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I live a stones throw from Hatfield PA, home to Hatfield Quality Meats, as well as other processing companies, both major and minor, throughout the area. Most of the livestock trailers are either OO or owned by a transport company (Hatfield is vertically integrated, the own their own transport company and most of their farms) and I can tell you that pride in equipment is paramount for most of these guys. I can also say that I’ve seen more than one livestock trailer with a People Eating Tasty Animals sticker on it, probably put there by the driver to irritate the “animal rights observers” working in the packing plants.

Gregg

Anybody here ever heard of, dealt with, or worked for a company called Copart? They’re a very large (multinational) insurance recovery vehicle liquidator. I’m starting with them on January 3rd in their transport division. It’s only a class B job, but does entail national deployment. Just curious if anyone has experience with or interest in them? If anyone does I’d be willing to post a thread about the job and what my experience is like. Gregg

It is kind of a strange question, especially in the way it seems to have been asked. However it is actually a pretty valid one if you consider it this way - remember a few years back when Georgia caught some winter weather and pretty much just shut down? As an OTR driver I would definitely want to know ahead of time if a place I was headed was that completely unprepared for weather, so if I happen to be there when weather happens I know there is no help coming and my best play is to hunker down and wait it out.

Gregg

Merry Christmas to everyone here, wether reader, poster, or moderator. Here’s hoping you and yours have a good holiday, and a happy and healthy new year. Most importantly, as a towing operator and firefighter, stay safe out there and make sure we all get to go home. As they used to say - May the road rise to meet your wheels, your shiny side always be up, and the road home short and clear. Gregg

Here’s my thoughts - Why is it the Robin Hood/Share the Wealth types never have what it takes to be successful? If you really believe that your ideas are “right” and best for everyone, why don’t you become successful and then practice what you’re preaching? Start a company and drive it to the levels of success it takes to be an overpaid CEO - I bet you can’t because you’re too busy expecting someone else to improve your lot in life. And I’ll back that bet up with another one - prove me wrong and become that successful, and I bet you forget about being Robin Hood and redistributing your wealth, and end up living the high life like every other successful CEO who busted his ass to get there.

Gregg

As a professional technician I’m going to go against the flow and put a cautionary note in here. Floating gears can be done artfully and trouble free, and I have done it myself many many times in many different vehicles. That being said you need to understand the dangers, both technical and professional. When you float a gear you are not interrupting the torque/power from the engine, you are simply managing it. In many ways this is very much like pulling the pin on a grenade and then carrying it around while holding the detonation clip in place - you can do it, but you sure as heck don’t want to slip up, even a little bit. When you float a gear you are balancing the input and output speeds to allow the transmission to shift, the problem arises not when you miss and grind a gear (which is bad, and damaging if done over and over) but when you do t get the gear fully engaged and re-apply torque to the trans. If you’re lucky it will pop back out of gear - if you’re not it will shear the gear(s) sending debris into the rest of the trans and most likely destroying it completely. Even better you could break a driveshaft or even damage the engine as well. And to top it all off, when you get back to the shop, any tech with any experience will know as soon as he opens the trash can that used to be your transmission up that you floated a gear and missed. Most large companies have rules prohibiting floating gears for this reason, and it is considered abusive driving. So you may also end up fired, and get handed a bill for the repairs. As I said up too, I’ve done it quite a bit, and never broken anything, as many drivers here will also say. But you need to be mindful of the dangers . . .

Gregg

It’s my understanding that here in PA there are basically 2 speed limits - residential areas (as defined by the municipality) are 25 mph, every where else is 55 mph. “But wait! I see lots of other posted speed limits in PA!” you want to say! This is true - but those speed limits are requested by the municipality and then researched and discussed before being approved. So, as indicated above for NY, if a road in PA is unposted the speed limit is 55, unless it’s a residential neighborhood.

Gregg

I hear this type of thing pretty often. The problem is people want to compare different jobs/careers in some standard way and assume that “hourly rate” is a fair comparison. It is not. There are also people (often those writing articles) who have an agenda and find that using artificial “hourly rates” somehow bolsters their viewpoint. The truth is many careers can’t be defined by the standard 9 to 5 get paid by the hour concept. I work as an automotive technician - working on the flat rate system, which is basically piecework. I have an hourly rate, but in truth it is almost meaningless because my ability to bill time is predicated on many variables, so my paycheck varies week to week. In addition some days I work 8 hours, sometimes I’ll stay late, and now and then I leave early or arrive late. So my “effective rate” is all over the place, but usually significantly more than my documented “hourly rate”. I also tow part time, again being paid based on what I bill. I’m on call overnight. But some nights I’m home at 5 for dinner, others I run til midnight (or later). How would you calculate an hourly rate for that - by the time I’m in the truck, or on duty, or just loaded . .? Truck driving as a career segment has so many variations in what you do and how you get paid it can be difficult to compare jobs. One thing for sure is you have to find the place that fits what you want to do as a driver, and what you need financially. You can make generalizations, but there are always exceptions, good and bad. Is OTR a good paycheck - yes. Is it a good hourly rate . . welllllll . . . probably not. But you don’t drive OTR to brag about your hourly rate, you drive OTR because you love the job, something an hourly rate can never quantify.

Gregg

Seen plenty of those (or similar models) as semi tractors, the Postal Service used them almost exclusively for years. However they are/were all day cabs. I’m no expert, but given that most of the engine and a good bit of the intake and exhaust hardware is behind the cab fitting a sleeper would be problematic at best, and a huge maintenance nightmare if you managed to get it mounted. I suspect the cab lacks the structure to support an add on sleeper box, so you would probably have to mount the sleeper separately, which leaves a seal type connection to the cab which are prone to leaks.

I’m sure it could be done, but in the long run would the trade-offs be worth the benefits?

Gregg