JCT

Now you all are "Stars" Just like the movies. Who is the lead actor, we all know who the starlet is. It is like the Academy Awards, Best Actor in a Comedy, Best Supporting Actor, etc.

 

If we become a movie... I want Sandra Bullock to play me! LOL We look nothing alike, but she represents my spirit!!!

We're in NE heading for WI... foggy in places and overcast.

Yesterday was a Walmart shop day... then shower and dinner last night at Little America in Cheyenne. No oval bath tubs there like in Flagstaff.... sigh ... I made do with the marble shower.

 

Well Cory picked up our load around 7pm last night and we swapped for his headed to Tulsa for a 3:30am delivery on Tuesday. Based on the info that Freightliner gave us a water pump is a 6hour job and they had no backlog and we could bring it in first thing this morning for repairs. Based on that info we should have been rolling by 16:00 and good for on time delivery. I should have known better! We get there and are told they can't look at it till tomorrow morning, maybe late tonight and not sure why we and breakdown were told no backlog. We can check back at 15:00 today for an update If we wish. Do these shops always say this just to get the truck in the shop or what? Now we can't possibly make on time delivery and JCT is stuck trying to find a second re power! Not even an option to stay in the truck as we were shown the list of motels that provide a shuttle, they were taking the truck to a bay. Personally I'd rather be in the motel and its a discounted rate. I am not too upset at the loss of probably 2100mi now, things break and better that it is under warranty. What really upsets me is that people worked hard to find the first re power and now possible a second, or we stay under and the load and deliver it late. I hope this doesn't cause a bad opinion of how I handled things and I hope the CN Bama Pie in Tulsa understands! I had been limping the truck for a few days having to add coolant just to blow it out the weep hole till the truck would shut of while driving at 65mph, the loss of power steering made it unsafe. But I would wrestle it the shoulder and restart the engine and go another 25mi till it did it again, buy more coolant, etc
Oh well Rant Over!

 

Miles paid as a solo driver ( the hubby Randy):

December - 13,114
January - 11,354 (took down time)
February - 12,358
March - 14,776 ( down time end of month)

And yes.... we make enough to pay our truck payment, etc., pay the bills (not many), put a good chunk into savings (plus taxes), eat out regularly and do hotels. Work hard, play hard... we're happy.

YMMV depending on your truck payment, personal bills, how you run, etc. Hubby was a software contract consultant/manager for over thirty years.... we've been doing this for just a a bit over two years. My point being if you know how to manage yourself and your business you will succeed. Hey... we're know we have a lot to learn yet about the trucking business and we're doing it with JCT.

Dabs & Randy
in the
Big Yeller Bird​

 

Vette1967. i live in salt lake. if you want a ride for some food or something. shoot a pm.[/QUOTE]

Thanks Snowy, I appreciate the offer, we are staying at an Econo Lodge and actually have some restaurants and stuff nearby so were good! Besides I am not in the best of moods right now. Freightliner should have been upfront and told everyone they would not be able to do anything till Monday! It would haved saved many people a lot of hassle! Had they done that I would have gone to Kenworth! I suppose if there is something to learn here for somebody switching from company driver to LO/OO is to have a little nest egg set aside for such things! They are going to happen even with a brand new truck, the warranty helps but it does not pay for lodging or loss of miles! I know my DM will understand the situation and not hold it against me. I also know that I can just run hard and make up the income lost. Its the honesty issue that bugs the hell out me! Luck that we are in Salt Lake and not in the middle of WY or NE! Again Kathy and I both really appreciate your offer it means a lot!

 

Vette... I am sorry you're stuck there. Some things are just not in our control no matter how hard we try to make it work.

 

hey jarbo i was wondering do the trks have APUs or do we have to buy one and if they do. Do they have inverters in them just trying get a broader spectrum of the trucks. And what is all this mentor stuff on here about.

 

Yes some of the trucks have APU's and we have found they are a sound investment. Yes when they install the APU it does come with an inverter. If u choose a truck that does not have one you will have to wait 90 days to add one. (remember the first 90 days is about u not the truck). Mentors or Referrals, same thing, we help u on your journey and answer questions u have along the way such as routing weather fueling logging etc. Things that u do not call JCT about. Everyone is very busy! You are expected to already know alot but its easy to have a brain fart worrying about getting everything right! For example, I knew the interstate system very well as a company driver but fuel was on them, didn't pay attention to cost. This is a huge part of your cost now. There are things a Mentor can help u with that if u call in its going to shed a negative image on u! Maybe a cheap hotel, or u just hit a #### deer at 3am and u want a Mentors advise before calling in with damage ect. There is an endless list of possibilities. Trust me when anyone starts out it can be very overwhelming, the quicker u learn to use all the tools in your toolbox the better.

 

Yeah, what he said......

You will find that most of us, or at least some of us don't need to get paid to help a "brother" out. There are several was to get ahold of me, and anytime you have a question, day or night, I will do my best to answer.....

Vette, your pushing a little too hard about the referral bonus, that is not what the forum is about. King LMB started it to inform us what his "new" job was like and to answer questions the best he could. It's grown into a big "family/friend" hang out.

No one put pressure on you when you joined us to put their name down, and I don't think we should start now. If you want to help someone by answering questions they might have about joining JCT, then do so in the spirit of helping out insted of looking for a paycheck.

I answer questions all the time on the road for people and never give them my name or truck # because I'm a driver not a recruiter.

It's not my intention to upset you in anyway but to remind everyone what it is that brought us all here, we had questions and found someone that was happy to take a min out of his/her day and give an honest answer. Good or bad, this is a good place to find an honest answer, let's not add commericals to it.


Sorry everyone if I'm out of line.

 

Well sorta what he said, after a good reread I noticed something....

There are several people and departments at JCT that are there to help someone out, it's better to let them know what's going on insted of doing nothing until your "mentor" tells you what to do. There is no program at JCT like that, this is your business and you need to run it. There is nothing wrong with asking for help even if you call the office to ask. JCT wants to see you make it, no see you fail.

JCT will not look down on you for not knowing something, they will look down on you for not asking, or for doing nothing......