Profile For Papa Pig

My company added driver facing cameras a few months ago and I agree with kearsey…they suck. It has yelled at me for distracted driving for holding my hand up and wiggling my fingers or taking a drink. I have went from a sunny to shaded section of road and it has yelled “camera obscured”. I don’t mind forward facing cameras but not a fan or the ai driver facing. As an added bonus I drive slip seat and the camera app is different than my elog app. So I have to sign into both separately. It’s an easy thing to forget logging out at the end of the day and having another driver not log in and mess up your score. It’s not a deal breaker but I’m still not a fan.

Looks like Danny Herman is a bit of a smaller organization. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but……they might be less likely to be forgiving with rookie mistakes. Their site also states that they are looking for experienced drivers. I worked for Werner and have no complaints. I do think with them that training opportunities and multiple accounts are a benefit. Other than the website I don’t know much about DHT. If this is your first trucking job I would apply to MULTIPLE places and check your options. Nothing wrong with a bigger carrier for a new (or even experienced) driver.

Larry, so far I have been doing a little bit of both. It’s not really that bad. Took some getting used to. In some ways it’s easier than dg and in some ways it’s harder. Definitely more aggravating because sometimes you have to dig product out and scan things. But it’s doable. The good news is there is a reefer running for when I get hot. I live in Alabama and that dg trailer had me sweating my butt off. What are you doing with cardinal health? What does that entail? I would go back to dg in a heartbeat if my wife would go for it. That’s the only reason I left the account. I have heard of that having to drive your personal car to one terminal but not others. How far away is the terminal for you? Are you missing the account?

Well… yall thought I was crazy before for doing dollar general….. now…maybe I need to be institutionalized lol. I have been a shuttle driver for the past few years and while fun, hooking and pulling doubles has gotten a bit boring. I told the transportation manager I would like to dip my toes into the delivery side. Hopefully I can catch some good and helpful content. I have been doing ride along for the past week and yeah it’s been awhile since I have delivered. Little bit sore but doable and getting better every day. Hopefully I can get some good stories and footage!

I really hate to hear that. She truly was unique and was always a positive voice on here. I hope Tom is ok. You will be missed Anne

She really loved the dollar general videos and kept asking me to make more . And I was like “ dude it’s all I can do to get it off the truck”lol. Now I wish I had made her some more.

I was a cdl instructor for close to 2 years. It seems that you may not be used to the clutch in that truck or you haven’t practiced enough to develop clutch control. If you are empty you can start out in 3rd (sometimes 4th) if your clutch control is good enough. There is a valid reason for not wanting you to shift while turning. Both hands need to be on the wheel while turning. Also you run the risk of missing a gear when shifting while turning which results in loss of control of the truck. Loss of control is considered an auto fail. If you are stalling at a stop sign in 2nd gear then you probably don’t want to try shifting in the middle of a turn yet. My suggestion would be get more practice in your take offs and give it another try. Clutch control is key to smooth starts and shifting

Welcome

There are many new carriers that offer a good start. No perfect ones and a lot will depend on you. Werner is the only big carrier that I worked for and they have a lot of team positions. They will pay for your school “road master” but you will pay them back for it . As you will for most companies.

After you both earn your cdl you will have to do a period of training with a company certified trainer. Most companies will not have you both on the same truck during this time. Be cognizant of that. I think CR England actually has 3 people on the truck during some stage of training. But don’t quote me on that.

Be prepared to show past addresses and explain any gaps in your work history. All companies will want to know ALL of it.

Good luck!

From Papa Pig:

breaking a contract ... try other companies

How about that when any company you apply to finds you tried to break out of a contract, they put your application in the round file.

Errol I don’t think the question is him breaking a contract but wondering if them not continuing his services is them breaking a contract.

Nick. While dollar General does use bigger carriers like Werner, Schneider, etc to haul their freight they have an expanding private fleet. Kind of like how Walmart or Publix has their own trucks but uses outside carriers for a lot of the workload. They also have a program that will allow warehouse workers to sign a contract and they will pay for their cdl if they haul and unload dollar General freight for a certain amount of time. I personally thought that was awesome because I used to get so mad at the warehouse for how badly they loaded the trailers. Almost like justice and now you get to be in the receiving end of those badly loaded trailers 😂. Either way I have my suspicions of why this arrangement didn’t work but that’s not my place. Our job now is to try and advise and help this driver move on.

With that being the case I definitely would not pay a private school for a cdl. Because a school will be happy to train you if you pay them but it may be hard to find a job after.

I would suggest to try and apply at a company sponsored training program and if accepted they already have an investment in you

I agree that the only recourse is to apply to everyone and see what bites Werner does hair follicle. Maybe western express?