Joe & Tow's new trucking adventures/ex GTI thread

Get that dirty JBS truck washed shame on you LOL

 

Well..it has been nearly a year since leaving Gordonland and i can honestly say that there has never been one single second where i regretted my decision.

i have read the exploits of several others who have decided they would try them but all have been quite disappointed.

i have been contacted on two occasions to attempt to get me to return but i politely declined.

in my opinion they no longer have anything to offer an experienced driver and they have now fallen into the category of the swifts and cr englands of this industry.

i like where i am right now but should this company and i no longer see eye to eye then i believe my time as a company driver will be over..

never thought i would ever say it but schneiders choice lease program has a certain appeal to me and has made its way to the top of my list for plan B...

hopefully it wont come to that but all these companies are starting to look the same for the most part. Just different color trucks....

 

I've looked at Schneider's Choice because of the freedom, challenge and flexibility. I'm just not sure I am in this long enough to want to own a truck.

 

They do a 1yr lease to try it...

 

I am with you DD...plus the insurance and such....lot to think about...

i have managed several businesses before and i know you are married to it once you start.

 

The "stepping out of ones comfort zone" part of it - like not having a dispatcher/planner team to arrange for your next run - is part of the challenge for me. Schneider Choice doesn't even have a dispatchers, so that's even more challenging. It's really like having your own authority; a neighbor of mine learned that's a very cool thing, but is much harder than it looks. He no longer owns the truck, is no longer a neighbor, and HUD now owns his home...

 

As we are in a reflective mood right now, been almost a year since I quit Gordon and I have not regretted one second of it. While Holland are not the 'promised land' of trucking they are a great fit for me I drove (note the word drove not obviously all paid for!!! But that of course is the industry....we do get paid 'practical' though and not HHG.) over 126,000 miles in the year of 2014 almost all of it for Holland and most of it in the 10 months of 2014 I was at Holland. I do not intend on going anywhere soon, and the only thing at this point that would make me move is if they rescinded their pet policy - not withstanding of course my pup biting another mechanic of course!

I love the almost complete lack of micro management, the dispatchers are approachable and knowledgeable. Long coast to coast runs achievable bonuses decent equipment well maintained and a strong safety ethos makes for a decent less stressed workplace. They get me home for the most part when I need to (never easy with a genuine long haul operation).

Negatives, of course there are but not a whole legion of them. Not having 24-7 dispatchers can be a pain but the emergency line IS manned on off hours and they have been of help before. When going home you do often get a a few swaps but not a biggie. Being a reefer company there are also many late late and early early deliveries. But these are minor gripes rather than major problems. This is the first carrier I have worked for that I have NOT seriously considered moving on after less than a year - with close to 9 years and a million miles.

The immediate future? Here at Holland for definite. The long term future? Depends on me getting my blood sugar under good control before my next physical comes up. I am under no illusions about that now, after waking the other day to a FASTING blood sugar level over 300 I decided I should take it in hand and deal with it once and for all. It's not going to be easy as I have lived most of my life eating the things I love that are worst things possible for a Low Carb diet...bread and potatoes!!!! It is slowly coming under control but it will be an uphill task that's for sure!

I am definitely happy here at Holland and have no plans to move on anywhere now or in the foreseeable future!

 

Sometimes a medical condition needs medication, sometimes more. I'm dealing with that at this inopportune time; my left knee has developed some pain and a bubble of some kind. I'm hoping just medication will suffice, but I know enough about human (aging) physiology to think a replacement might also be indicated. And being my left knee, that would probably put any trucking company with a clutch out of play.

TransAm, Averritt, here I come?? Tuesday will tell...

 

Well time to let the cat out.

Been leased to the current company for 2 years first week of Feb. A bunch of little things have changed so that I am not content. So I put feelers out and did some research/talking.

Will be changing carriers to Landstar around the end of this month. Self dispatching is a stress point. My wife has chosen to take on responsibility for bird-dogging the load board. Will do dry van for a little bit to get a change from refer.

 

They conned me into an East coast fleet run.... Just escaped PA. Considered pinging Joe but wasn't sure how exiled or where he was.

Dropping Cinci-tuky in the a.m. then a midnight load headed for So-Cal.