How do I pick up the pieces?

aint nuttin harder than being dog-tired and trying to back into a spot, late at night, with no lights

 

I see you are in Westmoreland, NY.....right in the heart of NY state's dairy country and hay season is almost here. There is probably a few larger dairy farms that haul haylage in dump trailers from the field to the farm. I bet you can get a job doing that until your record gets cleaned up. If you want, I can PM you some names.

Work there for the summer and you can probably get a foot in the door hauling milk.

 

I'll bet your MVR shows nothing......

You'll find work

 

Was this paper place on Palmer street by any chance? I don't know why companies send new drivers to places like this.

 

I don't think I would ever feel safe letting a GPS unit guide me through side streets in Chicago or any other big city. A lot of times a carrier will book a load for the first time not knowing the dock situation. They may call the customer and while getting directions verify their docks are able to unload a semi and be told "Oh yeah, we unload several semis a day." When you finally are able to negotiate the narrow streets and tight turns and find the customer you realize the trailers he is unloading are pups pulled by daycabs. I know a few drivers that have done more damage than you, been fired and hired on with a new company in a few weeks. Please keep us updated. Hope it all works out for you.

 

I PM'd you 10 dairy farms that I know of within ~50 miles of you. Internet should be able to give you addresses and phone numbers. If it were me, I would show up in person rather than call. Tell them you're a truck driver and you want to be closer to home for the summer and you were wondering if they need help hauling haylage and corn silage. Some of them use straight trucks but the bigger ones use dump trailers and day cabs and some others hire the trucking out to local trucking companies so the farmer may be able to refer you to the trucking company.

I don't know them all but I'm sure each of these guys will be able to refer you to to more farms in the area. As I mentioned earlier, it may also open a door to hauling milk if you are so inclined. Farmers should be able to tell you who hauls their milk too.

Most of these farmers contract out their liquid manure haulage to local trucking companies also, so there is another door. If you think you're above hauling liquid manure just consider it good tanker experience.

The haylage will start very soon and the corn silage will go into the late fall. Good luck I think you will be OK. One thing is for sure.....there's a heckuva lot less stress doing this than fighting Chicago traffic.

Let us know how you make out.

EDIT....just thought of another door. When you visit the farmer ask where they get their grain. It comes from a feed mill in dry bulk.

 

If you do get through this rough patch, promise yourself to never let yourself be dragged back in. Trucking can be a great job, after you do it long enough to get good at it. I have been doing it for 25 years, and I am almost what I would consider good. Every tough spot is a challenge, and you can come away from it with knowledge, or a black mark on your record. The choice is yours. Out in Moose Balls, Maine, or Cornfield Creek Iowa, you are less likely to have problems, but in the bigger cities, it is a mental challenge to stay calm, and get the job done safely.

If you let the idiots in the cars shake you up, with their horn blowing, and you bump something, who pays? YOU DO! Unless some person agrees to pay for any damages, don't let a horn honker hurry you along. I often tell people "The more you honk that horn, the slower I drive". It's a battle of wills.

I tell it like it is, but I do wish you the best of luck

 

If you want to try the milk hauling, check out Alnye... they have a terminal in Utica. Just use this as a learning experience. Never be in a hurry. Good luck Markus.