Living on the truck and a few other things

If you plan to live in the truck, you may want to consider a company with
APU's.

Stevens Transport has CDL school & APU's.

APU (auxillary power unit) : When on breaks or layovers or waiting to load or unload, you may not be allowed to idle the truck because of company policy or state laws. If you want A/C, heat, power for computer/flatscreen TV, etc. with the engine shut off, you will need an APU.

Swift does have a good CDL school though, but no APU's. You can still attend their school then leave for another company, but will owe money to Swift for the training.

Check with Prime Inc. and JBS Carriers for company CDL school; don't know if they have APU's , but you can ask.

 

I agree, prolly best to find someone with an APU. However, when I was with Swift a couple years ago, I could idle all I want. Kept getting those annoying messages about idling too much, but never got in trouble for it. Any truck stop I went to, I always found trucks idling and so I did too. Doesn't it's right, just got away with it.

 

People who live in their trucks and never go home are the mega carrier's dream drivers. High equipment utilization. You can get away with a lot more idling than the guy who goes home for 3 days every other week.

 

That was me basically, out for 30 days, home for 4 so they wouldn't take my truck.

 

You will save a ton of money doing this, I have many times often when I wanted to buy or save up for something expensive fast. Just stay at a hotel on off days and you don't need to idle then anyway, still way cheaper than rent and all the utilities. Other benefits are you can take home time at a different part of the country easily often.

 

12V coolers are common, but not all are equal.
Get the Coleman for a few more bucks, you won't be disappointed.

I use a plug-in inverter to power my laptop and chargers. I leave it in the open when in the shop, and no one has ever said anything about it.

How many that can be used at once can be a bit iffy. If you have an older truck with dodgy batteries you may not be able to use them as much without idling.
And even so, you need to keep in mind which plugs are using the same fuse. 20A max, and sometimes 2 or 3 plugs will be on the same circuit.

Home time is where you want it.
I rotate mine between Inver Grove MN, Denver CO, and the Sacramento CA areas to see family.

 

usually you can unplug the cooler at nite. i did with mine, though tthis was in winter. haven't used the new one yet.