Location:
CA
Driving Status:
Experienced Driver
Social Link:
Linehaul LTL Driver
Posted: 1 year, 3 months ago
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Hey y’all, haven’t been on the forum in a few years. Need some help. Does anyone have adhd and on medication for it? If so how do you deal with the company and DOT drug screening requirements? Who do you talk to. Recently diagnosed with hyperfixation adhd, I’ve always known something was off but never knew what, now I know. Afraid to get prescribed anything as it would show dirty for amphetamine on a drug test. Help
Posted: 3 years, 4 months ago
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Local burn out, missing the chicken lights & chrome
Yea you’re right, just miss the sense of adventure I guess. Running to the same terminals night after night has worn me out. Made me loose the passion for the job I once had
Hey Tony,
What do you think "real trucking" is? You can't eat those chicken lights, they do not pay the bills and you can not take them to bed so to speak. You are making an excellent living at around $2500 a week and would be lucky to make half of that on the road. The bottom line is you have stated that you do not want to be away from your kids. Being OTR will probably mean 2-3 weeks out then home for maybe 2-3 days if you are lucky. It seems like your desire is to be "The Bandit" but that will not pay the bills or keep the family unit from crumbling. Good luck.
Posted: 3 years, 4 months ago
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Local burn out, missing the chicken lights & chrome
Hey everyone. Does anyone have any advice on dealing with burn out, particularly in regards to local work? I’ve been driving for about 4.5 years now, the last 4 being local LTL; pretty much all I’ve done. I’m a linehaul driver, I run shuttles around Southern California, I work my 14 nearly every day M-F 1800 - 0800.
The money is great, no complaints there, around 2,500 a week. But I’m miss the road. This isn’t why I got my license, I didn’t want to be a covered in grease & dirt everyday sweating my a$$ off in the night shift. I want the open road, I want the long nose Pete with enough chicken lights to turn night into day. It’s what I grew up with running with my dad. I just don’t know if I can give up the local though. I’ve got kids and don’t want to be away from them... but I can’t help but feel this desire for “real trucking”. Any help here? What would you do
Posted: 4 years, 1 month ago
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Hey there, so I am trying to quit smoking, I have been trying the last few weeks but holy crap I underestimated this. Each time my dispatcher give me a bad run I want a smoke, exhausted from hand loading freight I need a smoke, hours tick by on night shift I want a smoke. I get irritable, can’t think straight, and get really tired. Doesn’t help I’m on night shift (LTL Linehaul/shuttle). Anyone have any advise? Any food or drinks that help with the craving and brain fog?
Posted: 6 years, 10 months ago
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Hey everyone, i havent been on this sight for quite a while, however i figure Central Transport is a topic worth discussing. Many vets of the trucking industry have no doubt at one time or another seen the bumble bees of the road (in reference to CTII's paint scheme). Most views people have on the company are negative due to management, equipment, pay etc.... How ever speeking from personal experience, those days seem to be in the past. Ive only been with the company aprox. 7 months and in the short time ive been here i have already seen alot of improvements in the company. We have slowly but surely been recieving better equipment, pay increases, improvements in manegment...etc. For those of you unawair, Central Transport is an LTL (Less Than Truckload) carrier, generally there are two tuck driving positions, city p/d & linehaul; both positions are local, city drivers are hourly & linehaul are paid by the load (spot & hook) going terminal to terminal. Both positions pay fairly well, city drivers usually make aprox 1500 a week before tax, line haul aprox 1200 before tax. Benefits are decent, much better than what they used to be. Generally you need 6 months - 1 year of experience before they will hire you however if that particular terminal needs drivers they may take you with less. Both positions you will probably end up working the dock at somepoint, either before or after your route. Usually it is only mandetory during peak seasons, however the work is always there if you are looking for a little extra pay. Overall i am very happy with this company and glad i decided to work here. This is a company to consider if you are tired of being away from home for 2-3 weeks at a time, some times with little to show for it. Any questions feel free to comment and i will answer as soon as i can. Take care.
Posted: 7 years, 5 months ago
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Stop worrying about "driverless trucks"
Everybody is so worried about the possibility of driverless trucks. You dont need to worry and heres why.
1. Financial restraints. According to "Otto" and "future truck 2025" these trucks will cost 50,000 to upgrade with their software, them an additional 5-7,000 per year just in maintenance and support systems. Thats not even mentioning the human "delivery manager" salary. Think about it. They even admit humans will not be out of the picture completely, humans will still back the truck, maneuver around construction zones, accidents, always be on alert to take over should their be an emergancy on the roadway...etc. There will be 2 humans per truck (12 hour shifts) and each if them will recieve a sallery of say 40,000 (im low balling) so that is 87,000 per year in labor and computer cost alone not to mention the set up fee (50,000).
2. Safety. During cdl training...even while we are studying ti get our permit, we are always told, if theire is a small animal in the road and traffic around it is much safer to just hit the animal than swerve around and cause an accident. How is a computer going to tell the difference between say a dog and a 7 year old? Fhe computersystem is just going to read... Small mamal directly ahaid... Proceed. There goes little timmy. Not only that but think about it, how many times a day do we have to narrowly avoid an accident because a 4 wheeler is more concerned with his latest text msg vs the road.
3. National security. We always hear that if every trucker went on strike for even a day the nation would be put on its knees. And its true, a sudden stop in commerce would be a sledge hammer to uncle sams knee cap. We always hear how the russians...chinese...koreans...etc are always trying to hack into our national security networks...now imagine if all they had to do was hack a single privste company (otto)...or even shoot down the satilites that guid and direct these robot trucks... Within a week the stars and stripes will be replaces with the star, hammer, and sicyle.
On another note... Think of the millions employed because if truckers... Travel stops... Dinners... Shipping recidving clerks...lot lizards...etc.
Im sure their are a few more reasons i am leaving out but long story short. Dont fear these robots. They sound plausable only to those who have never stepped foot inside a rig.
Posted: 7 years, 6 months ago
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If so how are they? My dad worked for them after consolidated frieghtways shut down for a while and says if you're looking for a good ltl company to work for ABF is the best...but that was 10years ago.how are they now? What is the pay like for a rookie driver?thinking about applying In about a year after i have some more experience.
Posted: 7 years, 7 months ago
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Hi everyone I'm sure this has been asked before but i am wondering if i should be keeping all of my receipts while I'm on the road? Things like food reciepts, necessitys like gloves, jackets etc... And if so does anybody know of a list of things that will be a tax write off so i know what reciepts to keep and which ones to discard? I know this is a total rookie question but i live in California and am unable to do per diem.
Posted: 7 years, 7 months ago
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Need some help with shifting, TT
To practice shifting try getting a regular old chair and a plunger. Set the plunger next to you and practice going thru the gears and the movement your feet need to make. It may look silly, but it is effective.
I did the same thing haha
Posted: 1 year, 3 months ago
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ADHD help
Central Transport, been here 6 years, not sure we even have anyone we can talk to about that, and to be honest I’m nervous bringing it up could lead to a dismissal over something unrelated just so they don’t have to deal with it, with how slow it is they’ve been firing people for anything.