Posted: 5 years ago
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Clock Management and 34 hr resets
I have personally spun this web every way possible, and the bottom line comes to this... if you run 10+ hours a day consistently, and sit it out doing a reset, are you available to go pick up a load during a reset?
No
Can you legally drive anywhere to position yourself for a load during that reset?
No
If your driver manager calls and tells you he has a load for you a couple of hours away from where you are, but you are doing a reset, can you tell him you can head that way to be ready for the load?
No
People have responded to my post that I am wrong giving advice that I am about to give again on HOS.
My response to them... if you want to set somewhere for 34 hours and play video games...KNOCK YOURSELF OUT
if you want to make money and work everyday you are away from home ... don't work more then 8 to 9 hours on line 3 and 4 on any given day.
These truck companies will not wait for you to do your reset. They will find the next available truck to pick up that load. So if you are sitting in Wichita, Kansas waiting for someone to call you and tell you there's a load available, do you want to be that driver who has to say... sorry I am stuck here doing my reset ...
seriously ... you can work everyday and never take a day off and never need to be that driver who has to say ... sorry I can't get that load cause I can't manage my hours well enough so I can be available for that next load...
if you average 8.5 hours of line 3 and 4 every day you can work every day without taking a day off ... do the math
Posted: 5 years ago
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Spaceman is dead on with this... it was my belief that if you are going to become a commercial driver and call yourself a "professional" (note I did not say expert, huge difference between the two ) you deserve a formal complaint when it comes to bad behavior behind the wheel. You have your company name and sometimes phone number all over your rig, and with the internet so prevalent in our lives today it's not hard to figure it out.
Posted: 5 years, 1 month ago
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I had a young man get on my truck for his 4 week company training and instantly told me he purchased this new $500 gps just for trucking and that he was going to use it. Well I had to give him the bad news as soon as he told me about his purchase, and that was for the first 3 weeks while on the truck he will learn gettin around the country the old fashion way ... by motor carrier map... and company directions from the qualcomm ... He made it the first 3 weeks and the day he turned on his new gps we were leaving a shipper I had been to several times... late at night and he was driving. As we exited his gps was telling him to go straight, about the same time I was telling him to turn left. His response was, "if this gps is telling me to go straight I am going straight" My response was ok... go straight thru the intersection and pull over to the curb and park it... then pack up your gps, and the rest of your stuff, and while you are doing that I will call the company and tell them they have a student who needs a cab.
There was a bit of a silence then he muttered ok... I'll turn left.
I took him a couple of days to ask what it was about that gps issue the other night and I told him... it was a dead end, and I've seen a few trucks backing out of there... he got the picture.
Posted: 5 years, 1 month ago
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Your low tolerance for idiots is going to be a huge challenge for you in this profession ... cause there are endless numbers of them on the road.
Posted: 5 years, 1 month ago
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What to do - truck weaving badly
I was behind a big truck eastbound on I 80 out of Salt Lake City years ago that was all over the road. I called Utah State Police, but by the time they finally got to us we had made it all the way to the scales coming into Wyoming. Utah State Police went so far as to calling Wyoming DOT and had this driver held until USP could get there. I was there also waiting for them to show them video of this guys driving skills. The funny thing about this outrages situation was while we were waiting for USP to arrive I was in the scale lobby where DOT was interrogating this driver and looking at his logs... he was screaming that who ever turned him in was going to be sued for everything and anything that would happen to him. Well after USP showed up and I showed them the video he admitted his logs where not correct... he showed he had taken a 10 hour break in SLC, when in reality he had been driving non-stop from San Francisco.
Now as a fellow truck driver my only concern was for the innocent travelers on that road that day who he endangered.
Bottom line is ... this is one of the reasons we are now blessed with electronic logs.
Posted: 5 years, 1 month ago
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Top 10 things you absolutely have to have in your truck
I am going to take a crack at this top ten list
cb radio
gps
half a dozen work gloves, boots, heavy coat, stocking cap
cooler 12 volt
2 weeks of clean clothes
back pack for all your personal items to take to the shower (not a walmart bag)
2 weeks of food non perishable
small tool box with assorted small tools
a good phone with a good network with GOOGLE MAPS
lots of trash bags ... walmart bags are perfect
I know I added a few extras
Posted: 5 years, 1 month ago
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Ask for new trainer, or suck it up?
Unless this company is desperate for trainers, this behavior will catch up to this trainer. Fortunately for me I never had anyone of my students ask for another trainer, but I did take several students from other trainers. Eventually companies will either take these trainers off their list and put them back as drivers, or fire them if things get ugly like a fight or something of that nature. Having a great trainer will make of break you in the training process so if you are serious about this career and you feel you can do this training with the proper trainer your company will know who can get you where you need to go. Your training department will help you get on a good trainers truck if you can convince them you are worth it. So put on your persuasive shoes, call your training dept. and ask to get on another trainers truck.
Posted: 5 years, 1 month ago
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Ice is nothing to play around with. Park it a wait it out.
Posted: 5 years ago
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Hourly Pay vs Mileage Pay
It depends...
how fast is your truck
how often do you stop to go you know .... 1 or 2
I personally averaged 500miles in 8.5 hours consistently, and that helped me when my DM would call and ask if I could do a particular load... he would know what I could do and just needed to get me to commit.
it was a lot easier to figure it out that way then to try and see if I had enough hours... cause I never ran myself out of hours...
longest I stayed out on the road without ever taking a day off ... 10 weeks... even the dog was barking at me when I walked through the door