Comments By Dave T.

From my time being OTR and spending the majority of it in New England, that’s really not the best place for new drivers to start out. My second week working after I got My CDL was spent up there and I was totally lost. Before the days of smart phones and truck routing GPS, my atlas was my best friend. Between the traffic, the 4 wheelers and the parkways with those low bridges, it can be a nightmare around the city. I’m with the rest, get some time under your belt in a passenger vehicle and wait for those tickets to drop off and then look into driving a truck. I went through the local community college to get my CDL and at the time I was unemployed. If I would have worked it out correctly, the state could have paid and/or provided that training for me and helped with job placement too but that was years ago. There are a lot of city and county programs that help with that kinda stuff too if you’re able to get the help they offer. Maybe a scholarship program through a local school could be a possibility too.

That brings back a lot of memories right there. I was “made in the 80’s” myself and loved the transformers as a kid. LEGO just actually came out with an Optimus Prime set that actually transforms. It’s in my to build pile but will probably be one of the next ones I build. Thanks for sharing!

What I’ve noticed is that some businesses don’t want to advertise what they are and/or what they do. You’ll often find this in random secure locations. I once went for a meeting in an abandoned office building to get a security clearance… no names, signs or anything other than the suite number and brown paper on the door. There’s a warehouse down from our main office that has no signs up or anything, just a driveway and a parking lot with a mailbox. You’d never know that that’s where they keep the armored trucks for the money handling companies. My biggest thing is house numbers for our home deliveries. You’d be surprised by the number of people who don’t have house numbers on their house of their mailbox. Google maps has become my go to app.

At my last job, I was working as a contractor for one of the big three automakers. I ran a yard truck on nights at a parts distribution center for them. Just seeing how things worked with the UAW and how much the workers took advantage of them and the things they got away with makes me never want to work a Union job. Some of the workers would be drinking on the job, others doing drugs on their lunch breaks… they would come stumbling out into the yard where I was super busy moving trailers. Upper management knew about all of it but couldn’t do anything because of the union protection even with people wrecking forklifts and whatnot. The workers inside didn’t see a problem with any of this but from my perspective, it was a dangerous situation. I have a pretty strong work ethic but those people inside that place have lost every bit of theirs because once they get that union card, they can kick back and do what ever and as little as they want because of that protection while making a ton of money with free healthcare and amazing benefits. It’s no wonder that new vehicles cost so much these days. I’m not a big fan of the unions after that.

Whoa! Do you have anything more you can give us on that? I just saw a video this morning of gas lines for miles in France as they run short on fuel. I'm wondering if they're setting us up for shortages?

The suppliers aren’t wanting to sell their product at a decent price here when they can ship it up the line and get more for it elsewhere. Plus, all the mess in DC is making a pretty big impact. Our guys are making 2-3 trips a day at 4 hours round trip into NC to load. I don’t know that much about it as I don’t deal with that stuff on a daily basis but I know it’s a mess. Gas prices are going up and diesel is back up to $5/gal here because of it. There’s definitely no shortage or anything like that, it’s just part of the game.

People aren’t buying as much gas right now so it’s kind of slacked off for us but the heating oil is picking up so I’ll be making the switch back to the straight truck next week, unfortunately. Our drivers are having a hard time getting gas and diesel so they’re having to go outa state to get it.

I have a 5 gallon bucket that I’ve taken camping but have yet to use it because it hasn’t been enough of an emergency to not make it to the bath house but it’s nice to have just in case. It has a seat on it so you’re not just on the rim. I picked it up from ****s sporting goods. Also those medical urinals come in handy too.

Just do everyone a favor and don’t drop your poop bags outside your door at a truck stop where someone could climb down and step in it in the middle of the night. I now look before I climb out after barely dodging a doo while OTR.

With miles like that, you aren't OTR, right?

No, I only drive 80-100 miles a day back and forth across town 5-6 times a day. It’s a pretty easy hourly gig.

My biggest thing that helped me remember the pre trip stuff was if you can see it, touch it, smell it or hear it, talk about it. You can never be thorough enough. If you get into a rhythm, you won’t miss anything.

You mentioned getting a hazmat, that might be a little tougher given your history but there are way more general freight jobs out there that don’t require a hazmat. However, if you’re looking to add endorsements like the tanker and double/triple, take those tests while you’re on your learners permit if you can. That should help save some money getting them sooner rather than later. I didn’t have to pay for mine at all because I added them before I got my CDL. The hazmat is a different story these days as it was back then but give it a shot… anything is possible. Our industry is so hard up for drivers right now that I don’t see how many of the larger companies could afford to turn people away .