My First

First and foremost let me get out, I do love what I am doing. It is great. The privacy. The freedom. No boss looking over your shoulder. I mean, to an extent no boss at all. I drive when I want. Stop when I want.

As long as I make my pickups and deliveries, I am free to do just about what I want.

If I have the time and want to stop at a road side restaurant for lunch that hits my fancy. I stop.

Now, in saying all that. Let me get to the meat of my story.

I never realized, even with all my reading and searching, how unorganized that the trucking industry is. The trucking industry would give our federal government a run for it's money on how disorganized it is.

Let me rephrase that. SOME PARTS of the trucking industry. Since I have only been out here, just under a month, I shouldn't speak for the whole industry. But what little I have seen is whacky.

Forget all the stories I have already posted about my schooling I went too. Those are already on "paper" here in different places. Let me talk about the "real" world.

My first trip after getting my truck was suppose to be taking an empty home from when I picked up my truck. Well after getting my truck and getting ready, I send in my message, I am ready to roll home. I get an answer. We have changed your plans. We are going to give you a load close home so you won't have to dead head so far. OK. No big deal. Yeah right.

I get a message. After I drop my trailer, find an empty, if there is one and take it home. But do not bobtail without specific permission.

I get to my load and head down the highway. I am suppose to be home today, but plans change right.

Well a winter storm hits and I have to shutdown way early. No big deal, the load isn't to be delivered until 12/6. It is the day before Thanksgiving so I have tons of time.

I get to my drop. Not a soul insite. No guard. No one. And no empties. I spend the next 4 hours trying to convince the "weekend" DM that I am following orders from my regular DM. Don't these people talk to each other? Don't they read past Qualcomm messages? I guess not.

I have three hours yet to get home. In good weather. And I can't convince them to let me go. Finally, I called him. And I wasn't happy. In not so polite voice, I told him. I am running out of hours. I need you to find me and empty or let me bobtail home.

I get this response. Well, didn't you take your DM's response that if you didn't find an empty to go ahead and bobtail home. I said, NO. Right in his message it said, DON'T BOBTAIL WITHOUT SPECIFIC PERMISSION. That was a Qualcomm message.

The DM said, well, I guess you can go ahead and head home. After 4 hours. I was ready to shoot someone.

Not only am I going home for Thanksgiving, I am also going to change my drivers license over to my home state while I am there.

Now for part II of this fun story. And yes, there are more than 2 parts.

I get home. Have a great Thanksgiving except for the fact that I spend a whole day in a garage getting my truck worked on. But anyway, that is getting a little ahead of my story.

Monday, bright and early, I get to the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) to have my licensed changed. I have all the correct paperwork. I give it all to them.

Tuesday, while I am spending a day off my off time, I am setting in a lounge in a truck garage. I get a phone call from the DMV. Mr. XXXX can you please stop back into the office. There is a problem with your paperwork. I can't today, but first thing tomorrow I will be there.

Come to find out, which I never noticed before. There are 2 different dates on my physical forms. My card has one date and my long form has a different date.

To explain. The date we start school we are given a physical. That date goes on the long form. The date we get hired by Celadon, we have another drug screening done. That is the date that is put on the card. My DMV won't accept different dates. It has to be the same date.

Well after many many phone calls. And me worrying my arse off. What you don't know. Since I was in school longer than I should have been, my DL expired that Saturday. I had till Friday to get this worked out.

Well, it did get worked out. Late Thursday evening.

I had planned on going back to work on Friday, but with the screw up with my license, I send a Qualcomm message to hold off till the next Monday.

Now we come to part III.

Friday. After my license is corrected and I am good to go. I send another Qualcomm message that everything is fixed and I will be ready by 0800 Monday morning. No response. I wait for over an hour. Nothing. I send another message telling them of my home phone number. An email where I can be reached and my cell phone. Nothing.

Saturday I go back to my truck and send another message. Saying the same things. Wait for over an hour and still nothing.

Sunday, I send the same message plus I add, asking if there is anything in a preplan for me the next day. Nothing.

Monday morning. I get to my truck and start packing things away about 0730. There is a message waiting for me. I have a load.

CON'T. More in my next post.

Keep it safe out here, the life you save might be your own. Joe S

Joe, that is an easy month for your first month honestly. There is usually a lot more bs associated with that first month.

CON'T

Daniel, true, that was easy. But I am far from done.

Monday morning and my load. It was to be picked up the day before (Sunday). And it is to be delivered today (Monday) in two hours. 500 miles away.

I sent them a message saying I couldn't make that trip. They soon realized what they had done and unassigned me from it. In a little bit a second trip came across. I looked it over. Pickup in Columbus and take to NJ. It was tight but could be done so I accepted.

I had already reminded them I was bobtailing. I was sent my routing and fuel stop. Which was out of the way. And no information on picking up an empty. I asked for a change in routing to take me close one of our drop yards to pick up a trailer. Not only could I pick up an empty, the route I wanted to travel was closer.

Well they changed my route. Sent me an hour out of the way to find an empty. Now I am getting real close on time to even make this trip. One hour down to look for an empty. Then to my pickup point which the distance was also increased by the change.

I get to where the empty is suppose to be and a truck is already hooked to it. Now I have to wait till they find me another one. The time on my load is out the window. I resend a time update. The load is unassigned from me.

I wait for a while then they send me an hour in the other direction. That makes two hours out of the way. I finally get an empty, but I am out of hours. I stop at a close truck stop for the night. My DM is working on a load for me.

I get a load in a little bit. I am to deadhead all the way to NJ. Pickup the next afternoon by 1500. But my drop isn't till the next day at 2000. The drop is 5 hours away from the pickup point.

I get to my pickup point and get loaded. Due to weather and bad roads, it took me longer than I planned to get there. So now I have to shutdown again. About 30 minutes south of my pickup point.

I get my 10 hours and head out. In hopes that I can get unloaded early if I get there. No dice.

I get to Richmond with tons of time on my hands so I take another 10 hour break. I just had one 6 hours before. But if I don't take one, I will be out of hours when my delivery times comes up.

I have another load waiting. 30 minutes from my current load. But I can't load it till noon the next day. I tried to get my DM and Load Planners to change it, but they said it couldn't be done. This is an important point later.

I make it to my drop and get unloaded. After unloading, I go back to the yard and do another 10 hour break. Three 10 hour breaks in less than 48 hours.

The next day I get to my pickup point. I am advised that they loaded my load on another trailer the night before so now they have to unload it and load me. They wished I could have gotten there the night before. I could have been loaded and gone, but now we (they) have more work to do.

I didn't tell the guy that I tried to get there. That is not his concern. That live load and unload took 4 hours.

Dispatch is "yelling" at me on the Qualcomm. Why did it take so long. I politely told them, they had to unload and reload. They wished I had been there last night.

No response from dispatch.

I get to Columbus and drop my trailer. Pick up an empty and head to my next load. I am sent my fuel stop. Which is out of the way from my pickup point. But I didn't know that because no one could tell me how to get there in the first place. I get there, by back roads. I was totally glad that there were no cops around. I was on roads that I KNOW I shouldn't have been on.

If I would have had directions, I wouldn't have stopped at that fuel stop. I shouldn't have been anywhere near it. Now to go the right way, I would have had to back track at least 50 miles. I would have been late.

I get there. It again takes over 4 hours to get loaded. Qualcomm is yelling again. Who is responsible for taking so long. DUH. I don't load the trailer.

I now set in Joplin MO. It is 1730. I have been here for over an hour. My unload isn't until 1100am tomorrow morning. Then I drive to Topeka to pickup a load. And hopefully they don't take 4 hours to unload or load me. If they do, there goes my 14 hours.

The load I pick up has a delivery window of 4 days. Less than 600 miles. I wanted to pick it up Tuesday morning so I would have a fresh clock and could take it the whole way in one shot. Nope. Has to be picked up tomorrow.

That ends my first "month" as a trucker. Not the lifestyle I would have wanted. I know there are plenty of times waiting on your truck to be loaded. But sometimes it seems that even the load planners are working against you.

From my view point it has not been a resounding success. I hope it gets better.

Keep it safe out here. The life you save might be your own. Joe S.

That's just how it is man. They don't know or trust you. They give you the terrible loads. Give it time and it will progressively get better. Don't expect to run like experienced drivers do anytime soon.

Be safe Joe, the life that you save might be your own!

Welcome to the world of trucking.

And you are still driving? Hum? Must be because you are a truck driver in heart and spirit.

That was a rough and crazy time. But it gets better! Kinda?

The great thing about trucking is that 'true-life' really is played out right before your eyes in a way no other person will see. A truck driver is in more situations in a day then most people are in 6 months. That's why it takes a special person to be able to do the job. You will put up with a lot of crap, see a great many a "crazy persons" and simply put, pull your hair out, shake your head at, and wonder why.....more times than anyone will ever believe. But they make for great stories.

Glad you are still with us. Enjoy your posts.

Be safe. God speed and traveling mercies.

Merry Christmas!

Yes, it will most definitely get better. Right now you have everything working against you, including the fact that you're new to the company and we're heading into Christmas.

Being new to the company means nobody knows you, nobody trusts you, and quite frankly nobody cares all that much about making sure you're taken care of because they have well-established drivers who are safe and reliable and they take care of them first. Once you've proven yourself and you develop a good relationship with a solid dispatcher then you'll be getting the preferential treatment and the new guys will be crying the blues. That's trucking. That's how it works. You have to put in the time, develop a great reputation, and develop important relationships within your company. That's when things will really start looking up for you.

Christmas is the other thing. You have a ton of drivers that are being "staged" to get runs going home. They're trying to keep people in certain areas to get them home on time. At the same time the slow season is beginning now and freight is going to get scarce in a big hurry. So there isn't as much to choose from as there was even a few weeks ago. Most of the retailers are fully stocked and ready to go for the final Christmas push.

Patience is everything. Give it time. Keep a great attitude and make sure you're hard working, safe, and reliable out there. Because ultimately what will push you into a position to get better loads and preferential treatment is your track record. In a few months you're going to be able to start calling dispatch and lower management when you need a favor and say, "Listen, I've proven myself. I'm always safe, I'm always on time, and I always do what you ask me to do without complaint. So it's time you guys start looking out for me a little bit. Keep me rolling and give me some gravy runs once in a while."

That's how you do it. Prove yourself. Kick a** out there. Then after a few months you can say, "Ok, I've proven myself. Now it's time you guys take care of me a bit better." And they will.

Ya know how people are always over at TheTruckersReport slamming every company in America for being no good? This is the kind of thing that happens. New drivers show up at a company and expect to run hard, get great runs, get instant attention on the Qualcomm , and have things go smoothly. When things don't go as expected a lot of people start getting bent out of shape. They start getting nasty with dispatch, making threats, cussin, and all that stuff. Before you know it they're on their way back to the terminal to turn in their keys, maybe voluntarily, maybe not. But soon after they're unemployed and sitting at TheTruckersReport telling the world to stay away from that company.

But as you're finding out, new drivers don't get treated like gold. It doesn't work that way straight out of the gate. It takes 3-6 months of stellar performance to get noticed at a big company. At some point you'll call dispatch or the bosses to let them know it's time you get better runs and more attention. They'll look up at their screen and say, "Hey, this Joe dude has a great record with us so far. Let's turn it up a notch for him." Then things will start rolling nicely for ya.

Whoa sounds like your being "broken" in pretty good:) Dont let it get to ya. "Thats truckin". You will learn to call your shippers and receivers. Sometimes you gotta be the dispatcher too. Perfect example: Yesterday I was scheduled to pick a load after my drop and knew I wouldnt make it the day before. I called 24/7 some 24 hours later to see if they rescheduled my pick but they had not so I called and rescheduled it myself. Then the rescheduled my drop til tomorriw but I got it dropped today at 1:30pm cause I called. Makes your life easier:)

Thanks RedGator and Brett for the encouragement.

I have thought more than once about calling myself. But we were told in no uncertain terms. The driver is to NEVER call a shipper or receiver themselves.

Now in saying that. I know of some drivers that do. But they have a few years under their belts here. My last trainer calls all the time if he is early. He almost never goes through his DM. And he told me, yeah he gets his hand slaps from times to time. But it has saved him countless hours of setting.

Being the new guy on the block, I am a little concerned that I will get more than just my hands slapped.

However. After my second 10 hour shutdown the other day, I was ready to call no matter what happened. LOL

And an update on my last trip. I was worried about having enough time to do the load today.

Funny thing. My regular DM called me first thing this morning. He gets in at 8am. My phone rang at 8:02. Joe, this is XXXX. Hey there. How are things going.

I have been looking over this load they gave you over the weekend. Can you do that toady? You won't be there till much later today. You might not have the hours. I told him. I tried to explain that to the weekend crew and I wanted to pickup on the 17th.

He said. Let me look into it. I will take care of it. About a half hour later I was unassigned from the load and given another one with better hours and more miles.

Go figure. Like the weekend people couldn't get me that same load???

I really like my M-F DM. My "regular" DM. It is the weekends and holiday crew I am not real fond of.

Every driver I have talked to here has told me. Get your regular DM to schedule through the weekend. Don't work with the weekend DM's if possible. And I have found out real fast why.

Well enough for tonight. 3am comes very early.

Keep it safe out here. The life you save might be your own. Joe S.

Every driver I have talked to here has told me. Get your regular DM to schedule through the weekend. Don't work with the weekend DM's if possible. And I have found out real fast why

That's true at pretty much every company in the U.S. Avoid weekend dispatch if at all possible. It's a nightmare.

And you're right - since you're new you'll want to lay low a bit when it comes to calling customers and breaking company policy. But pretty soon you'll have established yourself pretty well and you'll be doing that stuff on a regular basis.

I used to call customers all the time! I was constantly trying to move appointments forward to get loaded or unloaded early and I made significantly more money because of that. What I used to do when I called is say, "Hi, I'm with [comany name] and I was wondering if I could get our 2:00 appointment moved up to maybe 10:00?"

The key - don't tell em you're the driver. Some places won't care, but others only want to deal with your customer service personnel. I never said I was customer service, I just implied it. And I'm going to coin a new phrase, "If you implied, you ain't lied!"

Dumb...I know

The key - don't tell em you're the driver. Some places won't care, but others only want to deal with your customer service personnel. I never said I was customer service, I just implied it. And I'm going to coin a new phrase, "If you implied, you ain't lied!"

Dumb...I know

I love it. Great line.

Keep it safe out here, the life you save might be your own. Joe S.