Wow, it’s hard to believe, but I’ve been at my current employer for 1 year as of today. I began Truck Driving School in January of 2009, completed that in February of 2009, and was hired on in March of 2009. This post will simply serve as some observations that I’ve made as my first year of a truck driver.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Career Help, Tips, Advice, Current State of the Trucking Industry, truck driving lifestyle.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, being a truck driver, dealing with the boss, driver responsibilities, First year on the road, hard lessons learned, life on the road, Stories of the Road, truck driving lifestyle, truck driving stories
The Qualcomm system at most companies have directions to customers listed, but a lot of the time the directions are wrong. Unfortunately, even when dispatchers and customers know the directions are wrong nobody seems to care enough to do anything about it. Here’s an example of the mess it can cause.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Cathy and Steve's Story, Great Stories, Stories of the Road.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, Bad directions, Cathy and Steve's Story, dealing with the boss, driver responsibilities, hard lessons learned, life on the road, Qualcomm directions, truck driving lifestyle
Recently I heard a story of a truck driving student who was on the road with a trainer and discovered that the trainer was smoking pot in the truck while the student was driving. How did the student handle this? Did it backfire on him? There are some things that everyone needs to understand about the realities of life in the trucking industry.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Career Help, Tips, Advice, Current State of the Trucking Industry, Stories of the Road.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, dealing with the boss, driver responsibilities, hard lessons learned, life on the road, On The Road In Training, Stories of the Road, truck driver training, truck driving lifestyle
Posted by
Rhonda on
8 October 2009, 5:21 am
Let me start out by saying I entered trucking in 2001 because I needed a job. A job that paid a livable wage. So I entered as a warm body that companies put in the drivers seat. My pleas for an office duty/inside job were not being heard. At first this new driving thing was not too bad, but soon the newness and “fun” wears off.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, Career Help, Tips, Advice, Current State of the Trucking Industry, Women In Trucking.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, dealing with the boss, driver responsibilities, hard lessons learned, life on the road, Stories of the Road, Women In Trucking
Wow, I can’t believe it’s been 6 months already. I’ve completed training, and have been on my own now for a couple months. So, I thought I’d share a few of my initial impressions of my early truck driving career, having experienced it for 6 months now.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, Career Help, Tips, Advice, Current State of the Trucking Industry, First Solo Months On The Road, truck driving lifestyle.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, dealing with the boss, driver responsibilities, hard lessons learned, life on the road, Stories of the Road, truck driving lifestyle, truck driving stories
Wow, it’s been two months since I hit the road with my trainer. I can’t believe it’s already been that long. Time is really flying out here. As I stated in one of my earlier posts, my training period is much longer than most companies, so I probably won’t be done for at least another 6 weeks or so. But since I’ve put in quite a bit of time with a trainer already, I thought I’d share a few of my thoughts on how to survive your company trainer.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, Career Help, Tips, Advice, On The Road In Training, Safe Driving Tips, Stories of the Road.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, CDL training, dealing with the boss, driver responsibilities, hard lessons learned, life on the road, On The Road In Training, Stories of the Road, truck driver training
In the movie classic “Wizard of Oz” the good witch Glenda tells Dorothy to click the heels of her red shoes together three times and say “There’s no place like home”. The movie ends with Dorothy waking up in her bed surrounded by worried family members…well, my training time is over, and I’m going home.
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Becoming A Truck Driver, Career Help, Tips, Advice, Current State of the Trucking Industry, On The Road In Training, Stories of the Road.
Tagged Advice and Opinions, CDL training, dealing with the boss, getting your CDL, hard lessons learned, new drivers in a slow economy, truck driver training, truck driving stories
Since my last trip went so well, Karma had to balance itself out. And it didn’t waste any time either! This last trip was…well…interesting. I’ll try to describe everything that happened without confusing the heck out of you, but there’s no guarantees.
Our last delivery was just outside of Boston, Massachusetts. My company doesn’t have a [...]
Filed under Advice and Opinions, Career Help, Tips, Advice, Great Stories, On The Road In Training, Stories of the Road.
Tagged dealing with the boss, driver responsibilities, life on the road, On The Road In Training, Stories of the Road, truck driving stories
Posted by
Rhonda on
16 March 2009, 3:35 am
A lot can go wrong for truck drivers on the road, and sometimes you just have one of those weeks where it all goes wrong!
I always appreciate hearing from our site’s visitors. Always. I especially love the thanks we get for putting up positive, honest, and helpful information for those who are considering becoming a truck driver. None of us at TruckingTruth will ever be found guilty of sugar-coating things, or telling anyone that truck driving is nothing but [...]
The month or two you will spend at truck driving school is going to teach you the basics of what you need to know in order to pass your CDL exam. The real training will begin once you get out on the road with a trainer – and the rest you will have to learn on your own. A lot of people coming out of school have the wrong attitude and take the wrong approach to their time with a trainer, so I’m gonna talk a little bit about the right way to handle it.
Posted by
Pappy on
2 December 2008, 4:39 pm
I try to lead a simple life, I’m not after riches untold or fame, I prefer to love, live, and be free. There is always someone out there that wants to control those things that I hold dear. For instance … I once had a boss that couldn’t stand the fact that I was happy in my life. He never wanted to get to know me or understand where I stood. He wanted me to be like the rest of his drivers. These drivers were always griping about their wives and how the law was against everyone and how they hated to work, on an on and on. It was very nerve-wracking for some one of a happy nature to be around people who wanted to lead a depressed life. So I tended to ignore those types as much as possible. Be as that may, there were times when I would have to work in close quarters with said ‘want to be depressed people’, and finally one day…..