Comments By Wild-Bill

Many companies use it. I would guess that almost every driver on TT has used it at some point. Did you have a question about it?

Howdy everyone. First a quick recap. I've been driving for just over two years. for the last 1.5 years I've been local out of Minneapolis. I was on a LOA for a knee replacement through November and December. Sine I've been back, For some reason, Freight seems to have slowed down for us. My FM is truly trying to keep me busy by adding trailer moves etc to keep me rolling. The way my pay is structured though, I don't make nearly as much on a trailer move as I do on a load. But for whatever reason, it's just not paying the bills the way it has been in the past. I'm short $2-300 per week from my average. I know there's freight out there, but for whatever reason, It's not trickling down to my company in my market. We went through something similar last summer and after several conversations and PC notes I finally sent an email to my FM's boss and he things got resolved pretty quickly.

I love the company, I have a great relationship with my FM. She has always worked hard for me and I know I get a lot of leeway that others don't get. With that as a background, I decided that I can't go through repeated periods of slowdown. In frustration last week, I decided I'd update my resume on Indeed and put out a few applications to see what's available. I learned two things in the process.1) Apparently there's some kind of a "Driver Shortage" out there 2) If you aren't serious about making a move, you probably shouldn't put your name out there as looking. I had more contacts than I could count within a couple days of making my resume public. I think I read something here that experienced safe drivers are in demand. I just didn't know how in demand we are.

Ok, so here's where I need help. I ended up with two offers that were so good, I don't see how I can ignore them. I'm wondering if anyone out there has insight on Dart Express or Tyton companies? Dart is based out of Minnesota, Tyton I think is out of Texas and is a Fed-ex contract hauler. I can't find much information on either company other than Dart serves disgusting BBQ sauce with lunch.

Any advice you can give either on the companies or if I'm being irrational by looking for greener pastures would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, and sorry for not being more active int he last year or so. I'll try to do better.

Howdy everyone. It’s been a while since I’ve been on TT. I’ve been doing local for Roehl for over a year now and have been enjoying it though I do miss the open road now and again.

I recently took a couple months off for knee replacement surgery and am just getting back to work this week. So far the bionic knee is holding up well to the trucking life.

It’s almost certainly the medication. The primary use for gabapentin is seizure control though they also use it for neuropathy and pain control. I just came off knee surgery and took it for a while for pain control at night. It definitely makes you drowsy. I can see that a company would be apprehensive about it. Apply everywhere and something will come through for you. If you find the medication is holding you back, there are probably alternatives you can talk with your doctor about. Keep us posted

It’ll be about a half hour from home to truck. They tell me it’ll typically only be 8-10 hours per day. I may see if I can pick up some extra a few times a week to make more.

It sounds like it’ll be mostly picking up at local shippers and bringing it to a yard for an OTR driver to deliver further away, or, picking up a relay from a OTR driver and taking it to a cons in the MSP area. Most runs are 25-50 miles from the yard, so, all in the MSP metro.

They’re keeping me in my current truck for now, they have some day cabs on order as they’re trying to build up the local driver fleets, but they said it’ll be a while before I see a day cab. The ones on order are going to more congested metro areas. Which is nice so that I can keep the fridge stocked.

There are many incidental pay add on’s that will make it less miles and more “other “ pay. I’m used to long days on the road and making money only when rolling, so, The new pay scale and short runs will take a bit of getting used to.

I’d also recommend company sponsored training. Roehl is the one I went with and it’s been good so far. You’re right in the heart of our main shopping lanes so location is no problem.

As an answer to the paid parking question, we can typically get it covered if we run out of time at the shipper or cons and need to PC out.

I’m going to take on a local driver opportunity with my same company. It’ll be a little pay bump but the big selling point is home daily and weekends off. If I end up not liking it, they told me I can go back to OTR whenever I say the word. I’m sure it’ll also help me fine tune my backing as I’ll probably bump more docks in a week than I normally would in a month.

Any advice for maximizing time from local drivers? I got pretty used to sleeping at shippers and leveraging detention time time for 10 hour breaks. Any tricks anyone has for maximizing the clock or pay for a local driver would be great.

Doing something local was my long term goal, I’m glad I am able to do it with the same company and much sooner than I thought possible. I’m also glad I started OTR. It taught invaluable lessons in route planning, HOS, backing and maneuvering in traffic in a safer environment.

Wishing you the best. To paraphrase Turtle’s Chuck Norris joke.

Old School came into contact with COVID-19. The virus will now need to be be in quarantine for 14 days.

Congrats! Looking forward to seeing your diary

Congrats!!! 🎉🍾🎈

Roehl has been a good choice for me. Not sure how I missed your post earlier. I can tell everything my recruiter told me came to pass. My first couple months solo were fairy slow. But once they learn they can trust you to be safe and on time. They’ll keep you moving.

Best of luck. Keep us posted on your journey.