Posted: 9 years, 1 month ago
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Driving between midnight and 6:00 a.m. and stay awake
You need to keep your mind active. Eating, puzzles, engaging radio and talking are all helpful in keeping your mind occupied. Besides humans being diurnal there is also flat out more to see during the day. Thus your mind stays occupied.
Sense much of the radio I listen too during the day are reruns at high i usually opt for real estate/business podcasts and writing stories via dragon naturally (just got my first paranormal trucking story published on Kindle under the name Mace Valens.)
Another thing you need to remember is that your shift is 14 hrs long. So if you use the entire thing up, you should have 1-3 hrs of available nap time. Company don't like it? Well theres always swift, prime, Schneider, ups, con way, old dominion, interstate, dot...
Posted: 9 years, 2 months ago
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PS Trucking - OTR Drivers in Oregon
Hmmm.... start running local out of The Columbia River Gorge, home daily with 2 days off a week (60 hr clock) and then maybe ill consider. Untill then i will keep planning my move to the tanker division. the gorge could definably use some local jobs so i dont have to choose between OTR and moving to the Portland area.
Posted: 9 years, 2 months ago
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Orientation with STI, TWT, JJW.
System Transport Inc (national flatbed), TW Transport (11 western reefer [thus far i have only done the I5 corridor and 2 trips to ID.]) and James J Williams (WA&BC tanker primarily.) are technically all the same company. STI is the parent company and controls the other two as well as a driving school. with any luck i plan on transferring to JJW some time before April. Sense there is almost no info, that i could find, on STI I will be writing down my orientation experience as a simple list. the fact that i spent most of 4 days cooped up in a small room kind of precludes me from doing this like the Prime Inc thread i started over a year ago. (good lord, ive been doing this or almost 2 years. boy how time flies when your not having fun.)
any how, enough of my complaining!
Day 1 Filled out paperwork.
open book test from DOT book.
pee test.
short semi drive test.
sign up for medical and dental.
written drive test.
lots of safety videos.
work physical (there are 3 tests you may take and each pertains to your chosen division. if you desire you may choose to take the flatbed test. as the hardest it qualifys you for all 3 divisions. the hardest part of it is picking up the fully rolled tarp which is suppose to be around 90lbs.)
day 2 pay roll info.
Open Road Driving Plan (this is a legal service you may enroll in).
talk about CSA scores.
Flue cards info.
hazmat test.
pretrip class.
safety trip test.
back health class.
customer specific training class.
poor weather class.
smith system class
day 3 smith system drive.
DEF video.
anti roll system class.
more smith system APU class.
accident class
.
day 4 sign paperwork.
qualcomm class.
meeting pertaining to company division (TWT for me).
They were suppose to be lists!
Posted: 9 years, 2 months ago
View Topic:
Orientation with STI, TWT, JJW.
System Transport Inc (national flatbed), TW Transport (11 western reefer [thus far i have only done the I5 corridor and 2 trips to ID.]) and James J Williams (WA&BC tanker primarily.) are technically all the same company. STI is the parent company and controls the other two as well as a driving school. with any luck i plan on transferring to JJW some time before April. Sense there is almost no info, that i could find, on STI I will be writing down my orientation experience as a simple list. the fact that i spent most of 4 days cooped up in a small room kind of precludes me from doing this like the Prime Inc thread i started over a year ago. (good lord, ive been doing this or almost 2 years. boy how time flies when your not having fun.)
any how, enough of my complaining!
Day 1 Filled out paperwork open book test from DOT book pee test short semi drive test sign up for medical and dental written drive test lots of safety videos work physical (there are 3 tests you may take and each pertains to your chosen division. if you desire you may choose to take the flatbed test. as the hardest it qualifys you for all 3 divisions. the hardest part of it is picking p the fully rolled tarp which is suppose to be around 90lbs.)
day 2 pay roll info Open Road Driving Plan (this is a legal service you may enroll in) talk about CSA scores Flue cards info hazmat test pretrip class safety trip test back health class customer specific training class poor weather class smith system class
day 3 smith system drive DEF video anti roll system class more smith system APU class accident class
day 4 sign paperwork qualcomm class meeting pertaining to company division (TWT for me)
Posted: 9 years, 2 months ago
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PRIME - Northeast regional vs OTR, the positives vs the negatives
Most people do not want to drive in the north east. Due to being one of the oldest parts of the US it is the least developed for semi access. The west has tons of space. the east, not so much.
Posted: 9 years, 3 months ago
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Anyone knows a good company to work for?
I can advise Prime Inc based out of Springfield MO. For the new guys they allow reefer and flatbed. Did my intro year with them and only have one major issue. If you prove to be a good driver, they will run you into the ground. Of course if you don't prove to be a good driver they may just not send you any miles period. Over worked or no work. Most of my paychecks came to a net profit of $700-$900 doing reefer.
Posted: 9 years, 9 months ago
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Hey how long is prime inc training total? Also when do you exactly get home time ? Is it after all the training or after the three weeks. I live in tx school in mo. 9 hours from here. Please help me out thanks
Psd is 2+ weeks. Tnt is as long as it takes. Likely wont go home prior to the second week of tnt.
Posted: 9 years, 9 months ago
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I'm sure as far as NYC goes I got off easy I only went to JFK airport but I got the extra pay anyway. Heavy traffic and construction was expected but people using the shoulder as a regular lane was a little weird. I don't think the extra $50 makes up for all the time spent in traffic not getting miles but it's better than nothing.
Lol, went through there in November on a Sunday morning at around 0100. Wasn't much better. And I thought Chicago was bad. Always good to add more xp though.
Posted: 9 years, 9 months ago
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No more long haul for me, looking for a local driving job. On the last few loads to slc then its greyhound home. Thus far I've applied to con-way, fedex, old dominion and a few farming co-ops. Tried ups but they wont take me till Dec due to an accident. I've got thing I want to do that long haul just does not allow, but I'm willing to take a pay cut. Be safe out there!
Posted: 9 years, 1 month ago
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Driving between midnight and 6:00 a.m. and stay awake
I forgot to add that you may want to consider eating rather than drinking coffee. Pilot has single serving coffee pouches you can buy. Cut one open, dump the grounds into some hot cocoa/soda/water or con sume it raw. The cafeen kick will be a bit stronger.