Indian River

The short answer… Yes, they can and will keep you moving. I have no complaints about IRT. It’s been a great job and the best company I’ve worked for. Orientation is only a few days. 3,000 to 3,500 miles per week is a good average for OTR.

If you go back to the first page of this thread from when I started it in 2016, you can read the experience I’ve had working here over the last 6 years. I’ve tried to update it every handful of months.

There have been other drivers hire on such as Big Cat 2-3 years ago and Redtwin who have posted their experience and contributed to the thread as well. A lot of useful information has also been posted on here regarding which customers are drop/hooks, which ones allow overnight parking, which ones take it early, etc. that is beneficial for a new hire to know in order plan their trips and get in and out quicker, which in the end, increases their miles.

Hope it helps.
Larry H.

 

3352E6D7-0FF2-45DE-987B-0E38FAEF74FE by Tanker_82 posted Nov 11, 2022 at 5:32 AM

This is me and my rig with Mount Shasta in the background on the way to Spokane this evening. I’m headed to Salem, OR afterward to pick up cranberry juice that goes to Arcadia, FL. Hopefully the pic goes through. I don’t have much experience with uploading them other than the avatar.

 

Just wanted to put this on here…

If anyone hauls a load of orange juice from the Port of Wilmington, DE to a place called Alta Dena in City of Industry, CA you may end up at the wrong facility if you follow the address on the load assignment. Apparently, there are two plants.

I arrived at the address on the load assignment tonight. It had the appearance of a typical customer we go to, but when I checked in with the security guard at the gate he informed me: “You orange juice tankers go to the South plant.”

He was a younger guy and didn’t give the best directions, so I had to wing it on the fly and pretty much U turn out of the plant back onto the road without any time to regroup my navigation. I was blocking a busy gate with people lined up behind me. Bare in mind, this is in the Los Angeles area.

If this happens to you and they direct you to the other plant, navigate yourself to a place called MTC Inc at 17837 Rowland Street in City of Industry, CA. Once you’re there, go just a few truck lengths to the West on Rowland Street and turn South down a narrow road lined with trees. The security guard shack is about 50 yards down and hard to see from Rowland Street.

The younger guy at the first plant instructed me to Railroad Street. That was incorrect and led me to the backside of the plant where I encountered an abandoned gate. You have to come in from Rowland Street.

It’s a 24/7 drop/hook and they told me we can do our break here if needed.

Hope it helps.
Larry H.

 

One of the nice things about IRT is they have people in the shipping/receiving department who do everything for us at the facilities we go to. You can relax with a cup of coffee and watch hourly paid plant workers in the passenger mirror climb it for you. The other 75% of the time you’re just dropping and hooking. Dr Pepper in Arlington and maybe two others that I’ve been to have a no climb policy and ask us to open/close the dome lid for them. Although, you do have to climb up top to verify your seals. I snap pictures of them, then I compare the numbers with the paperwork once I’m back in the cab. We do have a pump division, but it’s not the majority of the fleet. My six year anniversary was yesterday, and I’ve never hooked up a hose or opened a valve anywhere I’ve been.