Truck Wash - Memphis

Insults and etc. aside I agree with this. If truck washes are not paid for by your company then by all means don't do them. However, doing them yourself because you have some pride in your job and your truck (even though it isn't really yours) does give a good impression, and while this good impression may not (read: most probably will not) actually yield anything, it is a personal choice you can make for yourself.

I understand the point of view of not having any investment in your truck or the company, just doing your job and going along, but taking an extra step beyond certainly isn't something people should slam others about.

If your company doesn't provide for washing (or not as much as you'd like), and you get the reputation of "that guy who always has a really clean truck," is that a bad thing?

 

Wow, more with the insults. You'll have to do something a bit more than call me a steering wheel holder to get me upset. Stop acting like a child, or worse.

 

No, it isn't a bad thing, it just doesn't pay to play. If you want to do it, go ahead, I'd much rather spend time working and cleaning my own trucks than a company truck. Knight has fired guys who add too much stuff to their trucks though, even if it does follow the company guidelines of no major inverters and no added holes. And why would you spend $40 a wash on a truck that you'll be turning in at the end of your run? I used to have buffed out wheels that looked really sharp on my last truck, or was that four trucks ago, but I did that because there was nothing better to do with my time waiting in the Fontana yard for a load. That was also before we started slipseating.

 

Don't forget the wiring. I used to sell electrical terminals to truck maintenance facilities. Salt eats away electrical connections. The best shops used the ones that had hot melt sealant and shrink tubing to keep salt from entering the repair. The shoddy trailer shops used the cheapest stuff to get the job done and even told me that if they used the good connectors, their customers wouldn't come back as often. Great for them, bad for the customer.

 

I'm paid to inspect all mentioned items daily to be sure the are safe for operation. Every truck I have ever driven Has enough undercoating on the frame/axles/etc to coat a parking lot. No rust of any consequence here hammer! Again washes are not "Essential" to anything. The rate of rust to chew through a frame...nevermind this is pointless. Wash your truck for free driver...pride in the ride!!!

 

If I drove for someone who slipseated, I probably wouldn't keep up the truck either. But then again, I slipseated at one small intermodal company, and will never again drive for a company that does this.

I always got the truck after the cigar smokin, tobacco chewin, potato chip eatin', sticky fingered slob, who must not have passed any fuel stops during the night. Because the truck was alway's suckin' fumes when I got it. And if something was broken? Well, it wasn't that way when HE had it.....

To each his own.

 

Knight doesn't slip seat me. Nobody at my terminal slip seats.

 

i agree with you biscuit.it is about pride.We do not own our cars till they are paid for,we do not own our houses till they are paid for so why take care of them?because you have some pride even though its not really yours till the note is paid off or you paid for it in full up front.me personally i paid to get the company truck washed at a blue beacon washed once a month.i was paid go enough money that little bit of money was not going to break the bank and guess what i noticed more and more drivers started keeping their company trucks nice and shiny soon after

 

Sorry to be nit picky, and I understand the point you are trying to make, but your statement about not owning your house until it is paid for in full is not correct. You own your house the day you close, whether you have a mortgage or not. That's why it takes a court order to implement a foreclosure. Your home is collateral to the bank and nothing more, ownership is yours until the contract is broken and the bank takes necessary action to transfer that ownership.

A company truck is still a company truck, however, and I can see merit in both sides of this debate. I guess for me, it will depend on the individual situation and I will handle it as I see fit when I get there. BTW, my first W-2 paying job when I was 15 was washing trucks at my neighbor's construction company and I had a sales route with a straight truck, that I owned, that I washed myself in the summer and paid for washes in the winter.

 

a nice rain shower is a poor mans truck wash