Comments By Chris L

Starting tomorrow morning at 07:00 I will start the next chapter of my life! I start my new Job as a NTTS instructor on Ft. Drum helping Soldiers obtain their Class "A" Commercial License. I'm really looking forward to starting this next chapter of my life- with the exception of a brief stint working as a contractor back in 2010 2012 I haven't had the opportunity to work and train with Soldiers since that time. This was one thing that I have truly missed since I retired. I also plan to still drive Part- time with Gypsum in case this gig ends abruptly. (In the contractor world when working for the U.S. Government - Tuesday everything is great / awesome, Wednesday you are looking for a new job! - It's that quick) So I'm hedging my bets so to speak also I will be able to offer current prospective of the constant changes that our industry seems to go through. As soon as I get settled into the routine I plan to knock out the required basic instructor certifications and then pursue the Master Instructor accreditation offered through JJ Keller. I know that I will miss the road I really enjoyed hauling coils every night (Don't worry Coors Light drinkers Middletown will still continue to make cans lol ) Now to enjoy the rest of today and get ready for tomorrow. Cheers

So this past Monday night I was waiting to get unloaded at the plant in Middletown and there were two Dry Van lolin the open docks getting loaded with cans. The shipping and receiving docks are inside the building so you back up through the overhead doors to the dock. When the warehouse guys finished loading the first dry van the driver proceeded to pull away from the dock and out of the building. Only one problem he failed to "Watch his Wagon" (H/T 2 G-Town) and proceeded to rip his right rear van door completely off the hinges. He was very lucky that the pallets of empty cans in the trailer didn't fall out. Needless to say he lost allot of money that night ( I'm pretty sure he was an Owner operator ) lost the revenue from the load and the repair to have that door re-attached. A simple glance in his mirrors could have saved allot of greif...

Well it's official! As of 10:30 A.M. Eastern standard time I submitted my Two week notice. My FM was cool about it. I went the professional route Formal resignation letter, which I delivered to him to personally. I kinda feel a little sad leaving I really enjoy this job and I do feel bad leaving the company short handed. Once I'm settled into the new job I'll look into doing some occisional part time work with the company.

So I will start the new job on Monday June 28th. I'm really looking forward to it.

It's been awhile since I posted on the forum. I have been running real hard that past couple of months running coil from Oswego NY to Middletown NY (The Coors Light drinkers have been very thirsty lately....lol ) I have been offered an instructor position with The National Tractor Trailer School at their Ft. Drum Location. BLUF I get the opportunity to train and work with Soldiers again! This is the one thing that I missed since I retired in 2010. Also my wife has some health issues that I need to be closer to home (She Fell about 4 weeks ago and broke her left collarbone- Luckily I was still in the yard and not on the road when she called). I know that CDL schools on this forum are not looked upon with high regards; but I graduated from NTTS and they did right by me and I hope to change some opinions. Trucking Truth has been a huge influence on my career and I will encourage my future students to check out TT and everything it has to offer. I'm going to miss being out on the road and working for a great company but this opportunity it too good to pass up. I'll be tendering my resignation tomorrow and I plan to start working back on Ft. Drum the first week of July just after the holiday. I'm excitedly looking forward to starting the next chapter of my life.

I guess nobody wants a forklift driving on a flatbed trailer from a loading dock..Yikes!

I haul palletized aluminum coil with a Conestoga and I back into a standard loading dock to get loaded and unloaded. Forklifts have no problems driving on and off the trailer. I just roll back the curtain. Normally my back haul s can range from Drywall, Pallets of Joint Compound, or Pallets of Bricks - which I'm currently waiting to get loaded with here in Pen Argyle P.A.

You still need to change out the Winter air for Summer air right??? Asking for a friend......

This message was sent out by our VP of Operations around 3:00 P.M. today. My loaded millage pay has jumped .09 cents since I moved over to Flat bed and it hasn't been a full year yet since I crossed over to the "Dark Side" .

So I'm currently sitting waiting to get unloaded at Ball Metal in Middletown NY. Currently there are 5 Dry Vans waiting to get loaded and in front of me is my Mentor waiting to unload his 5 coils, me and two more from our company waiting to unload. The yard dog at this facility has a "Million Miler" decal placed on the driver's cab. I'm assuming that the operator had some OTR time and acculturated most the miles along that path. But I got me thinking how many years would it take to rack up a million miles if you were only driving a yard dog? At a large DC Like WalMart or Target I can see racking up the millage if you were working 8 - 11 hour shifts; but this facility is small in comparison. Could you rack up million in less than 20 years by just driving a yard dod?

Keith A wrote:

I'm going to play Devil's advocate here the point is if you think it is illegal than it probably is. I'm pretty sure that parking like the CR Driver is not legal in any state no matter the circumstances! Like I posted in my last post I should have added the caviot that the situation in Virginia was Pre- FMCSA HOS Rule change. I propose this scenario: What if another driver slammed into the CR driver who would be at Fault? I get it S##t happens and we all have had to park some place sketchy and maybe bent the rules but it doesn't excuse the fact that that CR driver is creating a potential hazard and breaking the law.

If the CR England driver was stationary and is hit, it is the moving vehicle at fault.

Risk control is one thing, and I agree, the CR England driver should have had an alarm set to check to get into a proper parking spot. I've done that before.

But at the same time, if he's parking that late, he's going to /remain/ parked into the daylight hours when, barring some really specific regions, there is always room for a truck to park.

This is really making a mountain out of a molehill, especially because if there's room for trucks to pull out of the spots in front of the England driver, there's room for trucks to back into those spots.

Keith I'll have to disagree with you on who would be at fault in the scenario that I proposed. The CR driver is illegally parked! There is no other way to look at it! Thus the CR Driver is a hazard and would be at Fault! I know that we have some members on the forum that are former law enforcement I would ask them how they would determine at fault in this scenario?

I'm going to play Devil's advocate here the point is if you think it is illegal than it probably is. I'm pretty sure that parking like the CR Driver is not legal in any state no matter the circumstances! Like I posted in my last post I should have added the caviot that the situation in Virginia was Pre- FMCSA HOS Rule change. I propose this scenario: What if another driver slammed into the CR driver who would be at Fault? I get it S##t happens and we all have had to park some place sketchy and maybe bent the rules but it doesn't excuse the fact that that CR driver is creating a potential hazard and breaking the law.