Profile For Grumpy Old Man

I’m not going there.

I watched a driver with no idea what direction to turn his truck to make his trailer go where he needed it. Then he wold pop his breaks, start beating his steering wheel, then move 3 feet and repeat.

All at a dock with at least a truck length and a half up front to maneuver. And all he was doing was moving over one door.

How long are Crete trainees with a trainer before going solo?

It may be longer for you coming over from HOW.

How long are Crete trainees with a trainer before going solo?

That is Wolding’s 90° close quarters backing test. I believe it is 40’ to the barrels to the right.

It is not easy. But you spin the tandems right around the front corner of the trailer and it goes right in. If you are too far to the right with your cab when you start you will run out of room.

Keep your tandems close to the building. Leave at least half the space between the building and the rocks for truck to swing. Spin the tandems right around the corner. And yes, I would use the sidewalk to if need be. Tired don’t pop easily at slow speed.

I would have called 911.

I live in a suburb of Buffalo. This is nothing new for us. We stock up on food, beer or whatever and ride it out.

We’re known as the city of good neighbors because we do check on and help neighbors.

A local cat rescue posted on Facebook that they had a wall of ice at the street their plow guy couldn’t get through so they couldn’t get in to feed 100 animals. Within hours, the county bright front end loaders to knock down the ice, volunteers shoveled a path to get them in until their plow guy could get there.

The Bills players were shoveled out by neighbors.

Facebook posts from people offering rides to shop, doctors, etc are common.

As far as the snow, I was out east for the whole thing. Had to spend a day at Waterloo because our worthless governor kept the ban on way longer than needed. But I still made my appointment on time Monday am.

A bit of an update. One of our dispatchers noted a spike in fuel pump replacements. We had 5 in a 2 week span. The common denominator was refueling at the Waterloo NY Petro just before. They suspect their bio diesel blend. We are no longer allowed to fuel there, and it was one of our “free” stops. We could fuel there without a fuel solution any time. Good for me though, as now I fuel at the Loves across the street.

As we transition to Bison next month, we manage our own fuel. We get a list of fuel stops on our route, sorted by cheapest first. But we can fuel anywhere. Another win. Though I pretty much did anyway. My route usually took me past one of our free stops, and if not, I went to wherever made sense. Those stops were rare, so I never got a call from the fuel department.

It should be a requirement that they only work in reverse. Some of these are as bright as the freaking sun.

I turn them on to see the fenders on my trailers when I'm coupling as I usually try to roll out around 0400 or earlier. I'm nearly positive my truck turns them off when it auto moves me to the drive line cause I've driven around the tank wash and they've been off when I got to the other side

Yes. They are utility lights. I see it so frequently that I was wondering whether there was a safety reason some drivers choose to keep them on. As Brett said, it's probably just that drivers forget to turn them off.

No need to live near a terminal. The company just needs to have loads in your area, and you need a safe place to park.

Wolding only has one terminal technically, and I could get home to the Niagara Falls area daily. Or Syracuse as well. We also have numerous runs daily all along I90, into Massachusetts, and all over the northeast. We also have runs to Brentwood on LI. Northeast regional is hourly.

However if your CDL is stale that might be an issue. Best bet is to call recruiting.

I say technically because we are converting to Bison USA this month. We swap trailers with Hartt and Britton Transport currently (also Bison, but they have no US terminal) so we may be using their terminals in the future. We can drop trailers there now. We are in the process of acquiring Pottles as well

I would like to know if any drivers here know if there's major carriers like swift and etc. Terminals near new york? I heard its best to go to a company where one of their terminals is near ur home so it would be easy for home time.

So you think they should violate their clock so you can save 3 or 4 minutes? Got it.

I’m comparing two situations where the driver is being inconsiderate to his/her fellow drivers. As stated previously doing it out of the way of others is one thing, with room to pass etc. Doing it through a crowded truck stop with people behind you or similar situations … **** move imho.

This is true.

However there are plenty of times I have done it to do a split berth or to save my 70.

For those who get ****ed just remember it may be you needing to do it someday. The driver is just trying to get the job done, and sometimes it takes creeping.

You should try to stay out of everyone’s way if you can.

I do the OD creep all the time, but only in our yard, drop lot or at Consigness. But, when I do, I make sure I am out of the way of others with plenty of space for them to go around. Saves big time on having to burn my drive time and getting my 30 min DOT break before that 8 hour drive time is gone. Keeps me moving in the day cab world.

A yard move wont screw up your 30. It counts as on duty fueling would. I do it during a 2hr or 3hr break so I can pause my 14 if I need to when moving off a dock.

That’s what I have.

Tell him to say “hello Omnitracs”. If it is enabled she will say “state a command”.

No idea about switching voices.

Curious, y'all ~

Tom has the Qualcomm brand ELD, and it only reads him his mail, in a female voice. If he has that option like Omnitracs, where would it be accessible from?

Also, does the Omni speak to you in a male or female voice, like Alexa and Siri and Garmin?

I like being nosy, I know. Sorry!

~ Anne ~

Lol

As much as ours are having problems, my unit is on non-speaking terms with me! It's seldom I have a kind word associated with Omnitracs.

Yes, but it never shows everything. That’s what I want to know.

You may or may not be aware that Omnitracs can accept voice commands. I found this out by accident. I was listening to a podcast when I suddenly heard voices. No idea what turned it on.

You enable it by saying “hello Omnitracs”. The microphone icon will light up and it will say state a command.

The training section will give you a list of commands. The only one I find useful is “available hours”.

I’ve always found it strange Omnitracs doesn’t display all your hours available on the screen while driving, or even stopped in driving status. So, if you are racing your clock and need to know what is left on anything other than your 8 hour clock, you have to stop and change your status.

With the voice command it will read them all off.

Omnitracs in my truck shows me the time remaining on the clock with the least available time while driving, not the 8- hour clock, exclusively.

You may or may not be aware that Omnitracs can accept voice commands. I found this out by accident. I was listening to a podcast when I suddenly heard voices. No idea what turned it on.

You enable it by saying “hello Omnitracs”. The microphone icon will light up and it will say state a command.

The training section will give you a list of commands. The only one I find useful is “available hours”.

I’ve always found it strange Omnitracs doesn’t display all your hours available on the screen while driving, or even stopped in driving status. So, if you are racing your clock and need to know what is left on anything other than your 8 hour clock, you have to stop and change your status.

With the voice command it will read them all off.

For a 90, if I have enough space to do a u turn, I come in about 3 feet from the trailers on my passenger side. As my door reaches the middle of the trailer to the right of the trailer to the right of the space I need, I turn hard left until my trailer is close to contacting my cab extenders and watch out the drivers side until the trailer to the left comes into view, then turn hard right to straighten out. Keep watching your trailer. It will end up right in front of the space you want to put it into.

Practice and adjust your starting point until it works for you.

I spent a year setting up for a driver side back until I saw guys doing this and find it way easier to do it this way

There are 3 backing maneuvers I do on a regular basis. 1) the 45 degree back. 2) the 90 degree back. 3) straight back with room to turn 90 degrees for the setup. I’m sure all drivers do these set-ups on a very regular basis.

What are your reference points for these 3 situations? I’ve noticed that there is some variation among drivers as to reference points and set up styles. For example, you are coming in perpendicular to a row of spaces. You want a specific space and can turn 90 degrees and have plenty of space to pull up and then do a straight back. You want to end up with the trailer tandems aligned with the space for a straight back. When do you start your 90 degree turn in relation to the space you want to back into?

I’ve gotten pretty capable of backing, (with 13 months experience. Yeah, I’m a slow learner, lol.) but like a lot of drivers, I’m still trying to refine my backing skills. I like to hear tips from other drivers in this regard.

Rumor has it we are buying Pottles now.

I’m doing good.

I’m in WI now getting my truck serviced.

One of the changes is that now they want the hourly drivers to punch in and out of a time clock app on their phone.

I was ready to find a new job because they told me it had to mirror my Qualcomm. I might have 15 to 20 off duty breaks a day, as I log every stop even for a minute or two to use the bathroom. No way I was going to punch in and out that many times. Spoke with HR and they said no just breaks of 30 minutes or so. So I ended up with 4 extra hours in 4 days. I guess I’ll take a pay raise to punch a clock. Lol

Grumpy...Local in KC now for a year doing intermodel. Love it though the crappy chassis are a challenge at times. Hope all is well with you brother..don't miss the Winter weather. My company pays me not to drive when they deem it too dangerous. Be safe Grumpy.

Yes, just east of Toledo.

There is a cemetery doubts of the TA, which is south of the Petro.

My ankle is healed nicely, but I have arthritis in it. Hurts pretty much all the time, and having my foot on the floor all day makes it worse. I need a wedge on the accelerator

This guy learned a lesson on flying through the truck stop parking lot. Petro Perrysburg.

Grumpy; just going thru some old pics... that's up by Toledo, yes? It looks familiar... is there a cemetery around and behind there? Tom & I used to have a 'hidey hole' out that way when paper logs were a thing, haha! I'm sure loving that stretch/hood right there, too! Wow, the sleeper!

How's your ankle doing these days? I've still got pins & a plate in my radius, right arm; they took the 'set' from my ulna out.. this was all years ago; healed nicely. If my rotator cuff would also... auugh!

This is within 100 feet of where I always park there at that Petro.

No explaining that one away to the bosses.

And again, in looking ... PackRat; is that YOU, in the green J & R truck...filming? I kinda KNEW you had a YouTube channel, haha!

Rolling a truck is bad enough, rolling one in a parking lot is a special kind of F up.

Wasn't there just another one of those, recently?!?

Be safe, y'all ~!

~ Anne ~