My experience starting out at A&R Transport

Discussion in 'Tanker, Bulk and Dump Trucking Forum' started by DMAX66, Feb 13, 2015.

  1. DMAX66

    DMAX66 Light Load Member

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    Nov 11, 2010
    Chicagoland
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    I have posted in a few other threads regarding starting at A&R so I figured I would start my own thread and share my experience so far. I started working at A&R about three months ago, and so far I am really liking it. I started in the trucking industry about two and a half years ago hauling cars running my own truck and authority. I started to get tired of hauling cars mainly because of the multiple pick ups and drops, also the stress of running my own business and owning my own truck and trailer. I started out by filling out an application online for A&R and I received a call the next day to set up an interview. The interview was pretty quick and easy, the terminal manager basically described the job and asked if I thought it was something I would want to do. He offered me the Job at the end of the interview and he scheduled me for the first week of orientation.

    The orientation is done at the Morris terminal which is also the corporate headquarters for the company. It evolves mostly classroom work with one day of hands on demonstration of loading and unloading a trailer. The instructors were very nice and explained everything very well. There is a lot to learn about how to operate the vacuum pneumatic trailers, but they take everything step by step. They treat you well at orientation and buy you lunch at a few different restaurants in the area.

    After the week of orientation I was assigned my trainer and we went out on the road. The on the job training consists of doing local work and learning the loading and unloading process. The unloading process is pretty easy, and it takes on average about an hour and a half to unload the trailers. The loading process was difficult at first, but I quickly got the hang of it. Basically we vacuum load plastic pellets off of rail cars. You start out with an extension in the trailer called a "stinger" that throws the product to the front of the trailer. When loading the front of the trailer you monitor your suspension air gauge until it gets to a certain psi. Once you load the front you remove the stinger put in a 90 degree elbow to load the back of the trailer. Then you check your weight on a scale to see how much product you have. the tricky part is that you have to load to at least 78,000 lbs gross weight without going over 80,000 lbs. My trainer was really nice and he will always answer my phone calls if I am out on the road and I have a question.

    So far everyone at the company has treated me very well. I run out of the Morris IL terminal and all the guys in dispatch and the terminal managers are very nice. I have been mostly running regional, but also doing some longer runs as well. I am almost always home on the weekend, and I don't even have to ask dispatch to get me home. the longest I have stayed out is seven days. If you want to stay out longer to earn more money you can. So far I am happy with the money I have been making.

    For my truck I had a choice between a 2007 Pete 379 or an International pro star. The international was one of the few in our fleet with a Maxforce engine. I have heard nothing but bad things about those engines so I decided on the Peterbilt. It has about 900,000 mi on it, some of the equipment is older, but they seem to maintain it well. My truck has a Cummins ISX and it had an inframe done on it recently. It has a flat top sleeper so it is a little on the small side, but not to bad. I will try to update this thread with my experiences as I go. Here is a few pictures of my rig.

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  3. SHOJim

    SHOJim Road Train Member

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    Columbus, Ohio
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    Glad your happy with your job! I've been by the Columbus location a couple times. Nice truck!
     
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  4. bubbavirus

    bubbavirus Medium Load Member

    no newbies nailed that big nose in the truck stop.
     
  5. flybynight12

    flybynight12 Medium Load Member

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    the newbies already did it on other trucks on the fleet they had a phase were they were desperate hiring anybody and they came in tearing things up and missing delivery appointments
     
  6. OldHasBeen

    OldHasBeen Road Train Member

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    Years ago I was hauling bulk cement. My first load out after unloading I had to go to a railcar and haul fly ash. I rightly knew nothing about hauling fly ash. I was driving an old conventional big cab International with something like a 220 horse Cummings with a 13 over with 4:44 gears.


    A fellow was at the rail car who loaded me. He filled up all 3 hatches. When I tried to take off I had to use grandma gear, and it barely untracked itself. Them I had to go all the way across from east of I-30 in Little Rock, AR all the way out on highway 10. I thought I never would get to the plant to unload, it felt so heavy. I was topping a small hill with the plant where I would unload was in my sight. A set of weight boys, back them they drove station wagon's in Arkansas, they pulled me over.


    They asked me for a weight ticket but they did not give me one for it was not weighted. They pulled out their scales and weighed me, I was weighting over 99,000 pounds, weight limit at that time was 73, 280 I believe. When they told me how much I weighted they asked me where I was hauling it to. I pointed down the highway to the plant I would unload at. They told me to hurry up and get down there and unload and never to haul that much fly ask again on one load.


    When I got back in to our plant that evening I told the boss about the big load. He had a fit, them said I know this was your 1st load but when you haul fly ash again make sure they load you much lighter. We haul it by the load, and there suppose to be 3 loads, yet when a new driver goes up there they will try and put it on two loads to save having to pay for three loads.


    My boss asked me, “How did you get out of getting weight ticket?”


    Of course I said, “I really don’t know, I told them where it was loaded, the company that loaded it, and the company that it was going to, and they just told me to hurry up and get down there and unload it and to never haul that much fly ash again on one load.”


    The company it was going to was owned by a big shot in Little Rock, I figure that was why there was no weight ticket. That was the hardest load I ever pulled, & it felt very top heavy. The tanker I was pulling was similar to the one behind your truck. This was somewhere around the mid 70’s.


    I believe while I pulled for them I hauled fly ash two more times, but I never let them load another load like that.
     
  7. poppapump1332

    poppapump1332 Road Train Member

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    Jan 2, 2010
    birdsboro,pa
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    Glad to hear good luck to you
     
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  8. Jrdude5

    Jrdude5 Heavy Load Member

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    Mar 26, 2013
    New York, NY
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    Congratulations glad you like it keep the updates coming.
     
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  9. HauntedSchizo19

    HauntedSchizo19 Medium Load Member

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    Dec 19, 2013
    Southern Tier, New York
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    Well, I have some questions for you, regarding A&R. Been looking for some answers, but they seem hard to get answered!
     
  10. DMAX66

    DMAX66 Light Load Member

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    Nov 11, 2010
    Chicagoland
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    What questions do you have?
     
  11. DMAX66

    DMAX66 Light Load Member

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    Nov 11, 2010
    Chicagoland
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    Yea the long nose does take some getting used to, but its not to bad. the truck I owned before I started with A&R was a Freightliner FLD 120 with the steer axle set back. Definitely easier to maneuver than the long nose.

    This is a picture of the truck I owned,

    [​IMG]
     
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