Comments By Cantankerous Amicus

Old School said in Jamie's Crete thread:

A key element to making money in trucking is maximizing utilization of our asset (the truck) by using a high percentage of our 70 hours each week for productivity.

This thought has been rattling around in my head for the past few days.

In an effort to help CPM drivers here streamline their work and increase their time on line 3 (and hopefully maximize their miles driven as a result), would there be an interest or benefit in some kind of app or website functionality where drivers here could voluntarily submit info from their driving logs to show among other things what percentage of their 70s are spent actually driving? Members of Trucking Truth could then view this information in a leaderboard format and compare their results with others and see how they are doing.

I understand that different types of trucking will result in some drivers turning different average miles than others. In that case I think other information would also be pertinent, e.g. freight division, reefer, flatbed, tanker, OTR, regional, etc. so that drivers could compare their productivity to others doing similar work to them.

This is just a rough idea right now, but I thought I would throw it out there and see what experienced drivers think about it. Of course, the very first question depends on how easy it would be to put such a thing together in the first place. Perhaps Brett could answer that one.

Interesting article about CR England - Gene England still trucking at 100 years old

Thanks for the insight, Old School. Lots of good food for thought. In the past I have done grueling work in the form of heavy labor and long hours, so I think I am up to the challenge, but it's true that I won't have any idea how it is in trucking until I actually start doing it. Hopefully my wife and I being able to successfully establish ourselves overseas each as sole proprietors for over a decade is a good indicator as well.

Are you still in Prague? Do you have the requisite visa and pre-trucking licensing experience to get a hire?

My wife and I are both American and currently still in Prague with an eye to moving back to the US. The most concerning hurdle for us will be reestablishing our US driver's licenses and the potential wait to start with a company after that. We have driving history from before we moved abroad, but I am not sure if that will count since our American licenses finally expired about 5 years ago. I also doubt that anyone would care to see a translation of my EU driving record, clean as it may be. My wife currently doesn't have any license because we largely use public transportation.

Thanks both for the replies. I understand the pros and cons of running teams with a spouse vs someone else. My wife and I are interested in running teams and saving up a bit. I don’t think I could handle driving teams with someone else. The higher cpm just wouldn’t be worth long-term living with a new person in a cramped space.

I’m guessing that most people who initially consider team driving probably look at the higher cpm and make their arguments based on that.

The main point of my post was to find out if there are any planning or other methods unique to team driving that teams can utilize to further boost their income potential - methods that wouldn’t be available to even the greatest solo drivers just because of the fact that it’s a one-man show and he has to do it all, thereby limiting his driving time with other on-duty activities.

I’ve read elsewhere here that teams always tend to have hours. To me that sounds like time and money wasted at the end of the week. Doesn’t a top driver want to be as close as possible to out of hours by day seven or eight – ready to take a reset or start running recaps? What can teams do to make that happen?

Old School, I’m interested in your recommendation on new drivers not teaming. Is it because there is just too much else for them to juggle at the beginning? What about married drivers?

I'm curious as to how mileage works out for teams as compared to solo. Assuming we compare a top tier solo driver vs a top tier team and all else being equal in those cases, are there synergies to take advantage of while working as a team? Is the possibility there for teams to make more than double the average of a top tier solo driver if they plan well? Or potential for the opposite, e.g. when the truck breaks down? Are there any pointers some team drivers could share?

Looking forward with interest to you upcoming diary. Congratulations on the new position!

Every time I come on here for advice you guys act like my parents. I know I messed up you don't have to come down on me and be condescending. I was just asking what you think I should do.

I was just going to respond to this but Brett beat me to it. I will repeat it anyway.

You posed a question and several experienced drivers here gave you straight answers. It may not have been what you wanted to hear, but it was what you needed to hear. You quite literally asked for it. None of it was condescending and no one was really coming down on you, yet you claimed that it was. This is a very important point.

Yes, you fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident. Yes, you hit another trailer while trying to park. Not reporting that was a bad call. Understandable given the stress of your job and career being at stake, but still a bad call. It's on your record now and it's working against you. But according to some of the experienced drivers above, it looks like you may be able to overcome it.

However, if you apply to a company and they ask you about your accidents and they say anything similar to what the other drivers here have said... And then you respond like you did in your last post? How do you think your chances will fare in that case? I would hazard a guess that how you respond to criticism of your driving history is now more critical to your career than the record of accidents and the bad call.

I think you did the right thing by asking here first. The best thing you could do for yourself is keep your cool while you receive any professional constructive criticism being offered. It would be good practice in case you get grilled on your mistakes during an interview.

Sorry this giveaway is only for our team of OTR driver lol I wanted to get some ideas to show them some appreciation

The way you had your first post worded made me think you were phishing.

I'm not a trucker but if I were, I'd be interested in a mobile data package or possibly something like an Audible subscription, but I'm guessing most drivers would have a mobile package already.

As a potential new driver I'd be interested in some 12v RV kitchen appliances like a crock pot, fridge, etc. Regarding ESPN I'm probably in the minority as someone who doesn't watch TV, so couldn't advise you there.

I'd be interested in hearing what some of the drivers here come up with.

Hey guys I want to do a raffle to a group of OTR truck drivers but I want to give them something they can use or enjoy on the road any ideas? I was thinking free 1 year subscription to dish+the espn package?

Sign me up! What info do you need from me?

I have doubts about the feasibility for the companies involved. They would likely have to exhaust all possibilities of a hiring an EU driver first. You would be on a work visa where you would be expelled from the Schengen zone if you lost your job for any reason. Best I could recommend is to contact a few companies and see what they say.

As to transferring your CDL, regular 4-wheeler US driver's licenses are not considered valid in the EU after the initial international translation expires (assuming you get one). It has to do with the formatting of the info on the licenses. I am not sure which US states format their licenses according to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, but I've heard that there are a few. Those may be possible to transfer over to an EU license, but not the others. The US as a country is not a signatory to the 1968 convention.

You would most likely have to complete driving school for vehicles classified B, C, & E. Class B is your regular 4-wheeler, C is the tractor over 3500 kg and E being trailers over 750 kg. You can just get the license, but if you want to work for a company then you would have to do a longer professional program similar to the 160 hour programs in the US. A quick search yielded a schooling price of around $2,200 where I am located in the Czech Republic. It looks like it's salaried work here and the first few results I found pay in the range of $18,000 - $25,000 per year. A quick check of UK lorry salaries resulted in cca $40,000 per year.

This is just info that I quickly looked up in the Czech language. I don't have much more knowledge than that and I could be way off base. Hopefully Mathieu C. can elaborate more, as he appears to be an EU truck driver.