Am I a bad driver? or just bad decision maker?

Where do you live?

 

I can't speak from experience but suggest that you lay out your priorities here and maybe some of the members can help you to pick what type of job would most benefit you.

I'm interested in short term money with long term career potential so I'm interested in oilfield work. Seems like with everything you've had happen you need to be home so should look for a local gig. If you have been doing lease programs I don't think that's for you right now until at least your life is more stable.

I'm really sorry for your loss and I think most if all here will not understand how hard that is I know I can't possibly understand it. I hope everything turns around for you.

 

Almost everytime I went out in a truck for the first 2 years the truck broke down. It never failed. The very first time out in a truck I broke down in every state from Indiana to Colorado on the same trip. It happens. Sometimes the trucks run good. Other times your doing all you can just to get one more mile down the road. That's life.

My uncle drove an old frieghtliner with a tanker for more years than I am old. His company kept screwing him over on things. He finnaly had enough and quit. He has been driving a concrete truck for the last ten years and he loves it. It took him that long to realize that there are other good jobs out there if you are willing to adapt to them.

 

The grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence, but when you get there, you are the new guy and low man on the totem pole. You need to stay someplace long enuff to pay your dues with them so that you can run the way you think you deserve.

 

I'm sorry for your loss. I can't imagine how hard it is losing a child. It is hard enough losing a parent. You have certainly had more than your share of bad luck.

Unfortunately, you have most likely made a portion of it. You say you have had all these break downs. While I'm sure that was your perception, how many of these breakdowns could you have just toughed it out and ran? Just answer that question to yourself honestly. I have run a cab over truck without an A/C for a week this time of year because I needed the money. You know it's hot when you stop and get out in 100-degree temperatures to cool off on the shaded side of the truck.

I think you may have unrealistic expectations on how equipment operates. If the door closes, the hood stays down with bailing wire and the motor runs at RPM, you run the miles. Money is made from running miles in trucks. Who cares if the window won't roll up? While I'm playing the devil's advocate you get my point. If driving it won't get you put out of service or cause major damage to the equipment it isn't broke down. This is an owner's mentality and mine too.

You are the driver, the decision is in your hands, run miles and make money or stop and get every little thing fixed. All of my experience is as an owner/operator. You fix things when the truck is stopped for other reasons or just won't run down the road.

What were you thinking calling in on the company about your logs? Some will disagree but I don't care. If you don't want a company to trash your DAC, you don't trash them or their equipment. Sure what they did was wrong. Still they are the company and call the shots. Cutting off your nose to spite your face or biting the hand that feeds you is absurd. If I needed the money I would have run the load. If it bothered me that bad I would have given notice after the load.

It sounds like your last round was a lease purchase. You have been a member of the TTR Forum for about a year. Have you done any research on any of the companies that you have had problems with? Have you done any research on what happens to drivers who job hop? Have you done any research on lease purchases?

I have been a forum member for a little over two months. I know all the things I am asking you and learned them here. Yes, I do a lot of reading and have had some extra time on my hands. Still if you don't do your "due diligence" before making decisions you aren't armed with facts. This leads to bad decisions and unrealistic expectations. Research is what brought me here and there is a lot of information available to anyone that will search and read.

I live near Springfield so I have been around O & S for years. They aren't what they used to be. I researched them here and decided I wouldn't go near them as a driver (which I don't think they have anymore) or lease operator and sure not as a lease purchase. I also learned through research here that CR England is at the bottom of a deep dark barrel. I wouldn't go there if I was hungry and homeless and they were the only option. While this may sound like a self-righteous statement, the lesson is don't make decisions out of desperation.

I'm sorry I'm so harsh; I have no skills in candy-coating my words. If you want to continue OTR you are at a point where you have to take what you can get and stay there for a year, no matter how bad it gets. Maybe you can find something local or a small company or fleet that doesn't care about your DAC or recent job-hopping. Have you checked your DAC? I'll bet there are things in it that you may not know. IMHO, you have severely limited your options with repeated bad decisions. Don't give up but you need to understand the decent companies may be outside your reach. You are basically in the same category as a new driver, or worse, for company choices. Good luck.

 

I`d go buy a 6 pak and kick back. When at the bottom, things gotta get better. Good Luck Bud.

 

Sideways, only when the beer wears off. Dirty Rooster, keep looking for a better company. If I were you, look for a good Local company.

 

A young man of 18 years becomes a monk in a monastery that requires a vow of silence. He can only speak 2 words every 5 years. At the end of year 5 the head monk calls the kid in and says, "My boy you now can say 2 words." To which the kid replies, "food stinks."
Five more years go by and the head monk says, "My boy you may now say 2 words." The boy says, "bed hard." At the end of the next 5 years the head monk calls the boy in and says, "You may now say 2 words." The kid says, "I quit." The head monk replies, "I'm not suprised, you've been complaining ever since you got here."