Inkeper and I were sitting there outside the Lancaster lounge, this loud driver was matter-of-factly stating that bicycles can't be carried on the truck unless in an 'approved carrier' otherwise DOT will make you take it apart and store it inside the sleeper or leave it there at the scalehouse. I said, "but that's a $300 dollar bike on my truck!" He just shrugged lol. Once you've been driving a while you can come up with your own stories like this one I 'heard': Guy buys two of those Daisy Red Ryder BB guns in the truck stop for his son and nephew at Christmas. On Christmas Eve, he's almost home but DOT does an inspection and find the 'firearms' and he's still in custody at the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms facility in Leavenworth Kansas for transporting with intent to distribute illegal firearms in a commercial vehicle.
BBM you hear the same thing in every place that the pay is not a set salary. Where I work its plus commission (now they capped it and I want out!). But if you take care of your pennies the dollars tend to care care of themselves.
I plan on living on 100 a week on the road for myself, the rest of what I make will be sent home, Id like to at least be ablt to send home 200 a week, but even if i make a 1000 doller paycheck, im still gonna live on my bidget and the extra will go home, so as to cover small weeks, but if 100 is all I get and theres 0 to send home, that will be a problem, I dont like sitting around the terminals and BSing If im not at home Id rather be moving and earning..no sense of sitting around a terminal or truckstop all day..Im out there to make money..not tell stories..LoL..
Sometimes you have no choice. Freight is slow right now, drivers are sitting at either truckstops or terminals. You can only spend so much time in the truck without going nuts. Even when freight is good you can only run so long before you have to stop somewhere. So you'll hear the stories at restaurants, fuel stops, terminals, and on the C/B. Just don't believe everything you hear, and keep your sense of humor, you'll need that most of all.
Yes definately. I got a 6 6 6 when kenny tested me on pre trip in cab and break check he said he thinks I will ace dmv. I got a box and a plunger I am practicing clutch neutral clutch shift! Lmao! Studying the rpm speed gear paper. Can never be too prepared for the feds!love ya like a brother! Have a grt week at home with family! See ya on the road trucker!
Or, it could mean something far worse. futuretruckerchic... have any odd spikey headaches, visions or delusions of grandeur? Maybe all three? If so maybe trucking is not so much your forte, as is world domination.
As far as drivers saying you won't clear $100/week. Only if you sit around the terminal ######## about miles while turning loads down. There will be slow times, but the guys who have the worst time are those who hang out at the liars/gossip/##### tables instead of running loads. I found this out the first month out. I still socialize on occasion and, when I was company, would hang around at the tables. Then, on my way out to my truck to hook to a trailer, count my lucky stars I was born with a brain in my head that pointed out the logic of accepting the short runs to get into better freight lanes. See, that's the problem with those guys. They won't haul anything under 300 or so miles. They would rather sit for three days waiting on a longer run. Meanwhile, you're rolling out 300, 400 or 450 mile day runs during that same three days. While they're still sitting there ########, you've logged 1,200 miles and $300 gross...and still have four more days in your work week.
Then you get the ones that get caught up in the cash advance game. They have a bad week, so they live off advances. The next week is good, but the check is small because you paid all last weeks advances off. So you keep getting advances. It's a never ending cycle for one that can't handle their money good. Then they complain about low paychecks, not revealing they are the cash advance king. Just watch it in a truck stop fuel desk and you see it everyday. But I agree you have to take the bad with the good. You might have to take that crappy load to get to the good load.
