Profile For Robert B. (The Dragon) yes, I breathe fire and other sideshow tricks

They're literally setting people up for failure and don't feel the least bit guilty about it, that's the sad part. The company I'm with has a lease program but there's very few drivers in it. One of the biggest differences though is that nobody is buying a truck, they get cycled out every 3 years just like the company trucks so everyone is always in a new truck. Our trucks aren't cheap either , not that any are but to buy this 567 I'm in, set up the same way costs right at $194,000. The W9 is $205,000.

This is a perfect example of why doing a lease with the vast majority of carriers is such a bad idea. $2 a mile is the absolute minimum a truck needs to generate and it's also the number that a lot of actual owner operators look for as a bare minimum. Large carriers can survive on lower rates because of the volume of service provided and they could care less how many people try and fail in a particular truck because one way or another, that truck is going to make money.

It doesn't necessarily have to be art for the Smithsonian to pay enormous rates. Sometimes it just takes a bit of thinking out of the box. This was a mine move in northern Minnesota that the company I work for pulled off. It was a one day move going a whopping 3 miles and paid very very well.

Not tire size but tire weight rating. The majority of steer tires are rated for 6,600# but you still have to make sure that the axle is rated accordingly. The tires might be rated for a combined weight of 13,200 but the axle might only be rated for 12,000. You'll rarely ever have an issue regarding the weight on the steer axle though if the load is balanced relatively well, the major concern is going to be on your drives and trailer set.

Just got my first set of steel coils out of Worthington Steel, and I can say...at least for me, FB'ing is hard as ****.

My ass was kicked after leaving there.

Coils really aren't that bad. There are a few tricks that make life much easier but I don't know that the company you work for would allow you to use them. They're perfectly legal and save time and effort.

I never stop moving and am definitely not complaining. In fact, one of the owners spent the first part of the week ordering about 8 million dollars worth of specialty trailers for new contracts.

If they do get you, it'll only be an axle violation which is the fine only. Considering you'll only be around 155# over on the drives, it wouldn't be that much of a fine lol.

Ever since I've been with Prime we've been required to close the axles in NY, CT, WY, CA, and FL. That's with our 53 footers. 48s are fixed position spreads

So it's a company policy then. CT, CA and FL are the only states requiring it. CT allows 36k on the trailer when closed and Florida allows 44k on the trailer. Or for around $65 if I remember correctly, you can purchase a yearly permit for Florida allowing you to run open.

When did New York start requiring closed axles?

99% manual here with otr being 13 speed and the heavy haul being 18. We have maybe half a dozen auto shift but the driving test for orientation is in a 13.

There's a ton of good info already but let me add in another aspect that nobody ever talks about. If you start talking to owner ops, not newer ones but guys who have been at it a long time, you'll find that none of them want to take their trucks to the larger carriers. The big reason being, most large carriers are working high volume contracts but the rates normally aren't as high as what can be found outside of say Walmart, Dollar General etc. Those owners try to avoid those loads because they're generally heavy and just won't make them any money. The big companies make money because they're moving thousands of those loads a day but a solo truck is always chasing the revenue unless they have regular customers they've built relationships with over the years. Drive your truck, establish your reputation, get the experience and then think about chasing the money. Once you've built a name for yourself, your value goes up and along the way. you might decide you want to try different avenues of the industry. If you're just hell bent on some of the better money out there, you're gonna need a good amount of experience and then constantly train with new trailers, equipment and securement methods in the specialized fields. Heavy haul/ specialized drivers where I'm at average around 130k a year but it takes time to work up to it and we haul a little bit of everything. They just placed an order last week for a new perimeter trailer to grab the ridiculously heavy, high dollar, insane planning stuff. They won't let just anyone hook to a million dollar trailer with 300,000 # cradled in it. There's so many things available to a driver who wants to put in the effort and can make a damn fine living as a company driver.

Around me in Chicago there are a lot of container trucks that end up on their side.

Containers and occasionally a poorly pre loaded flatbed can be an exception. We pick up containers on a regular basis and bring them from the port, unload and reload on to a flatbed. Talking to my terminal manager and some local drivers, there have been several occasions where the load in the container wasn't stabilized properly and collapsed or fell to one side making it unstable. Now, it's still the drivers responsibility to drive safely and responsibly but there are times with containers that circumstances can lead to failure. In regards to pre loaded flatbeds, I've seen it happen with loads of boat and utility trailers which were pre loaded but the dunnage on the trailer failed, causing the load to shift and flip the trailer. I just picked up a load in Iowa last week and another one of our drivers was throwing straps before connecting to the trailer, dunnage failed and 2/3 of the load wound up on the ground. The vast majority of the time, it's driver error but there are occasions where it isn't, albeit rare.

Old School linked to the actual process for the application and the overall hassle involved.

My story was about the same honestly. The recruiter told me no problem, they were familiar and didn't think I would need it. Then, once I had to do the application, the school director wanted to wash me out of the program because they didn't want to wait on me and the paperwork. I had to do all the follow up legwork which was no big deal but I was told by the director that he would see to all of it and did nothing. One of the instructors had my back though and went to bat for me with the terminal manager to keep me there. I'll just say this, be glad you don't have to have it.

Not trying to stir the pot here but a good owner operator would never have had the truck towed. They would have gone and picked up a starter (roughly $300) and installed it themself in about an hour and been back on the road.

Driving in the U.P. this time of year is beautiful too.

That's one of the most beautiful drives in the country. I love going through Vail Pass as well headed out to Grand Junction.

The bumpers are made by Herd. Our new trucks run the Texas series 4 post design but some of the 2017 models have the Defender series which has a cow catcher along the bottom. They'll set you back about 4k installed but worth every penny once you figure the cost of a hood, headlights, air charger, radiator etc. Plus, they're polished and just look nice. They do however ruin fuel economy lol.

That is really sharp right there. My dash is paneled, however it was painted to match my stripes on the outside. Harley Davidson rootbeer brown.

I bet it looks really sharp. I definitely can't complain, they set our company trucks up very nice (probably helps that the 3 brothers who run the company all still drive). They specifically went with the bambi basher on the front because it's just so darn strong. If we impact any wild animal up to the size of a moose and other damage occurs aside from the bumper destruction, the insurance company waves their deductible and fixes it. I've seen photos of two of our trucks, one hit a black bear and another hit a cow out west with no damage.

That was Friday.

Our trucks don't have an outrageous amount and most of it is for function and looks. Polished chain box on the back and side box come in handy and look good when clean. Right now after being in the U.P., she's not very clean lol.