Profile For Pete B.

Good luck with your recovery, Jeremy. Looking forward to hearing about you back behind the wheel.

Nice to see you're gettin' the respect you deserve.

It shouldn’t require a pandemic, but we’ll take what we can get!

That's totally awesome!

Right on!

I met this trio of extremely gracious folks showing an amazing amount of kindness and generosity earlier today, in the parking lot of a Flying J a bit west of Salt Lake City. I’ve heard and read requests of the general public to show more benevolence towards truck drivers during these times, but this is the first example I’ve seen in person. The bags held a nice assortment of healthy and regular snacks. If the lettering on their sign is too small, it reads: “Thank you drivers! Come and grab a bag!”

If you have a delivery in one of these states, your company should have worked that out with the consignee; if you’re unsure, contact your manager/dispatcher to confirm. I got a load (liquid chemicals) to San Francisco over a week ago; I spoke to the consignee today about parking on-site. The load is delivering Monday as scheduled.

Allen, I suppose running OTR might be a huge change from what you’re used to, but don’t overthink it. The more ‘research’ you do on the internet webs, the more conflicting and confusing information you’re likely to get. Whatever company you choose, they’ll train you on the ELD during orientation. You probably already understand the concept of the Hours Of Service; logging your hours on an electronic device won’t be that complicated. Your biggest decision here may be what you want to pull... dry vans, refeers, flatbeds, or tankers... then what companies are hiring from your area, home time, sign-on bonuses, etc.

I’ll save you some time: quit the YouTube videos, internet searches.., I did it all for four months, and ended up reading the heck out of the material found right here on this website. The reviews are honest, there’s no negative BS from disgruntled or disillusioned drivers, and you’ll find a plethora of experienced drivers who are more than happy to share their insight with you. Good luck, and please let us know how things turn out.

Hello Allen, welcome to the forum. I hope I’m able to help you out. I can only speak for Schneider, as they’re the only company I have experience with. If you were to join our tanker division, your training would last about 10-12 days. Orientation as an experienced driver would take about two days, driving tests one day, and training on their process of offloading liquid chemicals would take about a week. If you were to join their dry-van division, I would expect that time to be a few days less. As an experienced driver, of which you would need to provide references, you would not spend time training/retraining for your CDL, nor would you spend time driving with a trainer. Hope this helps, and best of luck with your new OTR venture.

THAT is one bad a## car!

Thank you David and PackRat for your replies; I didn’t want to get in someone’s business without being sure. Turns out he was still in the process of redistributing the totes to make legal weight. He still needs to tarp his load, after which he’ll have placards on all four sides. I was going to offer to make him one if need be, I have a placard kit on board, but he’s good. Thanks again!

I see how this type of system can influence decreases in insurance costs and worker’s comp premiums, but the author is making very large, vague assumptions regarding driver turnover and an increase in productivity. He neglects to provide proof, facts, research, or any type of data to support those two claims. I would expect driver turnover and thus a company’s productivity to decline, not increase, after installing these systems. It’s not as if having systems like this implemented is going to draw out a better or even very different type of driver; the ones caught up in the metrics of this technology will simply migrate to the companies or opportunities where it is not employed. Seems to me someone is pushing technology and dropping buzzwords in an effort to create a market and profit from it.

A pretty good idea taking root here... count me in. Marc, you reach 100k miles, dinner (or breakfast) is on me if our paths cross. We’re all pulling for you, friend.

Yes, sorry, I forgot to include it!

I pull tankers, so it’s simple for me: placards on all four sides of my trailer, when I’m hauling HAZMAT.. but for you flatbedders, shouldn’t this guy have a placard on the back of his trailer? He’s got the sides of his totes placarded, but there’s not a placard on the back end. Thanks in advance, -Pete

Great hearing from you! Congratulations on the award! Look at you- - - creating a legacy everywhere you go!

Often while I’m taking a 34 and walking around, I’ll see trucks going down the road and will look after them wistfully. When I do take real time off and go home, I miss the sleep I get in my bunk.

The stretchiest stretch I’ve seen yet! (Route 66 Travel Center outside Albuquerque)

...And a low-rider to boot! That fuel tank is waaaay too low for my tastes!

The stretchiest stretch I’ve seen yet! (Route 66 Travel Center outside Albuquerque)

That’s good stuff, Rainey. The monkey bit was hilarious!

I highly suggest you stick it out with Swift and look into switching divisions if needed. I thought Costco was very efficient in their loading and unloading? Kearsey did an article Are drop and hooks better than live loads?. Some places I go to are drop and hook and it actually takes me longer to get going than if I was live loaded. You need to do inspections on both trailers, track down loaded trailer and you may pick up a trailer that is unsafe because the previous driver was too negligent or lazy to inspect and report defects. Now you're sitting there waiting on roadside assist for several hours. Ask Packrat how that goes, i cant remember if it was with Knight or CFI but he had 3 out of 4 trailers I believe in ONE WEEK that he needed to get fixed before he could get rolling. There's no guarantee your load will be ready on time either. Looking at your post history you have roughly 8 months of experience and you're looking at leaving your 2nd job in that time. You haven't proven yourself in this industry YET and definitely not at swift. You're becoming a job hopper and it will affect you negatively even if you go back to an office.

Another member, Harvest, had decided to go back to Prime to finish the training after deciding trucking wasnt for him. He recently decided to give it another shot and Prime sent him home. His previous employer said he isnt eligible for re-hire due to how he quit and that's a red flag for most companies. I highly doubt that Schneider or Swift would re-hire you if you handle things this way.

Funny thing is Schneider still sends me emails asking for me to come back. I’ve tried to take them up on their offer. However, now they say the Target dedicated account I was on requires one year of experience now rather than six months.

I’m guessing you’re getting emails from Schneider that should be more accurately described as ‘form emails.’ They are likely computer-generated messages; if a retention staffer or recruiter spent 30 secs reviewing your work history w/the company, they wouldn’t touch you with their sister’s boyfriend’s 10-ft pole. So quit flattering yourself. Please don’t waste a third company’s resources.

I’ll take this opportunity to plug the mega-carriers, if any anyone ‘considering a career‘ has read this far….

One of the definite benefits of working for one of the larger carriers like Swift/Knight, Prime, or Schneider is that these companies have very deep pockets, plenty of resources, and a strict adherence to safety. They’re a lot less likely to allow tractors and/or trailers with defects to continue being driven. For example, on one occasion the gate operator would not let me out of one of our OCs because the trailer I was pulling had defects attributed to it, defects someone had listed on their post-trip inspection report. The defects had been addressed and fixed, but I still had to go over to the shop and have the service advisor clear them out before I was allowed to leave with the trailer.

This attention to defects in the tractors and trailers leads to a higher rate of passing inspections with zero violations and thusly lower CSA scores. And that means drivers with those companies are less likely to be pulled in for inspections. I’ve driven into California numerous times on I-15 from Nevada, and have yet to be pulled in for an inspection. Of course this means next time I’ll get the dreaded Level One, but I’m not going to stress over it.