Orientation/ first three months/ living in truck

I would suggest NOT getting in another driver's truck to back in for them. I was in the same situation my first couple months on my own. A woman driver with the same company I was with was trying to back into a dock and just couldn't get it there. I hopped in and bumped the dock for her. A week later I get a call from safety asking why I had an unreported accident. It seems that the woman hit a stationary object around the same time I helped her, and she claimed that I hit something while helping her. I set the safety manager straight and she got fired.

I call late afternoon at truck stops the nightly circus. Experienced drivers know to get there early and the inexperienced get in late and are fighting for spots or parking where they aren't supposed to. This is where trip planning comes in very handy. Most of the time there is no need to run yourself out of hours. Just figure out where you will be at a given time and see what truck stops are in the area. Get there before the nightly circus and you'll be ready to go bright and early the next morning without all of the headaches.

 

agreed. One of the reasons I run from 2am to around 3pm is parking.

However, I have learned to make sure and choose a spot that ensures that the late comers who invent their own spots will not block me in. Typically this means a spot which is directly across from another row of backed-in rigs. If there's open space in front of the spot drivers will often park there.

 

What time does the circus usually start?

 

Usually right around sunset. All of the solar powered new drivers scramble for the few remaining spots.

 

I've parked more than a few. Always a woman, well at least a female of the species.

And always when they've held up the show for 20 minutes, going back and forth in the same spots.

 

What company did you go with? to make 80k, and i was thinking of going with JBS carrier regional, it says guaranted $1200 a week, hopefully that means for new drivers aswell

 

A servant. A throw back to the old Volvo butler ads played during a superbowl one year.

Then again a dispatcher is..

Im happy the OP Caught on fast. This industry has been in decline for generations since deregulation and again after the CDL Laws were passed early 90's (After the Belknap collision with it's Carrier killing a number. Many were found to be stoned or otherwise. That started the process for CDL Laws. (Drug and alcohol testing.)

Immigration continues to hurt our Country in trucking ways most people don't understand. Eastern europeans brought their own love of cheating, greed etc to Chicago and is working on populating the city to where no one will have a valid trucking job and so on.

 

I do not understand the deal of not eating a sit down waitress served hot meal. Just because a driver has just been driving a couple of months does not mean he can't afford to eat. In fact I see a lot of drivers who talk like they always eat in the truck because they can't afford to eat in a restaurant, and can not see staying with any job that I could not afford to eat, or not getting my bills in order to where I can eat and enjoy life.
I do.
There is also no need to get fat, just because you sit down and eat, in fact eating in the truck probably leads more to that, at least get out and get some exorcise, I always parked as far from the truckstop for 2 reasons, one is exorcise and 2 is those that eat in the truck fight over front row seats and to see who can take off your hood.
Lots of times I would walk around the lot just looking at other trucks, loads and BS'ing with other drivers.
A guy will meet some interesting people and might just be surprised how many he meets on the road that he winds up running in to again down the road. I have a few I still keep in touch with 15 or more years later.

I can see myself like a lot of others I see on here, more or less hateing my job, or at the very least not liking the trucking thing, if I always ate in the truck and did not interact with other drivers, waitresses and even tourists in rv's that park at truckstops.
Now as far as planning your trip and parking early and not driving out your hours, I did not normally do one day loads, and found it worked to my advantage to do the opposite when in areas of the country where lots filled up quick. I would sleep late and park late after some started pulling out, when I get up the place would not be crowded at all, for showering and such

B U F F E T, stands for big ugly fat folkers eating together, remember that. lol