Watkins shepard

well, what is your area??? cause that is kinda true, but depending where u live,

 

Thanks for the reply.
I must say I havent seen many W/S trucks in my area, do any of y'all know of anybody that originates from the midwest , southern IN. ?

Kinda wonderin what area a guy from midwest would most likely run, like long runs out west, or mostly runs to the NorthEast? Or a little of everything? or who the heck nows?
Anybody stop in the Indy terminal much?

Thanks for the enlightenment, 'preciate it.

 

lyn, we dont go to the indy term very often, our place is off of post road off of 70, we do go up their, but not near as often as we do other terms,
yes, long runs out west for sure, but ull likly end up hang out on the west coast a while, which could be good miles, as i always did good out west, i stay east for now, out of our ga terminol and get great miles weekly... u say the northeast, funny, if u dont mind stayin out a few weeks at a time, u could prob get a good set up running out of our nc term going right into the NE, boston, vermont, ny, ct, ri, nh, ma,nj,pa,del,mass,va.... each stop out of the conover,nc term pays $20 a stop.. i did it the one week, made 30 deliveries, and made $600 just in stops!

 

Soon2be, I see that your from Philly and run out of the GA term. How does that work for home time?

 

well, it works pretty good to be honst, im not one of those guys that insist on being home weekly or monthly.. im not married and dont have kids so staying out for extended periods of time is no sweat.

 

Hi s2b its me wheelsinthedirt - I decided to stop using my dirtbikeforum name, and switch to my normal screen name. anyway since u live in PA do u mostly run eatern stuff or western? I will be in missoula jan 13th for my 10 day

 

I like to think of my truck driving career as the wort possible experience everyday and i mean that in a positive way.
I ask myself at every move, how can i improve this? How can I make this trip go smoother than the last trip? How can I make this trip safer?
How can I save the company money.

If you think that your gonna run a few thousand miles and skip on over to the house, think again.
Our trucks are all condo sleepers for a reason.
Our job is to service customers and move loads and that how dispatch sees it.
You might finish a load and be 100 miles from home but dispatch will need to you to take a load some where else before they can get you a load home.

We hire by terminal so you can park your truck there when you go home.
I live 204.1 miles from my home terminal (sayreville) but I stay out for long periods just like Soon2b.
If you want to make a good living driving truck in this economy, you stay out and chase loads, you go west and throw chains when you have to and make stops and handle 100s of pieces and move on.

If your looking to go home often, your pay check will suffer and then you will resent your job. You will start to focus on the negative and you will start to hate driving trucks.
Theres a reason drivers go to special schools and make bank.
The job is hard. Its stressful, more than most.
Ive been working in conditions below 0 all week with 20-60 mph winds.
Ice covered roads (they dont use salt out here in many of the western states) crazy and blind automobile drivers, cranky dock workers, shifty loads, flat tires, low bridges, poor directions, people who wont answer the phone, paperwork, fuel routing, lean staff in shops, i could go on and on.

We are a great company overall in my Honest opinion but if you are weak willed and think we just hold steering wheels and sleep in every day, your just going to quit in a month or 2 and have a bad taste of the industry.

If your self motivated, enjoy a challenge and aren't afraid to break a sweat in all conditions ( our working temps range from -30 to 150 no lie) then you will love this job and working here and I welcome you. I love my job and I love it here. Ive looked other places now that I have experience, but the people here are top notch and the other drivers can be a pleasure to be around between loads and during shop visits.

Ive been out since 10-23 and have been trying to get home for the last 2 weeks.
I understand that I have to work my way back east and try and be patient as they work me toward loads that way and as long as the truck keeps moving I dont complain I just keep reminding them.

Im lucky enough to have one of the better trucks at the company, Low miles, Apu Vovlo. Be prepared to start out in some of our most used equipment just like we all did.

I welcome you newbies to our company and look forward to meeting you. I drive the truck with the 4 foot spider stuck to the grill.
Look for me in Sayreville as I will be going regional after Christmas.
Good luck!

 

How's he get to go regional and not you S2B??

Kinda funny watching all these grown men make career changes in their 40's & 50's.

 

I believe that you have a terminal in Youngstown Ohio. That is well over 100 miles from where I live in Marengo Ohio. How do they approach it? Do they still consider you?

Thanks!

Jim

 

Are you talking about schools that are more advanced for experianced drivers or the cdl mills?