Ah, finally leaving the big blue screw....

Problem is...after i spent 8 hours returning werner's truck to them, i really do not want to work anywhere that doesnt have a terminal near me. No matter where i go, i aint staying for everrrrrrr most likely. Detroit aint near me. But uhm, do they have terminal type places over in chicagoland?

Anyway i'll keep it in mind if qc dont work out. But its looking like its a done deal and im in, and it'll be great to do something new and different..and something that will keep me on my toes..hehehe.

What did you do to get fired?

 

Ah. That's the same thing i'll be doing at QC. I've always wondered where this stay out forever malarky came from and why people think its neccessary..

 

Well, I understand that, except in the cases of very small companies like the one i'll be working for, where it's easier to deal with/find/satisfy customers in the local area.

I'm willing to stay out 14 days. Hell, sometimes at werner i was staying out 3 to 4 weeks, by my own choice. But, 1 day off a week? The way werner planned loads, i would be sooo tired i'd want to sleep most of that day. The whole taking more than one 10 hour break for less than 10 hours of driving thing.

And then when i come on this forum and say something about it....someone tells me that freight has to be delivered and it doesnt get there if someone is at home...when i never suggested i dont want to stay out..i just think life should be more than work.

 

That's the impression you gave me on your earlier post, but you've seen the people I was referring to on here.

I actually made attempts to get in the office at werner. I would have totally moved to omaha for it. It bugs me how the office folks get treated so much better than us. What the hell is wrong with this world? In 5 days i might work up to 80 hours! And since i'm not coming home...i deserve a little time at home.

And one of the things werner did, well, obviously you don't get paid for being home. But the pay should be enough that you can go home without...pain in your wallet. I shouldn't have to save up money for weeks before i go home.

Straight seniority, eh? Screw that. If you've been with a company for 20 years but don't do your job right, and I've been there 2 years and do it perfectly.......then im still gonna get paid less than the screw up? Even walmart stores are smarter than that

My dispatcher only took a week vacation. Didn't even tell me he was goin on vacation, wtf? I guess he doesn't like sending fleetwides.

Of course, might not be the only vacation he took..

I can get paid by mile or percentage, my choice. If i want to get paid by the mile its 35 CPM, and i can get 23% of gross on percentage. Plus there's layover pay after 1 day without a load (paid at 8 hours a day), and detention pay after...with most customers its 2 hours, which are free, but some of them are stricter...like there's one in particular that was mentioned to me, thats in detention after 1 hour, and they have to pay that hour as well... Hourly was...iirc, $18 an hour to start out.

And as far as the percentage thing goes, they said if i'm not sure I can switch if i'm not happy with it, but if i want to switch back i have to wait til the end of the year. I was figuring i'd start on percentage.

I talked to a driver about the percentage, the one that gave me the road test, and he told me he's on milage...because of deadhead miles. You get paid the same empty or loaded on milage, but only paid on loaded miles on percentage....but at a higher rate. He doesn't think it matters which one you choose, and that you end up making the same amount, and he gave me the impression that it was just a gimmick to make drivers happy either way..lol.

48' tank? I was told these were 40s. They sure back up a lot easier than anything i've ever driven, even those oooollld green dollar general trailers...I think those were 45s....i dont remember! I'm not talking about the 48s, cause they had green 48s too. The sucky part was that the length makes a huuuge difference on driving it, but they weren't actually marked for the length unless they were 53...and even a lot of those werent marked, stickers got scraped off.

they gave us a list of trailer numbers and their lengths..i dont remember any of them now, except all the new ones are 53'. And they'd have stores that clearly had in their notes "48 ONLY", and they'd send you in a 53....wtf? jerks!!!

I think they have 57' DG trailers too, i saw a picture of a rolled over one that sure looked like the tandems were up too far for a normal trailer....

 

I never measured one either but i asked the boss man.

i remember backing it up on the road test though....i pulled into the yard, and he told me, ok, just put it there. i think to myself in four letter words. No possible way im going to get it in there. I start backing up, and yep, its definitely not going in! I get out and look, and i see that the wheels are going to track perfectly into the hole. I think to myself..what the hell?!?!

I had to do three pull ups, and it was in after the first pull up...the last two were just to get it closer to another trailer so there was room for one on the other side. But, i was looking in the mirror and i saw a trailer that was going to hit the one next to it.

So I take it that the short trailer and stretched out tractor and different shaped trailer just made the angles not look right to me when i looked out the window/in my mirror....weirdest feeling i've ever had though.

And actually, now that i think of it, I've never pulled anything between a 48' van with a liftgate and a 19' boat. Never pulled the oooold DG trailers...just 48 and 53...