Advice about Trucking without the Sugar Coating

First and Foremost this is My Suggestions and is not the opinion of this Forum, the members, or any Company. I am not a recruiter nor am I about to Sugar Coat anything, As you all know not any two truckers will agree(otherwise we would be making a lot more money than we do now) This is simply what I would tell any of you who are interested in Driving, or are in the process of finding a JOB in the Industry.
By the Way this will appear in all My Post, I would not want anyone to assume that I am something I am not.

Keeping your truck in Order is not the same as keeping it clean.
If your truck is in order then you will spend less time looking for things you need.
If you keep up with all of your paperwork, you can do several things, first if ANYONE ask you about a load you hauled 2 weeks ago, you will be able to reference it, and have your butt covered.

I keep all my paperwork, for every trip for 3 months, then I would take it home and file it so when Tax time came around I had it all in an organized filing cabinet.
Now I have a laptop, I scan all my documents and put them in a file folder for that month, I also have several spread sheets I have made to track my Actual Miles, versus Paid miles, I keep up with more than most and I am going to share with you the ways you should keep up with things, and why.

If you do not have a laptop ( which BY THE WAY if you Do it should not be in the front seat of your TRUCK so you can LEAN over and play with it, this is NOT only Dangerous, but can be considered Distracted Driving, aka Wreck less Driving) then I suggest going to a Discount store wally world or tarjay and buying a file folder box, one of the 10.00 plastic ones is good, buy 12 file folders, or 52 depending on how organized you want to be.
Keep up with your fuel receipts, cash advances, Scale receipts, any thing you buy except food if you get per diem. Keep up with your Logs, ( exception E LOGS, also note that you are not required to keep more than 7 days in a paper log book) Bill of ladings, if you decided to use a file folder for each trip great, I use envelopes ( got them from the lady's in the office) I make notes on either one.
Containing Date load Received, Miles dead headed, Miles Paid, actual miles run, I also put down any special instructions, When I send the trip pak in I have made Copies of the fuel and BOL. The great thing about having a Laptop, and Scanner less Paper to keep up with.
Also when you pick up a load (live load) make notes on the BOL of any DAMAGE, this Covers your butt and the trucking company.
Having copies or Scanning copies of your Paperwork Provides you with Proof you Made the RUN, and Also if you decide to Hire an accountant to get full advantage of your Tax Benefits, you have itemized your expenses. If you run E Logs, you should be able to get some kind of copies from Safety if you need them.

If you ask where I put the Printer/Scanner in my Truck, Well I do not run a TV in my Truck, nor a Microwave. Not saying you should not I just choose not to.

Now more about keeping your truck in order, If the Cab is CLEAN, you have several advantages on many drivers. If you happen to get pulled for a Level 1 and DOT climbs in your Truck and it is a PIG Pen, well they know you do not care about your truck and chances are you will have violations, either LOG or Mechanical.
Also When you climb into and out of a clean truck it makes you feel good, I keep a small vacuum in my truck along with the fact you can eat off my floors, and guess what I smoke, but you will not SMELL it or See my Ashes all over. I happen to have be a clean freak who is borderline OCD, when it comes to my House on Wheels I like it to be as clean as my House.
When a consignor comes out to your truck to hand you, your bills and your truck is clean inside and out, the remember that. When you have a dirty truck, are a slob and well just like them I have forgotten about you.

The best thing I can tell you is to give it your best to be better than the Next guy, be organized and Never let anyone be in a position to either not pay you what you are owed, or charge you for something you do not Owe them. Being Organized can prevent this, it is After all your BUSINESS.
If you treat it good it will make you good money, if you treat it great it will make you Great Money. If you Do nothing to be organized well You will not make much, you will become like 80% of the other Drivers out there complaining and Whining about Companies,No Miles, No Home time, and in time you will be a JOB Hopping Steering wheel holder with nothing to show for all that Hard Earned money you spent to become a Professional Truck Driver. So Fall into the Bad Habits Many drivers have before you, so you too can grab a Kleenex and whine in your morning coffee at the local choke and puke using the money from your 50.00 cash advance, and make that call home to here that she is leaving you as you are just not cutting the mustard anymore, your Career in Trucking is not paying the bills and all the Empty promises, have caused this to come on.

Now that is a VIVID Picture of what happens to the turd drivers who do not give a rats asg about the future of Trucking.

 

First and Foremost this is My Suggestions and is not the opinion of this Forum, the members, or any Company. I am not a recruiter nor am I about to Sugar Coat anything, As you all know not any two truckers will agree(otherwise we would be making a lot more money than we do now) This is simply what I would tell any of you who are interested in Driving, or are in the process of finding a JOB in the Industry.

This is something that regardless of whether you are new or Have been out here for 35 years that should be habit.

Many People Forget that this something that you are required to do by law, you must preform this task, and Log it.
But for reasons unknown many become to confident with their X-Ray eyes and feel that they no longer need to do a pre-trip inspection much less a Post Trip Inspection.

OK here is where I go on that tangent as to why the INDUSTRY is the way it is. But Before I do Let me Say That I am as much at fault as each and everyone of you who have been on the road for the last 12 months or longer. We are responsible for this Monster we have created.
Rules and Regulations are exactly like Warning Labels on products.
If some Idiot did not spill coffee on themselves and SUE the companies we would not drink coffee from cups with Labels.

Same with The new rules and regulations, CSA2010, the new HOS, stricter DOT inspections, more and more we hear about SAFESTAT ratings.
This is all due to Poor Driver Job Performance, the reason for 90% of the drivers put out of Service, Driver Failed to check his equipment or properly fill out his log book.
The States would not have high fines for speeding if there was not a problem with speeders, (I know we will all point the finger at 4 wheelers nice try I am not talking about them now) I have on more than one occasion gotten a Donation form handing to me for my failure to the posted speed limit. I have on more than one occasion failed to pre trip my truck and trailer, although I have never been put out of service for equipment or for log violations, ever.
Now I have been guilty of having more than one coloring book in my truck, but never been caught at it. I was lucky and also unlucky, My Pops, taught me how to drive he is from the old school, when a driver did what he had to do to get er done. Fuel was about 1.05 when I Started. Having more than 1 log book was a way of life, we ran hard, we ran long, and we #### sure ran fast. Like Pops, I came from the farm to the Open road, Grain, and combines to hauling short legged fat girls. Now Pops used to think if you needed more than a 4 hour nap you were a sissy (he was never that polite with me) but he also drove trucks that if they hit 70 they were hauling asg. As times changed so has trucking, trucks are bigger,trailers are longer not to mention there are more of them on the road.
The Methods of learning how to drive are different, many of you went to school watched movies, practiced backing in a "closed" environment, did a couple of hours on the road. Took a test a DMV or BMV and will soon or are out with a trainer or maybe on your own. Let me give you a small glimpse into how many of the "old" hands learned.

Growing up on a farm, or Dad was a driver, they showed an interest or were told "get your gear and get your butt in the truck boy!" from that point it was HELL.
My Pops, ran "HIS" truck with an IRON hand. I would be rolling down the road 60mph he was in the sleeper (we were in a 83 coffin over, he hauled livestock for the farm i had been shoveling hay, and pig crap for) I mash the throttle He would slap the hell out of me followed with " slow your asg down now boy".
I always wondered how in the hell he knew I was going faster being in the back, until it hit me he has been doing this since 62 except in 65-70 when he was over in Vietnam, but he knew what I was doing all the time.
When he sat up in the bunk on that doghouse he would teach me how to shift from the bunk funny as all get out, I can hear him now "let of the gas, shift up, get in it slow and easy boy) I used to shift hard and rock the hell out of the truck and trailer, he after a while got mad, miss a gear your dang knuckles would be hurting.
I eventually got it I learned to shift without missing, and learned that not rocking that trailer, was better for the four legged fat girls, and MY hands stopped hurting.
I spent almost 18 months driving him around before he told the Man we worked for that I could go out on my own, I was now what he called a Green hand ready to try and be a driver. I was 18 and my first license in Virginia was a Chauffeurs with a tri-fold card and separate picture shoved in a sleeve.
For the next 3 years every where I went my Pops, and Uncle were always with me one or both was in front or behind me, If I started flapping off on the CB whew this cussing I got would make a Sailor blush.
There was no such thing as getting caught, we never saw the scales, and HOME TIME when I did get home I never had time to spend my money, to busy sleeping or fixing my truck cause Pops said SO.

Now you School drivers have it made just pay attention to what you are doing, NEVER NEVER forget RULE #1 Run where you feel comfortable, no one else is driving that truck but YOU.

Now Back to PRE TRIP and POST TRIP,

Knowing your truck is safe better than "Guessing" it is.

15 minutes could be the difference between you making it home, or some innocent driver making it home. Think about it was that skipped PTI worth little Suzy's life, was it worth not being able to go home and see your Family again ?

I know I put things in some very harsh perspective's BUT This is Life and it is not a GAME. Believe this when I tell you, I am hoping that this Gets through to one person and helps them be a better driver, as I have MADE plenty of Mistakes, I had to go back to the Basic's I took Pop's with me on the Road and his old mean asg made me Remember WHY I am out here, and What I am supposed to be doing. I am his Son and to this Day I am not willing to talk back to him or tell him no. But he Bluntly told me that when he trained me to do this, He was duplicating himself, and He prayed to God that No one was following my example. That hurt me so Bad I made some serious Changes, and Now I am passing on to you all what I think could help make you a better driver.

 

Thank you for the compliment, it is nice to know that someone read all of that.
And I am glad someone detected the "brotherhood/sisterhood" in my posting, kinda funny thing about life, we all come from different back grounds, and geographically we come from different areas, as truckers we are a collective group of Americas finest, ( even with the not so good ones) I have taken a different outlook on life, and on trucking.

When I was young the farm was work, driving was part of the job, my free time was consumed with a strong affection for a 83 xlh 1000 Sportster ( biggest problem I had to put it all back together) which grew into a passion, then you know the rest of the story I work to ride. Which with its paths in life brought me to learn what Brotherhood is.
Also Being a Mason which is the oldest Fraternity in the World, has shown me Brotherhood like no other.

My one goal is to reunite today's truckers make us a stronger organization as a whole, bring us all to a point where we can stand for our rights as truckers. There are many Men and Women out here already fighting hard for our rights, I see on this forum where this one lady on here is Fighting the idle laws, I know many more fight behind the scene but if we are able to be a stronger, more informed group then we can stand behind those as a Group.
I know the old saying "no two truckers will ever agree" But is seems more and more we are agreeing on the same things. Just not on the solutions to the problems we have. ( this is another thread I will start)

When I am at home now or on vacation you will always find me and the Wife out on the Ultra somewhere besides home.
I take off at keys times of the year like May (Myrtle Beach) and we usually take a week sometime in the fall to take a long ride, the bike is Her shrink and mine too.

 

Also You might be Surprised HOW many Bikers are drivers, When I went to Myrtle Last year it was with a Group of Drivers I have met on the road over the years, guys from all over the US and Canada, WE had the most awesome time, formed friendships with bonds that can not be broken. Thankfully technology allows us to keep in touch quite often, we also communicate online and at least once a week several of us are able to meet up and have dinner. It is great and good times always, and right now I think several of them are waiting on me to make a decision on where I am going to drive and they will probably follow, there will be a group of us most likely about 8-10 of us.

 

If you do a search on my post you will find one that has my number in it, in the looking for jobs thing. GIve me a call chralb I will give you the names and numbers of some companies that will hire you out of school and not treat u like a turd.