Got kicked out of my truck so my team partner could drive w\friend

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by FryDaddy, Dec 29, 2019.

  1. FryDaddy

    FryDaddy Light Load Member

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    Jul 27, 2018
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    Been awhile since I posted, I finally got my first trucking job last February, and have been loving every minute of it (well, most minutes . . . ). Thanks to all here in the new driver forum for the advice I received! I went with a smaller company per some advice I received, and have learned a lot. Can even do most backing with no issues!
    Was originally promised around 5K miles/wk, running team driving. Had some ups and downs, but generally averaged about that. After 2 months they hired a driver w\ 6 yrs experience, and then gave us a dedicated run to Texas and back to Arizona 3 times a week, getting 6500 miles/wk. Great money and miles, asked for a raise after 6 mos and got .02 cpm raise. Making great money, the lane appears to be a regular dedicated route.
    About a month ago my dispatcher called me and told me to pack all my stuff up, I was going to move to a new truck, and start doing a different run to Texas and back, for the holiday peak season. He didn't have a partner for me right away, but would figure something out. I was a bit shell shocked, later telling him it was like being evicted from my house and getting dumped by my girlfriend all in the same day.

    I end up partnering for 1 week with a newly-hired gentleman for whom English was a second language, and had done a lot of local CDL driving, but no OTR or team driving. I was a bit concerned when he wouldn't go into the sleeper during off shifts, and I tried to tell him it was illegal for him to sit up front in the passenger seat and doze for his off-time, but he didn't understand or didn't want to sleep in the back. He ended up crashing a brand new 2020 freightliner while I slept in the back by falling asleep at the wheel. By the grace of God we both walked away from the accident with a few bruises and scrapes, and with some genuine Texas hospitality, we got to the Midland airport and got back to Phoenix.

    Sorry for the long prologue, but wanted to set the stage. Now the holiday season is over, and the Texas peak season runs are over, and I am back to doing 5K/wk, with a new partner (they fired the other guy after the wreck). I am feeling butthurt that I was kicked out of my truck and a dedicated stable well-paying lane, and am now back to doing the same work I started with, and in a rental truck with no fridge, microwave, inverter, etc. Was beginning to think about finding another job (maybe after I complete my first year in February), and wanted to know what you all thought. I went from making $1750/wk down to $1250/wk, with no other explanation than my old partner (who was hired after I had been driving for 2 months) wanted to drive with an old friend the company had just hired in November.

    Am I being sore for any good reason, or is this just the way trucking works out here, and I should get used to it?
    Thanks for any insight you can give. I'll post a picture of the crash if I can figure out how to do it.
     
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  3. Puppage

    Puppage Road Train Member

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    Wow, glad you’re ok.
     
  4. TheLoadOut

    TheLoadOut Road Train Member

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    In this case just be glad you survived the wreck. Sounds like your first partner was testing the waters with you and convinced his friend to apply when he saw how good things can be.
     
  5. FryDaddy

    FryDaddy Light Load Member

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    Jul 27, 2018
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    IMG_20191122_081503200.jpg
    Thats what I figured too, especially when he started asking how to replace some of the stuff I had in the truck before my dispatcher called me.
     

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  6. Fredterbert6666

    Fredterbert6666 Light Load Member

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    When you had your dedicated route did you just go from one place to another, the same place/route every time? And did you have stops in between the 2 points?
     
    tank4life Thanks this.
  7. FryDaddy

    FryDaddy Light Load Member

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    Jul 27, 2018
    Chandler, AZ
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    We were going to the same place in Texas every run, then getting a different backhaul w\ live load for the return back to the yard. We generally did not do the final delivery in Phoenix, local guys would do that.
    And, it was a single hook/drop/ hook an empty on the run, no multiple stops.
     
  8. bryan21384

    bryan21384 Road Train Member

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    Memphis, TN
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    Wow the fact yall lived through that accident, may be divine intervention
     
  9. Fredterbert6666

    Fredterbert6666 Light Load Member

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    And that was your first job? I thought they only gave those kinds of routes to the older guys IIRC
     
  10. FryDaddy

    FryDaddy Light Load Member

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    Jul 27, 2018
    Chandler, AZ
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    Yeah, I thought I was doing too well for a first-year driver, but it is a small company, only about 20 trucks or so. Maybe I was spoiled by it, but it felt like I was given the heave-ho and thrown back to the new-hire stuff, for guys who had less company time than me.
    My dispatcher later told me they did not want to lose the new hire driver right before the holiday season, so he must have given them an ultimatum . ..
     
    Coffey Thanks this.
  11. Ridlingdj

    Ridlingdj Medium Load Member

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    Dec 12, 2018
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    With less than a year you are still considered the new guy and haven't really proven anything yet it really sucks what happened to you but that is why most people don't do teams because they dont like that they are at the fate of another person driving them unless with a good friend or spouse most of the time
     
    nredfor88, 88228822, jethro712 and 6 others Thank this.
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