New york city!

First: I have been. It's all common sense and utilizing all tools at your disposal. Yes, traffic in Chicago is some of the worst in the country, but it's like anything else. You know it's there, you know it's going to happen, so kick back, turn on the comedy channel and relax. No big deal. I love Chicago because it has a happy feel to it. No, I can't be any less vague than that. I go into the city in a crappy mood and come out feeling pretty good. It has good energy. I just can't explain it any better.
Regarding the "dangerous areas" ....yes, there are a few bad areas, like any big city. It's no different in that regard. Again, it boils down to common sense. If you're in one of those areas, just stay your butt inside your locked truck. If someone knocks on your door, be sure who it is before answering it. If your shipper is calling you on your radio or phone and you are that afraid, don't answer the door at all. Even "bad" areas of town don't bother me. I know the majority of people in any area, regardless of ethnicity, are decent people. I look for them while being aware of the criminal element. Even most criminals have a decent streak in them and if you show them some respect, are more inclined to leave you alone. If you show fear, you make yourself a target.


Second: You have been OTR for barely over a year yourself. I don't see any chest beating going on here.

You should actually talk to Joker about his previous career. I know what he did before and I know some of the situations someone in that profession can find him- or herself in. I also am pretty confident he will be able to handle himself in NYC. He is absolutely right, though. There are unpleasant parts of every job you can think of. I can't tell you the number of times I ended up with other people's bodily fluids on my own skin as an EMT/Firefighter. Like that time I was picked to go through that bathroom window on a welfare check because I was the smallest one there and would fit. Bathroom window was right over the tub. Which was the very place our subject chose to pass into the next world. I was already over halfway in through the window before I could holler for the guys to stop pushing and pull me out. One last mighty heave and my fate was determined. Yep....I landed right on top of our subject. Who had been deceased for about three days. Pleasant? No. Absolutely not. Did I refuse to go on another welfare check? No. Because it was part of the job. Did I learn from it? You betcha. I was never blindly shoved through any opening again.

Just because someone is learning or new does not mean they have nothing to offer. Quite honestly, I would put more stock in what OldGoatie has to say than you. He's at least honest about his OTR experience, he has surrounded himself with people with vast years of experience, does not act like he knows it all, speaks only of things he knows and is willing to listen to anyone with different rather than simply more experience.

And how do you think that day-cab driver got that gravy job? Daddy connected to the Mob? I highly doubt that. I suspect he put his lumps in and worked his way to it. Those day-cab guys know the dimensions of our vehicles and will do everything they can in most cases to get you on your way safely. If you're blocking the road, it's their time wasted, too, waiting for you to clear it. I think I'll put some stock in him as well.

That "wannabe" you're referring to, from what I've been able to gather, was a driver himself. He is now in a position within a company wherein he doesn't have to get dirty or be away from his family. He has resources at his fingertips that can directly benefit you if you get in a pickle. I'm thinking he might be someone to have on your side.

The only "chest beating" I see is from someone who claims 9 years of experience, yet just finished with his mentor one year ago. Sure, you ran local and occasionally regional. I'm not discounting that. But local and regional is not OTR. It really doesn't matter what you hauled or what insane hours you ran it with various substances running through your bloodstream. Local is not OTR, as you so succinctly point out to the day-cab guy in your own statement..

Do I go to NYC? Haven't been there in months. Am I afraid to go? No. Just careful when I do. New Yorkers are a different breed. My experience is, most of them are great folks with an awesome sense of humor who aren't afraid to laugh at themselves...and who will help if you really need it. Most of what you hear about New York City and New Yorkers is myth.

 

You can go to the NYC DOT website and they will send you a truck route map of the city. I drove there six days a week for the past 9 months. You get used to it after a while. In NYC most bridges are a 12 inches higher than posted. When heading west on 278 from 87 you have a truck detour and the first thing you see is a bridge that says 12' 6". The thime you have a problem is if the bridge is posted as "actual".

You are right, NYC drivers won't give you a chance, some of the dumbest drivers I have seen. You can't be to passive in you driving or to aggressive. As youo drive there you will find the right balance and if will not bother you as much. Just keep cool and watch out for the other drivers.

 

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/motorist/trucks.shtml

Ok I've posted this before but couldn't find it--everything you need to know about NYC from NYC DOT w/links to truck routes laws etc!

OK now--although I'd love to see these I AINT GOING TO NYC threads DIE--I know they won't--
So from someone who has been doing reefer LTL there at least monthly if not more--since b4 alot of you were born--95% of what you here is BS and the other 5% needs to be taken with a grain of salt--
I rarely get involved anymore but every once in a while when I've heard enough T/S BS--I call someone on it--and guess what??--99% of the time a few quick questions I can assertain and then prove they have never even been there!
As for all you new drivers out there--maybe it is time someone was really really honest with you about this business!!
So here goes--freight comes from and goes to where the PEOPLE are--guess what--that means cities--almost every major city in this country is: congested--overcrowded--has ridiculously high property costs--which leads commercial ventures to pack as much into as small an area as possible--therefore smaller whse's--tighter docks etc....If you are going to truck--especially as a new driver for a big carrier--expect to spend a fair amount of time in major cities--It is just that simple--No one is really any worse than any other--I could sit here all day and talk about PITA drops almost anywhere--besides you are just as apt to end up at some new small business out in BFE that had no clue about trucks--that you have to blindside off the 2lane road with traffic--inside the bldg--at a farm supply in North Dakota--So stop making such a big deal about it--it comes with the territory--
As for me I'd rather work my way in a loading dock--inside a building in NYC with heavy traffic--then try to find a safe parking space at most any truckstop I pull into and the take my life in my hands walking into the building!!!
So just relax--take it in stride--understand it is a part of any day's work--and it will all work out!
Just my $.02

 

Well Injun once again you want to have a personal pissing contest with me. Day cabs have a lot less wheel base turn shorter etc.

Didn't claim that I am on OTR pro. Fact remains swift gives you the option of not running those areas. I took it. Call me a wimp, etc. I chose not to go there. All the tactics of the planners or DM's won't work.

Crawling through a bath room window is not driving into an area with gang activity and people that specialize in ripping off unarmed truckers. Gun shot wounds don't wash off. Stinky corpses do.

I can talk about crawling out on crane booms 34 stories up in the air and not have a thing to do with driving a truck. I didn't have to do it, it was my choice. It was out of my "comfort zone." I weighed my options and chose to do it. "I just say NO" to NYC.

Why chastise the OP?

Give it a break.

 

You passed a pick up in Elizabeth? A load to get you out of the area? How can you assume Elizabeth is as bad or worse than any place else?

Elizabeth has an Industrial area just East of the Newark airport/East of I-95...wide open for big rigs, and the adjacent area is nothing different than any other port area in the country. The regular shippers that Swift has had out of Elizabeth are easy to get to, easy to negotiate, and easy to find...with plenty of room and very little restricted roads. but you would have to at least try it once to find out for yourself.

That is a big problem out there...especially for the new driver...too many BS stories about NYC and Jersey....thugs jumping up on the running boards and putting a gun in your face to hijack you, while the truck is moving along the road....and even dumber stories beyond that BS.

I had a student once and we were given a dispatch to P/U a place right next to Fed-Ex on the Newark airport ring road....we circled that airport for an hour...kept missing the little street access to the shippers address...we could see the building, we could see Fed-Ex....and they both saw us...brother did they see us...they were all sitting on the dock watching us circle and circle and circle. Finally discovered the little road...a couple of the dock workers won the pool they started for how many circles we would go before finding the way! We all had a good laugh...especially my student...since I was driving...and he still today, 10 years later asks if I got my load on time from Jersey!

You need to try it once before you say it shouldn't be done!

 

Out of your comfort zone is just that. You don't have to pull it.

 

Well if you want to gain the kind of reputation that says you're the kind of person that's going to balk when asked to do something that you don't like then go ahead. It will catch up to you one way or another. As said earlier by other posters, you'll need to go to certain places when freight needs to go there. Would you like to be known as a driver that can be counted on to get the job done when asked or the driver that's going to whine when asked to do something out of their "comfort zone"?

Also there are gangs all over America and everywhere else. Even in what many consider to be the nicest cities or towns there is crime and gang activity going on.

 

Well Joker, my miles haven't suffered. I have no service failures, no preventables, and no run in with customers.

Please post your experiences when you get out of school.

I have "done favors" in the past in many different vocations. Usually all it got me was them asking for more never returning the favor. Chances are in this big corp they won't remember or care. I have yet to have any conversation with my terminal manager Don't know what he looks like.

I turned one down once going into NY. I asked for them to back it up. They just pulled the PP. Funny thing is 1 hour later I got a 780mi dead head order.

My experience so far has been they throw the shorties out. When you don't bite then they pull the longer runs out.

I had one they sent that my HOS wouldn't leave me enough time to get out of there legally. 2 stops live unloads at Home Depots. No truck stops in that area. Real close to NYC.

I worked for 2 days in crack head central in downtown Nashville. My hgelper laid out on me. I went, surveyed the situation. It had a fenced in yard. I went back to the store with my measurements cut the rug loaded it all up. Went home got 4 friends. My 2 dogs. One was a Rott/Dobie mix. grabbed my Smith and Wesson pistol with plenty of ammo. Turned the dogs loose in the yard and spent 2 days doing the job myself.

The bad guys and others left my pups alone.

You make your choices and I'll make mine.

Why not stay on topic? The OP's original question was answered a long time ago.

They day may come when a planner wants to pay me back. In the mean time? I'll do my thing the way I do it.

I put myself on the 48 for a while. I was preferring to go out West. They still gave me the same ol-same-ol. Then they came out with the forced dispatch message. I promptly sent a message to my DM to pull me off the 48. Still got a California run right after that. I took it.

Many say "those people in CA can starve, I ain't going out there!" Too each their own.

BTW I have done my fair share of work in bad parts of town. One it was looking like a show down in the street 4 against 3. We had carpet knifes. They had.........???????? They made a choice to keep walking. Later in the day once they got liquored up and stoned? Sun going down? It might have been a different story.

 

I was on topic. It's all about attitude.

 

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