Profile For Amish country

I went right into dry bulk tankers out of school. Local positions are possible but largely depend on your area. Central PA you would have no problems finding something. Big Scott is correct as well. If I have I 10 hour day it means I forgot to do something.

Your situation is extremely similar to what mine was. 12 years of retail and needed an out. The change has been one of the best decisions I have made. I paid for my school though and went the local route (typically unadvised) because it fit my personal needs and couldn't be happier with the company I started with. I started this journey at the same time you are thinking for the same reasons. I think having the summer to learn and practice will be beneficial this winter but only time will tell.

When you do decide to start jump in fully committed and ready to learn. No matter how bad it may seem just stick with it. Everything gets easier and the money starts rolling in.

I paid for my cdl and went local. Area is a huge factor in finding a job like this. Everything else that was said is spot on. My typical day I leave the house around 2-3 am and get home between 5 and 6 PM, in bed around 8:30. Enough time to have dinner, spend a couple hours with the family and get 4-5 hours of sleep.

The only "problem" I've had is when I get local driving. Never low bridges but there have been maybe a handful of times it brought me down a road that is technically a truck route but trucks have no business being on them. 3/4 of the time I follow the companies directions since they are provided by drivers. Otherwise it is great as an aid and time estimator so I can monitor my HOS.

I've been using basic leather work gloves from harbor freight. 5 pack for like $8. Gloves only last me 3-4 months because of the valve handles and hatches so I can't justify spending to much on them.

Is it liquid tanker or dry bulk? I do industrial and feed dry bulk and love it. Can't see myself doing anything else and was lucky enough to have the opportunity to start my career in it. I know someone that does linehaul for OD and he is happy there. A lot of night driving and he is all over the northeast at the moment until they rebid.

In a couple weeks I will be at 6 months with my first company. I dont have any plans to leave, even after a year. I'm learning that there are a lot of perks to arnt discussed from staying long term. Between getting paid for load/unload times and increases in holiday pay and safety bonuses you can make a good amount more. For example I am on pace to make between 50-60k my rookie year. There are guys here that should be making around 70k and dont care to work that hard anymore and really push the extra runs. There is always the added benefit of vacation time as well.

The feed trailer that I used was basically declared dead from the maintenance work needed. Understandable though since it was made in 1996. Because of that we had to replace it. So now I get to use a slightly newer trailer(2006). The big difference though is that it is air ride instead of leaf springs. It's like pulling a cloud it's so smooth down the road. It's also a decent amount lighter as well. Full fuel I can load a little over 26 ton instead of around 25 ton. Bringing more product also means I get paid a little bit more as well.

One of the newer guys I've been giving advice and tips to asked me about being a trainer. I'm not ready for that yet. I've only been out here 6 months and still have a lot to learn. Maybe someday I'll do it. I like helping people and it would be a decent amount more in my pay checks.

I've gotten to know one of the newer drivers a little bit and decided to throw out a challenge today. We both had runs that were similar timing for driving (mine was a little longer) so we decided to see who could finish first just to change up the day and give a little incentive to work a little harder. He ended up getting back about 10 minutes before me and had one of the best days since starting, finishing 2 runs in about 11 hours total. I set a new unload personal best at my first stop getting scaled, unloaded and scaled out in just over an hour.

I didnt really care about winning the challenge, I did it more for him. He's been a little down about how long it's been taking to get done. He knows how hard I work so even if it was close he would get a little boost out of it. He told me when we were leaving that finishing before me made his day and he was proud of what he had done. That's the best thing that I accomplished today. Sometimes you just need something to take your mind off of everything going on in life and just focus on one moment.

I have a pair of Irish setter elys and love them. Made by red wing and are skid resistant, waterproof, steel toe, flexible and light weight. Regular price is $150. I use them in quarrys and climbing on top of tanks and they are holding up really well with almost 6 months of wear.

I tried on timberland pros and hated them. Stuff and heavy.

I have not worked intermodal but did a lot of research into it when I first started exploring the industry. Ricecake ftw has some great videos about it. Lots of tight backing in busy train yards. I dont know if it changed but there was a lot of different accessory pay on top of the miles that can really add up. Also, trailers are a bit rougher and from what I've watched and read DOT likes to stick close by because of that.

Like everyone said it depends on you. I was making 36k a year and I'm on pace to clear 50k and have only been driving 4 months. Pay will seen low at first but once you get comfortable and learn more it will pick up quick

We have a "guaranteed" pay of $750 but you can't have called out or refused a load, etc in order to qualify for it. For those just in case times when a quarry runs out of product, weather, basically anything out of your control. I'm sure they have some "qualifications" setup so it doesn't get abused by the lazy ones.

I forgot to mention that I'm pretty close to putting on my "freshman 15" 😂

Just hoping it's more muscle from the hoses and stuff and not just chunk. Told the wife I was working on my dad bod haha

Recently had my first inspection, a level 2 with elog. Passed through it no problems. I was over weight on my rear tandem so he was out to talk to me already and I think they had inspections scheduled for that day because they hit the guy after me as well. But since I passed I pocketed an extra $50 in my check.

Some days I think my dispatcher has more confidence in me then I do but 95% of the time I somehow make it through even if it is with minutes left on my clock. I can't really complain though because it keeps the paychecks in a good spot and he tries to set me up to run how I like. I'm averaging between $1100-$1300 gross a week. Even on my slower weeks like the flood week I still make $850. Which from talking to other drivers and from what I've seen on here is above average for a rookie that has only been driving for 4 months. I take advantage of the work and fill my days with whatever I can. Leaving between 3-4 am still gets me home in the afternoon for when the family gets home so I dont miss much time there other than going to bed around 8 PM. We take full advantage of the weekends though and it seems like every other weekend we are road tripping to mass to see family and friends.

I found out that we do quarterly safety bonuses the other day. As long as you dont get a speeding ticket or fail an inspection, etc. You qualify. The person I was talking to said mine will be like $100 and since he has been with the company over 8 years his is more like $400. I didn't know that was a thing so I'm just happy about the little extra money. Also, after 2 years I believe that you get paid for your loading/unloading time at your hourly rate. That could equal out to an extra $200-400 a week! I know you do get a slight bump in pay percent and hourly rate after 5 years as well. Just some of the perks to staying with a company for longer then a year.

Also I dont know if there's a way to change it on Google maps but that takes you on roads that may not be truck friendly. Could be a big part of the time difference.

I just missed my first 1k net last week so I know the feeling. Makes you try to push a little harder to get there the next couple weeks. Congrats, keep that money rolling!

Yea I have been put there a few times. The first time almost got me all kinda mixed up. It's a fairly easy day with only 1 load to worry about(pays a lot better then the feed stuff too)

Man this has been one of those weeks where nothing seems to go right.

Monday(7/23) I couldn't finish my second load because the shipper ran out of product. So went back the next morning to see if I could load and they had just started the kiln back up so I lost out on that load. I did get paid hourly for my time so it wasn't a complete loss and I still had another load both days.

Wednesday it rained and rained and rained some more. I had a run out to Broadway, nj that went like normal but couldn't do my second load once again. Every road surrounding the quarry was closed because of flooding.

Thursday morning a few of the roads had opened back up so I went up to deliver wednesdays second load. I forgot my safety vest at home after washing it and had to turn around which put me back an hour on my plan. I get to the customer and another truck was waiting to scale. Turns out he needed to unload right where I needed to as well so I had to wait for him to deliver before I could. I lost around 1.5 hours on my day which would've been avoided if I didn't have to go back to my house. So once again I didn't have time for my second. I did get it loaded still so I only have an hour to the customer in the morning.

So with all that hopefully the next 2 days go easier. Friday(tomorrow) I need to do the quick delivery an hour away and then load up in york for Kreamer, pa. On the way back through stop in ono and grab some parts and finish "early".

Saturday will be an early run of pebble from Strasburg, va to morrisville, pa out near philly.

Almost done and ready for my reset!

It's always tough the first few weeks just keep at it. Everything will get easier and if you're learning you won't keep making those little mistakes. It all gets easier if you give it a fair chance. Forget about the previous days troubles and focus on the new day and clean clock.

You got this!

For me it was hometime and being able to get out of the truck and do something. Wasn't to worried about the pay because I knew I would make more than I previously was.