Comments By PJ

Way to go yoong Lady

Good morning everyone. Just when we think things are going smoothly someone throws a curve at us. My company has done ok this past year as a whole, which I have been blessed for. The past few months things have really kicked into high gear.

Then yesterday happened. I found out that the company has been sold. CSX railroad has purchased us and all the required escrow type stuff will be done in July. Rumors are already starting and getting ahold of folks in the corporate offices is becoming more difficult.

I’m just going to keep my head in the game day to day and ride it out.

We’ll see what happens. I’m always up for a challenge

Routing is done differently at different companies. Gps are a good tool to help, but not 100 percent. Always follow company policies. My company for example gives routing for the local miles from the closest hwy to the customer, in between is up to the driver to determine. Some companies give you turn by turn and expect you to follow it. It’s a wide range of polices out there. You will have to wait till your hired and see what that company wants.

Tammy all these schools are teaching is basic competency to pass a state CDL exam. They aren’t teaching anyone to be a true truck driver. You will get more in depth training after getting a job. My school was 3 weeks and 9 days with a trainer.

It is a steep fast paced learning enviroment for sure. You will learn more and more once getting on your own. Just the way the business is structured. I’ve been driving almost 8 years and learn something everyday.

My trucks have big tanks. Pete has 150 right side/ 120 left. Volvo is opposite 150 left and 120 right. The average I have seen on cascadias we have are a pair of 100’s or pair of 80’s. Depends on how the company ordered them.

Moe why would you use an odd number of 51 to do math. Just use 50 and as Laura said easy math and builds in a little wiggle room. Remember the area your running has mountains and lower speed limits, not to mention plenty of traffic. When I come that way I always use 50 mph to figure my travel time. Don’t forget to add the necessary breaks and such to your eta.

It will get easier the more you do it. Wishing you the best sir.

We have customers on the Tn side and a tank wash on the Ar side. Usually a 10 minute ride. I haven’t been there since this started, however my luck just ran out. I’ll be dealing with it on friday afternoon. I’ll get to see first hand then. Lucky me

Very well said OS. I have been MIA alot lately due to being extremly busy. I scroll through when I get a chance. I read this thread and just shook my head. I realized real quick it was going no place good.

People make assumptions often. That usually never ends well. I too have been here along time, like many others. We all share the common frame of reference in our purpose and give freely of our time to do it, because we care about folks and the industry.

Thank you sir!!

Congrats

As OS points out this career is very independant. I work for a very large company. I’ve been here long enough too know who the main folks are. I have rarely if ever talked to any of them. I have 2 people I deal with on a daily basis. We have a rock solid working relationship and that is generally all I need.

You will have a similiar situation once you complete training and get in a truck solo. All these companies track many metrics on drivers. Anyone in the company with access can pull you up and see by your driver profile what kind of driver you are. I have had dispatchers within my company actually request anytime I’m in their area to call them for a load. I take care of business and they appreciate that.

Good news Moe. Keep up the good work. All of us around here wish you the best sir!!

Hey ya’ll. Sorry been super busy lately. I agree with all the above info. Driving is probably my least amount of time invested these days.

Costs just keep going up. From trucks, parts, fuel, etc. and the price we get on the freight makes it hard.

Now the federal gov’t is trying to enact in effect AB5 on the entire country. If that passes it will really make a huge impact on those of us that lease onto big companies. We do it to save money mostly on insurance. In my case I already have a 5m policy because of hauling hazmat. I pay less than half going through QC as what I could it for on my own.

The stress and constantly rising costs really isn’t worth it anymore. People have all kinds of reasons they do it, and some will always try.

I have seen so many folks try and fail it is unreal. I have always said new drivers espically, have no business jumping into this end of the pool.

Wow Mr C, this is mixed news for sure. So sorry about the health issues. Happiness on the new home. Wishing you all the best towards the future. Please stop by when you have a chance. You will always be an inspiration. May God Bless you and the family!!

Hey Bud, good to hear from you. Sorry to hear things at QC didn’t work out for you. We did go through a rough patch back in late 19 for sure. Don’t be a stranger sir!!

Welcome Garrett. Your going to be fighting an uphill battle for sure. Your reference to wet reckless in out of the ca vehicle code it appears. Trucking companies are going to treat it just like a dui I am fairly sure. In ca that is a plea bargain on a 23152 original charge and they advise in taking the plea it will be considered as a prior if charged with dui in the next 7 years.

I wish you would have been here before you started school. You would have gotten a better idea of how to go about things. Moe gave you good advice above.

Wish you well in your search

Dang ya’ll make me feel alot better. Last week was a challenge, but no where near what ya’ll have gone through.

This is a situation only the driver can make the call on. Turtle outlined the best possible solution in this situation already. Once a driver accepts the load and rolls, it becomes your responsibility. Dispatchers come in many shapes and forms. Some good, some not. A call to the safety dept can often cure dispatch problems.

When I pulled a box I had that happen once. Long story short the shipper put an extra pallet on and expected it to fly. It was 2200 lbs over gross and they tried everything to justify it. It came down to they would not remove one and gave me the choice to run it or not get the load. I backed into the door and promptly told them to get their stuff off my trailer. They were shocked. So their attitude made that load very late to the customer because they had to find another truck.

I don’t know what your experience level is, but never feel bad about staying legal. If your company does business this way, maybe it is time to find one that values excellent drivers that run legally.

Wishing you the best.

Some of that depends on where you live. The largest chemical haulers have all gone to shorter routes and less long haul, however some of that is still available in some parts of the country. I work for Quality Carriers and we are staying busy. Dana and Heniff are 2 other big players in chemicals. Schneider does have a tank division however their history has kinda been up and down. Again the part of the country you live depends alot on what is going on.

Congrats Sir!!! Things do not always go as we plan, but you seem to know how to roll with it, no pun intended!!! Stay safe.

Jose the miles your talking are possible, but not probable. I did 4200 in 8 days once and the most of it was one load, ca to chicago then 2 other loads were preloaded and I grabbed them and went. I also don’t drive a goverened truck. That was alot. I had 1 minute left on my 70 when I was finished. That also included fueling/pretrip or post trip being combined and scrimping on the other. I know DOT would have frowned upon it. For a rookie I don’t think it would be possible, just my opinion.

Hmmmm, never heard of anyone getting cited for a misunderstanding. Much less 3 in a month. That is alot in my opinion. Paying attention to details is extremly important in this industry.