Comments By Doug K.

Tell me you got some detention pay for all that waiting Doug.

OH YEAH!! Would not let them get away without detention pay. My company is pretty good about that.

I feel your pain on this. I had a Safeway load to Tracy Ca. Appt. was 1700. I got there at 1630 with a bunch of others. Got checked in and told to give us your phone number and park over there with the other 30 or so trucks and we will call you when we have a dock. Got in the dock at 0130 and after the unload and lumper nonsense I finally got out of the dock at 0730. Nothing like getting a ten hour reset sitting waiting to be unloaded.

I haven't set off any critical alarms but I do seem to run the edge on my hours. Closest I have been in 7 minutes on a multi stop load in Oregon and a couple of time have actually run out of time by just a few minutes. My company forgives those if you don't do it all the time. I have been told that after an hour everybody starts to have kittens. Other than than that time I usually have about one hour left at the end of a day.

Boy, has that question come up many times for me and I see for others, also. For me I ask that question several times a week in the morning before I get started. Once I am on the road though I know the answer. I WANT to be here. Even when I am on a three to five day(3-5 weeks out is what I seem to like) break I really start to feel anxious to get back out there. A couple of observations though. Since I am new to trucking, 40k miles in my first 14 weeks, I have seen some things that are I think worth mentioning. First of all I have noticed that the whole industry seems to run in a state of chaos. You may have one or two days that seem to go just as planned but then there are the next 10 days that are in total chaos from dispatch all the way up. Just something you have to take with a grain of salt. Second, I have seen some of the most horrendous driving by people I have EVER seen in my life. Maybe I just didn't notice before. And not just car drivers either. I have seen some really horrid driving by fellow truck drivers. These aren't Volkswagons we are driving. Third, the roads around most cities are horrendous. I don't know how trucks survive as long as they do, or driver either. So far the LA area has been the worst I have driven on. Even the "interstate" highways there are a mess. Forth, just being tolerant and understanding that the industry runs in a state of chaos will get you though most days. The chaos is not our fault and most times is really no ones fault. It just happens. So be nice and you will get the loads you want and shippers/receivers will treat you with a little more respect that the person that gets in their face. Fifth, too bad Driver managers are not required to run at least a month with a driver. Maybe they would get a better understanding a feel for what we go through out there. Lastly, do a thorough daily inspection and document EVERYTHING that you find and keep pushing you DM to get you to a service location when the service is due. It's your life and the service is a very necessary part of being safe and also keeping your truck running and able to do the long hard runs. I posted a few times a truckindoug and was not around for a while. Didn't know that there was a new forum format. Looks nice and is a bit easier to navigate. I am still, for the most part, having fun driving and look forward to more. I am passing my 5th month in about 10 days so I am close to that magic 6 months and am now looking forward to finishing my first year. Be safe and Keep on truckin