A word to the New Drivers from a Retired Driver

As much as I may respect him....move over there is a new driver in town.

 

@ironeagle2006 - your delivery is as blunt as a blunt object on a dull day - but I hear the message.

Perhaps in frustration at a flood of posts on the forum that I'm sure have many of us shaking our heads.

I've only been running 11 years, but allow me to interpret the best I can. And it's what I've maintained for a while.

"Dear new drivers. Welcome to the industry.

Many have come before you, and many will follow, but by using your 2 eyes, 2 ears and 1 mouth in proportion, you'll get along just fine.

Your first company may not be the ideal one for you, but if you apply yourself, often in the face of adversity - you can make lemonade all day. Learn to get along with your dispatcher, mechanic, wash bay guy (if you're lucky enough to have one), they can be the difference between a mediocre paycheck and a good one.

Your first truck might not be the talk of the town. Get out your elbow grease and make it the best it can be. You'd be surprised - I use to wash my own truck, and degrease the engine bay. The mechanics apprecciated less grime, and would go the extra distance to have the old girl ready. Look after it, don't abuse it.

After you've been driving for 2 years or so, don't stop learning. There's more to the industry than you can soak up in a month or two. If you find it's not your cup of tea, then bow out respectfully and find another career that suits you - no shame in that. But please don't reappear on here and pour disdain on the rest of us if you became disillusioned.

Get a CB. Use it. Maybe not all the time, but it will come in handy. Ask that driver weaving out of his lane at night if he's OK - he might need someone to talk to for a few miles, to get him to a rest area safely. Maybe you know a place to park you can tell him. When you're fixing to pull ut of your spot at a packed truck stop - holler out and ask if anybody needs a park. Tell the oncoming traffic if there's a dead stop ahead of them over that next hill.

Help your fellow driver. Pass on the good vibe. I had a Walmart driver buy my coffee this morning at FJ in E.St.Louis - he just said "pass it on". I did. The guy trying to slide his tandems - help him. The guy that left his fuel cap off - alert him. The guy that flips you off and abuses you - ignore him.

My wife and I drove from Rialto back to Kansas mid summer with the AC broken. It made me think - this was what was normal, not that long ago. Spring ride, fixed seats, no AC. It made me have some respect for the older drivers I would meet, I could spot them after a while, a certain look, a certain duffel bag, a slight slouch and a lean, a little more withered than they should be. And no AC, in Summer - they would have laughed at us if they saw us all sweatin' and miserable for 24 hours.

Get a shower when you can. Put your trash in the receptacles provided. Pee in the toilet. Open the door for ladies, and men. Smile at the children, blow your horn for them, young and old, safely - society still awaits you as the next generation of big truck drivers to be apprecciated - not feared or looked down on. After all, the groceries still need to get to the stores, whether they know how they get there or not - YOU know how they do, and how generations before you got them there, and how generations after will do too.

Welcome to the industry "

There - see, I fixed it a bit @ironeagle2006 . . . hope you approve. And thanks for your hard work.

 

I agree with this almost 100% and if your getting into trucking so you can start making good money forget it you will wonder if what they are doing is even legal And when the dot chp and everyone else gets done taking their cut you cant believe the industry even survives but if you can stick it out a few years and keep a good record you can make a decent living driving truck.

 

Reading this I would almost rather drive a bus... but it appears many companies are training "the new way." They don't want their drivers out and about months at a time anymore.

 

I've only been driving for 1.5yrs AND I'm a local guy not OTR but I agree with a lot of what he said. I do disagree with the lifestyle thing though, there's no reason for it to be, and there's no reason loads can't be set up to have people home on weekends. It's the other way strictly for the carriers to make out on the deal and by choice. The other thing I strongly disagree with when it comes to the last generations of drivers is the pay they work for. I see people on here all the time talking about when they are making in their 1st, 2nd and 3rd years driving (sometimes many more) and I make more being home everyday with less than 2yrs under my belt than they do well into their career while giving up their life for the job, SCREW THAT! I'm just moving to another company 2 weeks from now and that's a $10k raise on top of what I was already making. Anybody that goes OTR and works for peanuts IS doing it by choice. People have the right to do that if they wish, but I'll take my daily home time, OT after 8hrs and my pension thanks!

 

Tell me about it. This just ONE example, but on Friday, running I-80 across New Jersey, there was a bear sitting in the median clocking westbound traffic. He was in full sight of the eastbound drivers, yet NOT ONE OF THEM could bother to pick up the mike and give a report. I drive a governed (65 mph) truck, so it doesn't really affect me any, but still. Back in the day, you'd have known about him 5-10 miles away.

I still give out bear reports when I see them, let a driver know it's ok to come back over after passing, call out if there is a gator on the roadway, or a broken down vehicle on the shoulder, etc. You know what I hear most of the time? Nothing. Not even a thank you, let alone a report of what they saw behind them. And forget about asking anyone for a road, bear, or scale report. Hardly anyone will give you the time of day anymore.

Today it's every driver for themselves, or as my dad used to say, "hooray for me, to hell with you". It's sad to see what happened to the industry and the drivers of today who just don't care enough to help out their fellow drivers.

 

Alot of this is a cultural issue Billy Bob and Jimmy Johnson and myself are still more then willing to get on the cb and give heads up we know the industry we don't park in the fuel island . But trucking has been flooded with other cultures that don't even know America much less American trucking.

 

I only drove OTR for a little over a year,then went local.Im not giving up hunting,fishing,hiking,camping and family for a lousy 36 cpm and 2000 mi a week.But I did and never complained,I was new(and still am,4 yrs).But I drove in NYC and every major city in the NE,and all my jobs were touch freight for the most part.Im over 45 and still do touch freight for food service in NYC.Never pissed in a bottle,dont wear flip flops or sweats and shower regularly when out.everyone has cells and road service now a days so nobody stops,but I have and will stop to help a driver.Trucking has changed and will continue to change for the worse,as almost everything has in this Country,as it slides down the slippery slope.20 yrs till ''retirement''.There are alot of good things in trucking now,and many bad.I would rather drive,and have,an old FL or KW than some of these neutered POS that wont pull for crap and have so many computers you spend more time in the shop than on the road.Please I wish these comps would just leave the rpms alone and stop ####ing with everything on the truck.Like everything times change,some for the better,some for the worse,some both.Id rather drive w/ an old school trucker than SOME of these new ones.Just my rambiling 2 cents,lol.YMMV.

 

Really ? That's the problem with trucking ?

I have to disagree. They do know American trucking. That's the problem. American trucking has always been thinking your something special out here running like cowboys. Dual logs, running illegal, speeding, not maintaining safety....pick an illegal activity and its going on. It's okay though as long it's done by an American right ? RIGHT !