the two company drivers left on TTR decide to become an IC if I'm in town I'll take you to lunch as well.

I had to update my Navigo this morning and I planned on it taking up to an hour. So of course it took less than 20 minutes. I started to kill some time with CW and the other company to IC guys while they were twiddling their thumbs. One of the guys needed to return his rental car still so I volunteered to run him to the airport and back - a perfect way to kill some time. Talking with him highlighted the idea that there's a right way and a wrong way to truck ownership.

The right way is the way CW and DFO did it - do lots of research, crunch the numbers, and have a solid plan.

The wrong way is to lease a new truck and not know anything about the costs except what your weekly truck payment will be. Not total cost of the truck, maintenance account requirement, rough insurance, rough cost per mile, not if the truck has a diesel or electric apu. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! The only thing this guy knew was that his cousin is running choice and is "making good money". I understand reticence in talking personal finance with a guy you just met and don't even know his name, but I don't think that was the case. He knew his truck payment was going to be $722, but not how many payments, what the balloon would be, etc.

Owning a truck scares the piss out of me. I know that I don't know enough about all lot of things in order to be a successful IC. It constantly blows my mind how some people will blithely put their entire financial well being in jeopardy. Just because Sigfried and Roy look really cool playing with their tiger doesn't mean you should go out an buy a tiger of your own.

 

Amen so true