The few guys that got..."lucky"

Knowing the right people or living in the right area helps. You need to have a good head on your shoulders and a solid work ethic but location and luck and networking are important.

 

Young men who grew up on farms or around trucks who were driving when they were teenagers locally or around the farm have a better grip on the job than someone who has never driven anything without an automatic transmission.

 

So u are hoping to get a gravy job

 

Being at the right place at the right time.

 

Mmmmmmmm, gravy

 

Speaking of gravy..

 

Not heavy haul.

If I surveyed the entire trucking I have ever done in my lifetime I would have gone straight into Medicine at McKesson. The payroll takes care of itself, there is no BS in the docks and you have to have a prey mentality because Memphis is full of predators that will kill you for the fentenyal and other narcotics approaching a million plus in value inside that unmarked truck. No lumping, no live anything. Drop, hook, tie in trailer to it's second qualcomm and once "It's alive" to the bosses assigned to monitoring your trip you are good to go. Once at DC in say Detriot, those medicines are out in 10 minutes, bills are signed and walked to your cab while waste cardboard goes right back to memphis.

You don't even talk to dispatch. Now 9-11 was a very exceptional day we were in touch with them live by both satellite and phone for about 7 hours while they arranged for special multimillion load of medicine going to Connecticut, which is a facility that handles the entire east coast that now has a CRYING NEED for medicines for thousands hurt.

We were allowed a certain number of hours in a chosen safe haven away from any target that morning and when things started to calm down after the collapse of the WTC7 we were on the move having rested and ate quite a bit. (Last meal and all that prior to going across the GWB as a team)

Then we found out that the payroll people were destroyed in the attacks. So we can either go to unemployment office for a couple of months at 200 a week each until they call us back or we can continue trucking on our money in the bank. Since we had over 14000 saved, we kept going running medicines. It was 6 weeks before we were paid again. That's one truck and team Bin Laden and his attackers did not stop. (**(PPPBTH.. NYAH NYAH NYAH)

We pretty much got that money back and then some. No problems.

Now we had loads now and then that are FUN, paid a huge disgusting amount of money for the one time run etc. But those are not the kind of employers that will hire us on. We did have many groceries, cold storages etc that are truly and seriously crappy. We were mistreated, paid badly and kicked around like a dog sometimes. Sometimes we got hurt bad enough to be shipped to trauma. Sometimes people died when we tried to help some of them. Not everyone is going to get through trucking in one piece after a certain amount of time. And that includes a accumulating mental damage. For me it's literally too much ice. I don't mind her sliding around a little bit it's expected. But the stupid 4 wheelers CONSTANTLY putting themselves next to me and my 40 tons that can crush them sooo easily... I almost need a PA address speaker to hollar at them to move the #### away from there before they get crushed. I get so angry.

That one of the big reasons I don't drive anymore other than the medical issues built up over time. I get too angry at stupid common things people do. angry enough maybe not to do anything at all and let them kill themselves under my wheels. Whoops what a mess. So solly.

You follow me?

Not everyone is going to get through this without some sort of price.

On the other hand you will NEVER catch me in a cubicle yelling at a stupid lazy driver who has been lazy again for the 8th time with my boss telling me to fire his ###. If anyone is going to make decisions, it will be me. Obviously I should have fired him the second time he was late and ended the problem pernmantely. But I am such a softie inside at heart. I give second, third, forth chances...

 

Mythbuster: Putting your time in at a mega.

The vast majority follow the path of least resistance. They sign up for a driving school, meet a recruiter, drop their underpants and allow the recruiter to inject sunshine in Uranus. They consider themselves educated because they have watched hours and hours of YouTube videos of idiots that videotape themselves on camera. Then they join TTR and tell everyone how they’ve done their research and they have to choose between CR England and Werner. 10000 trucking companies and this is what your research leads up to?

There were some, however, that didn’t take the path of least resistance. They actually went out and beat the bushes and found a better job. Luck? A MAN makes his own luck. If you want local, start local. If you want to roam the planet, roam the planet. Don’t think for 1 minute that you’re going to luck upon a good gig. Doesn’t happen. You want it? Go dig for it. Most of you have never done anything difficult in life, and so beating the bushes for a good job requires way too much effort for you. Just go to school, drop your pants and wait for the recruiter. The sunshine injection in Uranus may even tickle. Be sure to giggle, because that’s the best part of it. After that, you will be shat upon.

“Hey Six, what about those dedicated gigs? Those are pretty good, right?”

Riiiigght. They have thousands of drivers and you’re fresh out of school, and they tell you about their dedicated accounts like you’re special. Wow, that sunshine injection really got to you. You’re thinking, “dedicated account. I won’t get lost. I will know the places. No surprises. An easier path! Sign me up!”
And when you have 3 incidents and you get fired, you will come back here asking about a second chances. Or, you realize how incredibly crappy your job is, and you come back here asking if you quit Moron Trucking if they can take your CDL. And you will go to the next loser company. And the next. Until you make a big announcement that you are quitting the business because “the whole business is crap.”

Or, you can take a drive down the US highways and look for local and regional companies and see what they require.

“But Six, you need a year minimum at most places. Insurance!”

To be hired as a driver. Not to get into a warehouse. Get your foot in the door and then try to get into a truck.

“How long will that take, Six?”

A much shorter time than joining the mega carrier circus being a clown. I was in the warehouse for a month. Never rode with a trainer. They let me use the trucks and practice backing.