Starting at Schneider

Cherokee65 · Feb 12, 2025

Opus said: ↑

But the Schneider facility in W Memphis is secure and one of their best.
But W Memphis itself? Don't even slow down.
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That guy that cooks at W. Memphis…. He sure knows his way around a grill! Oh man is that food Good!!

Speedy356 · Feb 12, 2025

Opus said: ↑

But the Schneider facility in W Memphis is secure and one of their best.
But W Memphis itself? Don't even slow down.
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I’m just waiting to read a news story about someone getting booted while sitting at a stoplight in W. Memphis

IH Truck Guy · Feb 12, 2025

Cherokee65 · Feb 12, 2025

IH Truck Guy said: ↑

View attachment 545280

View attachment 545281
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Exactly!! Cool Truck! We had a 78 White/GMC Road Commode on the farm we used to haul grain to ADM in StL and Cargill north of Kansas City at Mound City. That old cab over would beat you to death! Then grandpa got a ‘81 KW W900 it was like night and day! 3406B & 13 Fuller, I miss that truck. They got on me in CDL school for floating and told me to double- That ain’t the way Grandpa taught me! Needlessly to say the next day I was in the automated. lol

Lonesome · Feb 12, 2025

Cherokee65 said: ↑

Exactly!! Cool Truck! We had a 78 White/GMC Road Commode on the farm we used to haul grain to ADM in StL and Cargill north of Kansas City at Mound City. That old cab over would beat you to death! Then grandpa got a ‘81 KW W900 it was like night and day! 3406B & 13 Fuller, I miss that truck. They got on me in CDL school for floating and told me to double- That ain’t the way Grandpa taught me! Needlessly to say the next day I was in the automated. lol
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First big rig I drove was a 79 Road Commander. 350 Cummins, with a 9 speed

wulfman75 · Feb 12, 2025

gentleroger said: ↑

Meant to post this on Sunday, but went and had fun instead.

The difference between guys who are successful OTR and those who quickly leave the industry is trip planning. Those who plan their work, and then work the plan make more money and have less stress because they use their time wisely and aren't constantly fighting to catch up. Those who effectively communicate their plans to Ops make more still - not because Ops plays favorites but because when a driver's eta and nat are accurate, it's easier to find freight that matches the driver's hours (which avoids sitting and waiting) and you generally get assigned earlier, which allows you to change your trip plan to either get more aggressive and knock down more miles or run easier to conserve time on your clocks.

I won't belabor the theory of trip planning - ask 10 drivers how to trip plan and you'll get 14 different methods that all get to roughly the same answer. The method is less important than the answer. Searching for threads with "trip planning" in the title will get you some good reading. If you have specific questions, ask and you'll get some good answers seasoned with a good deal of snark (this is TTR, snark is obligatory). Some less common thoughts/advice:

Do all your planning in Central Time, then make the adjustment for what ever timezone you're picking up/delivering. This way it matches up with your log book and it will avoid some confusion, especially for setting your alarm clock

Set all of your clocks to Central Time - particularly your cell phone. As you travel through central KY and TN, or western Indiana you may physically be in one time zone but your phone will be connected to a cell tower in the other. If it's just set to central, you never have to guess.

Write down your trip plans. ETA to pickup, where you plan to scale, where you plan to take breaks, where you plan to overnight, when you'll start your day, when you'll deliver. Then as the load progresses, recompute your etas/etc and write them down. When the load is done, write down what actually happened. Writing things down avoids having to do the same math over and over. It also allows you to compare what actually happened to the original plan. That allows you to identify how long it actually takes you at customers, to fuel, to get shut down, etc. You'll start understanding where/when you need to add an extra buffer in and when you can plan on hammering down.

For your intermediate breaks, have 3 different options written down BEFORE you start driving. Trying to find a truck stop while driving isn't a good idea. One of the dumb things I did in my first few weeks of driving was not plan out rest stops, which resulted in me peeing on the shoulder of exit 197, I-65, IN. That location means nothing to you, but every experienced driver reading understands there is a plethora of truck stops at exit 201. But I didn't know that, so I made a dumb choice. The reason you want three options is sometimes you'll be feeling good and not ready to stop, so pushing on a little further is a better choice. You'll also want to identify 'dead zones' like I-294 around Chicago - once you pass Gary there is no place to stop until you hit Wisconsin. There are the service plazas, but they were designed when trucks were a maximum of 55 feet long and before the 14 hour rule/elds. You will almost never be able to find a spot. Or I-55 between W Memphis and the MO border - yeah there are options but they're sketchy as heck.

Most of the time you'll be told to fuel at Pilot/Flying J, so that's where you'll have shower credits and where you're going to want to try and overnight.

You'll be told to plan 30 minutes for a drop/hook. You won't be able to do that, plan on an hour. Starting out, the physical act of dropping/hooking is going to take 30 minutes, if not longer. That's not counting interacting with the customer. When I did my 30 day safety review, the OSR advised me that I should have gone off duty while getting loaded to save on my 70. When I informed him it was a drop and hook, he didn't believe that it took me just under two hours. In hindsight, it's an easy customer. For a new driver it was a PITA. Back in by the guard, check in and get the trailer inspected. Drive over to shipping, back in, get paperwork. Drive to drop lot, back in, slide tandems, drop. Drive to loaded lot, hook, slide tandems. Drive to guard, check out. No big deal, right? Those easy backs were anything but easy for me because I was trying to force the tail of the trailer in by steering instead of watching the angle tractor to trailer and the tandems. Then I as I was sliding my tandems on my loaded trailer, I realized I didn't slide my tandems back on the empty, so I have to drop and go back to the empty lot, then return to the loaded lot, rehook, re-pre-trip, which I rushed because I was running behind and messed up. Then I messed up the computer work. It was an ordeal that I can remember it clearly 14 years later. If you plan an hour, and it takes 30 minutes - great you're running ahead and can bring up your etas or have a longer DOT break. If you plan 30 minutes and it takes an hour, now you're behind the eight ball and running hard. RUN SMART, NOT HARD.

Plan in a nap. Nothing says your 30 minute break has to be exactly 30 minutes. Plan on enough time to back in, use the restroom, take a nap, use the restroom/eat. Also nothing says you have to run on your 10. Most of my DOT breaks were 12 hours long. As long as you're meeting the customer's expectations, build in enough time to keep yourself fit.

Always look at the customer on the satelite view of google maps before you go. Identify the truck entrance and see how things are laid out.

Guards/clerks give the same instructions to drivers 100 times a day, 5 days a week. Practice 'active listening' with them - repeat back the instructions. This does two things. First it slows them down so you have a chance to catch up, second it allows them a chance to clarfiy/correct. They'd rather have you ask dumb questions than do dumb things.

Always check the paperwork. You never know who screwed up - you, Schneider, the broker, the shipper, the loader. Seal numbers are the most common mistake, but every state has a Springfield. Springfield MO and Springfield MA are one click apart on the computer screen, but 1,500 miles apart in the real world.

Most trailers you'll haul will start with "TA", which indicates a 53 foot dry van. EA means 53 foot reefer, SNLU is an intermodal container, HM are 48 foot heavy duty trailers, LA are lowes dedicated, LWA are lowes dedicated with roll doors, etc. Match both letters and all 6 numbers on the trailer. I cannot begin to explain how frustrating it is when some driver only matches the last 3 numbers and takes the wrong trailer. Or the trailer has the same numbers, just transposed.

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I too am a fan of the 12 hour break and my loads usually allow for this.

Cherokee65 · Feb 12, 2025

Lonesome said: ↑

First big rig I drove was a 79 Road Commander. 350 Cummins, with a 9 speed
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Same truck… That 900 tho… Rode much better, had more power and sounded better. We pulled a 40ft grain trailer with it. Pulled that thing around like it was a toy.

wulfman75 · Feb 12, 2025

Speedy356 said: ↑

Never thought I’d hear someone say W. Memphis was their favorite place!
Everybody I know avoids W. Memphis like the plague
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I usually parked at the casino rather than tje truckstops lol

austinmike · Feb 12, 2025

Best of Luck @Cherokee65 ! I’m up in the NEMO not too far from Hannibal.

Cherokee65 · Feb 12, 2025

austinmike said: ↑

Best of Luck @Cherokee65 ! I’m up in the NEMO not too far from Hannibal.
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Thank you!! Some of my family was from Hannibal- Palmyra area. Wife and I go to MT Lake every chance we get. We were up there about 4 weeks ago.

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