Back on the Rail with JB Hunt

Ok just checked into the post. Rear all seven pages. So maybe I can keep up with this one. The last one I was up to date, then took a couple weeks off. When I left I was on page 56 came back and it was up to page 250. So I list a bunch in the middle.

 

Yes..JB is pretty cheap. In fact I have to chuckle at the little ways they skimp. Many things have changed since I drove rail for them last time. I had to struggle with my driver manager right out of the chute to get all the pay items I was due. He is new and his boss is new and I am sorta new because regional is different from local. The pay is pretty measly so far but I am going to adjust because I really love what I'm doing.

 

I will try to keep it interesting. Its ok to be little bitty. My pay has shrunk my truck has shrunk and my week has shrunk but they run me every minute of my 14 for the 5 days they have me.

 

I met a nice local J. B. Hunt driver (Portland) yesterday. He's been with them for 12 years. Indicated Hunt is hurting for drivers.

Although, I didn't have the heart to tell him how much Hunt was paying me as a contractor on the 2 loads I did for them back to back

 

yeah, and every time that truck burps or farts or has a funny noise or a weird vibration......your heart doesn't sink. And when the day comes that you're sitting in a motel while the geniuses at Freightliner try to figure out why your truck won't run, order up some Chinese, have a beer or 12, and turn on Pawn Stars and relax....it's all covered.....by someone else.

Good luck and best wishes UTG.

 

After my long l.p. journey this last year I've learned that running your own truck requires several things.
1. Fortitude..got that.
2. Willing to work tail off and be proactive..got that.
3. Knowledge of how to nab best loads..wasn't doing so hot with that.
4. Ability to fix lots of stuff yourself..nope.I didn't have enough of that.
5. Enough money to ride out a bad time...I had it but my first truck outlasted my bank account and it was all downhill from there.

As a company driver I need to:
1. Show up.
2. Do a good job..and do it however they want it done..(62 mph? Great. 7 seconds following distance no matter conditions? Swell. Abandon my Truck It hat? Sigh. Ok.
3. Figure a budget you can live with because that paycheck is small but steady.

Already I have no more stress mini heart attacks. I think I can make this work.

 

I had a headlight die. Another Jb driver spotted it and gave me an extra bulb he had.

I had to change it myself. WTF!? I want a refund.

The YouTube I watched on how to do it made it easy except naturally he demonstrated it on the high beam that had easy access. Have to crawl in like a monkey to get to the low beam. But I did it.

So I carry used bulb into shop when I get back to camp to trade for a new spare. Those sneaky mechanics write it up like they had changed the bulb themselves and took credit for it. An outrage!

 

here's a pro tip (and pretty much the sum total of what I know about working on Freightliners).....if your low beam goes out, take the bulb out of your high beam....they're interchangeable.
Now you know as much as I do.

 

That may answer a couple questions I have had about one light being brighter then the other on those trucks running up my ars.

 

it's the same bulb