Profile For Amish country

Anyone planning to come through PA today and tomorrow. They are closing the interstates at 1200 ahead of this snow storm and will lift the ban "when conditions are stabilized".

You kinda get used to the long sleeves but the summers do get warm. Long sleeve, pants and steal toes every day. Except for the quarrys I can pull the sleeves up a little. You also dont realize how much heat a safety vest can hold in until you take it off.

I do mostly feed mills, chicken farms and waste to energy plants. The smell can really get you on those warm days. Chicken farms are one of the worst and the flies are insane. I cant leave without having at least 3 in my truck just from opening the door twice.

Kind of like flatbed it takes a certain person to actually enjoy the work. Were our here getting dirty and in the weather every day too.

You can keep your tarps though. I'll just watch as you guys do your thing.

Looks close. My guess is an airbag issue with air ride.

A lot of what has been said is true of the dry side as well. I dont haul food grade so dont need to have the tank washed constantly and being local I use the same tank daily. Makes it easier knowing exactly what your working with and how it unloads.

Customers always know your coming and typically dont keep you waiting. 90% of the time I'm unloading within 15 minutes of getting there. I was just talking to another driver about rude people and how we never see that side of the industry. Customers are always happy we're there because they NEED the product. Without it they cant make animal feed, purify water, create electricity or handle waste.

Benefit over liquid is there is no sloth or surge. Once its loaded that's where it stays for the most part.

Days are long, 12-14 hours but that's my choice to run my clock. But I am always doing something between driving, loading or unloading. If I had to wait 2 hours just to get loaded I would go crazy! I'm always loaded in under an hour and spend an hour to hour and half at the customer. Also, I control how fast it unloads.

Backing can definitely get interesting. Sometimes your backing down an alley or you might have to run the hose down a hill. Either way as long as you're within 30 ft you can unload.

I love it and will probably never do anything else. Plus 53 ft would be so long now!

This month finishes the first 9 months of my trucking career and very fast 2018. The only regret I have with this career change is that I didnt do it earlier. Once I get my w2 I will post my final gross number from April-december.

2019 is already looking promising. I'll have 4 months to add to what I did this year and get a week of PTO with my 1 year mark. They announced that they were able to negotiate higher rates that should run out to a 10% increase which means we indirectly get a pay raise by getting paid % of load. Also have some new contracts. All starting with the new year.

I am very grateful for the opportunity I've been given and it has made life significantly easier while being able to go home every night. Have been able to lay the start of a good financial base that has allowed us to plan 2 family vacations and seriously consider homeownership.

Going to keep my head down and working hard to make 2019 everything I want it to be.

I deliver to a lot of chicken farms and they have all had a scale on site. Even the family run farms have a scale.

My company, jp donmoyer is always hiring and theres more work then we can keep up with. Its dry bulk tanker. Local and we have a terminal in Nazareth. Assigned trucks. I've been solo for 8 months and gross between 1k-1400 a week.

It's a little bit of work having to hookup hoses and work the air pressure of the tank but not hard.

I'm very happy here and dont plan on leaving. I have a diary "my pneumatic tanker job" if you wanted to get a better idea. I think the sign on bonus is like 8k currently.

All of this! Especially taking turns or curves in road wide. Have almost done the weigh station. I have the bar habit of going through yellow lights that my truck wouldn't be able to stop for. Also, use the cruise a lot more.

Congrats! I agree, it is fun stuff. After about a month or 2 on your own you won't even think about it anymore and will be familiar with where you're headed. Then sit back and watch the money grow as you get faster and can take on more jobs.

Training going good?

I don't typically have that problem since were required to wear steel toes, long pants (jeans) and long sleeves. On to of that hardhat, gloves and safety goggles and vest. Without that your kicked out of the quarry for 6 months minimum and some customers won't let you back in the property.

I do make a point to be friendly with everyone and chat. Some places have my truck info started before I even hit the office and do what they can to get me in and out.

Carriers over to your shop guys too. Wrote up my fuel filter tonight and by the time I parked the truck and stopped in to chat they had the new one on the table and asked where I left the truck. I did give him a big filet of pollock from my deep sea trip this fall as appreciation for all he does.

All good points, thank you for the feedback. The person I have now was basically bragging about his driving and backing skills but once we got off the highway it showed his 2 years of experience was limited. I've been trying to train him on the differences but I doubt it will last once hes off my truck. Hes not unsafe just lacking the experience.

With those that are set in their ways do you try to correct to the ways you were trained and practice or let them continue with how they know it to be done?

No problem. Any other questions feel free to post. I'll do my best to answer them

Will vary on where you are and the blower strength. Typically no longer than an hour to load. Unloading I usually account for 1.5 hours on average. That accounts for getting where you need to unload, hook up and unload. I've done it in as little as an hour if its somewhere you are familiar with.

How long does it take to load and unload one?

Figured it was cement for the bases and pads. It's easy stuff and if you can run a couple loads you can make good money. The ash is light stuff. Probably bring a load of cement out, load ash after on the way back to load more cement.

Enjoyed reading this, pneumatic company here pays 25% of load, and with the windmill farms going up in West Texas they say the demand is high right now, they have KW with the small sleepers in them not sure I would fit being 6'3" 300 lbs well see they are at the top of my list though.

Seems like 24-25% is normal for this line of work. Some places like mine pay a differential rate on the weekends but not all do. Hopefully this helps you out a little if you go with it. Do you know what they haul for that job?

We typically just need to train on the tank and our process. I was thinking someone newer would be a little easier(its never easy though). But since this was my first I didnt have anything else to base off of.

Have my first trainee and was curious on others opinions. What has been easier for you to train? A new driver coming out of school that you can mold to finish how you know it should be or an experienced driver that may "know" what they're doing?

I've made it a point to bring it up and get him to pay attention to them more. Unfortunately since he has almost 2 years of experience already he thinks his driving is great. He may do better to get me off his back but once he goes on his own itll be back to what he knows and does. With having less then a year of driving experience myself I dont think hell take my opinions or advice anyway.

I was trying to figure out what's easier to train. A new driver out of school that you can mold to finish or an experienced driver that "knows" what they're doing?

It was an insightful day today. I've realized that he doesnt read signs very well. Couple times the speed changed from 55 to 65 and hes still cruising along at like 50 so when I said something it was "oh I must've missed the sign". More importantly coming 322 south from state college in PA over seven mountains it is an 8% grade with a 6-6.5 degree curve halfway. Trucks need to stop at the top to reduce gear before heading down. He almost drove right by at 40 mph loaded at 78k. "Oh I've never really dealt with this". What about the 3 signs up the hill that said to pull over!! Driving with his high beams on the whole time even with cars coming at him and coming on the highway in front of him. Felt bad for the people getting blinded for no reason other than "it helps me see better".

We pay $150 a day aw training pay. He had an issue with only getting paid 750 a week. When I told him he honestly prob went make much more his first couple weeks until he gets comfortable and they judge what he can handle it was q comment along the lines of "they gunna treat me like a newbie". Well yea, you are to this company and arnt working that fast yet. Drove so slow we finished an hour later. Thinks he can go solo and jump right into making $1400 a week all because hes driven before and that was they number they said he could make. But that's top potential and knowing everything and everywhere your going.

I see a rude awakening and hell either quit or adjust his thought process.

When it comes to unloading he can do it but seems to second guess himself which I understand. I did the same thing and you need to build up the confidence in what you're doing. Just struggling a little with the end clean out process. I've noticed having to tell him the same things over and over again which is getting a little annoying. Like just now the GPS recognized a school zone so it said the limit was 15 even though the posted limit is 25. Had to tell him to ignore the 15 and do what's posted like 3 times.

Also learned a little bit ago that his driving experience is limited to mostly highway. He never really drove routes so he had a little comment about driving back through to York springs in PA from Union bridge, MD. We take 194 to 116 through Hanover and some other small towns. Saves on miles and time not having to deal with traffic. Hell either learn to drive them or won't do as well as he could by sticking to majority highway. Some customers are in some very country areas with some lovely 2 lane roads getting there.