Help My Wife's Going trucking!!!

Hey I gotta put a few comments in here. I am one of the older,age wise,people on this site. I worked in heavy industry quite a while before women were hired into the industry. And yeah I was one of the guys who figured they would never make the grade.But Guess what? They came into the industrial field and did their jobs very well,and most of them were just as much if not more consciensus about performing their jobs than the men were.They made out darned good.In later years I started driving truck and yeah,just about that same time the ladies started getting into truckdriving. And lo and behold they are doing a terrific job.The world is changing my friend,today women are doing many jobs that 50 years ago they didnt.Stop and think about it driving a truck does take skill,but over and above that it takes a lot of common sense.These gals out there driving the big rigs are doing a great job,and my hat is off to them.I am now retired,but still consider myself a trucker,and I have seen a lot of changes thruout my 70 years.If your wife has the desire to start driving to get ahead,chances are she will make out just fine.By the way,you are planning on returning shortly from Afghanistan,while my grandaughter is just leaving for a tour of duty in the SANDBOX. Tell yor wife I said good luck in her new career.

 

1. What problems have you seen female drivers have because they are female? Sometimes females get harrassed on th cb or at docks, BUT so do men drivers. when you get out there you here super trucker cussin' swearing, talking about his momma this or his wife that. ALso, a drick driver may hit on your wife and that is up to her to handle it.
2. What are some of the companies that she should stay away from? ( I know that Swift is probably one of these) Any company that is yes yes yes company stay way from. go with a small company.

also, every time or any time i am shutdown near other trucks I alway put my truck in reverse and bump the trailer then tug it.

 

That does not always lock it down. A quick visual check should be made as part of the pretrip.

 

It is true lots of people will help you out, man or woman , I need help slding my trailer, the trl brake were lousy and would not stay locked I had two guys get a fork lift and hold the tandems in place, to get the trl to slide, it to 2 hours.

 

so, if i bump it back and then tug it that is not safe??? to be sure the pin is locked???

 

My sentiments exactly

 

Even when I bump into the kingpin, and do the tug test, part of my pretrip walk around is a visual of the kingpin lock... if its dark I use a flashlight. Just part of what I do to put my mind at ease that I have done all I could to ensure the trailer will stay on while I am pulling it!

 

I can honestly say that as a woman driver.. a new one at that, I haven't experienced any problems out of the ordinary. Your wife sounds like an incredible woman and will have no problems out here. As far as a company to go with, I would definitely recommend Interstate. Your dog problem would be solved, their trucks are good.. fully loaded automatics, 1500 watt power inverter, lots of room, good dispatchers (mostly), clean safe terminals.. I could probably go on and on. When you come home and join her as team, the transition would be easy. I know the whole auto shift transmission thing seems to deter some people.. they don't think they can live without shifting.. I think a lot of guys feel neutered or something LOL ( jk guys.. sorry if I offended anyone) but anyways.. the autoshifts are not so bad really.. even to my husband who had driven a manual transmission out here for 20 years. He actually preferes it now. Anyways.. thats my 2 cents lol for what its worth

 

Hey your lady sounds like she has worked around men most of her work history. She sounds like she can take care of herself and very smart. I think she will do fine and I am sure she knows just being a woman no matter where you are you can't be to careful. You have to always watch your back and be safe, always no matter where you are.

I just finished with school and got my CDL Class A license and believe me the first thing you have to get use to is all of the swearing, cussing, as you go out each day driving and you are in a truck with three other students who are men. I do know that there are still some gentlemen out there but what I saw in school were your younger men doing most of the swearing around women. I myself do not care for this and just like I told one of the students when I go out on the road and I am around it I can walk away from it and do not have to stay around that kind of talk. I honestly can say by the time these (BOYS) men got to know me and who I was that they all clean there mouths up. My husband and I are team drivers and we both went to the same school at the same time. But their policy was that no married couple could be in the same truck and learn together so we were never together out on the road. So here I am having to listen to all of this trash and B.S as I learn to drive and get my license. If I did not grow up with four brothers and been around men most of my life believe me it would have been very hard. I am very strong will and I believe that most men will treat you with respect and be very helpful if you always conduct yourself as a lady and let them know by walking away you do not put up with that kind of swearing or b.s.

Some people are so insecure and want to fill you full of their lies, B.S and swearing and that is just part of life when you are in school. Once you leave school you can go back to being around normal people who are not so immature. I was in Business, Banking, and no matter where you are some men are always going to be boys as long as "you" allow it. Some of the men at school was very nice and a gentlemen always. Just like in the millitary as I am sure you know that we all are very different and according to our invironment growing up as have we behave and conduct ourselves. But just like I have said many times it is never to late to change if you want to bad enough and let God be your guide. You can have fun and laugh and make good friends but some men think that by all of that swearing, b.s. and cussing that women like that well believe me some may act like they do but you are only fooling yourself to think any women with smarts, class, and courage will ever put up with it and if so, not for long.

My hubby and I will soon be leaving to go to orentation up in Ohio to school for three days and hopefully, we can get our government backgound and Hazmat out of the way this week before we leave. We have a contract to drive for this man who is ready to retire and wants a team to drive his truck and we will be working for him and Panther Expedite Freight. We both want to get some miles behind us and some good experience before we jump into buying a truck ourselves. So much to learn as newbies and it will take time and lot of runs (MONEY) before we will know if we want to invest in a truck ourselves.

I have heard of a lot of good trucking companys and most of the best ones you have to have some years on the road and a good driving record to get a job with them. But we think ourselves from all we have heard and read that Panther is a good fit for us and what we want to do and make in the time period we are going to be working before we retire.

I hope your wife does good in school and from all you said I think she can take good care of herself.

I pray God will keep you safe and well and return you back home here with your wife so maybe one day we will meet out on the road.

You sound very mature and smart and I can only imagine the sadness and loneliness you feel at times with your wife here. I am very grateful and thankful for all of you who are putting your lives on the line for us and for keeping us all safe here back at home.

Thankyou and Be careful always.

I too was a wife of a soldier (EX.) who went to Nam in 68/69 and it is very hard when your love is so far away and praying he is safe and comes back home alive.

I will keep you in my prayers and hope all goes well with you and wife and one day you two will have a joyous reuion together again.

 

A lot of the best drivers I ran into (figuratively) were women. When a woman driver is good, she's #### good. Some of the best drivers are women.

But....as with all things, there were/are the bad apples. Some of the worst drivers I've ever seen were women. Most of the time this was more of a confidence issue more than anything. If one of the better women drivers would have seen these women, they may have scolded them or #####-slapped them.

Self-confidence is important when you're tugging 44K on the wagon. Those who are weak when it comes to self-confidence don't seem to be able to make the critical decisions on the fly and are a danger to all. One must have confidence in his/her ability if he/she is to learn and improve ability-wise. Unfortunately, some women I met while driving should not have been driving. But most, thankfully, were #### good. And they weren't just good drivers--they were good people, too.