Comments By New Beginning

If you have a pickup window 1000-1400 hours, is there a standard time you should show up? I know your day clock starts the moment you drive and you should time your miles, but I am not sure when you should start out. Shippers don't always load as soon as you show up, but is it good to be there at the beginning of the appt time or some where in the middle? Not looking for definitive answers, just curious as to how various people do it. Thanks.

A good place to start is your delivery time. Is it a huge window (20 hour) or a JIT 0900 the next day? Calculate your travel time. Add in breaks (30 min + 10 hr ) as needed, fuel (20 min each) and such. Back up from the delivery time. Suppose the travel time adds up to 19 hours. "Next day" = 24 hrs, so 0900 + 24h = 3300. Back up from the 33 (33-19 = 14) so your best time to leave the shipper is 1400.

How much for loading? Look at your dispatch for pickup/load information (Swift's "destination" page has this using L = "Live", D = "Drop", etc.) the standard drop/pickup is usually 30 minutes. Live load is 2 hours. If you know something about the pickup place adjust accordingly. (There's one Georgia Pacific plant in Mississippi you can never get out of in less than an hour) Backing up 30 minutes drop/pickup makes for a 1330 arrive at shipper time. If you've never been there before, another 30 minutes to act "lost" at the shipper. Final Arrive At Shipper time is 1300.

Where are you when you start up? Add that pre-trip and travel time. (pick a number - any number: 1 1/2 hours) OK, start your day (14 hr clock) at 1130 in the morning.

(Ernie's phone call suggestion will save you lots of wasted time/keep you from being late.)

These ex-math teachers!! Always with the numbers! Sheeesh.

That was a pretty long answer. But I know questions like this get you excited, allowing you to put that teacher hat on. Ernie has the great suggestion of calling ahead. I am that anal type person who is prompt and gets aggravated when others aren't as "dedicated". As a former soldier I am familiar with "hurry up and wait", but that didn't stop me from being anxious. Our load today had that 4 hours window and because we got here at 13:30, another driver from our company got our load and we got another load. Luckily the only difference was the reefer temp. Now 2 1/2 hours later we are loaded and ready to roll. Thanks Ernie and Errol, I will use both of your methods when I go solo. Although with Errols I may have to use my calculator hahaha.

With the mobile phone companies trying to out do each other, are any of the major carriers providing better service than the other. Currently on AT&T but thinking about switching to T-Mobile ($30 for 10gigs is hard to ignore). Only spotty service I got from current service is through certain parts of Wyoming, Nebraska, Idaho, etc. we all know the common problem areas. I know this question has been asked before but technology changes constantly and any updates you folks may have will be appreciated. SORRY but opinions on Sprint are not needed :-). Just kidding. Thanks

If you have a pickup window 1000-1400 hours, is there a standard time you should show up? I know your day clock starts the moment you drive and you should time your miles, but I am not sure when you should start out. Shippers don't always load as soon as you show up, but is it good to be there at the beginning of the appt time or some where in the middle? Not looking for definitive answers, just curious as to how various people do it. Thanks.

Since Prime has APU's on all their trucks, draining the battery is really a non-issue. Now on the outside chance you do drain the battery (because the APU is not working), if you are in the reefer fleet, you always have the reefer unit to charge the batteries enough to start as a fall back if needed.

Ernie

That's why this is my favorite site on the internet. You "truthers" are so helpful.

Sounds exactly like my setup. You'll be fine.

My microwave draws 1000 watts so I always run that by itself just to be safe. Same with the skillet.

My crockpot is much less, maybe around 100 or less, and my laptop draws 85.

I do also have a small 150 watt inverter that plugs into the 12v outlet. I use that for the crockpot so I don't have to have the big inverter on all day, and I also use it to charge my phone and laptop at night.

Basically I just turn on the big inverter when I use the microwave or skillet for brief periods.

Thanks guys. Do you have any recommendations for size or wattage of appliances? With winter around the corner the last thing I want to do is drain the batteries and be stranded in the cold.

In about 3 weeks I will become a solo company (Prime) driver and I am curious as to what can be hooked up to a 1500 watt inverter. I am not to fond of eating out, and like to cook. Would like to get a refrigerator, crock pot, electric skillet. Don't really need a t.v. I use my laptop but.... Anyway, what size inverters are you folks using and how have you made your truck your home away from home.

I have done many loads that have been at least 1100 to 1500 miles loaded and empty total. Nobody ever said anything because I was delivering and picking up either on time or early. Then, out of the blue, while I am home my DM says that I have to get my miles up. I had no idea it was even a problem. I told her that I can drive 550 miles a day in order to get the load where it is going. I want to drive hard so I can have only a few miles to go on the day of delivery. But as far as how many miles I go every day of the month...............I don't care. As long as I pick up and deliver from the customer on time, I don't care how many miles I go. As long as I do it safely and legally. If those two things are ignored by the company then I don't take the load in the first place. With breakdowns, home time, delays for hours at the shipper and consignee, it is not reasonable to expect a driver to do 400 miles every single day. My DM told me she had some drivers who drive 700 miles every day. I told her that I would not believe that if the driver swore on a Bible. The governors on Navajo are set at 64. 700 miles including fueling, eating, taking the 30 minute break???? No, not reality at all. So I resigned while I was at home. I did not want to be a thousand miles away and be fired on the spot, and stranded. That is the entire story. If you don't believe it, call Navajo.

400 miles a day is very doable. I am in my third week of TNT training and I have averaged well over 400 miles a day. Just today, I had 693 miles (with 3 minutes of drive time left) and my truck is governed at 65. My previous high was 589. It sounds like you don't want to get the miles Patrick, not that you can't get them.

Last niht I sat behind the wheel. The proud owner of a crispy new class A. My tnt trainer had driven the day shift, now it was my turn.

We stopped at a loves right inside new Mexico, and left with me behind the wheel and him settling in for some rest.

Man, I can't tell you the Cheshire cat sized grin that plastered my face as i pulled out, floated the gears up to 10, and pointed us to California!

The night got a little long, but seeing the lights in Gallup was awesome. We had another Prime driver we were following, a friend of my trainers, and he kept an eye on me and every once in a while would holler across channel 19 to check and make sure I was doing ok.

Pulled into Kingman this morning, and my trainer slept sound all night. That alone made me feel good. I know there may be times I'll have to wake him, but getting that first night under me was awesome!

Pointless posts y'all, but another thanks to the veterans here for tips and pointers and encouragement!

I know the feeling Shannon. I got my license on Tuesday and we are on our third run. With my trainer sleep I have driven I-80 west from Reno, Nevada to Oakland, Ca. The mountains were treacherous. From there I drove from Oakland to Portland, Oregon. Those mountains were treacherous. Mind you I drove them at night, because I know if I would have seen them during the day they would have scared the craps out of me. But anyway it is a great feeling knowing that 3 weeks ago I didn't even know how to make the truck move to having someone trust you enough to zip the curtain closed and actually go to sleep. Thanks again trucking truth truckers, couldn't have gotten down and up those mountains without you. Stay safe Shannon.

Being in the Marines or any military organization you have a chain of command.

See, military personnel and serious athletes have a completely different mindset than most people. They understand that when you're at the bottom of the totem pole you are more of a danger and a burden than anything else so it's your place to listen, learn, and do as you're told until you've gained enough experience, knowledge, and skill to earn a higher ranking and the authority and respect that goes with it.

People who have never been in a highly challenging environment where it takes years to get good at something don't understand this at all. They see themselves as equals on day one. They expect to be given the same treatment as a student that the proven veterans get.

I don't watch the show "Dancing With The Stars" but on ESPN they were talking about how athletes tend to win on that show a lot.

Kristi Yamaguchi, the 1992 Olympic Skating Champion, said:

"I think we athletes know how to perform and we're used to being coached. We're also fine with being told what to do and taking instruction and criticism."

And of course I don't even need to explain the specifics about military personnel and their character. They are simply second to none. Nobody understands the importance of earning respect, paying your dues, and working your way up from the bottom like they do.

Company-Sponsored Training Programs, which are more of a tryout to make the team than they are an ordinary school, send about 1/3 of the class home the first week. Now naturally some people fail their physical or lied on their application. But others just get handed a bus ticket seemingly out of the blue. You know why? Because when you show up on day one with absolutely no experience, no knowledge, and no skills whatsoever and immediately start running your mouth about the respect you had better be given they know you have no clue how difficult and dangerous this job is. They know you're not going to listen, you're not going to learn the way you should, and you don't have the right priorities. They're sending you home before you kill somebody, plain and simple.

If you've never worked your way up from the bottom in something difficult and dangerous then you probably don't understand why rookies shouldn't demand the same respect as veterans. If you've never accomplished anything that deserves a tremendous amount of respect then you probably feel everyone should be treated equally. I mean, you only know what you've experienced, right?

James Harrison, the Steelers Linebacker, recently took away the "participation trophies" his kids got for just showing up. He said:

"I came home to find out that my boys received two trophies for nothing, participation trophies! While I am very proud of my boys for everything they do and will encourage them till the day I die, these trophies will be given back until they EARN a real trophy. I'm not sorry for believing that everything in life should be earned and I'm not about to raise two boys to be men by making them believe that they are entitled to something just because they tried their best...cause sometimes your best is not enough, and that should drive you to want to do better...not cry and whine until somebody gives you something to shut u up and keep you happy."

- James Harrison - Pittsburgh Steelers

Amen to that.

Good stuff. Go STEELERS!!!

Congratulations New Beginning! Where are you working? What kind of trailer are you pulling?

We love to hear when you guys "graduate" and make it into your own truck, but we also enjoy hearing all about your new adventures, or your epic rookie mistakes. I'm with Errol. keep hanging around there's gonna be some folks in here who will benefit from your experiences.

It really is rewarding following along with everyone! I don't always have the time to comment on everything of course, but you can be sure that I'm looking at what's going on with all you guys.

Working at Prime in the reefer division just beginning the TNT phase. And thanks for the kind words. I will definitely keep following the site and I'm sure I will have stories to tell and questions to ask after I get into my own truck mid-october. One question about the preview before you send. Can you edit after you preview and notice a typo? Does cancel erase what was typed?