5 questions

I work for Central Oregon Truck Company. I’ve been with them for 5 months now and loving it.

I love the fact that I’m actually compensated for every minute of the time I spend away from the house. From fueling to driving, sleeper berth to securing loads. We have truck numbers and driver codes, but if we didn’t type them into the fuel pump keypad, we would forget them because we aren’t addressed by them and we don’t have to give them when we call... we call and say hey it’s *my name here*... if we are calling with a problem, no matter how many people are calling with problems or what kind of day they are having there in the office we get the same cheerful disposition and the same good attitude. They genuinely care about their drivers. They pay extremely well. It’s salaried with productivity increases rather than tenure increases. It’s a minimum of 65k per year and average drivers can easily make 90k and top drivers can make up to 104k per year. This is the second pay increase since I started 5 months ago. THEY also pay the medical, dental and vision. THEY match my 401k contributions. There was no vesting period on the 401k match. If they matched my contributions and I quit the very next day, I’d still keep that match. They pay a $340 per week per diem as well, so that’s basically 340 dollars I get tax free every week and they don’t charge a fee for it. It’s just part of the package. This company and every single person working here will give you the shirt off of their back. You don’t sit at the yard and listen to people complaining about their job, their pay, their equipment issues, etc... all you ever here is positivity and good attitudes. And my guess is because every single person hired on, from the cleaning crew to a secretary goes through the same orientation and is wearing a harness tarping a load, learning to secure loads, learning to manage a clock, etc... so when you go to the kitchen for instance, they know you’re hungry and they know how hard you work and they know you’re tired. They treat you with respect. There’s absolutely no dead weight at this company. The CEO of the company will leave his office and throw iron and help you tarp a load. Nobody will just sit on their ### and watch you work. And even the custodian knows how to tarp, there’s a good chance even she would come out there and help you do it. You’re not going to find this level of character or compassion at any other company in this industry. Never. It’s like every story that some jaded old fart tells about how people used to respect and help each other... except we are on elogs.

I have been driving for two years in September.

My advice for anyone entering truck driving is to always try to maintain the attitude that we get to do this. We are blessed to do this. We are not entitled to a #### thing. Don’t ever let yourself become that driver who is sitting around feeling like we are owed something or that our job and our life out here is difficult. It’s not. This isn’t a job. This is a vacation from a real job. Once you have your cdl, do a minimum of a year at whatever your first company is. Don’t hit anything. Stop and get out and look ALWAYS when backing and ALWAYS, even in the middle of an intersection, if you think you’re about to hit something. You’re big. That’s a big ### trailer back there. You’re driving that trailer, not the truck. Tell the trailer where to go.

What do I dislike about truck driving? The 14 hour rule and the 70 in 8 days rule. Otherwise, absolutely nothing.

I take that back... I dislike the people who act like a spoiled ### millennial and they are 40-50 years old, acting like this job is in any way difficult or somehow more difficult than cleaning a truck stop bathroom or serving us food at a truck stop. Those people work WAY harder than me and I just tarped a load in the 107 degree heat today. Then I sat on my ### and drove around for the rest of the day. I didn’t clean up #### or bottles of piss off the ground in the same heat. I didn’t run back and forth all day listening to people complain about their lives and how there’s a water spot on the fork, only to get name dropped on a Trucker’s Path review of the food at a truck stop.

Readers digest version:

This is a wonderful career and I am blessed to be allowed to do it. Today I delivered a huge block of marble to a company that turns it into headstones for deceased veterans and will be displayed in Arlington national cemetery. I sure wasn’t cleaning up #### and listening to people complain. I get to do this for a living and I can’t believe they pay me so well for it.

 

WTF.....

 

Lol! That cracked me up

 

1. Plead the fith. Might say something here that may or maynot come back to haunt me lol
2. They pay me
3. 2.5 years
4. Dont post who you work for on trucler forum and sure as #### dont let anyone know your real name. See 1 for why
5. I like to get paid. I dislike not getting paid enuf. Lol

 

1. Myself for about three years

2. The boss is a great guy!

3. 15 years

4. Suck it up buttercup, this is trucking.

5. Everyday is an adventure. And, Everday is an adventure.

 

I would have answered 4 questions no way I am doing 5 without an advance!