Arams Diary!!

Regardless, I truly hope he is happy and fine with his current decision. Jumping ship like that can only happen so many times until you are labeled by most companies that would give a new driver a chance to prove themselves. That I why I asked many questions to my recruiter and orientation staff as well. They gave me a chance, I'm taking it and running with it with 100% commitment.

I truly wish you the best of luck Aram!

Who needs netflix when there's a new and exciting episode of "Rookie/Training Drama" every other week!!

In all seriousness, I am interested in what the outcome is with Total. I seem the around occasionally, but definitely not as much as I see Stevens...

Read what I wrote, I said........

...... I don't mind staying at a job to avoid red flags on my resume that says I can't persevere. But I left before doing that.

Errrr....no you didn't! That's exactly what you did do! First red flag now raised.

That reminded me of my first day of orientation at Schneider; we walked into the class room and the first thing that was brought up was tomorrow's date on the board. The instructor quoted, "That is your official hire date," before we even put pen to paper.

Who needs netflix hahha

ive missed you. where u been?

Who needs netflix hahha

ive missed you. where u been?

Everywhere and anywhere east if the Rockies. Been lurking for quite awhile, but too many other things to occupy my minimal downtime of late (laptop and unlimited wifi). Currently up in Tewksbury MA at a Demoulas Super Markets DC. All I have to say right now is to hell with 95 in NYC on a Sunday... made me not make it all the way here last night for my AM appt.

Aram, I just read through this again, and look at this little gem you put out there to justify your actions...

Why stay somewhere where I'll be miserable?

That is very illustrative of why we keep hammering away this point with you. The idea that it's going to be "the company" you work for that will determine your success or happiness at this career seems to be a real motivating factor with you.

Again, I am curious what are your plans when you start discovering things at Total Transport that don't align with your expectations? Will you just decide to call some of your other buddies for guidance, because you don't want to stay somewhere that you'll be miserable?

It's gonna happen. There are going to be days you are going to be shaking your head in unbelief that you chose to do this. You've set a precedent already. Will it become your standard approach? You have a lot more to think about than you realize.

I found this entire thread extremely interesting for the simple fact that the OP made a claim about trucks coming from Mexico and anything illegal on that truck was on them, the driver.

One of my very first posts on this forum was my introduction to everyone here, and my experience with driving for a living (albeit not a truck), doing courier work. I took the jobs up to Canada, and one time had to go in the same inspection line as all the truckers. To make that story as brief as possible, I was told to pull around back, and they went over my entire vehicle with a fine toothed comb. They then approached me and asked me what i was carrying, did I open the contents, and by the way, they needed to swab my driver's license as well, to look for any drug residue.

On that particular delivery, I was not allowed to open the contents, so no, I did not know if what was inside the packages was actually computer parts. I was then informed that drug sellers liked to use unsuspecting couriers to transport their product, and if it was not computer parts, if it was in fact drugs, I was responsible...and in a lot of trouble. I understand the feeling you get when you hear something like that. It was computer parts, Canadian Customs was teaching me a lesson. I was very grateful for that lesson.

But the differences are that 1) I picked my packages up from the airport, and I won't name specific airline names, but the one I picked it up from was notorious for NOT CHECKING the package before they put in on a plane. I presume that truck drivers are allowed to be aware of what is going into their trucks as they don't tend to pick up from airports? And you have to do a full inspection of your vehicle before you drive, each time, is that not correct? My "inspection" of my car was "Do I have enough gas?" because it was my car. 2) I did not turn around and leave the company because drug sellers like to use unsuspecting couriers to transport their product. What I did was discuss what happened with the company I was contracted with. From that point on, at no time did I not know what was going into my car.

Yes, you are responsible for the load, but you also have things that you have to do all the time anyway that should protect you from finding yourself in a situation regardless of whether there is something illegally stowed away somewhere on the truck/trailer or not. As someone who has been through the training and was ready to get out there and start driving, you, OP, should know that.

As I read more, all I could think was: Methinks thou doth protest too much.

If you're so sure that you made the right decision, and you're so sure that you have valid reasons for it, it shouldn't matter what anyone else thinks, and you certainly wouldn't take it personally.

I do hope you have success. I come to this forum for the good advice that I sure as hell am not finding anywhere else on the internet, the PLETHORA of tools that this place has given us, and to read success stories. Everyone wants you to be successful whether they've been on the road for 30 years, 30 days, or are still working on getting their permits. You knew that, you still know that, and what you also know is that the best thing about this place is: You. Will. Get. The. Truth. Even if it makes you uncomfortable. Oh well. When my time comes, I fully expect to be told I've made boneheaded mistakes - and that's okay. You don't learn otherwise. Your success counts on honesty from seasoned drivers, and honesty from yourself to yourself.

I presume that truck drivers are allowed to be aware of what is going into their trucks

Yes we do, however, if it's a presealed trailer, there's no way of verifying that inside the trailer is legal unless we get permission from the shipper to look inside. I picked up a preloaded out of a DC in Laredo TX and had to go through the xray machine at the northbound inspection site. I already inspected I could see on the outside, but I had no idea what was inside. I got through no problems.

But that does a question. Would it be professional to ask a shipper to inspect the inside of a preloaded trailer? In the eyes of the shipper, I would see that as a, "do you not trust us" kind of thing.

Would it be professional to ask a shipper to inspect the inside of a preloaded trailer? In the eyes of the shipper, I would see that as a, "do you not trust us" kind of thing.

It's rare they're going to allow it because they've already filled out the paperwork with the seal number on it. They'd have to go back and reprint the paperwork. If they cross out the seal number and write in a new one it's going to raise questions with the receiver of the load.

I wouldn't say it's unprofessional to ask, but I wouldn't expect them to oblige. If you have reason to believe there's a problem or you need to install load bars or straps then you can ask them to open it up. If they won't then it's up to you to decide how to handle that situation.

There are several vendors we pick-up from that initially "yard" seal the load. I always roll-up the door and shine my flashlight inside just to "eyeball" the load when given the option. If something looks amiss I'll climb-in, to take a closer look.

There has been only one time I found an issue requiring intervention from the vendor/shipper before I took the load.

The vendor provides a second, road seal I then lock into the door latch.

Wow, buncha conspiracy theorists in here huh. Let me break it down for you negative Nancy's, at Steven's I was gonna make .33 cpm , at prime, in a lightweight truck you'd make .42? In a normal truck .40cpm...not to sure though, I'm sure rainy could shed some light on that. At total I'm starting out at .38cpm, in 90 days I'll be at .43 cpm in a condo truck...so how exactly did I take less money?...also my buddy got his referral, all of it. His name is rashaun wormely, if you're that eager to know if he got the whole thing or not shoot me a PM I'll give you his number and you can text him. He'll send you a pic of his check. But anyway I got nothing to prove to ya'll, yall dont pay my Bill's or help in any way. If anything past month yall have been the biggest downers I've ever seen in my life lol, plain ol ridiculous. And Brett, it sounds fishy to you cuz I wanted to take my car? Huh, wtf dude you're just looking for **** to stir up, good God you sound so ridiculous. Gtown, there's absolutely nothing on my dac report so your scare tactics s are also ridiculous. Anyways all the negative bull**** aside, my training with total was nothing short of amazing. My trainer was/is one of the best human beings I've ever met, he gave me so much knowledge as he got so much experience. He even took me to his house on 2 occasions to meet his family, eat some real food and get some great rest. He was an owner op so we were always moving, always on the go. The first day he told me, "as long as you wanna drive I won't pull you out of the seat." And he was true to his word. My first day I could only manage 6 hours, but after getting some rest, I did 10 hour days almost all the time depending on the load. Everything he said, I wrote down and I mean everything, I got a notebook with 5 pages of his advice. I upgraded today. I had to do a 20 min road test, a 45 at a truck stop and a 90. Did both of them successfully and got my own truck today. 2017 freightliner. Out of 14 students I was the first one out today, the guy behind me has 12 hours left to go. My trainer and I got pulled into an orientation class to speak to the new students and I took full advantage of it by saying everything I could to these guys to get them ready. I'm at a hotel now resting up but tomorrow i get to take my load back to virginia and get 5 days hometime after being away for 40 days now. If ya'll gonna be a bunch of negative Nancy's consider not even replying cuz you're negativity is really not worth my time. To all you student drivers, trust me it won't be the end of the world if you switch companys and you feel they're not right for you, trust your gut. I had 4 other students that had left and came to total and they're all doing fine. Peace out yall!!