FLATBED COMCAR (CT) Division Diary

Hey wassup trucking fam?! So I posted once before about thinking of going to western express for otr or NE regional and I actually went to a whole new company that I wanted to go to in the first place. I chosen comcar CT because they seem like a nice starter company to my liking to do my one year or more. Plus the have a terminal in Baltimore for me. That wasn’t even my main reason but hey it sure helps. They are connected to comcar but CT is more of its own company connected to them. They have tanker, dry bulk, refer, and then ct is flatbed. There ct division is mostly regional as far up to Massachusetts and far down to Florida and as far over to Louisiana and Texas. Mostly not west of the Mississippi. So while I was on the shadows of this site I was reading ALOT and I always loved the diarys. I couldn’t find much on CT tho and if I did it was out dated. So I promise my self if I get the position to do it I would to help people that was like me. So if you liked to go to comcar CT division well here’s a updated diary. Oh and they only use straps no chains.

I pre wrote the first two days because after orientation it was eat,shower, test ,then sleep so sorry about that. But day 3 is the present...well the present as I write it lol

Day 1 2/2/18

Got down to the hotel lobby at 6 ate breakfast and was back in the lobby at 6:15. Orientation starts at 7am every morning and we where told if we didn't drive that a yellow cab van would pick us up at 6:30. Weeelll 6:35 came around and no cab...me and my roommate got nervous and called the cab...hey we can't be late on our first day!! I didn't get service so my roommate called and said they know they was running late and they where on they way. 6:55 come and here come the cab pulling up. Three of us get in and luckily the terminal/orientation is about 9-12min so we got there around 7:09 and everyone was just now going up stairs for class so we where actually on time...go figure.

Orientation started with roll call and lots and lots of paper work. You do paper work through out the day and you do another application but just be truthful and write what’s on your first application when you applied. They do background check before you get there.So if you choose to go to ct word of advice have your dot card and your long form that the doctor filled out it should be like three or four papers stable together. I say this because it will eliminate one of four things you have to do the first day. You must have one year or more on your dot card. If you have that you don't need to take they DOT physical. One guy was sent home because of something with his physical and another was sent home because he was on probation that he didn’t know about. Once they go over that you can either do your drug test which is a DOT urine or your agility test. Now the agility test they check your blood pressure and your heart rate then you have to lift a crate up to 125lbs three times up to stomach/waist height. First one with weights shouldn't be to bad just pace your self don't try and be macho man. Then you'll take it off she'll add weights pick it up again take it off and she'll add more weights then take it off. If you have to use your knees to help lift do what you have to, to get it on that table. After that you'll have to walk a bucket of weights half way cross the room and then back. The bucket not to heavy you can carry with one hand. After that you'll have to pull on a bar that's attach to the wall and it'll read how much you pulled , you must pull 150lbs. I pulled 390lbs by accident because I thought it was retractable but it's not and we joked about it lol. After that you'll climb on top of the back of a flatbed trailer and get back down then kneel on one knee or two for like 45sec and that's it. All this is to make sure you can carry tarps, pull tarps , and climb on the bed. After you do both your urine test and agility test you do your road test, and a straight back. The road test is nothing like the cdl test road test...well it's not as strict. Just show you can drive watch your mirrors wide enough turns and you'll be fine. After that we had lunch that they provide. It was a good ol roast beef, turkey, and ham sub with chips and soda or water. If you don't eat beef, pork, or just turkey or vice verses just let them know and they'll accommodate what meat you want. After lunch we took two quizzes that if you don't finish you can take back to the hotel. In between that we learned about there expectations, which terminal we will be out of . What we haul , the names of our terminal mangers and they give you a vest hard hat and gloves. We also found out that if we late to orientation because the cab it's really not our fault if we downstairs waiting for them haha. Well that was day one. Ct seems like a nice starter flatbed company. Oooh and pay is .44 cent a mile loaded and unloaded (All In) meaning tarp pay, live load, and unload live load included. or you can do .37 base pay and also get paid for tarp pay $25 and other additional pay that I listed. I got to look at the paper...our orientation trainer say you can make more with the base pay.... but time will tell.

There equipment is macks and international pro star allllll automatics and 48 spread axle with apu

CDL:

Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:

• Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
• Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
• Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
• Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.

Terminal:

A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.

Regional:

Regional Route

Usually refers to a driver hauling freight within one particular region of the country. You might be in the "Southeast Regional Division" or "Midwest Regional". Regional route drivers often get home on the weekends which is one of the main appeals for this type of route.

OTR:

Over The Road

OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.

DOT:

Department Of Transportation

A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.

State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

OOS:

When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

Forgot to mention orientation is held in Savannah GA every Tuesday at the headquarters and the andvance Training is a big dirt lot about 20min from the terminal at Savannah tech. I also took a greyhound from Washington DC to Savannah about 14hrs. I think I’m going to take the train back home tho, it’ll be 12hrs.

Day 2 2/14/18

Got to orientation on time today. Ate breakfast at the hotel by 6 and at 6:30 cab pulled up. When we got to the class we started with a harassment video and did a quiz on it. Then we went over all three quizzes. It’s 8 of us in the class and of the 8 two of us aced the quiz which was my roommate and me . apparently it haven’t been done in a year. Lol it was open book so hey. The paper work you do the first day and application all go in a folder. The orientation instructor hands it to you and send you one by one downstairs to the lady in the office. All she do is go over your folder make sure it correct look at your mvr and background make sure everything checks out...like I said they already checked it they just wanna make sure you didn’t lie. You also go over where your first check will be received, tuition reimbursement, and direct deposits. After that go back up stairs . We did and went over log books and log today and yesterday. We did that up to lunch. Lunch was dominos pizza. After lunch we went over trip planning. Then the president of the company came in and talked to us until it was time to go. He’s a pretty good guy and they say they have a open door policy. He went over pay and safety.

Day 3 2/15/18

Today is our last day of orientation. Went down ate breakfast and cab was there at 6:30 again. Got to orientation started at 7:12am we started our paper log for the day and then jump right into elogs how to operate it , sign in when to go on duty off duty drive time etc. we watched a video on accidents and sleep fatigue. More about safety. This industry is based around safety. If we don’t take our job serious and not safe, people can get hurt even worst they can lose a life. So I know for my self and others I’m going to take my job very serious and know safety come first. We had lunch and guess what it was...? Good ol sub again and chips lol. After that we went over benefits and then load securment . Like I said earlier we only do straps no chains. We learned the length of our trucks 48ft 102 wide and weight of the axles. Well urine test results came in today and well every one passed accept one guys pee got lost and he had to go to the lab and take another one. So since we pass that we ended our day and got our badge numbers and sign up to log into our elogs. Now I’m an official employee of comcar CT transport!! Now I’m staying in Savannah GA for 7 more days for an advance Training that’s driving the flatbed in a obstacle course say the least. Consist of backing, turning,alley dock , etc. get through that then We go home next Thursday for the weekend then get a trainer for 3-4 weeks then you get your own truck. Well that advance Training starts tomorrow, I’m a little excited and nervous at the same time but hey time to get it done. Until tomorrow.... I’ll get back at y’all.