Comments By Marcus K.

Dry shampoo . might try and find some . Clippers ? No , she has short hair . boxer / pit . just gets to smelling after about 3 days . bad thing is I forget to wash her when working a lot and I can not smell it any longer . But I know from past that 3 days is the longest to go . maybe 4 in winter .

So how do otr drivers keep their dogs clean ? A small dog I could see being not so hard to wash but a 50 lb dog will need a lot of water like a hose or shower . My dog needs bathed at least twice a week to keep from stinking up me and my truck . How or where do you find a place to do this ?

Yes I have read a lot of good things about them and some bad things . how ever I tend to think they are a good company . Sometimes things just do not go right for whatever reason . Kind of like buying a new product . You get the bad one and others love theirs . Nothing works perfect all the time . I am trying to hold out for Melton . Out of work at the moment and that is a real scary thing for me . Not used to that . Am going in Monday to apply for the hazmat endorsement .Then wait for the results I guess. Been waiting on a grain hauling job but so far the guy has not fixed the truck that blew a head gasket last week . Was going to work for him for a while because I told him I would , just before finding Melton . I really like to keep my word if possible . I did tell him it would only be until good weather rolled around and then I was going to try for a Melton job . Figured by then I would have hazmat and a TWIC . Just in case they are needed . Can't hurt none . It is hard to find a flatbed company that will hire someone with no experience and OTR on top of that .

Old School ; thanks for the reply . I did not mean that I wanted to unroll the tarp first and then try and toss it up on a truck .i know that would be very hard and slow indeed . I was just referring to actually picking it up off the ground and putting it on the trailer . Unfolding partially and putting one end up and then the middle and the end . As opposed to just picking up the entire tarp and setting it up there . I saw a post somewhere about agility test where they said it did not matter how you put it up there as long as you could do it . Like the girl who put it on tire and then flipped up . Seems like a good idea instead of risking injury if you can not lift the whole thing . Now I know for a fact I can not dead lift 100 pounds in front of me and set it up on trailer which I am almost sure is not the proper method anyway . I have watched video of test and they did that sort of but with a milk crate and a weight in it that looked to be maybe 25 pounds . Swift used 75 I think it was , could have been a little less . I know it was heavy but I did it . I would think that it would involve placing it on your shoulder and lifting from there as that is far safer and the method I see a lot of people use when carrying around sacks of feed and such .

I have seen a lot of posts , not here, about agility tests and not much info on what they actually had to do to pass it . Just interested as I have been doing some exercise since I have sitting on my arse for years now not doing any hard work . Not much lifting involved in end dump work . Some hard shoveling now and then !

Okay then I am an expert on this matter . Good and bad . The clutch is used just for stopping going and works like a manual shift . Autoshift actually floats gears . It is okay if you do not like shifting but comes with some draw backs . Driving down highway is good as long as you do not need to drop a gear to pass someone . Up hills not so good . Taking off in heavy traffic where you need to get on going like across a busy 4 lane divided highway , bad . Now you have different kinds . Freightliner I drove only had push buttons on dash . very hard to work and drive at same time . Only manual shift from 1 - 2 - 3 and stuck in what ever gear you chose . BAD. especially in an end dump going through mud fields and stuff like that . When it tries to shift the wheels stop turning due to being in deep dirt, sand , mud , up a hill , what ever and then your stuck in neutral . Kenworth I drove last 4 years had a different setup . It would shift all 10 or you could put it in manual and shift all 10 your self or in low for just first . Basically shifted like a manual but very slow . No quick shifting like 1 2 3 4 across the highway . manual is really for going up and down hills . These things are a failed technology . Lots of sensors and solenoids and other electronics that fail a lot . All our trucks were in the shop a lot getting them transmissions worked on .

You need a local job . try end dumps , mixers , dump trucks , ... you will be very unhappy even on a long local day . I normally drive about 600 miles a day and rarely talk to anyone . Not for you I think . Does not bother me .

Unfortunately I live in Kansas where most trucking outfits do not hire from . Very hard to get a job living here . I have found only a few and of course none where i live in the biggest city in Kansas . Kansas , where truckers go to die . If you do not work for a company that is located here you probably are not going to be working . well unless you want to work for the big guys no one wants to work for . will keep your ad in mind in case I decide to move .

I would not get out of bed for 7.25 an hour . you should not drive for anything less than 20 an hour unless you are just starting out and get a local dump truck job or similar which is about 10 to 14 hour . Mc D's pays far more than that for plopping some fries in a bag.

Never go to the big guys to get your cdl . ripoff for sure . Cost 7K to 12 K instead of a good accredited school costing 3500 .

Congratulations Ynkedad!

I don't know if I can ease your apprehensions, but you are in good hands over there at Melton. They have got a great operation in my opinion, and they will provide you with the training and tools for success. It's no cake walk, nothing is in this business, but if you hang tough and stick it out you will soon realize that you are getting a great start with one of the really solid flat-bed companies out there.

I wish you the best, and please, whenever you can, let us know how it's going for you. Of course, if you need a little assistance, or maybe a shoulder to cry on, we are always here.

One thing no one ever answers that is asked a lot . . What happens during the melton agility test ? Do you really have to pick up a tarp and put it on and off trailer 4 times ? Seems like a bad idea for a lot of people who are not large and muscular . Not to mention that I find it hard to believe that 5' 3 " 120 pound girls could actually lift that tarp . " work smarter not harder " is the smart thing to do . Do they care HOW you do this ? Can you say , unroll it and put it up there basically section at a time ? Seems to me they would prefer someone to do it in a smarter way if they are not actually physically capable of lifting that much dead weight without risking being injured .

so what is the real story ?

I also am planning on going to Melton soon .