Indian River

We are not forced to chain up at IRT. It’s your choice. I chain up if I have enough hours left to justify it, or if I’m in a situation where it gives me peace of mind.

I’ve ran across Oregon on Highway 97 several times late at night where it just felt better having chains on in different areas. If it’s dark, and no one is around who could see me slide off the road and call for help, snow coming down heavy in a National Forest, sharp drop offs, etc. I will chain up a few tires and cruise at 30 mph with a cup of coffee and peace of mind. In situations like that, you usually aren’t driving faster than 30 or 40 anyway, so I play it safe and put a few chains on. It’s up to you though. Sometimes I will put one chain on one tire before pulling into the tank wash in Washington, because we drop and hook a lot, and if the snow hasn’t been bladed in the parking lot, it’s hard to bobtail around when I’m switching trailers. When I leave the tank wash I stop at the gate and throw the chain back in the box.

I’m still happy here. December will be my 4 year anniversary. My miles are still great, I rarely pull anything less than 1,000 miles. I’m in California right now. I brought a load from Baltimore to L.A. I left on Thursday, delivered on Monday. 3,000 miles a week is a good average for me. I did a Champlain, NY to Walla Walla, Washington last month. They reloaded me in Washington and sent me to Bradenton, Florida after that. Then I did some Florida to Pennsylvania and then back to Florida loads. I made 3 or 4 trips up and down the East Coast before coming to California from Baltimore. There’s not anything to complain about in my opinion. I’m a go anywhere, anytime driver. I’m not familiar with $400 paychecks like the other person mentioned. The only time I have a small check is when I take 4 or 5 days of home time. Outside of that, I’ve been here almost 4 years and rarely see anything less than a grand every week. I’ve been paid detention time on the rare occasion that a facility has problems or my truck goes in the shop. I do a lot of drop and hooks, so waiting around isn’t really an issue at shippers / receivers. I think if you’re willing to work, don’t complain all the time, stay away from the gossip circles, and aren’t a high maintenance driver they’ll run you hard and give you all the miles you want. It’s worked out good for me. IRT is the best job I’ve had.

 

I don’t want to speak out of turn on here when it comes to the criteria like that. I assume things can change in the office and be different than they were 4 years ago when I hired on, so I don’t want to risk putting out inaccurate information on a forum. I’m positive we still require experience, but I’m not sure if it’s still 2 years OTR or if it’s only 1 year now. I don’t know if a school certificate waived that either. If it were me, I would call the office in Winter Haven, FL and ask if you can be transferred to the recruiting department. They will have more up to date information on the hiring criteria than I do since it’s been several years since I hired on. I’m pretty sure the experience doesn’t have to be with a tanker.