Comments By Heavy C

Welcome to the Bronx!

That's rough OS. I remember getting stuck for almost 5 hours because if a fatal accident on the GWB. They had the shut down both North and South bound sides. There NJ turnpike authority said it was the worst traffic jam they've seen since 9/11.

IDK I don't mind that area. You just gotta hit it at the right time. As long as there's no accidents or construction it usually keeps moving. The main thing to remember about NY is to stay off Parkways. Interstates and most other major routes are normally ok.

My thoughts are if you have no other reason to leave your company besides that and you can afford the market insurance then do that. Another thing you can do is just poke around to other companies to see what their rates would be. If they don't or can't tell you, talk to some of there drivers. Hope you figure it out

Hey Brett. So the previous guys gave pretty good descriptions on LTL. I just figured I would chime in as someone who worked for Old Dom. A similar LTL company to XPO. The job is difficult. No lie. If you're doing P&D there's not telling what kind of situations you'll find yourself in. OD even did residential deliveries. Let me tell you how much fun that was lol. You're gonna have to deliver freight of all kinds. I've delivered things from 55gallon barrels of resin to a shipyard. Snowblowers to a person's home. Pallets of ammo. Furniture. Long peices of sheet metal. A church steeple. The list goes on.

Going local isn't recommend for a new driver. I went local right out of school for the same reasons you're thinking of now. My family was too important to me. I did well with my first local company and moved on to OD. I screwed myself with OD because I had an accident during my probation period. Luckily it didn't cost me another job but it could have. So use that as a cautionary tale. It's a great job. Especially for a guy who doesn't want to or can't leave his family. But it doesn't come without risks.

Sorry I can't speak to the company personally, although I've heard good things. Actually thinking about applying to a spot that just opened up near me. So I'll just say this. Do your due diligence and research all your possible options. If in the end the XPO program fits your situation best than go for it. Just be warned that it's not an easy job and the likely hood of having an incident are going to go way up which could result in you screwing yourself in this job entirely.

Best of luck to you

On a windy day, if I am pulling an empty, make it a reefer. I pulled reefer with Swift, and I pull both, at Hummer. I prefer reefer. For some reason, it's probably just in my head, but it seems that a reefer pulls smoother.

It makes sense though. The additional weight pushing on the drive tires limits the bounce back from bumps and such

Don't over think.

I'm not making light of your advice... But this seems to be a recurring piece of advice I get, lol.

Up

It's like back in school when you took a test. You read the question and you usually have the answer in your head. But then as you look through the other choices you question yourself. You second guess. So you choose a different answer which ended up being wrong. There's actually science behind this idea.

We'll just refer to backing since that's normally gonna be the most difficult thing you'll do, outside of handling weather. You get to your destination and get your door. You drive by and see your door. You've got a sight side back between two other trucks. Well you know what you need to do and how to be safe. So just do it. More than likely you start second guessing your set up or how much to turn the wheel your gonna end up being wrong. Just go with it. I mean you could be wrong to begin with. So then you have to start over. No big deal. Over thinking just seems to cause more problems than it solves.

Like the old adage " I put my pants on one leg at a time"

Doesn't matter if you've got 10 days it 10 years experience. You just have to take one moment, one turn, one back at a time. Don't over think.

From what I've read (and I'm just a rookie dragging a dry wagon) flatbed can involve a bit more of, er, let's say a hands-on experience. Setting up your trailer, supervising the load, securing the load, and tarping the load (maybe multiple times from various angles.) A little bit extra to do... And probably some out of the way delivery points.

Some companies pay their drivers for tarp-time, other drivers are just creative with their hours. One thing for certain, flat bedders are a different category of truckers.

Something you didn't ask about is tankers. And probably a good thing you didn't ask because if you think flatbeds aren't for rookies, tankers REALLY aren't for rookies! 😎

Jeremly, tankers can certainly be tricky and probably wouldn't be recommended for rookies. However just about every job that involves tanker I've seen has required a couple years experience.

Yea hauling refer is certainly unique. They're loud for sure. I've heard some guys say though that eventually it just becomes white noise to them. Some even go as far as to turn it on even when MT just to go to sleep. On top of the additional maintenance, there's other things to consider. First you'll be hauling mostly food products. So there's the sanitary conditions of the trailer. Your responsible for doing trailer wash outs. I've known a few shippers through my work that won't load you unless your trailer is washed out. Second is temps. Pick up and drop off temps usually have to be perfect. I've had shippers refuse to load unless the refer was already running and at temp. Same with delivery. Most receivers take temps before they unload. If it's not within the tolerances given they refuse the loan and your stuck with a trailer full of parishables. Then there's the possible trailer fire. You better learn how to properly keep it maintained it something like this can happen. ..

Dry van is just a lot easier for all the reasons mentioned above.

I've had to use it a couple times. It's a nice backup for those heavy days but I try to avoid it at all costs. Mainly because it pushes back the next day like Rob mentioned, especially if it is early in the week cause it pushes the rest of the week back.

Side note. Heavy C, do you still drive for Olympia? I worked for them for many years before switching to driving.

No I left Olympia a while ago. I enjoyed the job but the pay just wasn't where it needed to be. As a former employee I'm guessing you understand that part haha. They were notorious for not paying well.