Think about becoming a trucker

A-lot of people, do not understand how to make turns in a semi, in tight spaces. Button Hooking, Overshooting then backing up to jackknife then completing the turn, How to re-position the trailer, if you find you can't make a turn and have to backup. Lane Positioning for slow speed left or right sweeping streets in cites and towns. Some people just refuse to learn, or throw a fit and quit, or just keep running over #### with the trailer.

A year is nothing, and it blows my mind how many people come to Big Rig Expo, with 1-11 months of experience at Challenger, Quit, and now want another company to take them. 1) You just proved you're a quitter, because you quit the best starting company before 24 months, and 2) you need 1-3 years exp minimum for 95% of jobs out there lol.

 

as i was gathering information i ended up finally getting a call back from Garda Security for a guard position so going to get started in that asap and see where that leads me, if anything atleast for a little i can get some more money together before pushing the button on trucking.

 

The problem I find with challenger is how we have to do so many east coast runs, going to NJ and NY is not favorable to any driver. East coast runs are terrible miles, hard to find parking, way to much traffic etc. Having the wrong driver manager can be a nightmare, if you are unlucky. I gaurantee if challenger ran more west towards California they can cut their turn over rate in half.

Other than that it's a good company to get experience before heading off towards greener grass.

I plan on going to Highlight Motor Freight in a bit. The terminal is only 15 minutes away from my house. Quite a bit better pay than challenger.

 

Yea, that's Bison's problem out West here also, they basically force all the new guys to do the pacific NW exclusively. (Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Hwy 3, Northern BC, Northern Alberta). Its not as bad as the NE, but #### close. After getting run out of hours in Seattle 3-4 time, people usually quit shortly after. You won't see California or the Mid West with Bison or TransX for 2 years from start as a new driver.

Unfortunately, the freight market in Canada/US, esp dry freight, is all centered around the NE US the past year. I've spent WAY to much time out there, and its been a bit frustrating. Lukcily my company lets me do what I want, so finding parking hasn't been as much of an issue, but the miles are lower and the fuel costs higher.

Highlight doesn't seem to have this problem, as they have a Terminal in California, I see their trucks crossing the US Coast to Coast all the time. Pretty interesting company, some people hate it, other people would rather stop driving than work anywhere else; both are very vocal about it lol.

I look forward to hearing how it goes, you know the game now, and what to look for in a good/bad company.

 

try the ttc- they train, you're local- they pay very well with lots of benes. you'll be able to move into az with urban cz experience easy; or, even better into go transit.
az schools just feed on ei retraining funds thats why their fees are so high- dont waste your coin-work a year or less while you hide your savings- and get yourself laid off or whatever, you'll be that much further ahead

 

Railroad is incredibly time sensitive. If you are happy go lucky, lazy or any of the sloth attributes in life. It's not for you.

I talked with UP years ago to become a Holster to move their road engines around in a defined area to and from shop and they said that if that phone at my house rings Ive got 1.5 hours to be there.

What if it rings with me shopping for food?

Eh...

 

When I started it was 2 hours call 24/7/365/no reset, could make 9 timecards in a week. Just worked 30 days/nights straight? Good, we need you tonight.

However, that is train service, which is not what signal maint is part of.

Those guys might get an emergency callout, but generally they sit in the truck all day waiting for the dispatcher to give them a ridiculously short amount of time to get something done. After sitting for 9 hours they then need to leap into action. Or they're out driving around inspecting. It does involve intimate relations with a shovel and other hand tools.

Signal construction works pretty regular hours, it's like being on any construction gang. They take all their stuff somewhere, build something new, and move on.

Car repair is shift work, the truck is for going out to do RIP (Repair In Place) work or help with derailments, which is rare.

Hostling isn't a bad gig, a little irregular and you need to know every corner of your territory and be ready to do something stupid, then undo it, then do it again without cracking wise. It pays the same.

 

I agree.

Ive been working towards Hosteling as a alternative. However there has to be a great deal that will need working on before I can think of getting my hat into that situation again. It's simple. Engine here engine there. Maybe something different now and then. Training certainly. Safety absolutely. Blue flag comes to mind.

I have wrestled with the idea that I will die a trucker. But put out to pasture. So I am working on that. Might as well have something to do with horsepower big or small.

 

Id be taking some of the numbers Ive heard here with a grain of salt.
Im running mostly in the US where its easier to make 600+ miles a day and Im getting .48-.50 per depending on what Im pulling and I have only cleared $1000 per week a few times. Driving to my reset almost all the time means weekends usually dont happen on the weekend.

 

Do you get mileage pay and that's it?

Challenger has:

Trailer switch pay: $15 (sometimes I do 3 switches per day, most of the time 2)
Live unload: $25
Live load: $25
Paid detention after 1 hour at $20 and hour
Border wait pay after 1 hour $20 an hour
Waiting for load pay @ $20 an hour.
Base pay 0.44 per mile.
All these things add up quickly, over the course of two weeks it equals up to hundreds of dollars.