That is Great to hear GH! Happy it is working out so well. I'm on day 7 of training for my new job as a coke dealer. 5 on 2 off. Sleep in my own bed every night. I am loving this new job!
That is Great to hear GH! Happy it is working out so well. I'm on day 7 of training for my new job as a coke dealer. 5 on 2 off. Sleep in my own bed every night. I am loving this new job!
That is awesome to hear. Keep the Barq's stocked up and I will be happy haha! OTR really makes you appreciate the simple things back at home. From a daily shower with no big wait times, to not having to walk 50 yards or more just to pee in the morning haha.
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
Happy for you Gladhand. Great to hear.
I too agree with your assessment thus far of the WM account. It's love or hate, and usually a driver arrives at that conclusion rather quickly. Running WM deliveries is not for everyone, but it seems to fit you quite well.
Best wishes for continued success. Maybe Swift will allow me to run Wally loads out of your DC at some point this summer. I have several friends in NM so it would be great to visit with them without taking vacation and dealing with flying.
Be safe. G
Really enjoying this account.
Glad Hand, I'm really glad to hear this!
I wanted to point a few things out for others who will come across this thread...
This was a very important statement that Glad Hand made in his remarks...
You have to find your niche and once you do, this job gets even better.
This is partially why we recommend that folks stick with this job for one full year when they get started in it. The initial baptism into being an Over the Road truck driver is sometimes shocking to so many of us because we have completely false expectations of what to expect. Add on top of that the fact that when we first get started at this most of us are woefully unprepared to be efficient at performing at a level of true competence at a job that is different from anything we've ever experienced before. We see it all the time, drivers struggling to establish themselves at this career. We understand it fully, and empathize with them too. Not all of us are cut out for being Over The Road drivers, but one of the rewarding benefits of staying with these large carriers which are often derided with the title of being "starter companies," is that they often have so many different options for you to explore. Glad Hand has struggled at times, and was always open with us about his trials. The one thing he didn't do was take the approach of so many greenhorns at this and start blaming his company for how bad they were and how they had set him up for failure. He stuck with it and has now found a niche that he is enjoying. He may change his mind after awhile, but there will still be other things that he can try within his company.
I also wanted to point out how there are so many different types of dedicated accounts available to drivers who have a little bit of experience under their belts. I am on a dedicated account that still feels like an Over The Road job. I happen to love being Over The Road, and in just the past few weeks I was dispatched from upstate New York to San Diego, CA, then to Miami, Florida from California. You can't ask for anything more Over The Road like than that!
There are a lot of opportunities out here, but the folks who give up and quit so quickly never learn about them, and they keep themselves from being able to get to the point where they can not only learn about the many ways to enjoy this career, but they also keep themselves from qualifying for those positions. If you stick with this stuff you can develop yourself into a professional level, and you can try some different options. There are many ways to be successful at this, and there are plenty of opportunities to make more money than the average driver out here.
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
I did Walmart in Nebraska. Crete has the dedicated there. I did it for a year and 2 weeks ago switched to national to see how that would be. So far it's going ok but must admit I miss the old Walmart fleet. I agree with you on free form messaging. I just walked in and talk to dispatch if I had a concern or the fleet managers door was always open. None of that now. It was also nice once you learned all the routes and where the good places to stop were. Now I have to do a lot more trip planning. To early in my national gig to really decide wich I prefer. Going to give it a couple months out here to make final decision.
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Really enjoying this account. Always have something to do and the office staff is very accessible, so accessible I havent sent a free form message since coming on.
I realize now why so many things are stressed, such as doing otr , staying on for a year, etc. I have found myself in situations that 2 months me would have hit something as well as just having stamina to run an account that wants us to burn up the clock. I think i have backed up a total of 20 or more times this week, way more than otr which may be 10 at most or a little more if I ended up doing a lot of short runs.
You have to find your niche and once you do, this job gets even better. It's awesome to see my state, there is so much to it that I have never seen before and it's nice to know shortcuts that are safe to take in a truck.
I now see why dedicated was pushed on me so much, it's a good deal especially at Swift with all the accounts we have.
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.