Comments By G-Town

So I'll ask the obvious question! Have u been asking the same question on here for 5 years?

At least twice before this time...

So “Duane”... what’s the deal ? You are either a very slow learner or a very boring Troll.

Enjoyed meeting you Rob!

Parked on your left.

Can't miss me.

13:30 ish. On my way

Leeva has an opinion...

It’s amazing how mega’s will do everything to stop a rookie from even improving.

That is pure BS. Where do you come off making a foolish statement like this?

Rob has it right...

I'll share my experience how never refusing a load has helped build my relationship with my FM.

I've had a lot of loads that I suspect were refused by several different drivers but I took them anyway. And I never said anything to my FM other than a casual remark about it took me awhile to secure and therefore affected my time.

I've even had a load as short as 123 miles but I never complained. My FM adds pay on those short loads.

As a result, when I came off my home time I got a load from Calipatria, California to Boston. 3,000 gravy miles. On my next home time my FM will swing me through St. Louis to pick up my son, get me to Salt Lake City for my home time in Moab, and then swing the back through St. Louis to drop off my son after home time.

After having some time pass, those nightmare loads don't seem that bad. In addition, I generally get a lot of good loads. So, in my personal experience, never refusing a load has paid dividends with my FM.

As in most every aspect of life; you gotta give a little, to get a little. Unless there is a safety reason, don’t refuse a load. Per Rob’s experience, over time it will work to your advantage.

I'm in the southbound lot. When you get close I'll go inside.

Look forward to meeting you.

I’ll also be in the southbound lot. ETA is later now, likely noonish. DC is really slow loading right now...

Good morning Rob. Looks like luck might be favorable; I’m dispatched on a store delivery destined for Sommerdale NJ. The route will put me on I-476 south. I typically duck into the service plaza to use the restroom and fill-up the coffee mug. My guesstimate for ETA is late morning, 11ish.

Are you in the southbound or northbound lot?

I’ll post again when departing the Walmart DC. Thanks for reaching out on this. G

Hey Rob... if I’m dispatched south, I’ll likely be able to swing in there to meet you. I’ll let you know.

Bumping this...

Ours is by far the best. As an added bonus, it's free!

High Road CDL Training Program

Garrett wrote:

Its just so frustrating because parallel is the one you almost never do in the real world and alley dock is the one you do almost every day and also the one I'm good at.

Garrett a couple of things here...

- if you can parallel park a rig, these skills are useful in enabling most any backing situation. Setup is key and understanding how the slightest of steering wheel input effects the trailer and the approach angle.

- in many of the Walmart store and Sam’s ducking scenarios a parallel or variation of a parallel is required to get the truck in the hole.

Please do not underestimate the relative importance of this skill. Practice it!

Good luck!

Errol replied to Jared:

I was told by a friend of mine who used to work for Swift to stay far away from them.

Smile when you say that, Jerad. There are a few Swifties here who will take issue with that. I'm one. I went through Swift's training program, then drove Swift, then taught at the same Swift Academy I started at.

I'm glad you understand you're still not ready for Prime time (oh, Hi, Kearsey!). Understand you need to ride OTR with a trainer for roughly six weeks before they'll let you out on your own. Ask Ace Hardware about that. With a CDL, you can Apply For Truck Driving Jobs and be rolling with your trainer in a week or so.

Jared I’ve been with Swift for over 7 years now running NE Regional Walmart Dedicated.

I take exception to what your friend said... he has no clue.

Go company for a year to learn the job. If at the end of that year, you think l/o is better financially, rethink at that time. But learn, including mistakes, on Prime's dime.

Is that so...a successful, top performing company driver will be making too much money by month twelve to consider leasing.

Please read this blog written by Old School:

Progression of a Trucking Career

I love leased trucks... as a 7+ year company driver; I’ve been assigned a few that were turned in because the driver leasing the truck defaulted.

Old School replied to David...

David, we appreciate your comments and your contributions, but this one is based on your own suppositions. I can't let it slide without trying to clarify a few things.

That informs me that the TL carriers, Roehl, Schneider National, Swift, CR England, and others, engage in the practice of churn-and-burn with new drivers because that practice is more profitable than trying to retain experienced drivers through higher wages and better working conditions.

There is nothing profitable about losing 94% of the people you train. Even if half of them pay you back for the training, which I suspect is doubtful, You can't turn that training program into a source of profit for the company. It is all expense with little return. I've been using the number of 5% success rate for years. I came up with that number by my best estimates of how many people make it through their first year and then stay in the industry.

Trucking is a tough go for every new driver. It isn't because of the "bad" practices of trucking companies. The job has issues that cannot be corrected by some vague idea of creating a better corporate atmosphere. This is a special job that requires special people. Unfortunately those special people seem to be around 5% of the folks who give it a try. That's just the way it is.

People like to claim that trucking companies do very little to keep their experienced drivers. That has never been true in my experience. When I started this career I earned about fifty thousand dollars my first year. Eight years later I earned a little over one hundred thousand dollars. What kind of job can you recommend where you can double your annual income in eight years? What are these working conditions you speak of? I am in an air conditioned truck with all kinds of creature comforts. The truck I drive today is way better than the one I drove eight years ago. It has 120 volt electricity in it and a built in refrigerator. It is comfortable and they replace it with a new one just about every third year. I am as happy as a pig in mud!

Nobody has kept my wages down or insisted that I work under bad conditions. In fact it seems they are constantly coming up with ways to make life better for us. This year at Knight they doubled our bonus money. I usually make about seven thousand in bonus money. That was a generous gesture for them to double it up this year. That extra 14 grand is going to be nice!

I know where you get this idea, but those things you read online are not where the truth is found. Let's face it. You may not survive this industry. There's obviously a lot of newbies who don't, but let's not go blaming it on the companies and their greed for profits. These large companies have their finances open to the public because they are publicly traded. Their profits are generally in the 3 to 5% range. That is a very tight margin. They are not running away with tons of money at the expense of their drivers.

The truth is that each of those companies has a core group of their top tier drivers that they will just about do anything for. The key takeaway from your research should be that you want to strive to be in that group of drivers who are courted and cherished. Those are not the drivers who write the nonsense online about the evils of the trucking industry.

David I’ve been with Swift for over 7 years. I never felt “churned” or “burned”. I’m well compensated and treated like a professional. As Old School pointed out there is a core of top performing drivers on the Walmart account I’m Dedicated on that are all tenured beyond 3 years. The churn is a healthy paycheck.

Accordingly, in the spirit of retention Swift changed the bonus structure enabling rookie drivers to earn a decent performance bonus within the first year of their career.

Contrary to what you heard or read; Swift has driver retention at the very top of their priority as do all of their competitors.

Dragon drops some wisdom on the forum:

Take a hard look at economic trends currently. They aren’t promising and the last thing you want is to be responsible for truck payments, fuel etc and there’s no money to be made. Big companies have investors and will survive economic struggles whereas you with one truck will not. Go company and take every penny they’re willing to throw at you.

I totally agree. Lease op favors the company. Go company.

Fantastic! Congratulations!

Old School replied to John..,

I had no idea this was going to escalate like this. John, you are going to have to settle down or these may be your last comments here. We have given you some great advice, and asked a few questions that we thought curious. Right now you seem out of control. So, take a deep breath and let's all just settle down so that we can all learn a few things.

We thank you for your service, and I know that PackRat feels the same way. You have probably stirred up a bunch of other feelings in him though. You seem to enjoy pointing out others faults, which says a lot about how you wanted to deal with this issue you were having with your trainer. I said repeatedly that I didn't agree with what your trainer did, but I simply had a few questions. You have certainly went on to answer them with your attitude on full display. Your knee jerk reactions have said a lot about you today.

Totally agree.

I 100% agree with Turtle. G.O.A.L. before setting up for the back, not after.

If you are delivering to an unfamiliar Hone Depot; use Goggle Earth or Google Maps as part of your trip planning. Develop a setup strategy before arriving.

Good luck.

If you have to search far and wide for a justification for your actions and you arrived at anything other than "I did it right" you did it wrong. The rest is stink on the wind. That's the difference between a true professional and someone paying lip service. Again you do, you. You can settle for it and lie to yourself and everyone one else about how you're top tier. But you'll know your not.

Stink in the wind? This was to everyone not supporting your rant, included experienced drivers.

I’ll stand by what I said Sarge, “chill”.

Much to-do about nothin...

Respect the conviction Banks.

Stand for what you believe in!

Good luck in your search... you know you have a home at 7030 if you want. We need quality drivers.