How can you keep it together?

Well that sucks, I do consider them better than Bison/TransX and that lot.

I work for one of those companies on the list that isn't Skelton, and its amazing, equipment and how i'm treated. I was just told we're not hiring tho, no one quit this year, so no need.

If I had to get really picky, I would refine the list to.

Skelton Truck Lines
Payne Transport
CANEDA Transport

Maybe add in Rosedale Group?

 

OK. I guess you work at Payne then. I'm glad to hear that you're being treated well, that's the way it should be.

Rosedale is a lot of East Indian owner operators out of Ontario. Not that it means much but by looking at the equipment and trailers,this company is working very hard to hold onto a dwindling carpet/textile market in North America. Sure, you see a few new tractors running around but if you start to pay attention,you'll see enough tired stuff as well.

 

I’m fortunate that I’ve never had to work for a mega nor be on the road for more than 7-8 days at a time. With that being said, I’ve worked for some less than great companies.

I hauled LTL regional lumber on a 4 legger for a few short months and it just wasn’t for me. Beat the piss out of myself and at the end of the week, i was making less than I was hauling local dirt in a tri axle. I left that gig and went to haul mine ore/backfill on a 5 axle/super b and did that for another year or year and a half and had to scratch the itch of hauling deck again. Left that and started floating for a local company. Did that for a few years and threw in the towel to try my luck at eastern seaboard deck work. Loved that! Good loads, good equipment and even better dispatch and owners. We started a family so I got out of trucking for a few years and went back to turning wrenches. Had enough of that and now I’m back floating again. Paid hourly, decent benefits and fair pension plan. I’m home more often than not and I’m treated like a king.

Like others have said, you need to find what YOU want out of your career. There’s tons of opportunities in this world of trucking. Find one that you enjoy and get good at it. You’ll never work a day in your life again if you truly enjoy what you’re doing. My niche is float work. Ya, some days I get pissed, but for the most part, it’s what keeps the gerbil in my head from spinning out of control.

 

Sorry might be out of context but I'm a noob. Can someone please explain what does LTL, FTL etc means?

 

I’m not gonna read through those long crazy posts but ill tell you how

You can do anything you set your mind to

I started otr working for some one for 30 cents a mile (2010) cheating the log book running Denver and Cali twice a week running my self dumb and numb for someone’s then I set a goal buy a truck be my own boss. less than 2 months later I quit that place went somewhere else where I was appreciated more got set up to buy a truck. Bought one truck next thing you know I’m buying 1 truck a year because I can.

Set your mind and do it.

 

FTL - Full trailer load, generally 1 pick 1 drop and point A to B.

LTL - Less than trailer load. With LTL you have multi pick multi drop stuff of all shapes and sizes. It can pay very well if you hustle, and it's a lot of fun because you get to play tetris with freight and stack things

 

With LTL you’ll get paid for your drops and picks. Sometimes a drop/pick takes an hour, sometimes it takes 10 minutes.

One company I worked for we donated the first drop/pick but every other paid 15.00 I think it was. Like I said, some take 10 mins others can take an hour or two. If you hustle, know your customers and how they operate and you can make a boat load of money quite easily.

 

The funny part about LTL, at-least in my experience, is the customers are in more of a hustle to load/unload than you are LOL.

I can't count the amount of times, I've had shippers waiting for me at the front gate or even out on the street, waving me to come right in and hit the dock. Or sometimes you will clear the gate, and a dock door will fly open, with a guy blowing an air-horn waving you over lol. Equipment yards with a movable ramp dock always crack me up. All these forklifts will be working, and as soon as you pull in; they stop and all come racing toward you.

A far cry from the reefer days, when you used to have to park on the street, walk to security, checkin, wait 4 hours, get called into a staging area, wait 4 hours, get into a door, wait 8 hours, pull out of door, wait 2 hours for paperwork and then get kicked off property once signed off or sealed.

$75 all picks and drops + mileage to their front door. If they screw around longer than 1 hour, its $50/hr after that.

The secrets to LTL, CALL EVERYONE! For real, if they know you're coming, they will usually have the stuff staged and the door clear for you. One time I had to grab 2 pallets in The City of Industry (LA) I called them and said I was 30 mins out. When I got there, they had 2 forklifts with one pallet each. I opened the doors and bumped the dock, one guy drives in, drops pallet, second guy goes in drops pallet and 1st guy rips over with the paperwork. Total time to pickup 4min 47 seconds gate to gate lol.

 

Haha yea that has happened to me.

I haul mostly equipment and big goofy things on a lowboy now. If it’s equipment I generally don’t wait too long because I load and unload myself most of the time. If it’s big goofy things, sometimes cranes are involved and I’ve waited a full day before to get unloaded. Paid by the hour..