Comments By Davy A.

We have 4 different truck manufacturers in our fleet, in additionwe have day cabs. The seat to mirrors relationship is different in all of them. Each time you get in a new or different truck, you need to adjust the seat and mirrors to you. You may well need to adjust the mirrors to your back as well, even after you have adjusted them statically.

Also, I find I have to reposition my body to the mirrors on some backs as I'm backing. But in general, ypu should be able to find the range where you can see tandems and lines, markers, etc in the mirrors

As with most issues that goes to DC,

The FMCSA is a reflection of the woke administration (regime) that siezed power. In general, their agenda is praise the criminal and punish the victim.

The financial side of it is than in order, large retailers and shippers, then carriers benefit from having a large pool of drivers available. It reduces the labor burden for the carriers which in turn keeps drivers wages artificially low and the shippers and retailers continue to pay as little as possible for shipping.

Retailers and manufacturers hate having to pay for shipping. It's their single largest cost. They continue to post record profits while drivers continue to loose wage capacity.

I could forsee shoulder tapping police and sheriff's lobbying groups to combat it, perhaps organizations like Madd and faith based lobbying groups. But until the current regime is removed, little hope exists.

This conversation covers some of those gray areas in trucking I've talked about all these years, and it shows why bold, competitive drivers who are willing to push the envelope will turn the most miles and make the most money.

I loved being paid by the mile. In fact, I want everyone to be paid by the amount of work they accomplish. Not only is that fair, but I know almost no one will accomplish more than I will. I'm bold, I'm ambitious, and I will come up with creative solutions that get the job done when most won't. That's how I've always been, and quite honestly, I can't make sense of being any other way. That's how I was as a driver.

One decision I made when I started this website 17 years ago was to help people thrive in trucking exactly as it is today. I didn't want to be an activist. I didn't want to make changes in trucking. I felt most people focused on what was wrong with the industry. I wanted to teach people they could be incredibly happy and successful in this industry, exactly as it is today. Almost no one else does that, even to this day.

On that note, the reality is no different today than it was 30 years ago - bold, ambitious, competitive drivers will find ways to turn more miles, make more money, and get the best treatment. Those who want to complain, blame, criticize, or refuse to do work based on some perceived slight (real or imagined) will simply make less money and get a lower level of consideration for future work.

Did I do some of my work off-duty? Of course I did! And don't forget, I'm from the paper logbook era, so I was able to get away with way more than you guys can today. I didn't turn more miles overall than the top drivers are today, but I was able to rearrange my logbook so that I had more flexibility.

I also learned a ton of tricks over the years, some legal and ethical, some not. For instance, I learned to make up stories to tell dock workers about how much money I would lose if I couldn't get loaded/unloaded within a reasonable amount of time. I'd tell this big sob story, and the overwhelming majority of the time I got out of there faster than I would have otherwise.

I also learned to call the customer to get appointments moved ahead. I would say, "We have a driver coming in there for a 10:00 appointment, and we desperately need that driver to pick up another load later this morning. Could we get him unloaded at 8:00 instead?"

Now I never mentioned the fact that I was the driver. I just said 'we' have a driver coming in for an appointment. Our company. Well, that was true. But the thing is, the customers are far more likely to accommodate a request from my company's management than little ol' me, the driver. So I just kind of implied that I was a manager at my company, and it worked almost every time.

Davy is right. The system is designed for maximum efficiency. The company and the drivers are paid based on the amount of work they do. The more work they can do at a given cost, the more likely they are to survive in this industry. The companies that survive over the long term are the ones who keep finding ways to make their operations more efficient, so they do everything they can to incentivize their drivers to be as efficient as possible.

I'm not advising anyone to cheat the logbook or do work when you're off-duty. I'm also not telling you not to, unless you're a rookie in your first six months. Rookies should do things by the book. But as your career progresses, you must accept the reality that those who safely and successfully push the limits will make more money and get better treatment than those who won't.

You alone must decide what type of driver you want to be, and I don't fault anyone for their decision. If you feel you shouldn't have to work off duty or break any laws, no one can fault you for that. If you're willing to push into those territories, you're taking a big risk, so you'd better not screw up.

That's trucking.

This is exactly my philosophy. The worst pay structure for me is hourly. It simply doesnt produce as much as I do under piecework. Im highly motivated, bold, and very quick on my feet in terms problem solving and making a buck out of a dime. I understand that hourly works for others and dont discriminate whatsoever, you may have a job position where that makes more sense and serves you better, but for OTR and even regional, its the most direct way for me to have the most control over my earnings potential.

Grey areas of trucking are direct opportunities for me profit off of vague and ambiguous policy. You dont know if you dont ask.

Congrats. That's awesome. We'll earned.

The reality is that we are paid in a piecework world but our HOS were designed for an hourly world.

Carriers get the best of both worlds doing this. It means that we have to play both sides of the coin. We all in reality, preserve our clocks to some extent by doing things work related off duty. But, the carrier's nature is to have the driver do everything and anything they can without getting compensated for it. It's not personal, just business.

Given that, I orchestrate and massage things such as that I get paid for any activities I do to the extent that I reasonably can. There is always a balance to be maintained.

So in that aspect, I'm going to look to log time or arrange it that the truck repairs are done while on a load or getting done with a load. The company on the other hand will attempt to get all repairs done and things that the driver needs to facilitate on the drivers personal time. That way they avoid costs.

It behooves the driver to know ahead of time when your B service is up, your DOT physical is coming etc. Then you can be proactive in scheduling to your benefit, while also being productive. IE:

"Hey, I've got hometime coming up, but I'm going to be in a Tibetan monks shrine for the week of hometime so I won't be available. Let's go ahead and do my DOT physical tomorrow in between this load and the next one."

This way you can possibly position yourself for some extra pay or at least a favor in the future, instead of fighting the company, you're redirecting their will and for all intents and purposes being a great employee.

This is a mirror of the unspoken, unwritten polices that the carriers use to cut costs. Your simply using them in reverse to increase your revenue.

If you come out and boldly announced that there's no way in hades that you're going to do stuff on your own time, you'd just come off as petty and confrontational. Just as the company won't bodly announce their intent is to get you to do everything they can without paying you for it. They wouldn't have very many drivers left if they did. So they manipulate and we redirect and arrange as I like to call it. Individual results may vary.

Great advice so far. For me, having a plan and repeating the steps in the plan no matter what gave me structure and that structure eliminates the rush, as was said, the rush is what gets most people into trouble.

This is the process I use. I still use it today when im unfamiliar with the customer or its a new customer:

1. Check load assignment for p/u, delivery times, weight and make sure I have available hours to get all done.

2. Check weather vs weight along the route. Check route in atlas vs gps. (IE light weight, high winds? Snow ice, etc?). Establish back up route.

3. Plan miles to drive each day, select 3 to 4 suitable shut down spots for each day. Select shutdown spot for reciever, before delivery or after, back up spots too.

4. Final mile into and out of shipper, then repeat for reciever. Find satellite images of docks, drop yards for both, find easiest, safest path, place to park while getting checked in and how to exit. Check Google reviews, check to see if remote drop yard and verify directions from dispatch. Check both satellite view and street view, check in truckerpath and atlas, make sure it's truck friendly.

5. If parking and docking solution can't be found, call dispatch and ask, call shippers and recievers and ask. If you have a social media group of drivers from your work, ask if they have been there and ask directions.

6. Go over steps 4 and 5. Verify and memorize. Include landmarks and street names. Also, use a light version of this for ypur nightly shutdowns.

7. Execute and verify each step as you go. Replan as needed to adjust for changing conditions.

When I started, knight made us do a physical agility and strength test. I haven't had to do one since.

The last physical I did for my dot at their doctor almost didn't pass me for being colorblind. He asked me how I got a card passed. I replied that he himself did it. He refused to believe me and sign off until he verified his own signature...if build back better was a Dr's office.

Sometimes the world just fights you. No reason, stuff just happens. Like in the original Poltergiest when the indian says "Your car, it is angry at you." Perhaps some loads just dont want to be delivered.

Im in a loaner truck, my beloved Edna decided that she didnt really like her drag link assembly and wanted a new one. The loaner truck was behaving reasonablly well for an Intertrashinal. Then I got dispatched on a Sams load to Rapid city. Theres a winter storm coming in that will mostly be a wind event, no problem, I should be up and back before it hits, just in time to get Edna from the doctors office with her new hardware on.

The trailer situation, its like the Bonnie situation in Pulp Fiction. Its one of our vintage trailers, a charming antique. Its DOT inspection is out of date, the mud flaps are hanging on by zip ties and the landing gear is begging for the three pound sledge-o-matic. I get the inspection resolved (it was done and tagged wrong), get the mudlaps secured and beat the landing gear into submission. Nothing bothering me, for some reason, im just ok with it all.

Of course, our contract is up for renewal an so its critical that we dont have a failure on this load. Of course they moved the rigid delivery time to 0400 , cant be early, that counts as a failure. I get the load with just enough time to be a day early but just late enough to be late for the butcrack of dawn delivery time if they move it up a day. So, Ill take a day of layover on isle 5, Bob. of course that puts my favorite load of empty granola bar boxes back down through the Wind Tunnel state (Wyoming) right infront of the gale force winds.

So the cornbinder with a seat thinks there is water in its fuel system. I call dispatch to let them know. We schedule a visit for her to the Dr too. Turns out there really is water in the fuel, It starts shaking like a drunk on the first morning at the Salvation Army rehab clinic under load. Im already committed, so Ill just make the best of it. I call my dispatch again, tell them that Ill get the load delivered even if I have to have it towed there first, make arrangements to dtich the loaner bucket at a dealer and take a rental car back to Denver after. At least Ill get out of hauling a 4000 pouind load in high winds.

Ive been in a really good mood through all of this, nothing bothering me. So out in the no mans land of Wyoming and South Dakota, far outside where normal people and cell phone coverage travel, I stopped at a local watering hole and fed the bulbous cow of a loaner beater some deisel treatment in the hopes of curing her water problem, no effect. Coming down a little 6 percent grade, the Jake brakes decide to take a break. They must have figured that with the water in the fuel, they shouldnt have to work so hard as well. I have 42k in the box, the sphincter tightened a bit to say the least. I kept it in control though, both the truck and that.

No problem, Im within striking distance of the reciever, almost 12 hours early, but close nonetheless. And then the incessent dinging starts from the dash. That peircing discordant musical tone that screams "Turn off engine now, service DPF system". Yeah....Thats not going to happen with 53 miles to go. I call breakdown, explain the situation and ask if its going to derate. They say "Youll know if it does, you have our blessings to keep driving it." So, I drive the remaining 53 miles of rolling hills at about 15 mph up hill and playing Russian Roulette with the wounded Jakes and spoungy service brakes on the downhills alll while listening to the greatist hits of continous alarm buzzers dinging. The Check engine lights, service engine now and DPF warning lights make a lovely blinding display at night.

I made it to the reciever, Ill do my arrival call at 0400 and my empty call. Then bobtail over to the Intertrashinal dealer and drop off this poor ole girl. She did go the distance after all. Ironically, I picked her up from the dealer, apparently they might have missed a few things.

So sometimes that load might not want to get delivered, but I just take it all in stride, laugh about it and make it work.

As was said, we recommend company provided school and training. If you are worried about a contract, which as you probably should have already read many times over here, you shouldnt be, but nonetheless, a few carriers are no contract. I know Knight is no contract, but its highly recommended to stay at least a year with which ever company you go to. Im not necessarilly pushing any one company over another, do your research in the links that others posted, read the CDL diaries and keep in mind that all carriers serve to function the same, they just have differences in how they go about it. The deciding factor is how you go about it.

If you and your wifes living situation will tolerate you being gone a lot, and you have experience with that, life will be easier. Im in a similar position in that my gal is close to retiring, but that in its ownself is a challange. I can tell you from personal experience, that even though I thought our relationship was OTR proof, its taken a tremendous amount of work to keep it in balance.

Speaking of balance, assuming you successfully complete getting your CDL, complete training and make a year accident and incident free, theres a good chance that you probably have a high work ethic and tendency to push hard. Those qualities can make a great driver but place a toll on your home life. Learning to ballance the two early on is valuable. But keep in mind, that the foundation of your career, even if its your retirement career is laid in the beginning. It takes being away from home mentally as well as physically to develop the good habbits.

Obviously, teaming is not recommended to start, it brings up many complications and you likely will find the easiest most direct path is the one to take. If you and the wife get along traveling and living in a compartment smaller than a walk in closet, which magnifies any annoying behavior, after you get established, then start taking her along, but thats a bit down the path for now. My gal and I travel really well together, we frequently go to Europe for weeks at a time, we road trip well and Ive taken her for a week or two at a time on the truck. We tested it gradually and found what works and doesnt. Even then, my truck is my cave and my sanctuary, there are times where I just dont want anyone else there no matter how close they are in my heart.

Good that you got your money back. We highly recommend company provided training here for many reasons. If you're serious about starting a career in this industry I'd recommend posting in the general section, being open minded to advice from highly successful drivers here and following the advice.

• Truck Driver's Career Guide
• Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
• High Road CDL Training Program
• CDL Practice Tests

Paid CDL Training ProgramsTruck Driver's Career Guide