is it unreasonable to WANT to know where i am going?

At least you will have minimal traffic....

 

good looking truck

God bless every American and their families! God bless the U.S.A.!

 

Me thinks you complain too much. Every single post is "whaaaambulance!"

 

as i said in some ways things are excellent. my boss told me i could bring up my son to show him the trucks. yesterday i mentioned that a heat shield around the turbo was cracked where it bolts to the block, not really a safety issue but just something that isnt right. when i was there today i looked at it, already nicely welded. if i ever mention that something is broke it is fixed immediately. the air conditioning wasnt working, it was fixed promptly...... which is not a safety issue but keeps the driver comfortable and alert when its miserably hot out. the factory work that i formerly did involved me sweating my butt of while the boss sat in comfort, i do not wish to go back to that.

you guys probably are right, when i learn where EVERYTHING is then i wont have issues finding places. the only problem is right now i dont know where everything is yet, and my boss is so used to going to these places.

i can also say something else positive about him. the owner is a driver, he doesnt drive everyday....... he also runs heavy equipment..... bulldozers and backhoes, but i have seen him hauling stone frequently. his son is someone who works with us and he drives everyday. my boss is not some lazy slob sitting behind a desk while his drivers are busting their butts. i have had allot bosses that are exactly like that, and i dont care for them at all.

trust me, its not all negative. there i just said something positive.

and yes, its a nice well maintained rig. i dont dislike my assigned truck.

 

It sounds to me like you will take a few weeks or months to get to know most of the customer locations. That was how it was for me when I stepped into this gig. Sure, they gave me a binder with addresses, but customers move and new customers have been added. I frequently have to use a Google Maps search for a customer name, because their address won't compute on my Rand McNally. After a while all dispatch will have to tell you is "roll to customer X" and you are on your way without having to consult a GPS because you know the area like the back of your hand.

Then you start becoming valuable. Be sure to thank the customer for their business. Be a salesman in the field.

 

When I placed the GPS into the tractor with FFE long ago, I told dispatch send me the physical address of the shipper or reciever and that truck will be sitting on the edge of the property ahead of time because it is all there, particularly with the early form of dailup internet back in the day. To be able to access the internet today in it's greater capabilities, that truck would be there even eariler.

As far as the business model, I did not realize we are dealing with one dump truck. That changes everything. Your job changes day to day when people get the drive way built we move on to the next raw job whereever that might be when that customer is wanting a driveway built also. Sometimes we have a months worth of work lined up waiting for us to work down the line of people wanting driveways.

My experience with the dumptruck blacktop dispense with alot of the things that are associated with OTR. Once I followed the tool truck with the trailer and paver on my hook to the new job site which might be a house down a two lane road somewhere, I already know where I am going to get stone and already know where Im getting blacktop and what kind.

The biggest rule we had was you know where you are going, get out of here don't sit around. Don't stop either. Today's cell phones would have caused so much time loss stopping everywhere we would have disposed of the thing. Radio? Just a regular CB when we got close enough to the boss. He's already hollaring where is my blacktop. Right here boss, three miles and closing. He's got shovel people from home depot parking lot each morning leaning on the things waiting on me and my dump to get there like right now.

Quarries etc don't go anywhere, once you learn shipper X and learn it's location etc nothing is a secret anymore. I once was shipped to a particularly interesting address with a large number attached to it in Texas, arlington to be exact and a very wide dual highway in front of it. If all that dispatcher said that I will be loading at the Dallas Football Stadium Today then there is no need for a secretive address... sheesh.

lol.

 

Sounds like a problem boss to me. Get out if you can. If he can give you directions as you roll, he should be able to give you directions before you roll.

 

I'm not sure I agree with you. OP has said some things that indicate he's really on the ball with some things. First and foremost is the equipment is in top shape and #### gets DONE if it needs fixing. How many dump trucks have you seen that are less than stellar? This boss is a keeper just for that IMHO.

Second, the company is busy. There's plenty of work, likely more than they can handle. Sounds to me the boss is doing just fine in terms of sales.

Third, the boss is a driver. He understands the job requirements through and through.

All that being said, no man or boss is perfect. The one bone of contention the OP seems to be experiencing is getting complete dispatch information before his wheels are turning. I think the OP can grow into the job and would be well advised to take an interest in how dispatch operates. It may very well be their dispatch doesn't get complete information when they need a truck to start rolling to location. That's how it is frequently with my gig.

I just returned from picking up a load at an oil rig two hours drive from OKC. I had to roll, only knowing the town the rig was near. About 30 miles from the town I finally get turn by turn directions to the rig. I pulled over, studied the route, plugged it into my GPS including waypoints (Via in GPS) to comply with municipality routing requirements, and was back on my way within five minutes. If I waited to roll from OKC until I knew exactly where I was going I would be late and there would be hell to pay. Dispatch didn't get the turn by turns until I was within 40 minutes of location.

You have to improvise, overcome, and adapt in a situation like the OP is working with. The boss is really Golden on many counts, and the lack of complete routing or address at dispatch may very well be because he doesn't yet have all the information and needs OP to roll anyway to be on time.

 

Sounds like ya need to learn how to roll with the punches, yeah, I agree on a few points, but just keep this in mind... No matter what you think, theres always someone else thatll fill that seat and be thankful! Sounds like a pretty good gig to me... Stay safe as ya can and use that common sense. Good Luck with it.

 

Sounds like your learning that the real world of driving is not like the school book of driving.