Even flipping burgers pays more

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by Diantane, Oct 2, 2017.

  1. Diantane

    Diantane Light Load Member

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    Left home on Tuesday (West Virginia) with a company paid rental car. Drove to Columbus, OH for a class. Then to Clarksville, TN to pick up a tractor. It was last driven by a heavy smoker (never smoked) and I refused to drive it. They sent me to West Memphis, AR to to look at another tractor. Same problem (only 17% of the people in the US smoke and 90% of them must be truckers). The company gets fed up and told me to go home. On my own I go see the Operations Manager at that terminal and explain my situation. She says that she has a KW t660 available. It was also a smoker's truck, but cherry flavored cigars. That I could deal with.

    But now they had to train me to drive this automated truck even though my last six used the same type of transmission. Had to wait until Saturday, but they didn't have time and the instructor would be off on Monday. Spoke with another guy and asked if it was any different from a 18 speed KW except the auto. He said they were the same. Told him I could handle it and left.

    Here it is Monday and all I did was bobtail 26 miles away to get an empty trailer (no empties there), wait an hour and bobtaiil back to the terminal. Told to wait for an empty to come in. Took three hours.

    Except for the 52 miles of bobtailing, I didn't get paid a thing all week. Even flipping burgers pays more.

    Normally I get paid $600 a week (60 hours). So $10 an hour ($0.39 per mile 2500 to 3000 miles a week). I just don't see the big money in over the road trucking. Haven't made this little money since working at Hardee's.
     
    Last edited: Oct 2, 2017
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  3. ZVar

    ZVar Road Train Member

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    Or you could go to a company that has freight waitibg and will get you in a truck.
     
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  4. pattyj

    pattyj Road Train Member

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    You got a sample of what's yet to come.
     
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  5. ChaoSS

    ChaoSS Road Train Member

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    Trucks air out quickly. Get a truck, open the windows, and roll. Or you could be s prima donna and refuse to work them whine that you don't get paid.
     
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  6. hoosiergirl

    hoosiergirl Light Load Member

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    Pick the right company. DH is new, 4 weeks out of training and hasn't sat at all. They have him preplanned for his next load before he bumps the dock on his current load.

    As for $$? Well, he's making almost twice what he made at the foundry and it's a hell of a lot easier.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 2, 2017
    Reason for edit: Fixed quote
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  7. 48Packard

    48Packard Ol' Two-stop Shag!

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    The last company truck I was assigned smelled strongly of smoke. I did several things.
    First, I wiped down all the vinyl surfaces. I paid special attention to the curtains as they're often folded up. I also vacuumed the upholstery.

    Finally, I aired it out as much as I could. It was about this time of year, so AC wasn't always needed. I believed also had the shop change the cabin air filter.

    Inside of about ten days, you could barely notice any smoke smell.

    Good luck.
     
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  8. Moosetek13

    Moosetek13 Road Train Member

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    No, you simply had a bad experience.
    I've had those as well, but it isn't normally like that. Well, not at my company. I'm not sure who you work for or how things normally work there.

    And that $10 x 60 = $600 per week isn't that good. You should easily do twice that driving a truck, even if you are a bit lazy like me.

    And how can you work at Hardee's 60 hours a week and only make $600?
    20 hours of that should be at 1.5x = $15 per hour.

    $0.39 per mile 2500 to 3000 miles a week equals $975 - 1170.
     
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  9. Diantane

    Diantane Light Load Member

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    Alderson, WV
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    I have sleep apnea. As Chaoss said. I once took a heavy smokers tractor from Florida to New Hampshire and back. It killed my $1,700 CPAP machine. Had to throw it in the garbage. They didn't have a non smokers truck, so I quit.
     
  10. Moosetek13

    Moosetek13 Road Train Member

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    Really?
    Odors kill CPAP machines?

    I'm presuming there are plenty of CPAP users that also smoke in the truck.
    Do they have to replace their machine every week or something?
     
  11. 48Packard

    48Packard Ol' Two-stop Shag!

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    I've been on CPAP for ten years as of this month. Unless you're blowing smoke directly into the thing, it shouldn't get ruined by the ambient air.
     
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