Profile For Onsdag

Also,, I have read about some companies treating drivers poorly or not offering consistent loads. How can I make sure I end up with a company that values its drivers: ??

The answer to this question is simple and will also answer your first question of company training versus private school: Any company that is willing to invest in you and your training will also value you as a driver.

These companies are paying good money to investigate your background, hire you on, fly you out to their training facilities, feed and house you while in training, provide excellent training and do everything they can to help you succeed, pass the cdl test, and put you to work as soon as possible. By doing so they've already shown commitment and investment in you as a potential driver. They also have a job lined up for you right away, because they need to earn their investment back. For most companies it takes about a year for them to earn their investment back, that's why they have those contracts in place.

Don't be afraid of those contracts, they are security for your job as well.

Private schools on the other hand only care about getting you your cdl. And then what? You're on your own to find a job in a tough market. While you may be able to then hire on with a good company, they've got no skin in the game and so if you make any mistakes you have no surety that they won't just fire you right away. Which would then make it that much harder to find a job in a currently tough market (if you care about reputable companies that value their drivers anyhow).

Again, don't fear the contracts, it works both ways and means that both you and the company now have skin in the game. Use that to help motivate you to work hard and make this a successful and rewarding career.

I went through company training and I don't regret it at all. Also, of note, I was a driver trainer for my company for nearly a year. During that time I've trained drivers who have gone through company sponsored training, and those who have been through private school. I grew to appreciate those with company training over private school because I already knew what standards of training company students went through (and it was high), versus the unknown of the private schools. Crazy as it sounds I don't know how some of the private school students got their cdl. Some had never been taught proper pre-trip, one had never been taught how to navigate a roundabout, and another had never been taught how to perform a 45 or 90 degree back. These are basic things we had to learn in our company training before we got our cdl. From a training perspective, those deficiencies made it that much harder to get private school students caught up to speed and ready for the real world of trucking.

One of my students actually taught me this helpful mnemonic: P-LABS.

(P)arking brakes - tug test tractor and trailer. (L)eak test, 1 minute. (A)larm, visual and audible. (B)utton pop test. (S)ervice brakes.

Evening everyone, I know I posted a few weeks ago about getting back into trucking, but I've reevaluated what I want and have decided to accept a position back working on the railroad. I worked for a Class 1 previously before I went into driving, so I know what to expect with the position. I do plan to keep my CDL with all endorsements and I am glad that I got the experience of driving OTR but I think going back to the railroad is ideal for me.

Funny that you mention that... because ever since I got hired on with Roehl (pronounced Rail) I've considered myself and fellow Roehl drivers as "Roehl roaders" (railroaders). 😂

Best wishes to you in your new/old career!

Unfortunately, it's pretty slow so I was already off twice this week.

Wow. That's not what anyone is hoping to hear six weeks before Xmas. Hopefully you'll pick up something great in January.

Is anyone else finding things slow right now?

I'm usually out 2 weeks at a time. My last time out I very nearly had 3 separate 34 hour resets. That's never happened to me before. I spent more time sitting around than actually working, which was frustrating.

I'm sorry that you were hit and I hope you can find the person.

It doesn't immediately look familiar to me, but then again I haven't been in the industry very long all things considered.

From what I can tell I don't think it's a major carrier. It has a grille guard, and chrome spike lug nuts - not things major carriers would typically equip on their trucks. My guess would be an owner operator, or smaller outfit.

In the hopes of helping identify it here are some other observations.

Dark colored (blue?) truck. The logo is on the side door, and consists of a white rectangle with a blue "T" on the left and two lines of lettering to the right, with the upper lettering being blue and the lower lettering appearing red to my eyes. Below the logo is white lettering, which may be DOT identification. I don't see any other identifiable information such as a truck number.

Nor this driver...

Is that the new experimental lowboy van trailer? Personally I think it'd work better as a curtainside...

The report is true, and there is video of the suspect damaging the tires. I'm just gobsmacked that anyone would risk their life and limb to cause such damage. And to what end?

Crazy and scary if true. Honest question though, how does one damage ("cut," "stab," etc) a tire, especially the sidewall, without causing a critical failure (i.e. explosion) and risking severe injury or death to the person damaging said tire?

I've witnessed tire failures/explosions on the road and there is no way I'd want to be anywhere near that tire by stabbing or cutting it. I just can't imagine any sane person thinking that a good idea either.

And I would imagine all it would take is one such explosion to wake every driver nearby to come scrambling to find out what the heck is going on.

Never fails to make me smile.

Whenever I train new students I always tell them that I'm not going to sign off on them becoming a professional driver unless they can correctly answer this question: "what is the proper response when you see a child pumping their fist?" I then demonstrate the action. Most get it right on the first try, but I had one guy who honestly didn't know. Never fear, I taught him well and he went on to graduate with honors. Received an excited text several months later saying he had his first experience putting it into practice. Makes me proud and warm inside knowing the next generation is in good hands.