Central Refrigerated Truck Stop

Is there anything I should bring to school besides the normal school supplies and clothes?

 

Hey Snowy, I think the problem is that you are trying to look at the new rules in the same context as the old. It almost cannot be done that way.

I log breaks during the day and at shippers and receivers as either off duty or sleeper. Most times as sleeper since it is easy. I am in a flatbed now though so I have to log on duty at shippers and receivers since I have to help loading and I have to secure the load.
While at central I would log 15 min load/unload when I get to the shipper, then would go to sleeper. Though with the e-logs I guess this is more of a pain than it use to be.

The easy way to do it is at the start of the day log your pretrip (15 min on-duty), then count forward 14 hours and put a small mark on the log paper (not needed on e-log I guess). This will show your max hours you can use. Assuming that you have 14 hours that you can use. If you stop for fuel, load/ unload etc, all these things must at least be flagged for 15 min.
Breaks longer than 15 min I would log sleeper or off duty.
Keep a running tally in your head or on a note book though. Again, many of these are easer with paperless logs. The hard part is that now you cannot fudge them a little when shippers. receivers screw you or you get stuck in traffic.

The concept of the hours and the e-logs are sound. The problem is that in function they just do not work. Shippers and receivers for the most part don't give a darn about your schedule or your hours. That is one huge difference I see in flatbed. Most places I go they go out of there way (or just do there job) to get you in and out as quickly as possible. It is rare that I am waiting 30 min, much less hours like with reefer.

Running OTR with central you will use up some hours. Many of them will be days wasted at shippers, like National Beef or chicken processing plants. They suck bad. Then there are ones like Walmart that are just a pain because you have a small window to get there, then they will make you stay for at lease 2 hours, since that is the time they get without having to pay detention pay. You can get there an hour early if you like, but that means you will sit there for 3 hours instead of 2.
They may have the trailer unloaded 10 min after you get there, but the paperwork will not be ready till 2 hours after your appt time lol.

I preferred to only run 9 hours a day or so, at the most. This way I did not run out of hours often, and I would get them back in a steady stream. The best miles are running the heck out of your hours and getting a restart every 7 days. Run 70, take off 34, run 70. In the real world this is almost impossible to do though and your dispatcher would have a fit.
So to start just run the load to receiver as fast as possible, keeping in mind a place you can stop and wait to deliver if they will not let you early. When you get there a day or more early then contact the receiver to check on early delivery. If this is not possible then try to get a drop somewhere near there. If that also is not possible then you are sol. But you may get a 34 here and there, then you can run the heck out of another 70.

The down time happens. Trying to save up hours hurts in the end, unless you are on a dedicated route. Run it there as fast as possible and hope for the best. In the end this seems to be the best way to get on time delivery's. Since if you are running it there fast and there is a problem you have time to deal with it and if needed get the load onto another truck to get it to the receiver on time. In the long run the planners and dispatchers will like you for it.

I hope this is not too rambling, I am tired and spent allot of time reading the posts before it lol.

 

yes chrome, i was comparing the new rules to what used to be. then after reading and reading. it's all coming together now. none of it made sense at first, but after all the input. it's nice they threw in a restart, but the rest of it sucks. running legally the way i'm reading it as. i don't see how anyone can get any miles now. but i've been out of the loop so you all have the upper knowledge of what's going on. heck, i had no idea the rules had even changed. heard talks but that was it. THANKS FOR THE INFO GUYS. THE INPUT IS APPRECIATED. now, if anyone knows where i can land a job at? newbies and recent OTR's seem to be the flavor these days. and i'm getting antsy to hit the highway again. preferably solo, not doing team again. . and i'm totally clean. just waiting on TSA to get my hazmat back on.

kicking myself for not keeping it on in the first place. but then i was totally unprepared when it came time for renewal, since i never got the letter TSA application said was supposed to be sent, informing of the new rules

 

living money and it's going to be hot hot hot.

just out of curiosity, how are they handling things in schooling to get your hazmat endorsment?????

 

They give you a card that says, and I am looking at mine, "This is to certify that the below named driver has certified in Hazardous Materials Transportation in accordance with CFR-49 parts 100 through 185 and part 397". It is then signed by the driver and has an expiration date and the instructors name. Is this an endorsement for your license? Not sure but it is what was given to me by Central.
Oscar, make sure and bring a hat. It has been around 100 degrees the past few days. Living money and about a weeks worth of clothes.

 

Signs of the times... My bank sent a message saying that it is ready to take IOU's from state employees and their vendors. Can you imagine getting a check that says IOU ? I wish I could get away with that... go buy a car and write an IOU... pay my bills with IOU's. I have a better name than Commiefornia...Crazyfornia. At least Communisim shares the weatlth... California has decided to just write IOU's.

 

Now thats BROKE!

When a state pays with IOU

 

i was told toady that im going to be charged $85 for over ideling, they told me that when im laid over and its a 100+ degeres out to get out of the truck and sit in the truck stop. so if you see a guy sitting on the ice cream case all day its me. That is if i stay long enough for that to happen.

 

You could get a good sleeping bag and sleep back with the freight......

 

i might just do that!!!