Comments By Little Debby

Nahhh you are never too old to do this. I got my CDL back after a 20 yr hiatus pushing pencils around. I'm 58 now and driving a 10.5 yard KW Readymixer for Knife River Corp. All you need is some PPE and cojones! ^-^ Go for it!

If only!!! I love the Florida Keys - there must be a way to swing this... hahaha!! Well Knife River starts rookie drivers at $16.47/hr. They are ALL about safety. So the rookies have to watch a bazillion DVDs on safety, then get quizzed and tested on everything they've watched. As you plow through the booster seat sized textbook and the DVDs, your pay changes. After a few chapters you receive $18.53/hr. Then once you complete that training and get 90 days in, you go to scale which is $20.59/hr. All through this, you will also receive overtime after 10 hrs/day. At the scale rate, overtime is $30.88. I've hit that a few times so far but not much. Yet it does feel good to say you could potentially get that per hour!! The down side is that the guys who've been there over a decade still get $20.59/hr. So as far as perks go for folks with seniority, let's just say it ain't like the old Teamsters days... The guys often talk about special jobs that pay something called "Prevailing Wage" which I don't understand yet. But Prevailing Wage is something like $45.00/hr! Can you imagine?? Pick me! Pick me!

Hmm Starcar, if only we were 20 again...HAA! But, you got me wondering...so I rang up the Knife River people in North Dakota to get the true scoop on the work over there. Because yeah, I've been hearing crazy stories too (reminds me a bit of fishing tales). Turns out the hourly pay for drivers stays the same. But they do provide you a little "COLA" money to counter the cost of the rental housing; in this case, $300/week extra. And the driving work with them stops November 1. At which point all their drivers go back home for the winter. Interesting, huh?

My Maine Coon cat Gustaf used to sprawl across the dash in the sun while I hauled beer from PDX to LA twice a week. He never caused trouble in the cab but one time he snuck outside in San Bernadino while offloading. I got the call 30 miles N from their loading dock office. When I returned, Gustaf was laying all over the papers on the mgr's desk, looking at me like "It's about time"!! And getting petted by everyone. hahaha, It was a pretty funny scene!.

Ohhhhh,,,,...no. Nope. Nooooo no no no no no. Never heard anything good about the Bakken.

Take a look

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vevLz332k1o

Thanks for your prayers Cole! And good luck with the starter job! The main thing is, we ladies want to do what makes us happy. We have a right to be happy. We choose this because we dig it. There is so much work available out there now it's amazing. Just as an example, please see www.kniferiver.com click on careers, type 'driver' into the search. watch what comes up across the USA....

Cheers!

debby

Congratulations! I just wanted to add there are sooo many different types of trucking out there. I agree with Starcar regarding flatbedding. That'd be the toughest because of chaining down the load and tarping. Local driving might present more physical work too, due to you making local deliveries. I've hauled dry bulk cement and wet concrete both locally, and there is quite a bit of physical work to both of those. Dry van or Reefer long haul is probably the best for less physical work. Things may have changed by now but back in the 80s' when I would pick up bananas at the L.A. docks, I had to help the longshoremen roll the boxes down the rollers into the trailers. If I recall, I think it was me and my other driver who had to stack the load because the union longshoremen were forbidden to step inside the trailers. So they put the boxes on the rollers and gave them a big shove down to us at the front of the trailer. That was always a workout. Hope this little anecdote helps!

Cheers!

Debby

Footnote: Why I'm Local/ I'm doing local readymix because my sons' father found out last Nov he has terminal cancer and I felt it was a good idea to stay local for 2014. But we just learned today he's been upgraded from 'terminal' to 'living with cancer'. My sons moved back in with him to help with the transition to the end but that's all changed now. So once my sons move back out for new jobs and such, I'll probably try to work 11 western or maybe work temporary out of state construction projects for Knife River. The possibilities are endless. :)

Cheers!

Glad to be of help to you, Boots! (OMG I clearly remember my Dad hitting the roof when I told him I was dropping out of private art college to drive trucks; even 35 yrs ago!) LOL. But now, after many other jobs, I'm back at it again because it gets in your blood.

Are you saying you'll not pursue readymix now? The readymix job is normally permanent/full time. It's just that it slows down come November at which point you would normally file for unemployment. That's cool if you can collect; I learned in my case I cannot collect much since I'm a Fed retiree. Which is why I'm now trying to diversify my talents. It's a good job for certain life situations; like wanting to stay near home, or run local, while gaining experience. It only requires the Class B CDL for readymix. To advance to aggregate or transfer trucks requires Class A CDL.

Can you share the handicap story on our forum? I was pre-tripping a running truck during training in March and broke 2 fingers in the fanbelt/pulley, if you can believe that. I'm lucky to still have the fingers. They just sent me off for xrays/splints and kept on training me. Knife River Corp is awesome. I'm doing physical therapy for the rest of the year and the funny thing is wrapping your fingers around a steering wheel is a large part of the P/T ! hahaha

But the readymixers are bigger than road trucks. They are pseudo pieces of heavy equipment. They are higher up than road trucks. The steer tires are massive. The Cat engine is a howler!! And they are a kick to drive!

Don't listen to your Dad. You're the one driving your life, not him. ^-^

Thank you!

Yes, I found chocolates on the breakroom table that week! hahaha