Comments By FairyTales

Awesome! I think they are gonna send me to Dallas though. ugh. I live in North Florida, I'm gonna ask about going to Kansas, I have a friend that lives just outside Kansas City I might could visit on the weekend. I've also heard REALLY good things about that TransAm location as far as the educators go.

Absolutely! I'm so glad somebody got something from my posts!

If you decide to go with TransAm let me know when you will be at the terminal for orientation and if I'm around I will stop by and say hi.

My truck number is 41913.

Now that I have read this post, lol are the Cameras in TransAm trucks ALWAYS recording? or only during things like hard braking, turning etc...? If they are always on, you bet your butt I'm gonna give them something to look at. Pick my nose, spit bubbles, hell, I might be drive in drag. haha But seriously, always on might be a deal breaker for me.

TransAm has them in every vehicle. Company and lease.

I was hoping you would see this! You're posts have been SO HELPFUL! They have helped calm some of my nerves going in. I have read almost all of your posts. lol Hopefully we can meet one day!

Hey if you are interested in TransAm read my 4 threads. I work for them going in 5 days solo.

TransAm orientation

Have a serious question...

And we're off!

A rookies first week

The last one is still ongoing in the General Forum.

WHEW! What a busy 7 weeks! I started trucking school with Sage in Ft. Pierce FL. Extremely glad I choose that school. Educators were MORE than helpful, and always available. I REALLY enjoyed the one on one trucking. One Student, One Truck, One Educator. Sometimes it was me and another student, but we ALWAYS had our own truck. We had 6 maneuvers to learn: Straight line, sight side, blind side, left and right offset and the dreaded ally dock. ugh. I can off set like nobody business, but man my ally dock needs some work. My road stuff, I was pretty good on, I gotta remember to check my mirrors more (I check so much now, I feel like i'm gonna get sick), and make sure I use my blinker with turning left or right. (Always do when changing lanes).

SO after all the school training comes my test!!! I get severe test anxiety... like weeks before the test, but the educators assured me I would do fine, I did great on all my road drives and my maneuvers, but nerves got the best of me. On my very first test, ON THE PRE-TRIP! I FAILED! I knew I knew my pre-trip, I got a little ahead of my self and totally SKIPPED OVER my Air Brakes! WTH! Auto Fail! I was SO ANGRY! I mean, if I had failed on something I KNEW I had issues with, I wouldn't be so upset, but man I was angry. So week later, Test 2, aced my pre-trip, failed on the last maneuver. The computer choose Ally Dock for me (My nemesis!). Ugh. When it was all done and over with, I knew what I SHOULD have done to fix myself. So 3RD test! Aced EVERYTHING! I even got an Academic Excellence Award. ^_^ All the stress is GONE!

I have pre-hires with a few companies (I think they gives those out like candy). My top 4 in order are TransAm, U.S. Xpress, Schneider, and Stephens. TransAm because I WANT an automatic truck (better for my leg issues), I like what they offer on their trucks, and the recruiter (Lindsay) has been very helpful and nice, not to pushy and she's there when I have any questions. My goals is to gain experience, not get rich. (I know about their lease push, it's not happening unless they offer me a LoneStar. haha)

U.S. Xpress, mostly same reasons as TransAm, but I haven't heard from them since they issued a pre-hire. Schneider, 3rd on my list cause I feel rushed and pushed. She calls me once a week to check in (Great, I like that), however, I told her I failed my first test and she's like "Okay, you'll do fine next time, lets get everything set up" She set me up with a drug test date (closest for them is 1 hour away from my home), a departure date, a bus ticket and even a physical date. I'm like "I haven't even passed yet" She also informed me that they hook you blood pressure and heart rate monitors WHILE you are doing maneuvers and driving on the rage. I have nothing to hide, but I'm not a fan of all that, I'm not a veteran driver, I AM going to be nervous, my heart rate WILL be high and all those wires and beeps, it will make it worse.

Stephens, last on my list. I put in my application. Not one person called me, but the recruiter TEXTED me about it. LONG text messages, and at the end of them it says "TEXT ONLY" I find this HIGHLY unprofessional and disrespectful. I would get like one a week. ugh.

So now I am here, in Orlando at a friends, been up for like 20 hours cause I'm just so excited I finished and passed. I think I'm going to take a week or so and go see my mom in MS before going all in. I'll give TransAM a call either Monday or Tuesday.

Oh and my trucker name... FairyTales.

Yes girl! I told my educator "Forget a gun or knife, I got a can of wasp spray and lighter, 20 foot flame thrower" haha He laughed his head off.

That's good about TransAm. Between this site and others I've seen alot more women entering the industry now, so that makea me feel better. Any woman who walks past a construction site should be used to catcalls. I've taken a shower at a truck stop when driving a long distance and that didn't bother me. It's the pervert trainers who i dont want. I also think of the woman trucker who was raped by the mechanic who had a key to her truck that scares me.

Easy way to prevent that happening. Run your seatbelt through the door handles then latch it. Or take a ratchet strap and run it through both door handles and crank it down. Anybody wants to get in they are going to have to break a window and that's when my can of wasp spray and tire thumper are gonna be meeting their face....

I was wondering who here uses a Dashcam. I plan on getting one. I feel like it's a must have in this day and age. I am stuck between 3 models though. If anyone could give me their 2 sense. I leaning towards the VicoVation because they take larger SD cards, the KDLINKS only takes up to 32GB.

1: KDLINKS X1 Full HD - http://www.amazon.com/KDLINKS-X1-Dashboard-Camcorder-G-Sensor/dp/B00N8BM0BU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

2: VicoVation Marcus 3 I like the fact it's 1080 at 60fps. (not sure if 60fps is really needed?) - http://www.amazon.com/Dashcam-Blackbox-Vicovation-2304x1296p-1920x1080p/dp/B00JLRDNA2/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1461402505&sr=1-1&keywords=vico+marcus+3

3: VicoVation Marcus 4 I like the 21:9 ratio. - http://www.amazon.com/Vicovation-Vico-Marcus-UHDR-XHD-Camcorder/dp/B00LLUCFGK/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1461402599&sr=1-2-fkmr0&keywords=icovation+Vico-Marcus+4

I thought you had to have have a 34 hour reset every 70 hours? I'm confused, can you please clarify? I'll be taking my CDL test next week.

I've been out here for 3 months now. In my opinion, forget the gaming. I brought a few games with me on this laptop and have yet to play a single one for more than a few minutes. And that was just to see if the game was going to run well enough to play.

At first I thought, 34 hours will provide some time for gaming. But I've only had 1 34 hour reset in 3 months that was not at home.

It seems that once the 70 is about gone, they just give you shorter loads or loads that have more time to deliver and use the recycled time from days falling off the log.

I also find it pretty hard to get comfortable enough in the truck to play games. Reading, posting, tending business, things of that nature, the comfort level is fine. But gaming requires a proper command seat that won't leave you fatigued. Good internet is a must. Music and movies are also very welcome entertainment in the truck. The only problem with music, is they don't put high enough quality in sound systems in trucks. You'll need a good set of headphones if you want hi-fidelity. Only problem is you can't use them while driving, and that's where you're gonna hear most of your tunes. Audio books are another big plus. Movies, I tend to watch from my portable hard drive that I've ripped to. Although you can keep a DVD/CD book to compactly store your movie collection that you want to bring. But I also find watching movies is not quite so easy. I tend to fall asleep when watching movies. Any time I shut down and try to watch a movie, my body is trained to get some sleep during shut downs. Which by the way, IS GOOD THING, as you will need it.

Makes sense. Thanks for that. I don't mind not getting answers, or someone telling me like you did, but I just don't see a need for smart ass answers. Ya know? We are all here to learn and ask questions.

If you become an Owner Operator, can you be your own broker? Can I just go on to Freight Finder and choose a load?

Too many variables in your question to really answer.

The scope of this site, is to assist people who are interested in entering the industry as company drivers. So don't be upset if you don't get answers to questions that are far beyond the scope of this site.

Short answer though - as an O/O, operating under your own authority (your own DOT number, etc.), you can grab loads from boards. BROKERS are the folks that list those loads. So you're not going to be "your own broker" per se.

If you are an O/O, leased onto a carrier - you will usually be getting loads off that carriers load board - so in essence, your CARRIER is your "broker".

Rick

How about less smart ass replies and provide some useful information?

If you want to lose all of your money, go for it.

If you become an Owner Operator, can you be your own broker? Can I just go on to Freight Finder and choose a load?