Do you have to back up double and triple trailers?

The first rule of trucking:
NO MATTER WHAT YOU ARE DRIVING, EVENTUALLY YOU WILL HAVE TO BACK IT UP.

And, FWIW, doubles aren't easy to back up, but it's not impossible. Even triples. Hell, I saw a video from Australia where a guy was backing QUADS up. One other video of a line-haul driver DOCKING B-train triples from the rear trailer up to the lead.

 

USUALLY pulling doubles is not something you walk into. It's usually a job that requires a few years of experience before they select one of the 400 applications on file to replace the driver that just retired or died. The really good companies you show up a work, check in, get your paperwork, find your already made up set, hook up, pre-trip, drive, arrive, drop trailers and paperwork, hook your return set of trailers and get paperwork, drive home, drop trailers & paperwork, go home. Wash, rinse, repeat until you retire. You may have a steady predictable schedule and can plan social events. Typically your clothes never get dirty and you sleep at home. Often the job is done overnight for decades.

 

####, I didn't know it was that rare, sounds like a dream job, well, Tanker it is then.

 

I'd rather pull doubles than a 53

 

Cool.

 

Btw, when do you usually end your day, I know most of you guys drive at night in that gig, but I'm just wondering about the work-life balance in it.

 

Every company does things a little different but here at fxf pm runs usually gate between 18:00-21:00 and are 9-11 hours.
Just depends on how many people on bid and bid number.

 

Well, that's the way it was, circa 1990. Then all those Teamster LTL haulers started to close. Those few left today have a pool of former Teamsters who get first crack at any new position. That world is now essentially gone.

Today, Amazon will let any idiot drive wiggle-wagons; and they regularly DO!

 

I worked for a full-service company that did everything. I normally pulled 53 ft dry vans but on rare occasions I would pull doubles if they couldn't find something else. I was OTR not LTL so my contact with doubles was an exception. Generally the companies doing LTL/Doubles work Sun-Thur overnight. I worked at another company on that schedule and it was fantastic for a single loner that liked driving overnight. I'm a vampire/night owl so I loved it. It DIDN'T want to socialize & revert to a normal day schedule. Driving overnight is trucking on easy mode UNLESS you try to mix in family & friends on a daytime schedule on your days off. If you do that you will throw away at least 1 "night's" sleep per week and be tired at least 1 night per week. So work life balance depends on how much work & how much life you are trying to squeeze in & when.

Driving overnight is about as easy as is possible to make money in trucking. Some companies pay a lot and some pay average. I don't spend money so I stacked cash earning in the 50s. I retired early because I am careful with money. Lots of people are reckless with money & blame rich people for not giving away enough money to make THEM rich.