Comments By Zen Joker

One of the best things anyone considering a career OR getting started in the field of trucking can do is to avoid websites like the Yuckers Abort where all the half asses spill there frustrations. While there is some valuable info on other trucking websites, you often need to wade through pages of retarded garbage to find it. Hence the great value of TT and all it's contributing members.

That is flippin' awesome!!!

I don't wear glasses. I wear contacts. But peripheral vision is critical in trucking. You're constantly scanning your mirrors and the road on all sides of you for any slight indication of a problem and also glancing down at your gauges all the time. So I would think you'd want lenses large enough to give you good peripheral vision.

Thanks dude!!

Hi Folks,

This may be a dumb question, but does anyone who wears glasses see any benefit in larger lenses? Heading to the eye doctor next month and things are looking very possible for me to start my career in trucking on 2014. Right now I have a contemporary "slim" pair of glasses where each lens is just shy of an inch high. While this works well for my current "desk" job for looking at computer screens, would it be advantageous to get larger-taller lenses for trucking or am I simply overthinking this (like I do 95% of everything in life)

Forgot to mention that I have a history of back problems. Sitting for long periods is not much of an issue. Bending, twisting,and heavy lifting for periods longer than 30 minutes intervals spells trouble for me. SO I will need to run the other way from the Family Dollar dedicated

Brett your spot on as usual with feedback thanks as always!

TTM thanks for the general feedback, Schneider has limited opportunities in my region. Only Team and this Dollar Store dedicated. But I really appreciate your enthusiastic insight. At any point in the future if I ever think Schneider , I will definitely get in contact with you.

Thanks guys and have a great rest of the week.

Hello,

I know in general this forum does not recommend one company over another, but just wondering if anyone has had or heard from other folks in the industry anything good, bad, or ugly about them. A new dedicated opening has opened in my area that I may consider. It is a Family Dollar account and is a LOT of handloading and multiple stops. Recruiter said new drivers after the first year make in the mid-upper $40's. Sound like an exxageration?

Thank you for any feedback!

Thank you Daniel and Brett..that is the feedback I was looking for. Looks like regional or national flatbed fleet will end up being the best fit overall.

Thanks and have a great week!

Hello All,

Trying to find a balance of all things as I pace outside the gates of trucking...

After rookie year, would it be reasonable to assume a team driver at let's say Schneider can make $53-55k per year being out 2-3 weeks at a time (then home 3-4 days)? Would that be a reasonable estimate by industry standards for 2-3 weeks out?

Realize the team concept is a whole different animal to consider but just want to see if the earnings are there. Appreciate any feedback.....

Thanks! Andy

Zen Joker, I'm a flat-bedder and a lot of the times my delivery times will tell me what day of the week and what hours they will be receiving. As an example it may tell me to deliver on June the 9th from 7am - 3pm. Therefore you get to manage your own time and make it work out however you want to manage your own clock. Some people will prefer driving all night and arriving at 7am, get unloaded and then go take a break. Another person may prefer to drive all day on the day ahead and get to the receiver that night and shut down waiting for them to arrive in the morning and unload when they get started that morning, then go get another load and drive all day again. You'll figure all this out once you get your own chance to do it. What you don't want to make a habit of is getting there at the last minute - I see a lot of drivers doing this. This is the kind of stuff that keeps you from being able to get on another load that same day. These are the little details that help you be successful at this.

Most of my loads are live loads, but occasionally we have customers that we leave empty flat-bed trailers at so we can just go drop and hook when they let us know that we have a loaded trailer ready.

There are also a few industrial sites that I go to that only load or only receive between the hours of midnight and six a.m.

One of the great things about driving a truck is the independent way the job is managed. Once you get the hang of how to manage your time you really can be creative and make it work to your advantage. I recently ran a high value load with about 2800 miles on the trip. Since this load is worth about 1.4 million dollars, for security reasons they want us to run it with another driver who is carrying the same load. We had to stop at the same places together, park together, and stay together the whole trip. We would discuss driving over meals together and I discovered real quickly that he didn't get near the miles that I do, and it was simply a matter of not understanding some simple techniques about managing the hours. After several conversations I thought I could see the light bulb going off in his mind, and he thanked me profusely for sharing with him things that no one else had ever explained to him. For me it just seems like common sense, but when a person hasn't been exposed to the ins and outs of the rules of HOS they don't realize what they can be doing to help themselves out and still stay within the legal limits of the law. I give my props to Brett's High Road Training Program because that section on logs in there has mad my career far more successful than it would have been had I not been exposed to the nuances of the law and how the rules work.

Much appreciated old wise one. Appreciate the insight