Profile For Old School

Jay, most linehaul jobs are the guys you see pulling doubles. It's LTL companies like Old Dominion. They pretty much run a regular route each day, meet up at a designated location, swap trailers and then go back to the terminal. The new guys usually end up on the night shift or sort of a system of being on call which they call the "wild board" or something like that. Seniority is important in most linehaul jobs.

It used to be that they all required experience. but they've loosened up that requirement in recent years. One of the critical things about landing a linehaul job is your location. You must live near their terminal.

Keep this in mind guys. You really need to look at miles in a monthly or quarterly context when evaluating your performance. This will make sure the variables like home time, weather, and/or time sequences such as Jamie keeps referencing. If he had a long load that delivered at the beginning of this pay period, he's likely to not fare so well the next week.

That's why you want to measure yourself or evaluate your performance over a longer period of time. That will give you a more clear picture of your overall performance. I'd say if your turning 130,000 miles per year, you've got something figured out that a lot of people come up short on.

I well remember Jamie's frustration with his paychecks varying considerably from week to week. That's what happens when you end up dumping a lot of last week's miles onto this week's paycheck. Then you're behind the eight ball trying to make a decent check for the next.

Haha! Welcome to the circus Jeremy! Some days you'll just shake your head questioning your sanity. Then you'll climb up in that nice warm truck and feel so proud of what you just accomplished. It's something only a flatbedder understands.

I don't see how that could have any negative effect on you.

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Welcome to Trucking Truth. Hang around a bit, join in the conversations, and be inspired! We are here to help you navigate your way through the confusion. We've been there, done that. We know the way.

Brett put that so well. Thank you sir!

Anytime you're getting mileage pay and/or bonus pay you shouldn't ever think of it as a way for the company to oppress your wages. If there's anything they want it's to have their drivers turning big miles. That's how they make money.

Always consider a bonus as an incentive. Think about the structure of the bonus pay. How is it structured? It's structured so that you obtain it by reaching a certain benchmark. It's designed to motivate you, not to suppress your ability to make money.

So many truckers shoot themselves in the foot by getting this all twisted around thinking the company is trying to keep them down. It's crazy! I can only think of one month in the past two years that I didn't get that extra five cents per mile for all the miles I drove. I still got an extra four cents that month, but I had a couple of camera events that kept me from getting the full amount.

Charles, just a few days ago you were saying things like this...

I am very passionate about truck driving; I just made a big mistake. I am willing to work my way from the bottom to get back into the trucking industry

Now listen to yourself!

You're accusing recruiters of lying to ya and your talking about the company tricking you and probably not willing to "give you the miles" you need to pay your bills! What happened to that guy who realized what a bonehead he'd been and just wanted a chance to prove himself? Somebody gave you a shot, and you're a few days into orientation already looking for the door!

Good grief man, slap yourself back into reality. Get yourself to work showing this new employer you know what you're doing and prove yourself to them. They are putting the ball in your court. They are willing to give you a shot. You are about to get that chance you claimed you wanted so badly. Don't blow it Charles!

After four years you should have figured out how you get the big miles. They don't just hand them out like candy to kids on Halloween. You earn them. Get in there and be competitive and productive. That's how you keep them loading you up with miles.

If you keep this going with your current approach your always going to be frustrated and complaining. You've already proven to yourself how that approach keeps you on the verge of wanting to quit. Nobody enjoys a job that they are always wanting to quit. Why put yourself through that?

I work at a large trucking company (Knight) with a bonus structure based on miles. Last month I ran well over the 11,500 required for the highest level bonus pay. There's no reason you can't do that too. They want you to earn the highest pay you can consistently safely produce. That's how they make money. They don't make money by oppressing your ability to turn miles. Here's a screenshot of proof of my miles from this past month.

Good for you Cecilia - you've already met your first "terminal rat." Trust me, over the next year you'll meet plenty of them. They have lots of advice. Just ignore it and focus on how great a job you want to be doing.

Matthew, my kids had the time of their lives riding with me. They still talk about those times on the road with me, and they're all grown and have children of their own now.

I don't know of you've seen the conversations in here where I chronicled our trips, but they were some great times together. You can look forward to taking yours along with you someday. It's a blast!

Nice going Jamie! That's gonna make a nice paycheck!

I totally agree with G-Town. I remember a certain grumbling student in truck driving school with me complaining, "This is B.S. we will never parallel park a semi in the real world." Well, you may and you may not, but you will definitely use that maneuver and technique when you've backed up to a dock and then they come out to your door and request you move to the next dock over. Or as G-Town points out, dropping one trailer then moving a trailer out of the way so you can put yours in it's spot will typically be a similar move. Everything you learn teaches you little nuances that help you make progress on knowing how to manipulate that trailer into the spot you need it to be.

No problem man!

I've got a regular customer here. We have one or two of our drivers here almost every week. We will get together again sometime. I'm looking forward to it.

That's a long day there bud! You started three hours before I did!

I like that! It's actually a good helpful reminder.

Hey Rob, keep us posted on this. What a bummer! This thing sounds more complicated than I thought it would be.

On a side note, I'm at the Casey's truck stop in Pella. I know it's a bit of a drive in winter weather for you, but I'd be happy to take you and your family out for dinner if you weren't already committed.

Major props to ya Blair!

Congratulations, and here's those bananas!

I'll be at the Tulsa Terminal. My recruiter was Dustin out of Phoenix. He said I'll be meeting with a gentlemen named Jason.

I've actually met both of the people you mentioned. Yes, I get around. Most of them don't know who "Old School" is - I try to keep a low profile. Some people at Knight definitely know who I am, but I don't think either Dustin or Jason know I'm active here.

Tulsa is a really new terminal - it's very nice. I've spent the night there recently.

Very Nice Jeremy!

I like it when people share their pay in here. It gives proof to the newbies that this stuff is attainable. We hear so many sob stories about people who go broke while trying to get into trucking. It's nice to provide some irrefutable evidence that people who understand what it takes to make it out here can do just that. Mostly the people who can't seem to make any money at this are the same people who slander the trucking companies all the time. It's kind of ironic that they don't seem to make the connection between their poor performance and the results on their paycheck.

For any newbies who are getting excited about Jeremy's results, you need to temper your excitement with the realization that he takes care of his business out here. That is no small endeavor. This job is very challenging. Jeremy just happens to know how to handle it. Don't expect to be raking in that kind of dough while you are in your first couple of years. You will have to prove your worth before you start getting paid that kind of money.

It is only the EGOTISTICAL SUPER-TRUCKERS, that try to make non-super-truckers feel of little value...

Well said Rick, very well said!

Jamie, even if they don't get your appointment changed keep up that pace and practice. You may end up sitting a bit, but make sure you've sent a macro indicating you are at the customer. Keep that practice up. This is how you show them that you are capable of being productive. Eventually your dispatcher will recognize your abilities and have to keep you dispatched accordingly. He doesn't want his managers asking him, "Hey why is this guy Jamie sitting around all the time. He's showing up like he should. What's the problem here?"

You have a tremendous amount of influence in how you are dispatched, but you have to keep a consistent record of performance. It all hinges on your consistent performance.

I'm currently 120 miles away, drove over night about 600 miles to stay on track.

Nice! I like that approach.

I'm one day ahead, dispatch is currently in works of getting the appointment moved up.

That's great Jamie! Is the appointment change something you requested of your dispatcher? Or is it something the dispatcher recognized and took his own initiative? I'm just curious. Either way it's a good thing.

By moving appointments up like that you're accomplishing the very thing I mentioned earlier concerning being successful at trucking. A key element to making money in trucking is maximizing utilization of our asset (the truck) by using a high percentage of our 70 hours each week for productivity.