Just about done with orientation. Almost time to roll!

Oh yes. I recently put a black and decker fridge in my truck and I have salad and lunch meat and other good for you stuff. I have lost about 10 pounds since joining Melton.

 

Ugh I have too choose between central refrigerated or melton both want me to leave this sunday for orientation. I'm an ex Knight Reefer driver with 6months otr and more than 60k miles. I like how melton has apu's i could care less about the camera if its installed. I am still concerned about the tarping though mainly for bad weather. Can you guys give me some more advice like what you guys do when you have to tarp in bad weather?

 

It doesn't happen all the time but quite often the customer allows us to tarp inside if noone is waiting on our door. Other wise just take your time in bad weather, meaning don't rush and fall off the trailer. Most times I can get forklift drivers to set tarps on the load then all you have to do is roll them down the load and drop the sides. It isn't hard at all. I think your worrying too much about nothing.

 

I suppose your right. I want to last at this next job. I should be ok though I am not that out of shape

 

I'm 57 yr, weigh 145 on a good day and never worked a manual labor job until going to work for Melton. Is it physical work? Yes. You get better with practice and get tips from other drivers. Positive attitude, patience while you learn and deal with your DM and you will do fine. If I don't understand something, I ask and have always been given an answer in a courteous manner. There have been an occasional miscommunication, but a little patience and providing facts without emotion, they have been cleared up. Everything they said they would do, they have followed through with. Do I occasionally get frustrated? Yep, but that is any job in my experience and it is usually my inexperience or not having a complete picture of the operation that does it. The above is based on my 4.5 months with the company. Plan to be here for a while, too. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

 

Only question I can think to ask at this point is what are some things that I should get for a truck? Do I need ti get a ladder etc?

 

I have a ladder, one of the foldable ones, but have yet to need it. I don't mind playing billy goat and climbing on a load, but that is just me. If you don't have a cooler/refrig you will need one when the temps warm up a bit. When you get your truck, get with maintenance before you leave and get the following: oil, anti-freeze (2 gal), 3-4 cans of tarp adhesive, a couple of feet of tarp patching material, extra wiper blades and plenty of anti-gel. Not a big deal if you don't since they will pick up the cost at TA, Petro and Boss. You may need your own container for the anti-freeze. For tarp repair you need a pair of scissors and I got a pastry roller (wally world) that has a 4" and 2" roller that you can use to make them stick better. Couple of cheap 2" ratchet/straps for securing , a ladder, dunnage or pipe stakes/coil racks/etc. DOT doesn't approve of bungies for securing these items. I have an extendable paint stick w/ roller that was around the house for inserting straps on some loads; very handy. Most of the terminals have pieces of old tarp material; pick up at least 3 or 4 pieces to use as padding under your tarps. I also have a bunch (a dozen) of carpet pieces (about 12" square) that come in handy. Sometimes I feel like a pack rat, but fully fueled, with company issued equipment and my "stuff" I'm right at 31K for the tractor wt.

 

Tarping isn't really all that hard, it's just time consuming. I swear that one of my end tarps has been patched so much that it weighs about 100 lbs. it has patches on patches on patches.

As for bad weather tarping, a lot of places will let you tarp inside. However, sometimes there is no "inside". I did a full tarp job on ice in Minnesota a couple weeks ago, outside, 13 below zero, in the wind. Just another day at work!

 

well off to orientation I go. If any wants to know how it goes let me know.