Bulkmatic, as it happens...

Not much to report on day 2. Went over the broad strokes of HOS, I think mostly it was just to make sure we weren't totally full of crap and actually did understand them.

Spent a good chuck of the day after that going thru Smith System driving, complete with going out in the company van and driving down the roads being instructed on it and then doing it and explaining all the things were doing as we drove.

Ended the day with HM126 HazMat training. Bulkmatic hauls lead in powder/dust form, and while you do not have to have a HazMat endorsement to do it it is a placarded load so they go thru the training with everyone so if you decide you want to do it at a later time they do not have to get a safety person to set aside part of a day to give it to one guy.

 

Was new to me too. I can't remember the reason for it. I know I should remember but I just can't.

 

I can honestly say that I have never printed and signed my name as much as I have in the last 3 days. Holy crap man. Anyways....

Short day today. Had to go over/thru all the standard papers for employment like tax forms, signing for verification that you have been instructed about different policies and that like then OSHA related stuff.

The person that went thru it all with me today was cool and thru the process started getting a better idea of what some of the different types of loads require you to do. Most of it is still foreign to me as I haven't actually gone out with a trainer and done anything yet but the more I talk with people the more complicated it seems to get. Different processes/requirements for different types of loads and even different locations with the same type of load.... We'll see how it goes.

My trainer is finishing up something tomorrow and then I will be with him starting Monday so tomorrow I report and schlep trailers from place to place, which actually I'm pretty happy with as I wasn't really looking forward to going from the fire into the frying pan without a days break in between. This will get me back in a truck for the first time in over a month and moving around (I miss it) and I can worry only about figuring out the Qualcomm calls and general record keeping/paperwork for loads without also throwing 6 thousand other things on top of it.

A couple points that were learned or clarified today:

> The annual work boot allowance is not $100 as I was told, it is $160.
>You are paid $20 once a month to wash your truck. I don't know if you are able to do it yourself at a terminal if you want, but I do know it will cost more then that to run it thru a Blue Beacon.
>When I talked to the recruiter I was told that the driving part of the job, or load pay, was a flat rate, which varied on the load you had (A longer load would obviously pay more then a trip across the street) in addition to load/unload/D&H pay. It actually pays 86 cents per loaded mile, no pay for unloaded miles. Most times you run out to a customer, unload then deadhead back to reload since mixing and matching different products in trailers isn't possible, so basically the pay is .43 cents a mile when driving.

Considering I would be at .43/mile in the gig I left without all the other parts of the job and all the miles I could suck down at my fingertips would knowing that going in have made a difference in my decision? I really don't know, my family situation right now requires me to be home most nights if at all possible and in all honesty I had another job lined up when I came off the road that turned out not to be my thing so this was not the place I left my OTR gig for, but I would have thought a lot harder about it if I had known in advance and looked further into other options because now I wondering how is it possible to make the money I'm told you can make when so much of your clock is eaten up doing other duties that do pay at a flat rate.

I do also feel that the recruiter should have known that was how it paid.

On the flip side, I have talked to a few drivers over the week and to a man they all have said the money is there for the taking once you get the feel and flow of the job. Also, every person so far that I have dealt with has been cool as hell and willing to listen to/work with you at every turn, and to a point money is not the be all/end all in a job.

 

Hope so. On the other hand I was already spending my own money half the time to wash my last truck so it isn't like I've never done it before.

 

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it, and I'll take all I can get. Pneumatic is what I'm going to be doing, have been told I'm going to be starting with plastics and also was told I'm going to starting with flour (Watch for the plume Tim!!) so really have no clue until it happens.

Already have my notebook with a few pages full just from classroom #### and a load of pens. My biggest concern so far is what you mentioned, and others told me already, every trailer and load can act different. I'll figure it out as I go.

On a side note. The picture attached isn't very good quality but it's the only one I have so far. A friend of mine has a brother that drives for Mariano's (or did until day very recently, don't think he'll ever be driving again) . This is what's left of his truck. Nobody knows what happened as it was during an overnight run and nobody saw it go down. He's alive but not by much, hasn't come to yet.

Watch your ##### folks.