Posted: 8 years, 6 months ago
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Why are some drivers so miserable?
A better question would be "why does truck driving attract this personality type"?
I'd like to field this question if I may......I'd like to point out first that I myself am one of the "glass half empty" type personalities. It's taken me a great deal of effort to try and not be but unfortunately I still have a ways to go. So in short I'll admit I have a bit of a negative personality type. I wasn't always like that though. My youth was full of positivity and happiness. "So how'd you get there?" you ask? For me it started in the military. I seemed to be a victim of railroading by a racist squad leader whom also happened to be a Mason along with my First Sergeant and Company Commander. I was an exemplary soldier my first couple of years, making rank as fast as the Army allowed (E1 to E4 in about 12 months) Battalion soldier of the month twice and Battalion soldier of the quarter. My moving thru the ranks made some guys a little angry so I was called a brown noser and much worse. When I got a squad leader that didn't see my promotions as going to someone that rightly deserved it, things began to change with my attitude. Then came a day when I was given a punishment for being 30 seconds late to a PT formation. It was an extremely unusual punishment that was not used much in the Army because it was very degrading. Being marched in my full battle gear everywhere on post by this squad leader. Anyway when I tried to repeal this punishment and the Mason supervisors whom I mentioned earlier took this guys side it changed me. I saw that I was fighting a battle I could not win. From that day forward I harbored animosity and things other people do to others out of spite.
Now we go into my post military days. Shortly after my honorable discharge I got a CDL and had a job as a Bottled water delivery guy. It was a 100% customer service job. Most of my customers were friendly hard working people. But I had a couple of routes in wealthy areas where people were very inconsiderate of "blue collar" workers and treated them (and me) with disdain. I couldn't voice my dislike to these people or I'd lose my job and those type of people that treat others like crap know this and take full advantage of it. After 2 years I had enough and wanted to get as far away from customer service as I could. I had a CDL so the next thing that came up was truck driving. In my mind I wouldn't have to deal with many people. It would just be me and the open road and very little human contact. And I think this is where the mistake in thinking happens with the negative personality type. You may not have direct contact but you're surrounded by people in cars (and other trucks) ALL DAY LONG! And now here's where things start bothering me again. When people are behind the wheel, they tend to feel like they're in this protective bubble that shields them from the outside world. People driving cars don't want to be behind these big slow trucks and treat those trucks with total disdain. They don't see a person driving it, they see the object. You get cut off in traffic, or pulled out in front of, flipped off, brake checked all of this rude and bad behavior ON PURPOSE or out of ignorance on a DAILY BASIS. If you hold on to grudges or let the actions of others bother you it's extremely difficult to let go of. If you can't let it go you stay sour and negative. It can be all consuming. Until a day comes when you either get out of driving all together. Retire or make the decision to stop the negative thinking. In my case I've decided to try and change my thinking.
So you can see a common denominator with truck drivers and the people that deal with them on a daily basis. Getting stepped on and taken advantage of by others that do it without fear of consequence. IE people in their cars that keep on driving down the road after brake checking you, never to be seen again. Waitresses or desk clerks at the truck stops that just had to deal with an angry truck driver that is taking his anger from the above mentioned people out on another service worker. The dispatcher that has 70 guys (many of whom are angry) that he has to manage everyday. Shippers and Receivers that deal with angry truck drivers all day. Do you see what I'm getting at? If you don't understand how there can be so many truckers that are so negative then count your blessing my friend. Count the blessings that you are a type of personality that doesn't hold on to grudges. For that (in my eyes) is very much a blessing.
Posted: 8 years, 7 months ago
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Is it worth moving for a local job?
Wow, this is such a matter of opinion question. If the pay is decent and you're able to pay your bills and have money left over to save then anywhere can be as worth it as you want it to be! There are some guys here that have been doing OTR for many years and can't see themselves doing anything but that. They would be quick to tell you it may not be worth it. I'm of the belief that a local job is MUCH nicer to have but personally I'd never move out of Florida to get one and would be extremely hard pressed to move from where I live now because we're in one of the top rated school systems in the state. I would hate to cheat my 2 kids out of a good education to appease a better paying job in an area that has worse schools.
I don't ever see myself going back to OTR driving, but then again, I said that exact same thing in 2000. It's that "life's a box of chocolates" analogy.
Posted: 8 years, 7 months ago
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I have a Connex 33 and can't get my swr down below 3 and 4 I moved the antenna to behind my sleeper ran a ground from the batt to the antenna I have paid a lot of money trying to get it rt so I don't mess up my new cb all the cb shops around won't mess with it or what 75 an hour please help
First off let me ask a silly question: Are you sure your coax is in good condition? How much coax do you have running from your antenna to your radio? Hopefully no more than 16 ft. Is the coax coiled up anywhere? A coiled coax will cause high swr's. try to run it as strait as possible.
Next run your ground from the base of your antenna to a bolt on the frame of the truck instead of the battery. What kind of antenna do you have? Wilson antenna's for example need to be trimmed down to lower your swr's. Start from a the standard length and trim off 1/4 of an inch at a time and check the swr's to make sure they're lowering.
Next what type of truck are you driving? I ask because Freightliner Cascadia Lightweights are next to impossible to get a swr lower than 2. They're made of so much fiberglass and lightweight aluminum that getting a good ground is rough.
The last thing I'll ask is if you have a voltmeter with a continuity tester on it. If so check your coax and make sure it has continuity all the way through. Put the red lead on one end and the black on the other.
If your connex is peaked and tuned, whatever you do don't run it with those kind of swr's or you'll fry the radio quick.
Posted: 8 years, 7 months ago
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How is CT going? I went there for a refresher a year ago. Just curious if the same ppl are there or not.
Posted: 8 years, 7 months ago
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13 months driving OTR is over!!!
Yesterday was one of the more joyful days of my life! I woke up at the Campus Inn at 0700, got on a shuttle to the airport at 0900 and was home in Florida by 1500. To stay. I don't have to drive another mile OTR and I couldn't be much happier! Prime has been a very good company. I recommend them to anyone wanting to drive OTR.
I took the job to get "recent" experience to qualify to get a local job here in Florida. Of the 3 companies here in my area, none of them would even talk to me about working there, (I've had a CDL for 21 years but didn't drive tractor/trailer the previous 14) until I had 1 year OTR experience. Well after 13 months I have done that and will be starting a job driving local when I get back from vacation in Jamaica on the 17th of this month.
I'll update the company I'm going to work for later, after I've hired on. I don't want to jinx anything yet but I'm 95% confident I'll work for the company I've been trying to get on with since I move to Florida 2 years ago. If not there is a Trader Joes DC opening next month in Daytona Beach that will be hiring over 120 drivers. Either way my days of OTR are over!!
It's been very rough on my family. I have a 9 and 7 year old that have been having a hard time dealing with me being gone for weeks at a time, only to return for 3-4 days and back out again. My wife is beside herself with my return.
I have much respect for you guys that do the OTR thing year after year. It's a lifestyle that is great for the ones that love it. For me it payed the bills at home but was not something I was finding too "joyful." But I made the most out of it, making "Fleet driver of the month" for the month of June in the process.
For now I've got to get unpacked and repacked for the 6 days we're spending in Montego Bay Jamaica, leaving this Saturday. I need a nice vacation after year of being gone, to reconnect with my wife and kids again.
Again I don't have a negative thing to say about Prime. They are a good company to anyone starting out there career and for anyone that's been doing it for years. (if you can handle the 62 mph company trucks you can't drive more than 58 if you want to make good fuel bonuses.) It's been a ride ya'all! I'll be talking to you from here on out as a "Local driver!"
Posted: 8 years, 7 months ago
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I moved to Florida from Illinois 2 years ago. Except for the 13 months I just spent driving OTR I absolutely love Florida. But let me give you a heads up about this state. Most people are friendly. From what I find the native Floridians are nice and the rudest people are the Northeast snowbirds or the multitudes that have flocked down here from there. Driving here is a challenge as you either get blue hairs driving 10 under the speed limit, or Northeasterners driving 15 over within the same few blocks mile after mile. But all of that is esthetics. The real issue with Florida is the job market. As a truck driver, this is probably one of the more difficult states in the country to find employment as a driver. The market is so flooded companies are very picky with whom they hire. A good company will have over 200 applicants per position. The closer you live to a major city the easier it will be to find a job. Unless of course you want to do the OTR thing and then the finding a job thing is a piece of cake.
Posted: 8 years, 8 months ago
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Hard time with straight backing, Any tips would be appreciated.
I'm a little late to responding to this post as I've been very busy the past couple of weeks trying to finish up my year OTR.
For strait line backing, make sure you adjust your mirrors so you only see the very outside edge of the trailer in both mirrors. Literally when you look into the mirror (assuming the trailer is strait behind you) you should only see the outside edge of the trailer. If half of your mirror is filled with trailer it creates an optical illusion and will trick your mind into thinking the trailer is turning as you back. You'll constantly be turning the wheel towards it and thus getting it out of whack. It's a constant losing battle and the result will be chasing a trailer you think is turning and it's not.
Did I over explain that enough?? I know what I mean to say but typing it out doesn't seem to be working....
Posted: 8 years, 8 months ago
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About prime being very selective in their recruiting process. I don't think they're being selective enough. About a month ago there was a few threads by a guy that had been waiting weeks for a trainer. He and several others had been waiting a long time to get one. I'm a trainer at prime mind you and have a bit of an inside scoop on this. There seems to be a bit of a trainer shortage. Which tells me they need to bring in fewer people so there aren't so many waiting to get out on the road.
The thing I see prime lacking is GOOD trainers. I've talked to too many people that got a trainer more interested in an extra log book on their truck to make money than seriously getting someone trained where they need to be to be successful on their own. My last PSD got a real gem from what I understand that hasn't showed him how to use the Qualcomm or back into a dock after 2 weeks on the road so far. Mind you this of one sided information as I haven't spoke to his TNT trainer. Maybe he's not taking initiative to learn I don't know. Either way to me that's unacceptable.
The best piece of advice I can give you or anyone else coming to get a cdl and train is take the initiative to WANT to learn. No decent trainer wants to spoon feed information to someone that would rather talk on the phone or mingle with other drivers at the truck stops or terminals.
Posted: 8 years, 8 months ago
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So you didn't believe me at first when I told you that an instructor at prime mentioned your prep Pretrip thread. Now you see I was telling the truth.
Posted: 8 years, 6 months ago
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Tough times. Need advice.
Ok I'm going to do something here that is probably going to sting a bit TW. Here's the deal bud. You and I are only 2 years apart in age. My story could read much like yours and if you asked me to write it down 2 years ago it would have. But I found a secret in life (its actually not a secret it's just so easy it seems it would never work but it really does!) that has helped me out in life 100% So what I did is took the liberty of copy and pasting your story into Microsoft word and re-wrote a lot of it to simply show you that "your perspective" on life will dictate whether you're happy, mad or depressed. Dude, I used to catastrophize events in my life and spent many hours in therapy hearing this stuff but never believing it. I have a 136 IQ which is much higher than most. Sometimes I wish I didn't have that knowledge because I used to use that as a crutch to believe I was smarter than most people. Which may be true. However I lacked a lot of wisdom. Until I changed my attitude on life. That happened over a year ago. Since I've changed the way I perceive the world around me my life has changed for the better ten fold. So here it is. Your story re-written: