Arnold/US Xpress truck stolen=driver terminated

They probably charge to park because they have to pay taxes on that property! Would you let someone park their equipment on your yard or pasture?

You're a rookie but when you start doing big cities and pull to the curb and there are parking meters I hope you "feed" them! That's the same thing. I've done it more than once!

Pay to park is fair!

Yes it's free at most truck stops and some figure if you buy fuel at a certain amount you get to park for "free" and even get a shower! How much do we think an acre of asphalt cost? If it was yours how would you handle the situation?

I paid to park at a pay to park lot here in town and it was well worth it! A 24 hour guard for 45 a month! I used it twice a month as that company got you home every 2 weeks no matter what!

I'll pay to secure that truck as even if it's not a high value load it's still a load that I'm responsible for!

But to leave even an MT trailer and tractor on a non secured liot which ALL Truck Stops are is a gamble! Security is not that hard to slow down a thief. They do NOT want to be having to work so hard at stealing that unit!
Dash brake covers,
glad hand locks
knuckle locks
landing gear lock (I'll explain in a bit)
brake rod lock
and even one of those screaming door protectors for use in a motel which will work on the truck!

The landing gear lock is a homemade lock. The parts can be bought at the local big box home improvement store or a hardware store.

It consists of 2-3" of 1 1/2 or 2" chain
1 heavy duty pad lock
When you park dolly the landing gear down till they touch AND turn several times to put a little weight on them. Take the chain and wrap it around the gear and then lock it Just don't just wrap it but guide it through the gussets of the gear and then wrap it around the handle and make the low life have to work to get it off. That will draw some attention which a thief does NOT want!
OR
In your took bag or box you have a can of WD-40 or simular lube, 1/2" combination wrench, a 9/16" a cresent wrench either 6"or 8" or bigger, you should have a few 1 1/2 long by I believe 1/4 -1/2 inch bolts and nuts or what ever size that might be used by your brand of trailer and I'm talking about the bolt that holds the crank handle on. Remove it after the landing gear is in place and you just made easy money for the scum bag a hard market!

I mentioned "brake rod lock" didn't I and even some of the old timers are scratching their heads! If you do the remove the dolly handle as part of your security measures take the chain and lock back to the trailer or the tractor (I'd do the tractor if you leave it hooked) and on a parking brake (ask if you don't know what the parking brakes look like! They are the ones that have the big air chamber.) Most cheap companies order tractors with no parking brakes on the steers and one axle so that should give you a hint to look at and compare, they even only have them on one set of axles!which has been set you wrap the chain around the rod so that when or if the thief gets into the tractor and tries to release the brakes one will stay locked and makes his life harder! Now if you were to do it to both axles then ole scumbag is really having a bad day!

I explained in an earlier post about a knuckle lock.This is a solid piece of metal that goes onto the knuckle on the steering column. The wheel will not turn so stealing the truck that's hooked to a trailer is going down hill! You can also get a cheap master lock with the 2" lock on it and run it through the knuckle.

The dash locks for the brake knobs can be bought at The Iowa 80 and I think at the Petro at Joplin or at a few other stops or order on line like this one http://www.cargotrailerlocks.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=16 but there are also some that have a key so that every time you set the brakes you have to use a key to unlock it! It's up in the over $100 range but for an O/O or a dedicated to the company driver it could be a life saver not to mention a money saver for the company.

The glad hand one is a PITA as yeah they can unscrew the glad hand and put theirs on it there i really no way to secure a trailer that way. You can slow them down by removing the hand off the airlines after removing the glad hand on the trailer or just remove the air lines and make it even harder on them!

The big money way is to go get your own key less entry thing from Best Buy or other stores that install them. You know how truckers look towards a horn that keeps blaring just to watch a hood get torn off but that horn or screaming meanie in the truck will get some attention which we all know by now a theft does not want! Yes, it can be removed to your next truck if you want! There is nothing like a keyless key!

 

Well, tired of talkin to a fence post but would love to see a pic of a parking meter for a semi the next time ur in the big city!! Hahaha!!

 

It's not a special one for a truck you dolt. You have to feed everyone your truck is in front of.

 

I work for usxpress. They don't send you on home time while you are under a load and you are required to park your truck at a secure location if the load will be unattenred. If it was your truck and your company, would you let your drivers leave a loaded trailer at a truck stop? And didn't I buy some shoes from you recently on ebay?

 

It's called feeding the 5-7 meters along the spot you parked at! Yep that's money you can't file on your taxes but it's a heck of a lot cheaper than the tickets! Especially if this is where you want to be to go catch a show or a nice resturant or visit a "friends" home. I've done it more times than I can count but yep when it was $.10- $.25 for an hour or two a handful of dimes or quarters was well worth it!
Hint: Denver is real strict about even parking a bobtail tractor in some areas and just paying for one meter instaed of the two will get you a ticket! The last one I paid in Denver cost me $10 but the one in the Bronx for 3 was $90! I'll stuff quarters into as many meters as I have to as it's way cheaper! Unless what I want to do is close the subway and bus lines! Then I park for free!

 

I am thinking a worker at the truck stop was in on the theft! just my 2cents!

 

I'd be checking with a good Lawyer that seems like unfair dismissal to me they should not let anyone go home and expect them to look out for a loaded truck you sure got a bum steer there buddy.

 

Although I agree the guy may have violated company policy.... there is NO FRIKKIN WAY ON EARTH, with all the satellite tracking equipment, that his company didn't know EXACTLY where the truck was and what was in it. DM, FM, terminal manager... somebody gave him permission to be there. Said it was a regular occurence.

 

Question is, how long had the truck been missing when you found it? For all the companies I have worked for there is a rule to check your truck no less than twice a day....

 

Here is the problem with these types of situations. Often times there is a policy that states that the driver is responsible for securing a safe place to park the truck and trailer during home time. However nobody in the office actually authorizes it, or even follows up on the location. The blame in these types of situation is typically dumped back on the driver and all of a sudden everyone becomes really familiar with the company policies that they didn't care about last week.

As far as the tracking goes, it's easy to stop the satellite from updating it's position. It can get a little more tricky if the trailer also has a tracking system, but it can be done. Technology is little more than a tool to make things easier. Once the bad guys learn how to counteract the technology stealing gets easy.