Profile For Turtle

You already asked this question in your other post two weeks ago. Nothing will change by asking the same people the same question in a different post.

23 pages of evidence... seriously? Waste of time.

Nothing short of full ownership will provide any hope of recovering from this.

I think there's an over-reliance on repeatable maneuvers to get your setup. That's why it throws you off when you hop into a different truck. Focusing on the same truck / same maneuver is counterproductive in the long run.

Instead, focus on getting a feel for the trailer behind you. Once you begin to drive by the seat of your pants, it won't matter what truck you're in, where your seat is positioned, how your mirrors are turned, etc. You will just know where your trailer is, and where it needs to go.

My local DC, as well as our sister DC in Marcy, had suspended the hiring of private fleet drivers due to a slow first quarter and residual obligations to contract carriers. We leveled off at 110 PF drivers, as opposed to the 65 or 70 when I started less than 5 years ago. I was told a couple of weeks ago that this suspension could possibly last until Q3. However, I noticed last night that my DC is again on the list of those that are hiring. So things must be picking up already.

Me personally, I've been as busy as ever, averaging 2500 miles per week along with multiple paid activities per day. There has been absolutely zero slowdown on my end. As long as you folks keep eating, I'll have a job.

I'm still as busy as ever. But then I work out of a grocery DC, and people always gotta eat.

Oh what the heck, I suppose I'll chime in too seeing I was the OP of this thread.

In some ways I feel a little responsible for bringing Packrat's alleged medical condition to the forum's attention when it wasn't a widely known detail. Sure, it was mentioned in a post or two prior to mine, but it went largely unnoticed and unmentioned.

At the time, Packrat was a daily contributor to the forum, and I felt he deserved the collective prayers and well wishes of our community. I mean after all, it wasn't just a simple surgery, it was supposed to be a freaking heart transplant! That's huge.

Our community didn't disappoint. They came out in droves to support our friend, as they should. I was happy to see that many felt the same as I did. We had a family member in hard times, and we were concerned. Yes, I believe we are a family here, as screwed up as we all are.

Sure, I too became aware of the ruse a couple years ago. It became clear that not only were things not adding up, they were just outright false. It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to figure out that A + B doesn't equal 3.

Still, in the grand scheme of things that didn't really matter to me. If it doesn't affect me on a personal level, why should I really care? Who among us doesn't have friends or family that are a little quirky? I know I do. That doesn't make them any less a member of my circle. That's how I felt about Pack rat, and why I didn't publicly out him. What would that serve? I'll admit that when he came back to boast of his 5-year post-surgery anniversary, I was like WTF. But as Chief Brody points out, it's mostly just sad that someone feels the need to do such things. I still call him my friend, as I would any of the yahoos I associate with until they personally betray me.

On the issue of him bouncing from company to company, yeah I wouldn't exactly call him a role model for a driver I'd want to hire, but that's never been what he's known for here. He is however known for his matter of fact, unapologetic and often harsh criticism of faults. He makes no bones about that, and you always know what to expect from him. There still remains a level of respect in that.

Major congratulations to you, dear. That's an accomplishment most won't achieve. They either jump ship or hit something. You've avoided both. Nice!

I think those tractors are leased, but I could be wrong.

They probably are. Our tractors are leased also.

I've never heard of a company that pays actual odometer miles. They go by statute miles or zip miles and practical miles.

I get paid for every mile I turn, even if it's 20 extra miles to go around a mountain instead of taking the goat path over the top, or 46 miles to take the Tappan zee instead of the GWB, or if I miss an exit and have to drive 20 miles to the next exit and back.

Oh yeah, I forgot that I had made a "week in the life" kind of thread some time back. You can find it here.

It wasn't exactly a normal week, but it wasn't crazy different either. Maybe I should do another one soon.

I'm wondering what the average work week looks like for a WM Driver? It was mentioned that most work a 5 day week with 2 days off, do they typically run out their 14 each day/70 each week? Or is it a more of say, a typical 10 hour day on average for about 50 hours a week?

It mostly depends on the driver. I know some guys who put in 10 hours or so daily and call it a day. Others push it to the max. They give us enough flexibility here to almost choose how we want to run, within reason.

I tend to run 12-13 hrs on my first 4 days, sometimes pushing it close to 14, and put in 8-10 on my go home day.

A random example of a random day:

Having spent the night at a DC, I start a fresh trip, and make it back to my DC (or a different DC) with say 4 hours left on my clock. By setting and updating my ETD throughout the day, I'm letting dispatch know if I'd rather just call it a day at the end of this trip, or if I'd like to take a "pull ahead" load and run out my remaining hours for the day.

A pull ahead is simply a load scheduled to deliver the following day. But I can pick it up today and start heading that way, stopping en route for the night. That's a good way to maximize your days.