Just Some Questions About Starting Out in trucking?

Do not go with PAM.

Ive had damage from them twice in my lifetime. I don't have anything of value for them in terms of what they could do to turn into a first class outfit. It's just not happening in my book.

 

My truck has a small fridge and lots of cabinet space... I keep the fridge stocked with milk, sandwich makings, and a few other perishable items.

I carry alot of stuff that doesnt need to be refrigerated... Raman noodles, instant potatoes, oatmeal, cereal, pop tarts, granola bars, crackers, peanut butter, tuna fish, hot cocoa, ECT. I also carry a flat of Pepsi, a flat of Gatorade, and a flat of bottled water.

I bought a small hot pot that plugs into the cigarette lighter to boil water for cooking instant foods. Many drivers have either a power inverter, or an APU so they can use a microwave.

As far as a TV... I wouldnt waste your money on a TV until you have at least a year in, just to make aure you will have time to use it... I'm usually pretty sapped when I shut down for the day... And if I'm not sapped and I stay up for a few hours I regret it when I have to get up and get down the road.

As far as keeping "focus when your eyes dont want to work anymore"... YOU DONT... You find a safe place to park and go to sleep. By continuing to drive when your eye just want to shut all you do is endanger everyone on the road, including yourself. No load is so important as to require you to risk lives to get it there.

I carry some basic tools and spare parts... But I'm also very mechanically inclined, and I'm one of few, if not the only, person at my company that has gotten the permission to carry spare parts such as brake chambers, alternator, engine pulleys and belts, heater hose, ect... And to "fix it if you feel comfortable doing so"... Many companies dont want you to do anything as far as repairs to the truck are concerned.

Carry extra supplies (food, water, clothing, bedding, matches (or other sourse of fire) in the winter.

You should also always have a good flashlight and extra batteries... Get a BIG ONE... Not just a dinky little thing you could put in a pocket... There are Many types, I prefer the pistol grip spotlight type with super bright LEDs.

 

You can stop when ever you want, but when you CAN drive is limited, regulated, and recorded. If you dink around and dont drive when you can then you wont do well, and companies dont like that... Hence why you sleep every chance you get, so you are awake enough to drive when you can. It is actually ILLEGAL to drive a CMV while you are tired... The regulations call it "fatigued or ill"... Yes if you are so sick that it affects your driving it is illegal to drive a CMV.

Just this week I stopped to sleep many hours earlier than I had originally planned, or wanted to... But I NEEDED to stop. By stopping for sleep it required that I adjust my trip plan drastically in order to arrive at my destination on time. It also made my trip plan more difficult...

Originally I had planned on driving nights... But after stopping,g to sleep I had to switch to driving days, which means that parking had just become an issue. Most drivers niw days drive days, so truck stops fill up FAST at night. Had I continued to run nights parking wouldnt have been a problem, as I would have been shutting down, when most others were just getting started, leaving me lots of parking options. By running days I had to be much more strategic and selective of where I planned to stop and park, to ensure there would be a spot to park when I got there. All the while making sure I made enough progress each day so I would still arrive on time for delivery.

 

There's also Prime Inc. You can do well there in the refrigerated division. You have several choices and they all offer cdl school plus lodging and meals. Prime trucks also have the APU feature, so you can be a gamer there. Millis is probably a good choice for the best home time.
Click here > Prime Inc. (truck driving school - truck driving job ...

 

I have a fridge, a toaster oven, a French press coffee maker, and an electric water kettle, I do a grocery run the night before I leave for the week, and almost never eat fast food.

Definitely sleep any/every time you can! I find that the stimulation from popping a mint (Altoids works great) or a sour lemon drop helps me push back minor drowsiness, and getting off the road and taking a 20-minute power nap can usually buy me two good hours of wakefulness.

 

And I try to regulate my hours so I can sleep at nearly the same time every day.
If you want to stay healthy you will not push yourself to sleep 'whenever you can' just so you can get a load. It throws your body clock all to whack so you never really feel rested.

 

Lets say you have been told to get this load of Beans. You are to deliver these beans tomorrow at 8 am.

Pay miles 500. You went and got beans loaded this hour before sunrise. You have 500 miles (Actually a little more) to do today and 11 hours to do it.

Let's say it's 4 am tomorrow 4 hours before you are due in faraway town USA with that load of beans to deliver. You did 50 mph average and did your 500 miles.

The COMPANY WILL use their computers and AUDIT ALL TRUCKS before sunrise then to check against say a fleet quota of 45 mph. Because you did your job and drive the 500 miles pronto you are not on a late list.

Lets say the same trip all over again. This time you are lazy, sleepy, unmotivated. You dawdle 4 hours over your bar last night, hungover today you drive 5 hours a little bit and suddenly sun is going down 200 miles later.

It's going to come up before 8 am appt on your delivery day due and you still have 300 miles to go.

THAT computer is going to detect that you only did 25 mph actually not even average. That computer will put your truck number on a list saying YOU. ARE. LATE. RIGHT NOW.

Your Operations manager sends you a message "Call me" on your satellite.

This is not a friendly request. This call will determine if you still have a job or not. Most likely not due to a service failure. You failed to run the 500 miles required of your load in a timely manner.

And so you are fired.

Thats trucking.

In a perfect world long ago about 1975... you had been given the load of beans and instead of being in Faraway USA by Appt time 500 miles away saturday AM, you will be told very simply.

Get those beans today, be in Faraway USA (LA for example) by monday morning. Call me when empty, no later than monday noon.

You are free to truck as you see fit. No one wants to hear from you at all because that means the engine blew up or you were killed or you killed a family etc. Until Monday Noon. You better have those beans delivered by then.

THATS freedom.

Micromanged into a world of BS driven by technology and enforced by minions who think everything is so valuable that it has to have a appt time with just enough to get it there.

Our Nation deserves to sink into the accumulating piles of BS of our own making at work across the board. It's unnecessary.