Trucker Lifestyle Questions

A lot of dispatchers will ask you, rather than look it up. I think that there is a cost involved in the communication system between dispatch and the truck ECM devices, but it's also laziness, and an opportunity to see if you'll lie to them. If they think that what you tell them sounds wrong, then they may check up on you. They will also ask you how many hours you have left on your logs, and when you are getting hours back, even though they can look that up, on the electronics log, themselves, as well. Hell, if they think that I can figure it out, in my head, while driving, then they should be able to do so, as well.

You get a 14-hour window, in which you may drive up to 11 hours. Following that, you must take at least 10 hours off, to restart those two clocks. It gets a lot more complicated than that, but they'll go over that in detail when you go to training.

You can use bungee cords to strap things down, and I often use towels for padding, but ultimately, the truck is going to bounce, and things are going to move around, get dropped, and rub against one another. I do carry a hard drive in the truck, but I keep backups of the material, at home. I have a Microsoft Surface, for my computer, since it's all SSD and not particularly sensitive to movement or magnetic fields, but an old laptop will do, if you are willing to risk something causing it to fail. It's a lot of abuse to subject equipment to, and not expect some problems. Mostly, I stick to Android devices and SD chips.

I have heard good things about Jim Palmer. I've heard very little about Wil-Trans, and I don't like what I've heard about Schneider, but I will defer to @Chinatown on this; he's the resident expert, and would not steer you wrong.

A lot of guys don't like Hazmat, because the rules are complicated, come with stiff penalties, and it can be dangerous, dirty work. Some can't pass the DHS background check to even get Hazmat. Not all work is equal, however, and I've met guys doing fuel tanker work who are happy as clams in warm sand. I run a postal contract, and it gets me home frequently, it is basically no-touch freight, and it pays decent - but those were the criteria that I was looking for, and it sounds like you want to stay out on the road, more. Everybody has their niche. @Chinatown will ask you what you want from the job, and find you something appropriate. He's really good at this, and we're all really lucky that he doesn't charge us for his advice.

 

Oddly enough, I tried pursuing Computer Work to get out of trucking, but it didn't work out for me. Yet here I am again with a job, so that kind of shows the value of a CDL.

As a techy driver though, I did splurge and get a good ASUS Laptop that usually just sits on the bed with padding to keep it in place. I'm not really worried about it.

I have found that I really don't get in much Kindle reading though. The 10 Hour break gives me time to stretch, eat, cleanup, maybe catchup on social media, news, or other internet surfing. Then I have to get in my sleep. That is just to say you might not get to enjoy electronic entertainment that much, depending on how your company runs you. I do have a gaming laptop and I go many days or sometimes the whole week without any gaming time.

So, I have switched things up and setup SiriusXM Radio. I've also tried using my phone with the Audible app to play some Audio books. I will also go on YouTube raids as there are ways to download content converted to MP3s and I'll transfer those to my MP3 player.

As for Wireless Internet, I'm on Verizon which recently brought back Unlimited Data and it applies to both my Phone and Samsung Tablet. I'm able to use either device to share internet to my Laptop with USB tethering. I think there are better phone plans out there, I just got Verizon because it has the best reception where I've been living.

I'm wondering if the OP might consider Expediting as an alternative . He might feel more freedom of the open road especially of they could afford their own van and out fit it the way they like. This would require more research on how well freight is moving for solo drivers though.

 

Verizon 's new unlimited plan comes with limits. I think at 22GB, they reduce your speed, so sure, you get unlimited, but it's the same unlimited that I get from Net10 for half as much with no contract... :-/ Coverage is slightly different, though.

Everything comes with a penalty. You ignore your dispatcher at your own peril. They could start returning the favor. Best thing is to find a groove with them, where you get along well enough, or get away from them. A mutual animosity is not a good way to go.

@Chinatown will tell you to apply anyway, and then call. Apply first. A lot of the time, they'll make exceptions, or their rules have changed, and they can do whatever needs doing, if they decide that they want to. You might have some selling to do, to make it happen - or they may have some suggestions for you, to make it happen - but nothing happens until they have your application in hand, so start there. That they say that you have to already have a CDL is probably not the end of the story.

 

I don't think I've ever hit 22GB.

Out of curiosity, I just looked and I'm at 18GB. A fair amount of that is from random YouTube stuff. I think my billing cycle will come again before I get up to 22GB.

I don't do online gaming, so I'm not sure how fast that would go through data. I just play offline fighting games to kill time.

 

Sometimes they say they want experienced drivers on those accounts, but yes, you can get on those accounts right out of cdl school.
As to tankers, there is no downside to driving tankers. The reasons more drivers don't drive tankers is because their wife or some guy that's still in cdl school tells them they'll probably be killed in a massive explosion which is BS. That same guy telling you this garbage is probably the same one in the truck stop TV lounge complaining about not making any money and it's everyones fault except his.

 

Wont hurt to have a cdl...as a wall hanging.
Go trucking for a year..then quit..like everyone else

 

The beauty part of trucking is that there's a niche for almost every preference and phobia. What works for one won't work for another, but the other can find what works for them.

I drove regional food grade tanks, then OTR chemicals, then local gasoline. I hate what I'm doing now and want to get back into trucking, but that's another story.

I think product surge is what turns many off from tankers. (Well, and the "rolling bomb" thing that Chinatown mentioned) Your load is moving around behind you generating physical forces that are trying to run you off the road. You have to drive gently. I love tanker work, and that's where I'm going if I come back.

Personally, I wouldn't touch flatbed. When I think of tarping, I can picture myself on top of a huge load of lumber, losing my grip on a tarp flapping around in the gale force winds and driving rain, when suddenly a big gust of wind grabs the tarp and launches me off the top of the load, and I do my imitation of the world's ugliest flying squirrel for a hundred feet before I faceplant on the gravel.

Numerous flatbedders have told me no, it's not that way at all, but I can't get that picture out of my head. So I stay out of flatbed work. And so that slot gets filled by someone who was "born to flatbed".

And round and round it goes.....

 

Streaming media will take you through 22GB in about 20 hours, depending upon the media involved. Safety videos burn up a significant portion of my high-speed bandwidth, each month, and scanned-to-email paperwork is usually enough to finish me off. Thankfully, I have a grandfathered Verizon unlimited hotspot, or Iheartradio would have to be replaced with SiriusXM...

 

Watch the recruiters lips,,,if they are moving they are LYING!
good luck with your choices