Comments By Rob T.

The dash board garbage, made me wonder HOW the H3LL, they get thru a scale without being flagged in for inspections !?!?

I remember quite clearly the pretrip we learned in school included the dashboard being clear. In my daycab I have a small trash can with a plastic grocery bag I'm able to put my trash in and keep it out of sight. A dirty truck drives me crazy. Our wash bay has been down for 2 weeks waiting on parts and I'm not happy.

In addition to what others have mentioned, When you move over to let another driver on and they wait to blow your doors off until you're able to get safely back over. Not having too much pride to back off the pedal for 5 seconds to allow a truck that's slightly faster to get by rather than getting into a turtle race for 5 miles.

I've personally been called out on the CB for good behavior. When it's raining/wet road and no traffic I'll hang out in the left lane longer to avoid throwing all that water on the other guys windshield and give him extra following distance. I was also complimented for not moving back over right away as we approached a hill because I know the limitations of my truck and I was going to fall on my face trying to climb it. No other traffic than the 2 of us so I hung out in the left lane so I didn't make him lose momentum climbing the hill and i didnt lose mine by slowing down to stay behind him. Coming down on the other side I passed him and moved over when it was reasonable to do so.

After 6 1/2 years of driving truck I finally got my first deer. I've had plenty of raccoons and possums but never a deer. Ironically enough I was talking to my mom 2 days ago and mentioned many close calls lately with my van and the truck both but never hitting one.

It happened about 650am this morning on Kansas state highway 10 west of Kansas City about halfway to Lawrence. Deer came running out and caught the deer guard on my passenger side, made a huge mess down my tractor before getting run over by my tandems. I pulled off at the next ramp about a mile down the highway to inspect the damage. Fortunately the only visible damage was snapping off 8 of my plastic lug nut covers on my steer.

I made it back to our yard without issue and wrote it up for the shop to take a better look at it and filled out my accident report. Company policy is to report ALL events that involve damage to the truck though animal strikes aren't held against you as long as you don't swerve.

When I was at my first stop I slid my tandems all the way to the front because I had 2 gas stations in Lawrence that are tight, and the backhaul i had in Lenexa is tight as well. I noticed my airlines under trailer were hanging pretty close to the ground so I zip tied them up. I'm glad I did, who knows if the deer would've caught them and left me helpless even though I was empty at the time.

I knew it was just a matter of time but figured it'd be in Southern Iowa. Almost without fail anytime I go south i see a couple dozen deer just standing along the interstate from Osceola (MM 32) to the state line but they're smart enough to not run across in front of you.

I'm guilty of taking it off when I enter our yard and not buckling up until I use my badge to leave. I figure I'm not going far and need it off to reach the badge reader anyways. I don't use it while backing though as I don't want it to restrict my movements if I'm readjusting to see better. My company is strict about seat belt usage on the road, but didn't fire a driver that got a seat belt ticket like other carriers may do. I'm not sure what sort of discipline he faced, other than paying the ticket, but he'd just left a store lot and was putting it on when the cop seen him.

At PFG I got coached about moving around the yard without my seat belt. My trainer there was lectured about not having his seat belt on while backing despite legally the seat belt not being required while in reverse in many states.

My father in law that drove for over 40 years only used his seat belt near weigh stations. In his personal vehicles on the other hand he ALWAYS wore it.

So you speak your mind, and if they let you keep your job, it's "take what we give you" or "go get it somewhere else." You get a big pat on the back. You walked in there, told them what you thought, and they didn't care.

It's definitely a possibility that could happen. I disagree with many things my Transportation management team does but I've found with most things in life conducting yourself in a calm collective and professional manner yields far better results. At the end we still may disagree and that's fine. If what I'm seeking doesn't match with the direction management or the company as a whole are going I can either deal with it or find a new job. Most often management is looking to climb the corporate ladder and will blindly follow what they're being told from above. I've mentioned it before that our current VP of Transportation is hyper focused on idle times. Every week we get a message stressing to shut off the truck and how we're wasting money on fuel. He's doing that because of pressure from above. They refuse to look at ways we're wasting far more money and resources even when they're in front of them. Last month I had again addressed poor routing that they're not reviewing our routes before we bid them. They had one driver coming back empty down I35 from the MN border but instead of stopping at our yard in Ankeny he had to go 60 miles west on I80 to a backhaul. A different driver was going to leave Omaha empty and instead of doing the backhaul mentioned above had him go 60 miles north of our yard up I35 to a backhaul. Today I had a couple stores in Council Bluffs and Omaha before heading 40 miles west to Lincoln for 1 stop then back to Omaha for my backhaul. A different driver had 3 stops in Omaha then 3 in Lincoln. Both loads were frozen and our trailers weren't at capacity that's just how the system routed it so it must be right. In reality I doubt they care. The focus is idling because it's a number on their screen. Stores are receiving their trucks so the customer is getting their groceries all is good.

Unions are great IF the leadership actually holds the employer to the contract. As I pointed out my previous experiences has soured my feelings about them atleast in this line of work. The Yellow fiasco also plays a part of that though admittedly it's more complicated.

If Unions were still prevalent and pensions were as widespread as they once were company loyalty would be higher. I'd love to stay at my current job long term but I also periodically check what else is out there. I'm quite happy overall with my job and paid well so I'm not personally dealing with significant issues that I feel a union would be beneficial. As a society in general we get bored easily and are willing to jump ship just for the sake of change. In the trucking industry we see drivers hopping to a new carrier for a couple pennies more a mile.

Although CEO pay in most cases is very out of whack compared to the workers below them it isn't true at every corporation. They're also far different in duties and responsibilities they perform. I also don't concern myself about that. Am I taking steps to become the CEO? absolutely not so why waste my time and energy focusing on that. Just like people that complain about NFL players making outrageous amounts. When considering employment one of the first things I look at is wages. The CEO salary has nothing to do with what I'm being offered. If a company is willing to pay it why not accept it? Should those Walmart drivers we talked about last week earning over $100k worry about the store level employees making $12/hr and relying on government assistance just to get by? Let's be real. As a business owner are you going to pay your employees a ton of money or are you going to pay them just enough to keep them around while feeding them a $.25 raise a year? An overwhelming majority want to keep that bigger slice of the pie.

Not all unions are great. Sure they helped make changes long ago but I feel that's what pro-union crowd hangs on to. There's a lot of crap in our nation's history that has changed for the better. Many corporations have moved production overseas to avoid paying livable wages and not have as many strict safety regulations. If you're continuing to buy those overseas products you're part of the problem. I haven't paid dues to the Teamsters in 5 years since I left PFG. I still receive their magazine/newsletter and can attest UPS is the poster child. They mention other contracts they achieved but never provide the same details that they do for UPS. About 10 years ago I interviewed at the Minneapolis/St Paul International Airport to fuel airplanes. They talked up the position being unionized. That union position was paying $9/hr and if my memory serves me right topped out at $15 after 3 years. I've been part of Teamsters with 2 different companies (Sysco and PFG). Both times union leadership didn't have my back and folded when I addressed my issues. I wouldn't turn down a job offer strictly due to union/non union. Fortunately in Iowa I'm not forced to join and can reap the benefits they may or may not receive at that job but I won't have representation. That's fine because I have no problem standing up for myself.

PFG paid less than our non union competitors like Reinhart (pre buyout). It's tough to compare warehouse job at Sysco due to different locations/cost of living but I made dramatically less being unionized. In Palmetto (St Pete ) FL base pay was $17/hr but with incentive pay I averaged usually $30-32/hr. In Ankeny (Des Moines) IA the top base pay was $23 after 18 months I believe but those incentives were much harder to hit. I had to work way harder and only managed to earn $25/hr. I brought it up to our union reps that Sysco is measuring metrics differently at non union warehouses and got no feedback even after providing proof of my claims.

Over the past couple years why did so many OTR truckload carriers increase pay. They did it to attract the talent they have or are after. I'm not aware of a single unionized outfit that does OTR so unions had nothing to do with it.

Yeah something needs to get figured out for these situations. I’m curious Rob how would you handle that situation if it was your assigned trailer? I was actually going to post about this to see what other drivers thoughts were.

we have a heated shop at the yard where I Start every day so I'd go in there and see if they could assist me since they have the tall ladder/stairs they use to change trailer lights. If I were out on the road I'd really not have much of a choice but roll with it or stop at a truck wash and have them wash/melt it away. Definitely need to be mindful of bridge heights and slow down going under if you've got a big enough pile that'll contact the bridge.

Also don't be like this guy.

There really isn't a widely available solution to this problem. Excess snow pack on your equipment will also drastically increase your weight as well.

Here's a couple I experienced this week that haven't been touched on. Pay attention to if moisture is freezing to the back of your mirrors. If it is, temp is at or below freezing and less traveled portions of the road like ramps and side roads WILL be ice. Bridges likely will too. Look at other vehicles, if you see road spray the surface isn't ice but still proceed with caution. Just because the right lane isn't ice doesn't mean the left lane doesn't have some ice since it's typically less traveled. I was able to comfortably do the speed limit earlier this week but when I got to the dock area of my store complete sheet of ice I needed to throw salt after unloading to get back to the street.

Also NO CRUISE CONTROL. Last winter I was talking to a volunteer firefighter in town and he mentioned several serious injury accidents had happened due to cruise control on ice particularly when they got on bridges.

I wanted to share a recent experience with everybody and stress how important it is that you know the rules/regulations. I've shared elsewhere that in the last couple years we've had changes in management. The guys running Transportation have very minimal knowledge of the industry and in my opinion are a terrible fit. We're a distribution company moving products to our grocery stores. Management has climbed the ladder from other departments.

A couple months ago I addressed a couple issues and am still not satisfied with the results. The first one I'll touch on is no paperwork/BOL. When we haul our loads to stores our trip sheet that pretty much just lists our stops, mileage between each, and weight dropping there is enough because we're transporting our own product/property. The problem comes when we haul contracted product to other companies. There was a contract stop I had but no paperwork. I explained to my manager how it's illegal to transport loads with paperwork. I offered solutions that wouldn't be difficult to implement, in my opinion, none of which were implemented. Periodically our drivers are still moving product without the proper paperwork. That's their choice, personally if I'm sent out with no paperwork I'll respectfully give them 2 choices. Get the product without documentation unloaded, or I'm going home.

Another situation that I addressed last month is log violations. We have a safety guy and my manager checking for log violations but clearly not very well. After talking to numerous drivers I work with it became very clear they were committing log violations and didn't even know it. They called the office and were told what they were doing was legal. I reached out to my manager and respectfully (always be professional and respectful) informed him that he, along with others, may want to brush up on HOS because violations for the 16 are rampant. The violations are revolved around using the 16 hour rule. For those unaware, the 16 hour rule is meant for drivers that are home daily that allows them an additional 2 hours to drive their 11 hours. There's certain criteria that must be met as the photo below shows.

Management told many drivers they could use their 16 again after a layover as long as they got a reset in before doing so. That's incorrect as you must start/end your day at the sae location for the 5 PREVIOUS work days, so not until your 6th WORK DAY after a layover are you eligible. After I brought it up, they finally posted a note in the drivers room with the regulations seen below

the information they posted is still incorrect. It states you're eligible after 5 days,however the regulations say your 5 tours of duty (work days) of start/end at same location, and the sheet they posted also says you're able to utilize yard move if youre on the property after 16 hours. That's also incorrect. You must be relieved of all duties by the 16th hour of when you first came on duty.

That puts me in a predicament. I enjoy helping others and making sure they understand the best legal way to do something. BUT I also believe in people being held accountable for their actions. Personally I wouldn't utilize the 16 hour rule if I didn't know how it worked legally. However I also feel the drivers were trying to get that information by reaching out to management that doesn't understand. At the end of the day though I'm just a driver and it isnt my concern. The way the 16 is being violated isn't jeopardizing safety in my opinion so I'm less inclined to continue pushing it. We'll just have some drivers and management caught off guard if an audit rolls through or the drivers inspected. For whatever reason our logs (Samsara) doesn't mark it as a violation. At PFG when we used QC or peoplenet (can't remember which) the 16 hour rule wouldn't even show up on the screen as an option if it wasn't legal.

Drivers - ALWAYS make sure you understand the laws and regulations. As a professional it's our duty to do so. You should be able to contact your boss for clarification but as I showed it doesn't guarantee they know for sure either.

If there's any confusion for anybody please don't hesitate to ask here on the forum. We can perhaps explain it better than someone in the office and can show you the source if needed. JJ keller is an excellent resource and I'd recommend you to keep the pocket book of regulations. You can find it online for about $5 and I'm sure most truck stops carry it as well.

find it interesting. From what I've gathered, there are not that many top teir drivers, yet there seems to be a collection here, and I think we gravitate towards other drivers of the same caliber. One of the traits that is prevalent here is self honesty and self assessment, I think that is a cornerstone of success.

In life in general self honesty and assessment is a huge part of positive results. In addition to what Davy mentioned what separates this forum from others (like Reddit) is that for the most part we can agree there are no bad companies. Go elsewhere on the internet and you'll hear how Swift or any of the other large carriers are terrible, that to make good money you need to find a company with only a handful of trucks! Our members here have shown us that with the right attitude you can be successful at any company. Old School is a perfect example thriving at Western Express then Knight when he chose to move on. We've also had members that did quite well at other companies that are labeled bad elsewhere. Often times the "bad" company just isn't a right fit. We place higher value on certain things than the next driver does. Maybe I place a value of hometime higher than pay so I take a job at a company that is more flexible but pays less. The next guy may desire to live out of the truck taking minimal hometime so they value pay more than hometime schedule. The trick to being happy in this industry is finding the right company that has policies that match what you're seeking. Sometimes drivers will have vastly different results at the same company. It could be a variety of reasons like your dispatchers performance, or maybe the truck you're issued is a lemon so you're constantly in the shop.

What I love about this site is referrals are frowned upon. It helps ensures you're getting the best advice possible. You don't need to question if someone is misleading you so they can score a referral bonus even if the company doesn't seem to be a good fit.

We have a great group of drivers here and im very proud to be apart of it. I often times share mishaps or mistakes I've made to show newer drivers that 6 years in I still make mistakes and need to resolve it on the fly. It gives you an idea of what can happen, how I got myself into that situation, how I got out of it without an incident/accident or more importantly what I could have done to being in that situation in the first place.

Keep up the great work drivers!