Comments By Garth M.

I hauled a load of concrete block on Thursday, my first load of this type ever. As I was starting to be loaded I asked what it weighed and was surprised to hear 96,450, wow so I stopped them and explained the max is 92,000 for this trailer and I wouldn’t try it without a scale handy. So after some deliberation involving my company the, the consignee and the consignor they lightened the load but I was still at about 90,000. I only needed to go 25 miles but it was into the middle of Toronto so like a fool without further thought off I went. I had’t been there for about three months and forgot that the street I was to go on was having a subway put under it so the intersection I needed to turn on had no left or rights allowed, the street was narrow with lane shifts, concrete barracades and lots of hills and intersections and I couldn’t get off for several miles past my turn. It was a tough drive and took me 3hrs to make the trip, lots of horn honking and a few very curtious drivers were required to make the 7 or so mile detour through some of the older residential areas I passed through. I made it unscathed and was consoled by the customer that the previous 4 loads the had came by the same route. I didn’t make any money but it was an enriching experience.

I never thought of not being covered if I was hurt while being logged off duty, that would be dirty. I do as much load securing and tarp handling as possible while off duty, I wouldn’t be able to get the work they want done if I did it any other way.

I was given a new mattress for my truck 4 months ago its thin and already showing signs of compressing at the edge where you sit and I have rotated it a couple times already. A foam topped mattress would be nice as long as it didnt take too long to warm up in the winter.

Into my seventh month I’m finally getting used to the daily grind and not as exhausted from concentrating on the driving, not getting lost or injured etc. It seemed that this life style was not compatible with good health and trying to cram all my living into the short weekends, I was getting frustrated to say the least. Now its getting easier and repeat customers more plentiful I can find the time to enjoy the drives and explore the stops, my diet is improving lol and I find myself making a lists of the possibilities when I get my trip info. Parking, truck access and how far I can comfortably walk figure in to enjoying the weekdays. With the coming spring I’m planning how I can secure my bicycle to the truck. Having an understanding girlfriend helps and since absence makes the heart grow fonder my weekends are short but intense which Is a good thing. I wouldn’t want to give that up by quitting now lol.

Snow isn’t what concerns me as much as below 0 deg F. That makes it hard, for me that is.

At least in Canada that is, January and Frebruary are always the coldest. I managed to survive and improved my tarp handling greatly in fact I got to the point that I dreaded switching to roll kit flatbeds that would make me soft between episodes of tarped loads.

Have you tried Maverick, I see some of their flatbeds hauling into Canada, thats not far from you lol.

Most of my first deliveries of the day are for 6:30 or 7:30 and I may have to drive 4 hours to make them so its dark when I start and light when I'm done for the day. Less traffic is the best part of starting that early if I have to drive in the city, but if its raining then thats a different story, I don't enjoy driving in the dark in the rain, especially if I"m on a road I haven't driven before.

I started training with a flatbed company the week after getting my license. I was hired for their heavy division and had six weeks of training before being sent out on my own. I am glad I chose flatbed so far, I get a bit of fresh air and exercise every day rain or shine lol. I'm still not sure if I can do the job in bad weather, throwing straps and pulling tarps is hard work in the rain and the thought of winter has me worried. Safe work practices are a must with this job, plenty of ways to get hurt.

As a rookie I find the E log my company uses to be very confusing and slow. I wish company orientation spent more time teaching the procedures but after meeting the people responisible I have decided to relax and learn as I go. Luckily for me a couple of my dispatchers actually drove for a while so when they've seen I have been putting in 16hr days the piling on slows down. I am responsible for most of the time waisting that goes on and I know that preplanning is the key to getting better, I have called several customers ahead for directions into their location and thats a habit I need to aquire. My situation is every morning when I find out the trailer I'll be pulling is to set up the air suspension and run it over the scales hoping that it passes and the system is working proerly, oh for designated trailers, unfortunatly things don't go that smoothly and I have to start my day about an hour before I log in and then sometimes its still not early enough. These past two weeks I've put in my 70hrs in 5 days and although its possible its not sustainable and when I'm tired the mistakes realy start happening. For me its all about the money, I should be able to easily make more at this than at my previous job as a carpenter even if I have to work twice the hours so I keep trying to apply what ai learn here to my situation but its hard to when getting enough sleep interferes with doing my job. I have lost all shame when it comes to backing my trailer and I don't count pullups anymore but then there is the correllation with how tired I am once again. Allmost all of the drivers I meet are very helpful and usually have a few good words of advice which says alot about the quality of people in this industry. I guess I've said too much but up north here I haven't experienced negativity that is reffered to in this post and just watching most other drivers working to do their best I wouldn't want to fall into the judgment trap, lifes too short.