Danny Herman Trucking

Who said those things upset me?
I described my visit to their HQ and locations yesterday... didn't say that upset me...
Give me tough time?
You should search my old old postings in here to know more about my old trucking "adventures"...

Let me tell you... I started driving in 2007.... Drove for a mega carrier that most people call "bottom feeder"... I teamed for 6 months because it was mandatory for new drivers... had 7 partners, male and female, Americans and foreigners... Then, I became solo driver going 48 states in the winter of 2008...
Drove under snow for the first time in my life, in a big truck or in any vehicle at all... had absolutely no previous experience driving under snow... being a girl from Brasil...
Got in a WM dedicated account and despite of being in a "dedicated" account, load planner sent me 48 states because I was a reliable hard to the core runner and she could count on me to do stuff that no other driver would...
Everybody in that mega "bottom feeder" company knew me by my real name and even one of their VIPs followed me in the TTR... They all treated me very well... safety, breakdown, CEO, logging, dispatchers, foreman at shop... etc...
I left the company after 5 and half years because they didn't renew the acct. They had put me in a brand new truck, with 10 miles that came from the dealer with plastic seals on the seats.. they offered me all the accounts they had so that I wouldn't leave... dispatcher begged me to stay... but I left cause didn't want anything else in there...
Took almost 4 months to find my next "perfect" new company...
It was a super small company with less than 35 super experienced veteran drivers with more than 25 years experience.
This company was one of the 20 best carriers to drive for and number 1 as safest small company in the US for several years on a roll.
I drove there for another 5 and half years... as solo going 48 states...
Won several prizes two years on a roll and was their hardest runner for all those years...
Unfortunately, had to leave in 2019 to be with my terminally ill father in Brasil.
And now that I came back, that same company has changed quite a lot and I want something "different"...
Let me tell you @JohnBoy ... a lot has changed since when I started in 2007 with paper logs and less idiots on the road, when there was more parking and not so much crap like bells and whistles in the truck... I know that nothing will ever be the same... my good old trucking days are in my memories, pictures and videos only...
I never been in a truck with all that annoying new technology, haven't even driven automatic and not happy about all that and don't know if I will adapt... but it's what it is... I am not a newbie, don't want to buy a truck and I know that I will have to put up with that crap if I want to continue driving for a company...
And if I decide that I can't really put up with that any more or if for some reason, things change, I will find something else to do...
But for now, I plan on going back...

 

Yeah... if you read my previous comment, you will know why I left those companies...

First one, they didn't renew the account after 5 and half years and I left because wasn't interested in anything else they offered me at that point.
The second one, I left during my "best" time there, making the most money I ever made... to be with my terminally ill dad in Brasil... He passed away 10 days after I arrived... and I regret not being there earlier....

I know things change, we can't predict the future... wish I could though... But I am a very methodic type of person who likes to plan things way ahead, years ahead if possible... and I take my time making decisions... Yes. I do check things over and over, I do analyze things a lot... maybe my next job, if I don't succeed in trucking any more, might be as analyst... just don't know what..

 

Lebanon has no shop...
I have been in 15 or 16 Freightliners from the time when I started driving... Some new trucks may give you headaches for quite some time due to "glitches" from factory... Some others may never give you any major problem even after 500 thousand miles as long as they are well maintained and not misused...
I don't know anything about Kenworth... never been in one.
And I do need to see inside of trucks that I plan living in... to know what I will bring and how I will accommodate everything...
If you have ever lived in a Freightliner Cascadia 2017 or older, you may know they have much more storage room and head space than those Kenworth 2018.
Freightliners have cabinets with shelves and doors and much more space under the bed and over head than Kenworth.
I always lived in a truck 3 to 4 months at a time, so I need to carry a lot more than those who take hometime more often. I do not consider my stuff "crap" because they are all important and very necessary to me...
I also have a special diet and I cook in the truck with electric pots and a burner stove.
I also carry clothes and shoes for all seasons, tools, spare parts, paperwork, food, cookware, 3 pots, stove.. I stock on 3 months of dry food that I buy at health food store so that I don't have to worry trying to go to a health food store during my time on the road. All that plus a few other things needs space. And besides that, I like to have all my things neatly organized and not cluttered together like I see in most trucks...
I like to have each thing in its place and a place for each thing, and I like to have room for myself, for my cooking, and not have a bunch of crap on the bed like so many drivers do... I can't live in a messy, cluttered, constricted place... The Freightliners where I lived where just "perfect"
But if I intend to live in a Kenworth, I must look inside first to figure how to make that work.

 

You'll have no problem adjusting to an automatic. For the most part, took me about a day.

 

Yeah... I drove one for over 2 hrs in a CDL school one month ago as a refresher... and also practiced some backing in it for over 4 hrs.. Didn't find it difficult... But empty is much easier... I really want to try with a heavy load, on the hills, under bad weather... and want to try the manual transmission... the CDL trainer didn't let me try it... Said he never drove one...

 

So Miss Rocks,
With the experience that you have why are you inquiring about another mega? You drive what they offer or move on to another colored truck with the same issues. There is no perfect solution to your demands unless you are making the payments on what you are driving.