Comments By Donald B.

CDL school teaches you to get your CDL. That is it. I dont think they could make a cdl school long enough to teach even half of what you learn once on the road because a lot of this stuff you will only learn by doing it.

It is really hard to be successful at this career if you need someone to hold your hand. Hopefully while in your training phase you will learn the basics and then be able to apply those to a given situation and adapt.

To sum it up, experience is the best teacher in dis bidness and I gather there will be plenty of hard knocks to learn by. Running out of fuel due to carelessness doesn't have to be one such hard knock. Righto?

But like any soldier in boot camp and AIT (military trade school so to speak), one should get all the basics to advance upon later before taking off on that "solo flight". Correct?

I'd like to think one can be trained a skill set and then fall back upon one's training as his career progresses.

It's apparent that truck drivers can't control many things in their working environment though they are literally in the driver seat but one worth his salt can figure out how to work around all the surprises: unexpected traffic delays, curve balls mother nature throws weather wise, customers whose loading personnel called in sick at the last minute and so on. I'm actually an ANALYTICAL person. I'd like to be in the driver seat but really be "in the driver seat": be a master on how to react to any curve ball fate throws at me! Trucking sounds like a possible chess game on 18 wheels: thinking several moves ahead always. I'm a person who likes to get ahead of the game as far as I can.

Thanks, Big T. That "learn by doing" statement pretty much answers most of my questions.

Time management, load planning, etc. I've read a few articles by Brett and Old School. Surprises and misconceptions and all. I suspect the driver's EMPLOYER will teach the newbie what the school doesn't cover? Is this correct for me to suspect this?

To what extent will the employer train the new driver on things that CDL school didn't cover? I suspect that company-sponsored CDL training will orient the new driver as to how the company does business to some degree. Is truck driving for a person who needs to be always told what to do? Is truck driving a "thinking person's" vocation? How smart or clever do I need to be to make it? Do I have to have a sharp memory as some jobs require? Does driving require a degree of "self-sufficiency"? Will a driver be able to call upon someone (a sort of guardian angel or fairy godmother, army soldiers have the chaplain to go to) should he ever get into a tough rut on the road and can't figure out how to do something? Surely a good mother bird won't push her chicks out the nest until they've mastered flying. I understand that the first year is 'hell year' for the new driver. It is this probation period that will determine whether a driver makes it or breaks it. Could it be that many new drivers fail simply because of inadequate training by their employers? Their employer may have cut the driver loose in a rig with little "getting taught the ropes" of the trade. The articles I read here suggest that newbies surprisingly find themselves with more freedom than they can handle. Many people though they hate iron-fisted authority take comfort in having a supervisor watch them closely on the job especially as a novice. I was a soldier. I constantly had sergeants who told me what to do. They practically breathed down my neck. There is nothing more god-awful than an army sergeant riding shotgun with you in a military vehicle as a driver and an army private and screaming every move to make in your ear. SLOW DOWN! ...TURN LEFT! ...YOU ARE TOO FAR TO THE RIGHT OF THE ROAD! ...SHIFT GEARS NOW! ...DON'T RIDE THE CLUTCH!!!.....TURN YOUR LIGHTS ON! The NCO's tempers and patience were often very short. Have you ever driven a truck at night under blackout conditions or with night-vision googles? I have in the service... No fun!! Sometimes during my military career I would consult a MANUAL that told me HOW to specifically do something. Are drivers issued any sort of company manual for their job? Is there even an operator's manual for the truck they are assigned? You know, like that owner's guide that is in the car's glove compartment?

The mantra I keep reading on this website is 'trucking is not for everybody'. But this can also said about being a farmer, doctor, soldier, sailor, airline pilot, policeman, firefighter, lawyer or hair stylist. It's not a vocation for the masses but still "somebody has to do it". I still believe that the industry sometimes has to settle for less-than-perfect drivers to fill the high demand for them as long as hiring them proves to not be more trouble than they are worth.

Lastly, I gather driving is stressful. What are things that can make the job stressful? Weather? Traffic? Finding a place to park? Backing up in a tight spot for the first time? Mechanical troubles? Run-ins with the police? Accidents? Dangerous roads? Pressure from bosses to meet seemingly impossible deadlines? Other examples? Of course having been in military service, I understand all about job-related stress.

I've been told that cab-overs were once preferred in the city for tight maneuvers and I would never expect them for long haul usage anyway.

Cab-overs existed to allow for longer trailers and still stay within the overall length restrictions imposed at many a state level...those restrictions have long since changed. And they were used exclusively well into the early 90s for long haul trucking, especially for coast-to-coast LTL Team driving. Those are the facts.

So...you broached the subject of O/O...

You should read this link before continuing to salivate at the reality of owning a Large Car...Confessions of an Owner Operator

The only time I might try O/O with my own rig is if I were to become super rich as from hitting the super lotto jackpot just to have a cool "hobby" in a Kenworth W900 classic hood. I would never sweat about not making any profit. Otherwise it's become a driver as an employee for a freight carrier for me. Let the motor carrier outfit, Hunt or whoever, suffer the costs.

This is an interesting conversation. I just took a two week trip to Chamonix, France. It was my first time in Europe, and it was a real eye-opener.

The overwhelming impression I came back with is how terrible the quality of our products and services are, and how awful the quality of our experiences are here in the States because we focus on the bottom line with everything we do.

I realize now that we've just come to accept this as normal, everyday life. We think nothing of it, until you go somewhere where quality, style, and taste really matter and where businesses care about your experience with them. Then you realize what a generic, low-quality, crap-on-the-customer existence we live here.

For instance, my plane was supposed to take off at 2 pm. We were told it was delayed, likely for an hour. Three hours later, we were still sitting there without a plane. Finally, they told us they had come up with a solution and we'd fly out at about 7 pm. At 7 pm still no word. Then at about 8 pm they told us our plane was delayed overnight. They said they would give us hotel vouchers. We waited in line for two full hours, and just before it was our turn a lady from customer service told us our particular plane (we weren't the only one) didn't qualify for vouchers, so we should come back for tomorrow's flight at 7 am. It was 10 pm and we were on our own. Too bad for us. We sat in an airport for 8 hours being lied to and then literally kicked to the curb with no assistance of any sort from the airline.

How the hell can you do that to people?

Easy - that's the most profitable way to run the airline. Sure, it's a miserable experience for your customers and they feel like jerks for giving you their business, but when they report the earnings to Wall Street they're going to look great. Since all of the airlines do things that way in this country, there's no better alternative. That's just how you get treated.

By the way, if you fly on an international flight and you get delayed overnight, by law they have to provide you with a hotel and transportation to that hotel. My flight was a domestic flight here in the U.S. so they could legally kick us to the curb for their screwup and laugh all the way to the bank.

But that's only one tiny example. Everything over there was so much better than it is here. The coffee and pastry, the beer, definitely the food, the architecture, even their clothing styles. Everything there was about quality, taste, and a good experience. It was absolutely fantastic.

Think about this............here are the top luxury fashion brands in the world according to CNBC:

• Louis Vuitton - $28.6 billion
• Chanel - $20 billion
• Hermes - $16.4 billion
• Gucci - $12.9 billion
• Cartier - $7.7 billion
• Tiffany - $5.6 billion
• Dior - $5.2 billion
• Burberry - $5 billion
• Prada - $4.8 billion
• Lancome
• Yves Saint Laurent
• Bulgari

Only one of those is from the U.S. and it's Tiffany's. They don't even make anything, they're just a store that sells other people's products.

Here are the top luxury cars in the world. Only two of these are from the U.S.

• Ferrari
• Lamborghini
• Jaguar
• Mercedes Benz
• Aston Martin
• Porsche
• BMW
• Bentley
• Rolls Royce
• Bugatti
• Audi
• Maserati
• Cadillac
• Pagani
• Lexus
• Volvo
• Koenigsegg
• McClaren
• Tesla
• Accura

I could go on all day with any type of product or service you could imagine.

I know someone who worked for the U.S. subsidiary of a company based in Germany. Whenever the Europeans would come over here they dreaded it because the quality of everything we have is just junk - junk food, strip malls, p*ss-water beer - everything is just really poor quality. I didn't understand what they were talking about until I went over there and saw the difference. Wow. It's depressing!

People famously say, "America: love it or leave it" because apparently, no one here thought of the option of improving it!

Donald, it's true - everything we do here is a chase for the almighty dollar. Fortunately, it worked - this nation is rich as hell. We're the largest economy in the world.

Unfortunately what often gets set aside is product quality, tasteful design, and customer experience.

By the way, I'm already planning on going back to Chamonix to ski and climb two more times this winter. It's surprisingly cheap to go there from the East Coast. It's cheaper for me to visit Chamonix than it is the West Coast of the U.S.

Brett, I noticed LINCOLN (Ford Motor Company) isn't even on that list. No surprise. Their flagship Navigator SUV is not even putting them on the top list. The Lincoln automobiles were renowned back in the days of those huge, heavy Continentals and Town Car boats. Cadillac today is now junk. No more true heavy all-American boats, Fleetwood Brougham, from them either. Think Chrysler Imperial from the 1950's - 1970's. My favorite personal vehicles of today? Toyota Corolla and light trucks, Tundra not Tacoma.

The KW T680 does have a badge on each side of the hood. Has been there for several years.

Actually this KW T680 model has a KW emblem on the side, yes. Only the "classic" look current-production KW models (W900, T800, C500) still have the word "KENWORTH" spelled out in bold silver letters on the sides of the hoods.

The T800 is common for construction use these days. Cement mixers, dump trucks, etc. It's sort of a classic-aero hybrid for style. A radical sloping hood with a conventional-look square front grille, classic-look cab and classic fenders. I think the T800 has a shorter wheelbase than the W900 for tighter tuns. The sloping hood probably gives nebbert driver visibility than the W900's high long hood. The more modern "retro-look" KW model, T880, disposes of the classic KENWORTH hood letters. Here is a sweet red T800 day cab with a nice chrome tank trailer, a T680 still probably makes more sense these days for OTR use, the T800 seems more like a truck for short haul or construction:

View post on imgur.com

In an increasingly competitive market, style simply does not pay the bills. Functionality trumps form.

I'm a practical man. Shiny objects don't do it for me, and I've never felt the need to have them in order to impress others. To me, a tool is nothing more than a tool to help me get the job done.

Don't get me a wrong. I like to looks of a long-nose Pete as much as the next guy. But at the end of the day those looks do nothing for me.

Where does your pride lie as a driver?

Being the most efficient, productive, and profitable driver I can be, every day. Getting it done.

If I were to drive, I would take pride in doing things by the book to the best of my ability, doing things safely and in earning good money. New classic-look tractors are still offered by PACCAR with comfy sleeper births for whomever wants one and for whomever can afford one. I've been told that cab-overs were once preferred in the city for tight maneuvers and I would never expect them for long haul usage anyway. Turtle, yes, I'm aware that the most practical things in life aren't always the most stylish. A Roman red 59 Corvette is sweet but virtually worthless. I'm sure the aero-rigs of nowadays make the most "dollars and cents", the most "safety sense" and the most environmental "green" sense. People, after all, use to criticize those stylish Harley-Davidsons for being mechanically crude. That all being said, my heart just palpitates whenever I see an older or classic-model chromed Pete or KW long hood in sweet paint as in my avatar! I just wish Kenworth would put chrome KENWORTH badges on the sides of their aero-tractors' noses (or at least on the outsides of the doors if the stubby aero noses have no room) as they do on their long-hood square-grille gas-guzzling classics but I won't hold my breath until they do.

-Ford -Chevrolet -GMC General -cab-over -classic-style conventional tractors as made by Peterbuilt, Kenworth and Western Star pulling trailers for major freight carriers as Swift, Prime, Hunt, Schneider, etc.: "classic-model" tractors are mostly seen by me in logging, construction and in the hands of owner-operators these days

The American highway is now dominated by geeky aero-looking things. The Fonz on Happy Days might say a new Cascadia looks totally uncool. It's a neat treat to my eyes to see a more classic-looking truck sometimes. Modern (21st century) vehicles be it cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles and trains are seldom candidates for blue ribbons or gold medals in the styling department. I guess in 2019, a vehicle has to necessary look "uncool" and devoid of individual personality to be economically sensible.

Do any drivers here still have a soft spot in their hearts for the old-school-style trucks? I'm an Elvis man and not a Justin Beeber man. There was a time when drivers took personal pride in the rigs they drove based upon style and often speed. The bragging rights for drivers these days must be in regards to how much money a year they can net at this craft. Where does your pride lie as a driver?

My other half is bipolar as the day is long lol. He's extremely funny, smart, a great all around guy, and an excellent driver.

You can be one too. You'll have to learn to always put on a positive face no matter the situation when dealing with customers and your company. It's not easy for him but he manages to pull it off. He takes Lamictal which is a mood stabilizer. We also have drivers on adderall and a host of other medications. My company will pretty much allow anything that DOT does. All companies are different. We don't have our own school but now offer tuition reimbursement.

But absolutely company sponsored schools should be your first choice.

Motor carriers with their own in-house training program seem the way to fly these days according to the consensus of the folks here. It makes sense to me too.

Donald continues searching for an edge...

one more dinky question, G, are the success and failure rates in this business about the same for all age groups 21+, or whatever the legal CDL age bracket is?..... you may have noticed more people of a certain age bracket succeed in driving than others

My dinky answer; “no way of knowing that”.

I’m sure some egghead analytics junkie has statistics on failure rates based on age...

But does it really matter? No.

Again, the playing field is totally level. Your chance of success is no greater or less than a 21 year old. It’s a matter of personal commitment, desire and focus.

There are over 120 FT drivers at the DC I run out of. There is a cross section of every age, from 21 to 70 and many different backgrounds. Totally diverse.

But again, don’t hang your hat on that.

Donald success in this business is about individual performance. Turn your attention inward, forget about everyone else.

How is the reading coming along...?

thanx, Mr. G, that's all I need to know about age and trucking

this morning I have dental appointment and this afternoon I'm expecting my new exercise bike to be delivered...tomorrow I start my reading in earnest....if I should need any clarifications on this reading material, I'll ask a question....good day and have a safe trucking career everybody!

Same thing happened to me Grumpy about 2 months ago. Never had the time too post about it. Almost put 41000 pounds of milk on the ground. I pulled in the yard, popped the brakes and went to start rolling the landing gear. A warehouse worker came over to talk and it completely threw me off. It started raining hard and on that particular day I forgot my rain jacket and thought CRAP so ran over pulled the pin, pulled the airlines and well you know the rest. Just missed it. Now whenever it's time to drop a trailer I go straight to the landing gear regardless of what's going on around me. All in a matter of 10 seconds almost gave myself a very bad day.

just like an airplane......you don't ever want to try to put your bird on the ground without your landing gear down!