Comments By Christopher J.

Ouch yeah got to make better decisions dont be to hard on yourself if ya half to go a mile out of your way if your not sure about anything do it

1st mistake you should of learned with your trainer use your right shoulder and as soon as its lined up with the center lines in road making your turn on too you make your turn 2nd yup GOAL but personally if you didnt feel comfortable backing I would have found another spot and when your not rolling go hit up an empty parking lot and practice good luck and dont give up just keep trying you will get it

What are your 2 mistakes?

Hi all. Just wondering, new to the site. Hopefully, go to school in February for CDL's. I work in a factory now and make decent money working 6 days a week. One company offered 34 cents a mile starting out. On average what would a week of driving to make $700-800 per week.

34 cents I would search around I think you can do better than that but you would have to drive about 2500 miles then take tax out should be around $750

That drum will turn slow while you are driving. If you turn it too fast then the concrete can stay higher on the drum and that is when you get the rocking motion. It looks high but your center of gravity is really very low compared to other trucks.

Thanks Pat

Hey Christopher, I hope this gig works out for you. I understand why people will decide that OTR is not for them - I happen to love the lifestyle, but I also recognize the pitfalls of it and can completely understand why a person would decide against it.

I've a fair amount of experience with concrete work myself. In my sign business I had to calculate the concrete yardage, PSI, and slump for the various pier hole foundations we would put in. Sometimes we were required to have an engineer's stamp on the drawings we would submit for permits with soil load bearing calculations and wind loads so that we would know how large a diameter and how deep our pier holes needed to be for the particular area where we were installing.

I've never driven a mixer, but I have talked to a lot of the drivers that I came in contact with. Here's the one thing that I have always come away with: Dump trucks and Concrete trucks will give you a brand new appreciation for what is considered a safe following distance. Those trucks will often carry just as much or more weight than an eighteen wheeler, yet they have less brakes.

That's the only input I know to give. Watch your following distance with great care - those things do not stop on a dime, always allow some extra room ahead of you and keep your eyes on the lookout to what is going on around you. I wish you the best at your new job!

Thanks Old School great advice will do be safe out there

Hey T&T supporters just wondering if any of you have driven a mixer as I will be starting on Monday. I did the 3 months over the road and found out it was not for me and 6 years out of my life was as a tester for concrete cores and driving heavy equipment for a sand & gravel company here in AZ. I am looking forward to this opportunity and would like some feed back if any of you have done this before I already have an advantage as I know how to eyeball slumps just a little worried about the high center of gravity and the drum in charge while driving.

Is OWI = DUI? If so you're prolly screwed in trucking for a few years.

never heard of OWI but I am sure it is operating while influenced which means yeah your out of luck for some time

Prime also does tankers in the East. I think they only hire from East of Chicago. Give them a thought.

Only one problem. At prime I think you need at least one year otr experience.

the whole 1yr thing is a joke I did three months OTR and got hired locally tanker and hazmat

I went to the lobby of a hotel, was handed a packet then sent to a class to begin orientation with Averitt. What a year it has been. I have documented on here the woes that I have encountered (and caused) plus some accomplishments too, so I'm not gonna do that again. Instead, I thought I might share some info that I have collected along the way. I was considering going into business for myself after a year...but...

If I were a regional owner operator and paid for my own fuel, I would have spent roughly $60,000. (I used my Rand Mcnally GPS to keep track)

I also had a couple tires replaced, some damage to a trailer, 3 preventive maintenance visits, my Apu worked on a few times, a turbo replacement, 3 trips on a hook, a transmission repair (if I had the same truck) and some mystery electrical work. I have no idea what all this would add up to, but I bet it is around $20,000.

That alone is a lot of cash flow going the wrong way. Let's say I had a truck payment, insurance, tolls, food, showers, scales.... and so on to pay for too. How in the hell do they do it and make any money? Insanity.

Anyway, I will stick with the company option.

It would take a lot of time for me to put down all I have learned this past year in the trucking world so I will just say I'm looking forward to another good year of learning and growing to get me where I want to be in life.

Thanks again for this site and to everyone here who has helped me get this far, you have made the learning process much easier.

stay with Company option better yet get a local food service delivery/Mclanes or CoreMark 60,000-80,000 to start sure beats OTR by a long shot