USA truck experience

Use that combo as well. Sprinkle in some common sense, and you'll have no problem.

Great example: The last load I had picked up in Morton Grove, IL (north side of Chicago). Qualcomm directions were VERY suspect; sounded like they came from a GPS, because the first line of the directions read, verbatim:

"From Morton Grove, IL, start from Dempster Street; turn right on Austin; customer on right.

OK... being this is Chicago, after all, I was NOT taking any chances. I looked up the address on Google Earth, turned on Street View, and lo and behold! No trucks on Austin Ave. from Dempster.

A combination of Google Earth, Rand McNally, a GPS, and a phone call later, I was at the customer with no problems. I even received two approaches from the shipper the next time we go there; one from the Edens Expressway, another from the Tri-State.

 

I sure hope that it is not "Blame the Driver Time". If the driver is dispatched only 2000 miles per week then it is a sorry company to work for. Canned messages for drivers to use to get to a location are pretty standard in the transportation industry; so they are normal to follow especially for new drivers just coming into the industry. You cant expect a new driver to come into the industry with all the tools and knowledge of an experienced driver.

I think that rather than hitting a driver in the head, you just may consider that there are some pretty bad companies to work for. In my opinion, they are all bad to work for.

 

I am sure appolyon was making an honest effort. Just pointing out some things he should consider changing at his next job. I am not so sure he has learned a lesson about swearing at his fm judging by the foul language in his post.

I drive for usa and im in my fourth month. Only had one week under 2000 miles. I got caught up in the mess they had when they switched their systems over and didn't get a dispatch for 2 days. At least my FM was upfront when I did get a hold of him after ringing for 2 hours. After his explination I went to a truck stop and watched a couple movies. Also I have been averaging 1 load over 1000 miles per week. I guess my FM trusts me to locate the customer with out making excusses and crying like a baby.

 

Well I would stick up for him on this one part..I cant even count on how many times I've been told "Hey hurry on over they are waiting to load/unload you..YEA RIGHT.. 4hrs later..

 

Its a good thing I dont believe your opinion because I work for a great company.. they pay me for everything I do.....sometimes they pay me to do nothing, they just be paying me for MY time....

 

I do something very similar. I've always had my laptop, so I got a copy of Microsoft Streets & Trips (2009 Edition). I created a map template covering all the truck stops, weigh stations, rest areas and Wal Mart locations. I plug my start and final addresses into that, and check the route against the trusty old Rand-McNally Motor Carrier Atlas (remembering that Streets & Trips thinks I'm driving a Subaru instead of a semi) to avoid any restricted routes. I change what needs to be changed, print out the results and get to driving.

It's not completely foolproof, though; sometimes I'll run into a shipper whose address is so new that the street hasn't made it into the software I'm using. A quick Google lookup of the shipper almost always gives me the Google Maps location, which I can then easily transfer to the laptop.

Sometimes even the software will give me a route which I might consider to be suspect (rare, but it does happen once in a blue moon). That's when I pull out the big guns: there is a website called Layover.com which has a truck routing map ( you can click here to see it). It's kind of like using Mapquest, except that it directs you over truck routes only. It has never led me over restricted routes or into any kind of trouble.

When all that fails I will then resort to calling the customer.

 

Bigdogpile- What LTL company are you with and how much experience did you have to get in. Are you over the road or linehaul? My goal is to get hired by an ltl.

thanks

 

Tech- I am going to give that Layover.com a try. I have found that GPS has at least one big advantage over computer directions. The GPS will tell you your street is coming up long before you can see the street sign in many cases. Also Street signs have a bad habit of getting run over so sometimes you can't tell if its the correct street at all.

 

Appolyon- Did you have other drivers or former trainers that you could have gone to for help and advise? Did you use them? This is a tough business and nobody knows it all. I reach out all the time.