Comments By Harvest

Hey everyone! It's been a long while since I posted here. I have been out of the trucking business for a few years, working from home after I was rear ended in my personal vehicle. I found a few class B trucking jobs around me I am about to be applying for once I get all my ducks in a row. However something that has me very concerned now, is that my medical card has been expired for some time now, It expired late 2021. I was always under the impression that if your medical card expires, you just cannot drive, you have the privileges of a class D license. And you can drive again once you get the physical and submit it. However, I've been hearing different things online. Apparently in some states, if your medical card expires, you have to do the entire process over again, get a learners permit, go to school, do all the tests over again. Which obviously, is a MASSIVE headache. I am calling the DMV when they open Tuesday. It's hard to find a direct answer in my states DMV website. States like Arizona use the specific wording "suspension and revocation of your CDL". My state says "You must not let it lapse or expire; doing so will result in a downgrade of your CDL to a non-commercial, Class D driver license. " Due to previous health problems, I only got my medical cards valid for one year. I just had no idea this was a possibility. Doesn't make any sense at all to me. Does anyone know more details on this? Kind of freaking out until I talk to the DMV Tuesday. I do not want to do OTR and train through a mega carrier again. And would rather not dish out the money for a private school. I already passed everything once and have a spotless driving record, having to go through the entire process over again for not getting a physical seems cruel.

Harvest how did you make out with letting your FM know about the accident? Have you been able to get a copy of the accident report yet?

I was in between jobs, so I let my recruiter know about the accident and will be checking base in a few weeks. I don't have the full copy of the police report but my attorney is getting a copy this coming week.

"A good driver knows how to get out of a bad situation. A great driver knows how to avoid a bad situation."

"If you're not learning something new everyday, its time to retire."

Not sure when I will be able to get back on the road yet since I am still hurt from my accident and have doctors appointments. Until then I am doing the next best thing to satisfy that itch to get on the road. Driving a ol Freightliner classic! Any of yall play this game?

I would look in to local schools with refresher courses, I know the school i attended does them for $1,600

woah, hopefully it would be cheaper than that just to get the automatic restriction off my license. That's a little steep, but thanks everyone, ill look into it.

Goodmorning everyone! So when I trained with Prime, I learned to just drive a automatic. Eventually I really would like to learn how to drive a manual. What would be the best way to go about this?

I am about to go for 3-4 weeks OTR with a trainer. In my previous long driving (mostly along east coast between NH and TX) in personal vehicles and all sort of moving trucks I found driving barefoot to be most comfortable regardless of the season. Commercial driving is of course a whole other thing. So my question is - what is good to have on your feet while driving for 10-11 hours?

Honestly, I just drive in my socks. Keep a pair of boots or other footwear right next to the door.

So I was in my first traffic accident last night, no way to avoid it. Was making a left turn, had to yield to traffic and was at a dead stop. A young woman behind very far behind me was distracted and hit me at 50+mph without braking at all. She claimed that her brakes had stopped working. The officer still wrote her a ticket and I was transported to the hospital. My injuries are not too severe and I just made it home. My question is, how will this affect my career moving forward as a truck driver? Will companies potentially not hire me due to this accident? I may be overthinking this, but I am nervous. RIP to my first truck, i'll miss her.

When you were hired on at Western Express are you obligated to complete a full year? If you are obligated and quit before you complete a full year WE might come at you to recoup the cost of your training. How many actual months driving for WE do you have under your belt? My recommendation is to complete your obligation to WE and then move on. Prime will still be there.

No I do not have a contract with WE, I had a obligation to Prime inc. But when I quit TNT training when I first had my cdl, and did a local job where I damaged a tarp on accident, Prime wanted me to get 3 months experience driving somewhere else before rehiring me. That's when I first went with Western.

So in the past year, I have been off and on trucking. I have about 7 months of solo experience with Western Express and a smaller trucking company called Vline inc. When I first got my cdl I was with Prime and really enjoyed it, but being immature, and hating team driving I quit for something local. When I was local, I damaged a tarp on a dump truck that was preventable. So when I was trying to go back to Prime last January, they wanted me to get atleast 3 months of driving experience before they would take me back. I've had the itch to go back OTR, and love Prime inc as a company. I was just wondering with my 7 months solo experience, how long would I have to do TNT training?

Thank you all for you're information! I really do greatly appreciate it. Do you guy's think it is ever worth becoming a owner op? Like buying you're own truck outright and working with brokers? Just curious of what y'all think.

Harvest, we have had a ton of conversations in here on leasing. I think you know you won't find a lot of support among us on the subject. It gives you zero advantages, and makes you have to run all the harder. You will be learning how to manage your cash flow and expenses all while being under the pressure of making the payments and keeping up the maintenance on your truck. It is a heavy load for most drivers to undertake. I remember an old discussion we had on Leasing From Western Express. You should take a look at it. The thread is both lengthy and interesting. Partly it gets interesting because a fellow named "David," who ran the lease program at Western, joins in the conversation. I think you will find it informative. Whether you take the "fluff" or the "reality" from it will be at your discretion. Still, I think you will find a lot of information in that conversation as to why we would suggest you stay away from it, and you will find David's perspective as to why you could do well at it. You can be the judge, but there is a lot of back and forth information in that conversation.

I read you're first comment and I already don't want to do it lol. I cannot imagine paying that much in repairs. Maybe one day i'll own my own truck. But it seems like the return from leasing just isn't enough to justify that risk. Plus i've only been driving for a year, so their is still allot to learn and experience. Just one day, I wanna own a Peterbilt lol.

Try to negotiate with them for more time. But if you signed a contract, you will either have to pay or drive for them. If you just need a break from the road, tell them that. And when your ready, start driving again. But if you are done driving for good, you will need to pay what your contract says.

Hey everyone, so I have been thinking long and hard, and still need more thinking. But lately I have been really considering going back with Western Express and starting my own business. My dream is to one day own my own truck. And Western Express has their lease set up where in 3 years you will own the truck. I am still trying to do more research, but it's been hard to find people that have experience with their lease program, besides the usual Western express bashing. I know this road will be long and hard, and dependent entirely on my work ethic. I was wondering if anyone had any links to reading material or had their own experiences leasing with Western? I want to get all the information I can get before making a decision. I also like Westerns walk away program. In the chance that leasing just isn't working for me, it appears I can walk away without a balloon payment. But I still need to call Western on information with this. Here is a link to Westerns site, talking about their lease program and pay. Western Express Leasing

I been finding myself listening to quite a bit of podcasts or audiobooks lately. Was wondering if yall had any recommendations to help kill the time while driving?

You’re right about 70 across Indiana. The big difference is that it will be worse than when they started.

It sucks, I never speed through construction zones. But everyone flying by me in Indiana makes me think I would be safer doing going faster. But I’ve never had a speeding ticket even in my car, and don’t plan on having one any time soon. Been just setting the cruise 5 above the construction zone speed limit through there.

Oklahoma wasnt no fun yeah only 25 mph but with only 9000 in the box.....Stopped at our OKC yard til got lighter bout 4 hours...

Next 700 Fila load was only 3400 pounds of sneakers lol glad no winds.

3rd load under now is XPO of 40k in the box. Winds thru Indiana and Illinois were 30+ and as heavy as we are, I had to keep both hands on the wheel still !! NMex/Az not so bad. Nearly at the finish line by morning

I drove through Indiana and Illinois the other day too, and your not lyin. Hands were 9 and 3 almost the whole time. Plus it seems the entire state of Indiana is a construction zone on 70.

As a rookie, I have my bad days when I set up wrong or take quite awhile to back. Usually it's after a 11 hour driving day when I am exhausted. Prime trains really well, but sometimes you just have "those" days.

I almost ran into another driver last year in Nebraska on I-80 in the snow. That driver was in the center lane, doing 20 mph, with his flashers on. The other half dozen trucks I was with were all doing 55 safely and comfortably, and we were all spaced out by about 10 seconds following distance.

The guy that was crawling was the problem because he was going too slowly, which can be just as bad as moving along too fast.

If it gets where I need to go 40 mph for a sustained hour driving, it's time to park. I'll wait for either the weather to clear, or the plows to do their thing.

I think the snow sketches me out because my only experience driving through snow is my old 2wd pickup truck. All I do is slide around corners in the snow haha.