Who gets to pull triples?

I have to think about this and try to figure out why a driver would want to do two or three times the work, take two or three times the risk for the same pay as a driver pulling only one trailer. Maybe because the challenge to driving has been gone for many many years. But maybe that just me and my old school train of thought.

 

'Happiness is a warm gun' (John Lennon)

 

It's the challenge of doing it. Also pulling LCV does pay more. My company it can come out to an extra 400-450 a month cause of unhooking and hooking a trip set plus a lil more in cpm. Places like OD pay like 3 cents more to pull LCV. Out west here there's no experience restriction except 1 year experience to do linehaul. If your linehaul day 1 if a trips run needs to be covered your pulling them.

It's funny though cause you can't control the sway sometimes (if the trailer is loaded crappy) and you'll have cars pull up and flash their lights before passing in fear. Couple drivers have been pulled over cause people calling the state patrol on us thinking we're falling asleep or drunk. They pull us over and say "are you ok?" And make sure they don't smell alcohol and let us be.

 

I pulled trains over Goverment Camp for a few years and Oregon in general. Got paid by the hr so it takes longer more money. Not really worth it. Lots of weather restrictions. Banners front & back in the late 80s.

 

I've never pulled triples, but I know people who do at my old company. They had to go through a road test with the company to be qualified to pull them. It's simply part of the job there. One of the guys I still talk to every couple nights has a Medford bid out of Tacoma. He pulls a set to Portland, and then could end up dropping that set, and hooking up to triples to take down to Medford. And yes, they get paid .05/mile extra for triples. He's paid .70/mile for pulling triples (I may be off, but not by more than .02).

 

I don't know about any others, but Oregon requires them.

 

UPS pays roughly an extra cent per mile per trailer. They also pay about about $1 more per hour per trailer. It does ad up when you consider the mileage driver is paid time and a half for all clock time. The triples are mostly on turnpikes in the east. Out west they run all over the various states that allow them. They are also prohibited on the Oh and In turnpike when wind conditions are too high or icy roads. They run from the east to West Point In, which is a drop lot near Chicago/Gary In where they break them down to doubles and send them in to the various Chicago centers.

 

Yeah, wind and ice are a triple's worst enemies. There is a reason that third trailer is called a "kite!"

 

I pull them. Almost every night for 16 years now. From Manitoba to North Dakota, so sometimes in some pretty bad weather. North Dakota requires a long load sign as well. I have also refused to pull them countless times, and have called the police to meet me and shut me down when I was forced to take them by a dick supervisor. I am also the LCV trainer. Refused to train a number of drivers because they didn't meet the criteria.

 

Screw triples... I only pull them cause I have to. P&D pays the same regardless if I bobtail or triple... Linehaul guys get a whopping $.017 per mile extra with my carrier.

If you never got a chance to pull a train, don't worry, you aren't missing much. It doesn't make you more of a man or your balls any bigger for dealing with this configuration. It's more connections to watch, more work to hook and break them, more space you need when filling in a lane, and more weight to pull... Oh... And the rearward amplification effect (crack of the whip effect).

Don't get lost either! You can learn to back a set... But with triples you are S C R E W E D if you get lost. Twenty feet.... That is how far back you can go before it looks like a train wreck.

If anyone wants my triples, I would not argue with you.

Oh.. I held my CDL for a week when I got to start in triples. One check ride and 30 minutes of instructions.... Then off I went. I do not recommend that companies do that.