Posted: 8 years, 8 months ago
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Hahaha you are on the wrong forum to get info about buying your truck. Most of us here are against that idea. There are some on this forum. A majority of us (including myself) are against that idea.
Best of luck to you though.. its a lot to become an O/O. not only a lot on yourself but a lot on your pocket book.
Posted: 8 years, 8 months ago
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Be careful with Verizon.. They don't cap you and won't slow your speed down but after your allowed data is run out the overage chargers add up fast.. I want to say it was like 15 bucks a gig. And you can easily go threw a gig in 2 days. When I was running the oil fields my plan was the biggest they had at 15 gigs a month.. I would use around 20 a month but for me it was a cost of business and in my opinion Verizon had the best 4g coverage. So I was fine with the extra 50 bucks a month to pay for good coverage.
Now if you want to run Netflix or other video providers you could EASILY be up at 40-50 gigs a month. Never did the satellite internet hook up so I'm no help there.. I read for most of my entertainment. It was actually super nice.. got to read a lot of books I have been wanting to read for years but never got around to. I had the kindle paper white, paid the extra 20 bucks up front to be able to download books without a WiFi hook up. It was awesome.
But I still used around 15-20 gigs a month for what I would consider normal use.. (Email, Spotify, Twitter, Facebook, news articles, and very limited video use.)
Posted: 8 years, 8 months ago
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My first run-in with the HOS brick wall
At my previous job we ran paper logs.. I like Brett don't think I had a day where I didn't have to "adjust" my log book. If you do get paper logs.. always use the loose paper logs and a 2/3 ring binder. Makes it easy to remove a page and make a new one.. also make sure you only ever keep 8 days worth of logs. That's all you legally have to hold in your truck. If you get pulled over and DOT finds logs from 3 months ago.. it's free game.
ANYWAYS onto my new point I like Brett also like smaller breaks during the day. Which is why I HATE the 30 minute break with a passion. I like to be able to pull over to a rest area every 2-3 hours for 5 or 10 minutes then hop back in and be on my way. But due to the 30 minute rule this don't work. I still had usually had 30 minutes worth of breaks in 8 hours but its never at 1 time so it don't count. So it makes me push it to drive 6+ hours at once so I don't waste my clock since I am on E logs now. As nice as it is to not have to drive lines anymore.. I miss my paper logs sometimes. Hahaha
Posted: 8 years, 8 months ago
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So the real time traffic update is a subscription plan?
I hate that. I don't know if they have to pay google to obtain this info.. (I like Brett assume they get it from them). But I just hate how they would charge you for it. This is me personally.. A business is allowed to do what they want. So ill just have to deal with it.
Posted: 8 years, 8 months ago
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Most CDL schools both Private and Company's goal is to get you your CDL. Most of the real training doesn't began until you hit the road.
Posted: 8 years, 8 months ago
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Maybe I should learn how to spell experienced driver before I declare myself one.. My bad.
Posted: 8 years, 8 months ago
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So.. I have been a class A CDL driver for over a year now. So I decided to change my "rookie driver" status on my profile. I feel like there should be another option. Since I don't feel Experienced. I feel like I have so much left to learn. Which is a good thing I guess. You can never know it all.
Posted: 8 years, 8 months ago
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Drivers that I know personally mentioned how unskilled they have witnessed SWIFT drivers to be. My jaw dropped when the pictures were pointed out to me. I've been talking a lot with other drivers to find which company would have the best training. So far Roehl is in 1st place for a 48 year old single grandma.
Ones again.. going back to the numbers if Swift has 10,000 trucks on the road at any given time and a lot of them being new drivers you will see them do some not so smart things. Its just how it is.
Go to whatever Company works best for you. But as someone who has been on the road for a bit trust me bad drivers are not limited to Swift. Ive seen several owner-operators who a lot of people consider "Cream of the crop" do some stupid things that put a lot of people in danger. Not only that I've seen drivers of Roehl, Prime, Knight, Stevens, or any other company do stupid things.
What I'm trying to say is don't limit the terms of your search to what you see on YouTube or the opinions of "super truckers." A lot of people on this form picked Swift to go to and they licked their pick. I've also meet several great and professional drivers who either drive for Swift, or got their start at swift.
Pick what ever company works best for YOU and only you. You can find bad things about any company. Especially one that hires brand new drivers. The driver is the one holding the wheel and controlling the pedals. Not Swift.
Best of luck in your search! Let us know if we can help you out in anyway!
Posted: 8 years, 8 months ago
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Swift has around 15,000 trucks.. so at any one time they could have what? 8,000-10,000 trucks on the road? They are bound to get into a bad accident.. or several. Its just the law of averages. Rather you go to Swift training or anywhere else you are the one responsible for your truck. Not them.
Posted: 8 years, 8 months ago
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Leasing A Truck: My Journey
So.. for those of you interested in these type of threads this is a thread from a web site that shouldn't be named. I don't really like the truckers report site. but this thread was pretty good. Its about a guy who goes from company driver to a true independent. He has a lot of good numbers and explains everything very well.
I will honestly probably never be an O/O.. just not me. But I still like to read about the business side of things. Its a long thread took me like 2 weeks to read through it. Anyways here you go.
DY thread on truckers report