The Old Man's Advice

Good advice. I’m still a rookie but I can say I paid some dues. I called it learning the game. And my first bit of advice to anyone starting out is have some patience... Whatever you want is out there..
There’s plenty of ways to truck. You must keep a clean record. No rollovers, no collisions, no speeding doing 55 in a 35. Become a professional driver and not just a person with a cdl. That means be on top of your pre/post trips, tripplanning. Calling customers beforehand to see if you can get unloaded early, somebody might’ve missed an appointment and you’re right down the street, or the unloaders are trying to get done early. Lastly learn To communicate with dispatch.
Dispatch might be a nightmare but you must be able to prevent problems before they happen and CYA. If you’re with a mega learn your companies network of terminals, drop lots, maintenance facilities, tire banks. How they handle roadside repairs.
With Schneider I thought they only did tires at Terminals or roadside, so I’ve lost a ton of hours do to drivers not writing em up and waiting on roadside when I could hit a tire bank and been in and out in 30 mins.
If you can wait til you have a full 12 months of driving experience. Doesn’t mean you can’task around and take a good job if you find it but When looking only make vertical moves. By that I mean do not jump from swift just to go to jb hunt. Find companies that you know you wouldn’t mind working for them for the next how every many years. But all the doors open up at day 365. Ive had companies that trained people straight out of school tell me to call them back when I have my year. I’ve had atlas oil tell me 5 days before I had a year to call them back in 5 days even though I was out of town and wouldn’t be able to do anything official until got back in 6 days. Once I had a year clean I was offered by my current company, I had met the regional manager for Questliner at a tankwash and he wanted to hire me as they had a new dedicated account opening in my area guaranteed good money, and a standing offer from a local car hauling company if I could pass a drug test. Bottom line is it’s out there. Just gotta make it through that first year and make good decisions

 

Each one teach one.

 

I like van freight. We have a lot of it.

I considered getting into flatbed, but I look at some of the mixed menagerie some of those loads are and think, "Oh hell no."

I'm no spring chicken anymore either though, 55.

We do some fingerprinting which provides enough exercise for me.

I also see a lot of flats running around empty, and many empty in the winter.

I think if you were a younger guy getting into flats, then specialized would be a good route.

Gas can might be good.

I did concrete for 3 years and that is A LOT like work.

I tried chemical tanker, and didn't make it through the 3 week orientation. The rubber suit sweating your balls off wasn't for me, and several of the old hands showed of their chemical burns.

I did a guys local deliveries for about a year hourly. Didn't pay a whole lot, always around 70 hours a week, but there was a good amount of sleep time at docks. All straight time.

By far my best success is as an O/O doing van. Always $100K year. No one really on your ###.

Local companies have politics and cliques. That's not a good fit for me all.

The best advice never given to me when I started is:

1) Do not jump around your first year, it's the same #### with a different name on the door.

2) Think about where you want to be in 3 years as a professional driver.

3) You're first year is tough. You're options are very limited, and the mega puppy mills know this.


And this is the best life advice that was given to me:

1) Don't ever give a good God #### it about what anybody thinks of you.

2) You don't take any #### off of anybody.

 

Yeah but giving advice is really a problem when people have their mind made up and won't listen, just want to hear their idea is good and they qualify it.

I can point to a few examples, one is the girl with back and neck problems, people are encouraging her but that's stupid, I know from personal experience that a truck can put you out of service and bed ridden. I lost drivers who had back problems from this too.

Another is a guy who wants to buy a truck and become an o/o, totally unprepared and has no experience, focusing on the truck and ignoring all the other advice.

 

This WAS all great advice when truck drivers really wanted to be truck drivers, and not "the last game in town". With economic conditions today, just having a job is a priority, specialize later, if they make it in the basics of trucking, van work. ( no offense to vanners)We didn't have TTR, and the only way to learn , was to ask someone. Many times, and I've done this too, we'd do something wrong, it was the duty of an older, wiser driver, to lend a hand. It's what kept us together as a group. Don't have that today, the old timers are driving wheelchairs, and learning is up to people who have a vested interest in making money, teaching the basics goes out the window. Like, and I hate to keep picking on that poor driver, "what's that sneezing sound"? That tells me, the person has no idea how the air system works, an important part of trucking to leave out of learning. Bless the "old man", but he wasn't doing anything special. It's how we were as an industry, and I miss those days dearly.

 

Being a new guy I’d like to add one thing in specialization.

Dry Van -> haz-mat-> tanker.

Having those endorsements can take you out of the mega carriers race to the bottom on freight rates. Hauling totes and haz-mat definitely has it peculiarities, but still can give you crisp clear sound of slamming a door.

 

So far my trucking career hasn't gone as planned. Still lucrative and I am still sure I want to be doing this until retirement.

I had a 3 year plan, do 2 years general freight dry and reefer then try to get on with an LTL doing linehaul locally. The first part of that went great, made the most money I have ever made in my life, saw most of the US and made it into Canada.

The LTL portion didn't pan out. No one would hire me. Other local jobs either didn't pay well or didn't offer job security so I am back doing OTR.

Following advice of many on here I decided to try a different more specialized segment and hired on with a tanker company. I am still waiting to be convinced it was the right move as dry van/reefer kept me busier and paid me way more.

I guess the point I am trying to make is that career progression doesn't always work out. Nothing wrong with never making that next step if you are satisfied with where you even if it's a starter company. I know I would have been better off financially and avoided disappointment if I had never left my first OTR company.

 

#2 Should say anybody but the OM.
(Some will wonder who the OM is.)