How common is hourly pay?

there is more to the job then operating a truck safely although that is important. last week one of the farm pickup drivers loaded a trailer without a wash ticket. the transport driver took it to the plant and they had to call the location trailer was washed. turn out the wash was 9 days old, legally a wash is only good for 96 hours, 5 days. the entire load had to be dumped. when a load is lost under circumstances that are caused by the hauled, the hauler eats the load. my boss losses $12,000. i do not cost my boss loads of milk. with 6+ years prior dairy experience working in the plants, i know the regulations. when im driving, that trailer doesnt move till i check the wash time.

you have 96 hours from the wash time until milk FIRST goes into the trailer. so technically you can be actively loading a trailer with an "expired" wash ticket, so long as the milk started loading BEFORE the ticket expired. its not wise to cut it that close. the best course of action, take the trailers with the oldest wash tickets first (so long as they are still within 96 hours).

 

i actually like driving better. no one bothers me, i talk to the boss maybe once a day at most on the cell phone. sometimes i go entire days without dealing with him once. i cant be around management anymore or dealing with the stress of plant gossip and politics. no thank you. the milk truck driver pretty much works independently, get my route done and be left alone.

its not that i am antisocial, i go to work to do my job and not be controlled. if you remember i was fired over vaping outside without written, verbal warning or disciplinary action of any type. i was told by the general manager he did not like the sugar in my iced tea. i dont go to work to be bothered with this BS.

i have given it some thought. believe it or not i enjoy driving, i enjoy shifting, and operating the truck. i enjoy being outside for the majority of the day and not being stuck in a building. i have very little interest in plant work anymore.

yes, i do know my way around the plant but i also know what goes on at those places. leave me alone and let my do my job and we will get along just fine, as long as i am not in my car on break doing something intoxicating its none of their business what i do on break, and i certainly did not need even a suggestion that i should go to nicotine addiction treatment classes.

im not a bad driver, and i do a great job at sampling/managing wash tickets/paperwork/measuring/loading ect ect. its like doing my old job in reverse. i know what i expected to see as a milk receiver, so i simply provide those things.... and the load wont get rejected, at least if it did it wont be my doing.

my boss told me i am one of few drivers that he doesnt go up top and check the seals if he is delivering the load. he knows my name is on the paperwork and its good as gold when it comes to that sort of thing. my boss is also a driver and delivers loads. (right now he is off the road temporarily because he just had knee surgery).

i have enjoyed every trucking job i have had so far, i even enjoyed my short OTR experience just not the being gone part. i loved driving dump truck, doing construction and blacktop jobs. there is a road near my home that i helped pave. i will never forget it. i have driven a wide variety of commercial trucks. im not going to give up on this career easily, i enjoy doing it. even if its "only" on the local side. local drivers matter too.

 

besides i make more money as a driver then i made as a receiver. i might stay in trucking but move away from dairy eventually, but at any rate i do know my job. my time as a receiver also gave me inside knowledge of the truck aspect and i would hear about all of the wrecks. i knew going into this, smooth bore tankers MUST be respected.

 

Van, 10 wheeler dump truck, drop deck flatbed, 10 wheeler auger truck, triaxle dump, and milk tanker. Some of these trucks were different trucks operated by the same company. I enjoyed the various different trucks I have driven. I have driven autoshift, 8ll, 9 speed, 10 speed, and 18 speed. By far the 18 speed is the best great for hills. I'm not a huge fan of the van trailers, 53' is very long, you can't see around them very good, and they are a not fun in the wind. Tankers are streamlined and the air can go over the top of them, they are typically only 48' long; but you have to use your head and slow down in corners. I like daycab because they have a back window makes it much easier to see what your doing in manuvers or backing, yes I use the mirrors but the back window is yet another tool. I know some sleeper trucks now have rear windows built into the back of the sleeper but I don't know how common they are.

 

things went much better today at that farm. they were done milking by 2PM and i was back in the yard by 3:30pm if they can make this habit its not bad.

do i know everything? heck no i learn something everyday i drive. i have made mistakes just not serious mistakes damaging equipment.

when i went to trucking school before i even stepped foot in a truck i asked about local jobs, they said it would be difficult right out of school. i did werner for 3 months and have been completely local the whole rest of the time i have had my CDL. my plan all along was local work, as far as i am concerned i am a success. i have achieved or am achieving what i set out to do. i know most people set out in this industry with the intention of driving over the road, but that was never my intention; it just happened to be impossible to go anywhere with my license without SOME OTR. i would say the little bit of time i did it was beneficial, every time i have sat behind the wheel has been beneficial.

i have had a long time interest in truck driving. one of my first jobs was working at R. Conley trucking in the wash bay. i wanted a CDL then, but they wouldn't have any part in helping me. this was when i was in my early 20's. i became a raw milk receiver and again was around trucks. frankly i have had an interest in truck driving for a long time, i dont regret doing it.

sorry if i came off as being ####y, i am not... i just had different methods of getting where i wanted to be in the industry. i probably should stay at walton for a few years, and then when i have a substantial amount of time i can go for that better paying job. if they ever open fracking in NY that's where the money would be.

 

i live in north java, its like 20 miles outside east aurora. i drive for walton milk hauling in alexander, ny.