i canot say for him, but for me, and getting around my 2 downtown Boston deliveries, on my 53 footer, i had to have the tandems all the way forward. of course, this makes one heck of a trailer slap. but it was the only way to get onto the street i needed, from a narrow street, and not climb the traffic islands...then the rest of my route, i just left it that way. our loads only averaged about 10,000 to 15,000 pounds.
Swift Regret
Discussion in 'Report A BAD Trucking Company Here' started by Phoenix1979, Sep 30, 2019.
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bryan21384, FlaSwampRat, Lonesome and 3 others Thank this.
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When I get back to Phx I'm going to ask for just a little more instruction.bryan21384, FlaSwampRat, dwells40 and 2 others Thank this. -
FlaSwampRat and D.Tibbitt Thank this.
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Stories aside, what I was trying to lightly point out that Boston, NYC and other places east did not give a #### if I could back. But they shore gave a thousand damninations should I run over someone's boot waiting on me to hurry up and get the #### thing in the bay.
Training in this industry is not the same. And so newbies fall by the wayside when they get eliminated in a sort of a giant Darwinian music chairs of not hitting anything for the first year.
Some of my training happened behind the DOT scales now and then as well then a citation so I remember the lesson saith the Smokey. It was a real... good time to be alive back then.
Thinking further on the OP, One other thing I learned to hate in the industry other than so called training. ATS out of Orientation in NC gave me a 200 mile run to VA Beach 5 days and sunrise to deliver.
You can get that done by lunch, today whats next> What I am now versus the little boy I was back then complaining that week, I should have showed up in VA Beach after the recievers lunch hour saying here is your load sir. What door? STick that 5 day BS in the dispatch ear.
Thats when I started getting snarky about some things in this crazy industry and sometimes getting in trouble for it. Never mind that training. Its weak kneed dispatchers who refuse to give me loads to run. Say Yakima Onions to Boston Market in 6 days in the dead of winter. Its the exact sort of person I am. None of the companies were willing to risk it for years. One did. Then another and so on.Phoenix1979 and D.Tibbitt Thank this. -
That's the key to it all. The basic set up is then modified for any situation. It's a snap, providing you're shown the correct way.
I'll be home in about 10 days or so. If you're there or when you're there, PM me, and we'll make it happen. -
Went to drive a regional dry van delivering to a big box store and got fired in a month. I got sent to NJ, to Brooklyn, to alleys and nightmares. The whole time I kept saying to myself exactly what you're saying. How did I get turned loose THIS INEPT!!! anddd...I got fired. I had an incident where nothing was hit or damaged but I admitted to backing on a public road and that's a BIG policy violation for that company.
That didn't get me fired. Here's what did... the company decided I would benefit from additional training. They were quite intense with the maneuvers and very verbally demanding (that was ok but you need to get alot better fast)
I crumbled under the pressure. My final day there I was in a training zone ready to turn a corner and seeing I wouldn't clear I didn't back up and cut it again...I nicked the fence. I'd given up. I believed I couldn't perform adequately and I decided to prove it to myself and the instructor. and predictably- they said thanks but we'll pass LOL
I put myself out of that game. Not my skill set, my mind. My attitude. Cuz I've done WAY more skillful things before and since, but I felt defeated at that company. I ended up pulling myself together and going to do the flatbed I started out wanting to do. and it's harder. and backing flatbeds sux. and I am friggin amazing!! because I decided to be.
you're at the end of a LOT of stress between school and training and solo driving and celibacy and bad food and strange new environments. probably not the best time to make important decisions without consulting the people who know Why You Did this in the FIRST PLACE.
has that reason gone away? Do you still have something to experience or prove or disprove? be a real shame to walk away and forever wonder in the back of your head if you were only a smidge away from your goal...
just my thoughts, YMMV _/\_ Leehomeskillet, Bud A., Itsbrokeagain and 6 others Thank this. -
Phoenix1979, FlaSwampRat and x1Heavy Thank this.
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Backing the trailer is the same.
How little or how much Mr steering wheel you put into it? Shes gonna obey it.
Its when you try to fix too much or too little and get aggravated and defeated.
For one thing I hate 20 foot triaxle containers loaded with ball bearings short as my tractor. It never goes where it needs to. Not to mention being grotesquely overweight. I hated them so much. And the dimwit hogging the lane outside of my curve would not understand how easily it would have flopped on him.Bud A. and Phoenix1979 Thank this. -
Look at it this way...take your time backing in any dock or parking space...don't worry about anyone criticizing you because they all were in the same position too...key to it..take your time, backing comes with time and repetitions...any backing job where you don't hit anything is a successful backing job...
Many of us vets can vouch today that even after all the backing many of us have done, there is always a place that gives us one heck of a time.....stay with it.tinytim, Bud A., Phoenix1979 and 5 others Thank this. -
Hang in there, brother, this too shall pass. When you mentioned your concerns to Swift, did they try to address them?
My first trip after school, they sent me to a couple of local places, to get a feel for the truck.I ended up taking down a stop sign at the first place, the guy on the dock laughed, and straightened it up. Next stop was a place called Whitehall labs. They had inside docks, about 10 or so in a row. Several trailers and trucks were already there. I got it in, but blocked the dock next to me to do it. Several other drivers laughed about it.
Then they sent me to Chicago. That's no treat for most anyone. But I figured out where the place was, dropped and hooked, and got out of there safely.
You will eventually get it, but it can feel harrowing until you do. Don't throw in the towel just yet.tinytim, Bud A., Phoenix1979 and 4 others Thank this.
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