Comments By My CB Handle is Frank

I read the Google reviews for shippers/receivers because sometimes there are some good insights on there. All these guys on there are complaining about taking 3 or 4 hours to get unloaded though lol. I wish I knew how to get that job where 3 to 4 hours was something to complain about.

My longest was 26 hours. I was so worn out at the time that I slept for about 13 of those hours. Other than getting run hard, I'm pretty spoiled.

Reefer will require night driving and also a rotating sleep schedule. I.E. you might have a 2am appointment one day and a 8am appointment the next day. What's more, getting used to sleeping with the reefer behind you takes some time. I'm near the end of my first year hauling reefer.

It can be rough and I will probably switch to flatbed at some point but for me, starting out with reefer was still a better choice. I was overloaded with everything I was learning during CDL school and the stress and responsibility of securing flatbed for me would have been too much at once at that time.

Good stuff, guys. I had been following this thread on my phone while I was on the road and wanted to reply once I had time to get out my laptop. I don't have too much to add after all of the replies though.

This particular guy pulled out behind me after he was parked on the shoulder even though he was right next to a truck stop where he could have parked. It was a pretty flat road with room to pass if he really wanted to but he just kept behind me moving back and forth in his lane. So this was one guy I definitely wasn't too worried about, not being too sure what he was going to try to do. I don't know why but these guys you see parking on the shoulder are always the ones trying to pass you and then you'll see them parking on the shoulder again down the road. You'd think they'd just stay rolling if they were in that big of a hurry.

Anyway, it made me wonder about passing on two lanes in general. I do try to share the road and drive defensively as much as possible.

Personally, I've driven both and I think it's a lot easier to learn to shift a manual after you've become more comfortable with all the other things you have to learn during training. Transmissions seem to be pretty subjective though. I know I've driven some that I love and that other drivers hate.

Lots of good back advice here but if you've tried and you really can't do it, it's best to know your limits and let them know you can't do it that day. My ego doesn't like to give up on a back, especially when I've been trying for a long time but it's the responsible thing to do if it's just not going to happen.

Does Schneider not offer anything like that in your area or are you looking elsewhere for other reasons? Just curious because they seem to have a lot of options and they may be one of the companies that I look at if I decide to get out of OTR.

I'm on the 10th month of my rookie year and I drove a manual for the first time in about 7 months a couple of weeks ago. I found that going back to the manual once I had some experience and comfort built up was quite a bit easier than learning to shift during training. Just a thought. It may be worth it to go with a manual for the right opportunity.

They do, however, I'm out of the hiring range for the area. I haven't gotten a chance to talk to a recruiter about it, but I might look into it if I can't find anything closer when the time comes.

I do like being with Schneider; the equipment is awesome and well kept save for our older trailers (anything starting with a 9), the miles are plentiful, pays well for my low cost of living (I have about $1500 in monthly bills and average around $700-800 take home a week), and the people are awesome (usually). But the end goal that my wife and I discussed way back before I was in school was that I'd be local and home every day. Females and wanting to start a family, am I right men!?

Ha! Well being over the road may have turned me into a female then. I'm ready to get something local myself. Good luck to you.

Does Schneider not offer anything like that in your area or are you looking elsewhere for other reasons? Just curious because they seem to have a lot of options and they may be one of the companies that I look at if I decide to get out of OTR.

I'm on the 10th month of my rookie year and I drove a manual for the first time in about 7 months a couple of weeks ago. I found that going back to the manual once I had some experience and comfort built up was quite a bit easier than learning to shift during training. Just a thought. It may be worth it to go with a manual for the right opportunity.

If you're driving on a two lane highway and a truck behind you looks like he wants to pass you, is there any type of etiquette for signaling him to go around? I had a guy behind me the other day who kept veering over to the left and then getting back over like he wanted to pass. I got on the CB and told him to go ahead and come around but got no copy.

So here's another question for the old-timers. How would the turning radius on a new, lightweight model tractor with it's setback axles compare to the old cabovers? It seems fairly close to me or at least a very nice happy medium.

My brother drove a cabover in the 90's and marvels at how much smoother and quieter my truck is and the perks that make the job so much easier these days. I'd love to be able to tell him my truck can turn just as tight as his did also.

Do you think that drivers picking their own loads from an app or from a load board is a new thing? I don't understand how this is supposed to be taking over the trucking industry. It's a nice looking tool but it just looks like an electronic load board to me.

Maybe I shouldn't go off on this tangent also but how was being a cab driver such a good job before Uber came along? Cab drivers were already working long hours for less than minimum wage. I'm not a fan of everything that Uber does but cab driving was a sucker job way before Uber came along.

Hard telling for sure but it looks like the bottom of that leg may have come loose from the pallet and the wrap pulled it to the left while the weight of the load shifted the upper part to the right.

It's a personal thing. I bought a tablet and never use it because I like my "old man" laptop with the 17" screen, full keyboard and mouse better. Meanwhile the old men on here are using their tablets and iPads lol.

I did switch to an iPhone recently though and it has me thinking about getting a camera and getting into some of the video editing things that Apple has to offer.

How can you tell if a driver in another truck has pants on when you can usually only see down to about their chest? I've looked into too many windows the last few days trying to figure this one out lol

That said, aligning the HOS law and guidance to better compensate for protracted delays is long overdue. That is something we can all benefit from. I have actually written my state and federal representation about this very issue more than once. All I've gotten so far is a thank-you note.

So how do we find out who to contact and make steps towards actually fixing some of these things? I may only get a "thank you" note as well but I'm inspired to do something after reading this thread and the HOS thread.

I had some fun pondering this one while I was driving. I'm a company driver and I didn't think about the headaches it could cause with taxes for o/o's or independent drivers but I think those could probably be worked out. There would have to be legislation made demanding that customers put drivers on the clock and pay them at least minimum wage. I think when everyone goes to e-logs, something like this could actually be done:

1. When you arrive and depart from a customer, you'll send a message on your e-log device which will also serve as a time clock for the customer. The customer will put you on the clock and pay you at least minimum wage for their location.

2. The customer will log their own in and out times for you which will be reconciled with your company.

3. Drivers with times that consistently do not match up will be audited.

This could be something of a double-edged sword for drivers since if they are being paid, they may not be able to log off duty while at a receiver anymore. I'm not sure if this is more of a bad thing or more of a good thing if it speeds up the time spent at customers and gives more time for driving. Minimum wage isn't very much but it would still get the bean counters' attention at some of these big DC's. Companies could also work out their own additional detention policies if they chose.

Why do states spend so much money on some of these fancy new rest areas? Some are pretty nice. I'm happy with any place that I can pee, park and wash my hands though.

The sticker shock is pretty surprising when you start looking at how much this stuff actually costs. Walk around a chrome shop at a big truck shop sometime. I mean just a pipe or a tail light assembly will be several hundred dollars. You might see some owner ops doing it out of pride but it doesn't make sense money wise.

You might want to hold off until you get your truck and see if it has a Bluetooth system in it already. A lot of the new trucks have them built in.

Yep, it's a gamble starting your clock that early if you're not sure if your load is ready. I certainly don't have it down to an exact science but I'm more likely to take a gamble and start earlier if it's a smaller place that can be more flexible about getting you in and out sooner.

I'm picking up from a place tomorrow that will let me check in 4 hours early but it's a big DC that's a bit of a pain in the butt. They're slow usually and they have lots of heavy loads and reworks so I won't be going in any more than two hours early.

On a side note, I like the Maple Hill Truck stop just west of Topeka. You might check it out on the way to the service area.

On another side note, you know it's Saturday right? Lol. Denver traffic is no fun either way. Less rush hour today though.

I passed by Hollering Woman Creek today. I bet a lot of people have seen that one. It was my first time driving that way though.