Profile For NaeNaeInNC

PJ, that was the James M guy who was let go from TMC for curbing and destroying a trailer rim. It's been crickets after he started his second chance at WE.

What the biggest hurdle right now, is you have no idea how wrong some of your ideas are. This will not become apparent until a few hundred thousand miles down the road, and then something will "click" and it will be glaringly obvious why something was done a specific way, back in the beginning. It happens to most of us really. We come in super excited, spot things we think are just terrible, and vow to fight the good fight to change them.

If your dispatcher buddy has never driven a truck, he really has no idea what is helpful for a driver, or just something we have to do to make some desk driver somewhere happy.

First, focus on learning how to drive the dang truck. Trying to become a life coach in the midst of this will make you an exhausted and dangerous driver. Focus on learning and honing the craft first, then learn how to apply life coach coaching to it.

Yep, totally get it. I am jumping ship too. I won't announce anything until I'm on with the new place though.

I had to leave my dog with my parents, move across the country for a month, and go through training, THEN go home to get my dog. It was rough, and she never did forgive me for it, but it was worth it in the end.

So, if you are near a Walmart at any point, grab the RV dump hose, and a small USB rechargeable fan, and either a set of Velcro cable ties or shoelaces. Find where the cold air vent near the floor comes out, and drop the hose close to it. (You may have to remove daily to stay out of trainers way) Secure the hose wherever you can in the upper bunk, and place the fan in front of it, so it pulls the cooler air up to the bunk. It won't solve it all, but it will make sleeping easier.

I’ve been on the road with my trainer for a week and a half and I have to say my biggest frustration has been the inability to get a good night’s sleep. It probably has a lot to do with the top bunk being uncomfortable and hot, which I would imagine won’t be as bad down below.

That's just it though, Driver-I wants to "Gamify Safety." Safety isn't a game. I don't want a driver to be "driving to the score" and ignoring the reality of what is going on around them in real time. I don't want them making decisions or not based on what will or will not trigger the camera.

I want decisions to be made split second by the driver. The person actually in the conditions at hand.

Same!

Yes, Trucker Path is great for listing not just truck stops but weigh stations and just places to park a truck as well. I don't have a paid subscription but the free features work for me.

You don't know what you don't know, until you need it, and don't know it!

Get out and look.

Be mentally in the game. Put a boundary on family and friends, that if you can't fix it or do anything about it on the phone within 5 minutes, you don't want to hear about it.

Training sucks. It always sucks. Embrace the suck. This too shall pass.

You will suck at backing in the beginning. Everybody does. Sometimes it doesn't click until you are solo, in your own truck, with no other option than to get it into the dock.

Learn to cook decent food on the truck. Fast food will make you fat, and kill both you and your wallet.

Payroll advances are the devil, and will land you in a hole you can't get dug out of.

The goal is to get from point A to Point B, on time, without knocking your freight lose, and without hitting anyone or anything. That is what a successful trip looks like.

This is precisely why people in the industry usually answer "it depends...."

There are so many variables and so many "right ways" to do things, that it literally comes down to your situation, what your current needs and housing status is.

The majority of individuals looking into trucking are coming from failing industries, layoffs, underemployment and even unemployment. There is no one "right way."

There are reasons why we push most towards company sponsored training, and not one of us has said you CANT do it the way you did.

The bottom line is, we were lied to about the purpose, functions, and actual actions related to the camera. I got a "driver on cell phone" alert, pulling out of our wash bay, less than 4mph (I know this, because I was out of hours and creeping.) and the drivers facing image is first non existent, then blurred. So I ask you, if "everything but the drivers seat area is blurred, and not able to even be subpoenad," I ask you, "where is the cell phone?"

Some of us, were seriously against them in the beginning. We decided to take a chance. When a team driver is caught running a stop sign, WHILE DRIVING ON HIS WIFES LOGS, has no actual punishment, I ask you, what exactly is the point?

Some of us were as Optimistic as Old School. Those people were also proven wrong.