I'm looking for a few good hearted drivers

In my opinion there is entirely too much whining going on about OTR jobs. It's a JOB to make MONEY. People have been working on the road in construction, sales, truck driving jobs,etc, for eons and now all of the sudden everybody has to justify making a living to somebody else.
It's a pretty sad state of affairs.

 

I'm 36, kids, house, etc. been doing OTR for 11 years. And make ###### good money at it. I'm a good safe driver with a good record and proven to be stable you'll find a lot of that here along with others that aren't. And the others that aren't are the ones who suffer. Bounce from job to job and never get ahead or make more than the minimum. That's not anyone else's fault but those drivers. You have to make the effort. You have to prove yourself. You have to stay at a job long enough to get those advantages. Yes, trucking companies cater to their long term drivers. ###### right they do! They are good employees. It's not the government, its not obama, its not the trucking companies or the DOT or anyone else that's making you fail. You are! Buck up and put your man pants on already! Nobody is going to hand you the world on a silver platter. You have to earn it.

 

Well my wife does not work out side of the house she is a stay at home mom I also work a job that allows me to get in during the week and have weekends off I was an experienced driver when we got married so I had my pick of jobs getting started with kids and a wife already will make for a hard year or two . On the other side most of the office jobs and factory jobs advertised in my area pay less than 30000 a year . And even in the high skill areas its not that great there were only five engineering jobs advertised in my area and only one payed more than what I make it required a doctorate degree and didn't have benefits it was also only going to last ten months . The others didn't pay much . As much as I would like a day job my kids have to eat . And its not a bad job I get treated well paid well and have good benefits

 

A positive post for the new drivers...hmmm. Kinda hard to do when everything and everyone around you is negative.

In the movie, "The Hunt for Red October", there was the part in the movie where the captain was sitting in the small dining room with his officers eating dinner. While eating dinner, the captain tells the crew that he is going to defect to America. The officers are shocked and start to argue and bicker amongst themselves and start to question the captain's choice. The first officer silences them, reminds them of the captain's stellar record, then dismisses them. In private, the first officer asks the captain if he's sure he knows what he's doing. The captain confirms this.

Suddenly, the first officer changes HIS plans. He now wants to get a farm somewhere in the states, with a fat American wife and raise a family. That impressed me. Could I do that? Can I adapt like that? There's been talk of satellite and elogs for 25 to 30 years now. The world we knew was coming to an end.

Well, changes in the industry has happened before. When I first started driving, they didn't test for drugs and alcohol. You could tell the drivers that were doing CRANK because that stuff would blow their teeth out their mouths and the hair off the top of their head. I walked into the office one day and they take me in for a drug test. Some cute young woman at the clinic handed me a little cup, "Do you need help with this?" I'd taken drug tests before, PD. required them, but this was the first time someone offered help. My mind went to a bad place for an instant, but I declined the offer of assistance (I figured wood would make it a little more difficult to aim into the cup.)

Are things safer now that they test for drugs? I don't think so. In those days, it was rare for someone to take your hood off now, or speed through parking lots. Sure they'd rip down the roads wired up for days on end, but the guys I knew didn't wreck. In those days, it was JB and Schneider in those cab overs who were going to wreck. Swift was still small. Nowadays, it seems as if JB and Schneider have gotten better and Werner and CREngland have taken their place at the absolute bottom. That's amazing, because England used to have a pretty good fleet.

I hear the old school drivers say all the time, "Yeah, back in the day, if a truck broke down, 20 drivers would pull over and help the driver fix the truck." Yes that's true, but back in the day if you broke down, you were part of the food chain. Nowadays, you have drivers who will pull over on the side of the road because they have a flat on their drives or trailer and they will wait for a service truck. How is that safe? Sitting on the side of the bigroad? Safest thing to do is limp it to safety. Right lane it and run double nickel. Odds are you will be okay.

"Oh, but if DOT catches you, they will put you out of service!" Odds are still in your favor.

When I came back to trucking, everything changed. HOS, load securement, "home time", orientation, "driver manager/ fleet manager". Back in the day, you had a dispatcher. That's all the old school needed, "Call me when you find me a load". Okay, I can adapt. HOS...check! Securement...check! DM...check! Home time...I am still having trouble with that one. No ones going to tell me when I can go home unless I get locked up.

Back to elogs and HOS, I can adapt. I am an old school outlaw driver, I will always figure out how to make the system work for me. The thing is, it seems that everyone else is degenerating. People in fours are getting stupider. Pulled a load 14'6 wide up interstate 81 through Virginia. For those of you who have never pulled a load like that, I will try to help put this in the proper prospective for you. When on the interstate, put your right steer on the fog line. At 14 ft, the left side of the load will almost be on top of the zipper. Speed limit for a permitted load in Virginia is 55. Why do people in fours, who can run 70 mph, slow down to match speed with me? It's like going hiking and spotting a grizzly bear cub and stopping for pictures.

So, what do you do, when seemingly everyone around you gives up, ' put on sackcloth and cover their head in ashes, and start with the weeping and Lamentations'? Do not fret, everyone isn't having pity parties with great bouts of bellyaching. Be positive. Positive thinking people will be drawn to you. If everything is getting worse, it should be easier to get better. How so?

When I started, we had triple digit trucks, and ran 5000 miles a week. Calhoun, Georgia to Denver,Colorado was a 1300 mile overnight/deliver next day run. Thing is, EVERYONE at my company ran like that. Nowadays, I am at a company that has drivers that can't maintain 400 miles a day. I still punch out 700 with an oversize (depends on metro curfews, daylight savings...etc ). I look stellar. 2 years before the elogs push, I got myself back in fighting shape. Dropped some pounds, built my truck, and started running start to finish 11 hours. I don't have to, I want to. Its routine now. No effort. Not recommending this way, it's MY WAY. it's how I want to run.

So how do you build up you stamina for driving? Keep in mind, I will run with my right steer on the fog line for 11 hours straight. See, when people have a lapse in concentration, they forget what they're doing. A fighter forgets about defense. Wham! He's down for the count. The 4 wheeler that was running 75 mph loses concentration as soon as he pulls in front of you and his speed drops dramatically. The truck driver does an involuntary lane change, or doesn't recognize that traffic has stopped in front of him.

As you guys can tell, I am a fight fan. Love boxing. Want to see a prime example of what can happen when you have a lapse in concentration? 10 round Michael Moorer is fighting George Foreman and is winning by a landslide. He had a really good trainer in Teddy Atlas. In the middle of the round, Moorer is popping Foreman in the eye at will. He quits boxing( there is a reason it's called boxing). Teddy yells, "DO NOT STAND IN FRONT OF HIM, MICHAEL!" Foreman does what he is known for and lowers the boom. Moorer is down with one eye looking left and the other pointed towards his forehead.

If you as a driver, have other trucks or cars blow their horn at you because you have crossed the zipper often, then you are suffering from a lapse in concentration. What I am saying is that you are a good safe driver as long as you're concentrating. That's not a good thing. See, everyone is trying to focus on safety. You don't want to focus on safety. If you focus on safety, then you are no longer safe when you lose focus. Perplexed?

Ever know a guy that hits the bars every day, gets stupid drunk and drives home and never got caught? Never had an accident. He can barely stand up, but he can drive. How is this possible? He can drive without concentrating. If he had to concentrate, he would black out. That's why he can't walk...he has to concentrate on walking. Now I am not admonishing driving under the influence, I am trying to tell you new drivers that you want to get to the point to where you can drive a big rig without focusing on safety. Safety should be on automatic in your brain...it's like defense for a fighter.

On YouTube, there's a bunch of videos of guys showing how to shift 13 speeds and 18s. The interesting thing about these videos is that these guys cannot call out what gear they're in because they shift without concentrating on the gears. They don't know which gear they're in. They don't have to look down and the tach, or the gear selector. If these guys had to call out what gear they were in, they would miss the shift altogether. Point is this, just as they drive, shifting gears without focusing, what you should want to do as a new driver is get yourself to the point where you DRIVE without focusing on driving. I will just about guarantee that you will be the safest and best driver on the road.

And that's the overall goal for all of us. Sorry about the book.

 

I think perhaps in some ways the drivers have a little better security driving now then they did 40yrs ago. I can remember in the 70's, drivers working at places like Eck Miller and then all of a sudden the place closes down and they are left with no paycheck. Our neighbor next door had this done to him, when his wife was having their 3rd baby was when this happened and mom let him eat at the house on Sunday with his other 2 kids.

And then you have companies like CR England who could be great, but because of the money making off of cdl schools, they can starve a regular driver out till they quit, and then keep the charade going continuously with a new influx of sheep.

Drivers still have to put up with dispatchers who have no clue what life is really about on the end of a truck, a lot of the better dispatchers that you run across are ex-drivers who know what the real deal is. Companies scare newbies with their lingo, no turning down of loads no matter what drivel, even if they can't legally deliver it, and then they act like it is a nail in their coffin because you do turn it down.

And it still sounds like there are a lot of drivers who have to put up with companies who want to try and get away with overloading the trucks so they can pay less for goods shipped. These are the companies who DOT need to be monitoring more closely, drivers should not have to be the ones who have to babysit this type of game.

 

Its so funny, it occurs to me that you don't see store clerks banding together complaining about the diminishing level of good customer service, work ethics, or a host of other things.

But here we sit and complain, and nothing we can do or say is going to change a thing.

I think we over think, and at other times don't think enough.

We want a certain 'standard of practice', certain basic skill sets and mind sets to go along with what it takes to be a good truck driver. And it seems that 'big brother' is in its' own way attempting to do just that.

Yes it's oppressive and controlling, but its for the sake of all of us. Whether we like it or not, big brothers influence is here to stay, and there is nothing that we can do about it.

Just my own personal thoughts, take it or leave it.

 

I'm a new driver myself having only 8 months experience, but I have seen enough to make a few observations on this industry.

1. If you are in deep trouble financially and you are a new driver hanging your hopes on a CDL and driving a truck is on average one of the worst choices you can make. This is because most companies that will take you with zero experience have made a science out of bending you over and taking full advantage of your situation. This is especially true if you have a family. Every situation is different some people get a CDL and get a great job and get back on their feet so I'm not saying that a CDL absolutely won't be the answer to your problem. What I am saying is that this industry is currently set up so that people getting a great paying job fresh out of school is the exception not the rule. Know your situation and be honest about it before you go through school to get a CDL. If you know your significant other/spouse won't be able to stick it out with you gone all the time then understand you are likely choosing to say goodbye to them. If you know you want to be involved in your kids lives on a regular consistent basis then understand that you are not going to be able to do that for a while.

2. Adjust your mentality regarding getting on at a decent job and working there until you retire. Unless you land one of the really good jobs right out of driving school don't be a dummy and stick around any more than a few years maximum. Starter jobs in this industry are meant to be just that. When I meet a driver who has been working for a place like USA Truck for 6 years that has a clean record I just shake my head. I asked a guy I met who had been working for PAM for ten years why he is still there- he said "the pay isn't the greatest, but they have been pretty good to me here" I asked him "isn't it time for you to be good to yourself?" He didn't have an answer. Seriously get in, get what you need from them, and get gone.

3. That CDL is your livelihood. Don't let a company talk you into doing something illegal or ill-advised and screw up your record. Speak up for yourself. I'm not talking about getting into pissing matches. I'm saying be professional, but be clear and be firm, but be smart. It is better to quit than to be terminated. For you guys out there this includes letting male pride get you into a bad spot. By this I mean don't worry about those guys giving you a hard time. If you are unsure get your butt out of the truck and look as many times as it takes, pull up as many times as it takes.

That's all from this newbie.

 

Dear Sir,

Your post was excellent, but I have a question?

Why would you derate or rag on a guy who has been with a company for either 6 or 10 yrs or however long he has?

Thats outstanding to be with one carrier, how can he in this market and day and age better himself?

A job hopper is the one that is always chasing the grass is greener company and is often the one getting screwed the most because of it.

6 yrs at one company is a driver with a solid work history, and if he and you applied for a job at the same company, who do you think they would prefer and want more, him or you?

6 yrs means six straight years of putting money in the bank, having material things bought and paid for, and I am sure he has earned his respect from his employers at the same time.

The people chasing the dream of big bucks, that job hop. Are always in so many cases the ones who never find real happiness and who always pay the price of being hired by companies that tell the biggest lies, just to get a warm body in an empty truck.

You made some really good points and some sour ones too.

just fyi,

 

Well in all fairness, it's possible that they were happy where they were at in life. Might not be your bag of beans but different strokes....................