Dealing With Adversities This Week

I’m in my second week solo and it’s been pretty rough the last couple days. My first week had some bumps along the way. I made some wrong turns, had a tough time backing a few times. At one shipper it took me longer to back into the dock than it did for them to load me. I had to figure out how to hook up to a trailer on an ice rink. It took me a while to figure it out. I ended up raising the landing gear a bit so I could slip under without bogging down, but not High hooking either. I ran out my clock and needed to call for personal conveyance. Had to call to fix HOS issues. I had several trips where I severely underestimated the timing of customer check in and drop and hooks All in all mistakes I can learn from and part of the learning curve.

This week however, has been a frustrating mess so far. Nothing out of the ordinary from what I’ve read here, just frustrating and happening all at once. I’m normally a refer driver, but on Sunday freight was light so I ended up pulling a van load for Monday morning delivery in Marionette, WI. No problem there. After dropping off Monday, my next load is ice cream cones coming out of Green Bay and delivering to Nestle In Fort Wayne. The cones don’t need refrigeration, but the instructions specify needing air suspension. All of our vans are spring ride. I called my FM to get direction on swapping out the trailers and she had to get with someone in planning to figure out what they want to do. They Finally decide to send me to our Appleton terminal to swap the van with a reefer. I drop in Appleton and the only empty refer in the yard has a glad hand lock on it indicating it needs repair. I ask maintenance for an eta and it’s waiting for parts, so no go there. I called my FM for direction and the best we could come up with was wait for one to show up. In the meantime, she was going to tru to find one for me. One of the instructors saw me looking for a trailer and mentioned that we usually have empty trailers at Jack’s pizza in Little Chute. I messaged my FM for permission to bobtail over there, it’s about 20 minutes away. She replied, “go for it I’ll add it to the workflow”. Cool, off I go and by golly, there were three empties just begging to be loaded up somewhere. I got hooked up and loaded. I started the day with about 6 hours on my clock, so, I figured with the short runs, I should be able to make it to South Bend and deliver early Tuesday with plenty of time on my clock to make my delivery and pickup and get at least 1/2 way back to Aurora, IL to drop off late Tuesday. Well, with the trailer chase, I made it All the way to Sheboygan, not exactly whet I had planned. So, I had to get on the road at 2:00 to make my appointment on Tuesday burning up 6 hours of my clock for the day. Delivery was a drop and hook , but the Nestle office tells me the drop yard is 3 miles away, gives me an address and says to google map it. Well, guess what, my google map route has me turning on a road with a no truck sign, only I don’t see the sign until I’m already in the turn. Luckily there was a Pepsi DC Right on the corner and I was able to park and call in for a truck safe route to the drop yard. When I enter my info for my new trailer I get an error on the PC. I call in to my FM again and apparently the system thinks that the trailer is supposed to be somewhere else. So I had to wait for that to be straightened out.

My next pickup is only 15 miles away, but, by the time I’m loaded and on my way, I only have 30 minutes left on my 70. So I had to backtrack 15 miles to the nearest truck stop to park it for the night. The next morning I do another D&H and head to Geneva to get loaded. The load in Geneva was supposed to be pre-loaded but isn’t even started yet. 4 hours later, I’m on my way but now late for my next appointment (it’s a two-stop load) I had already talked to my FM about the timing she said we’d probably incur a late fee, but obviously not our fault. This is where things get really crazy. To be continued...

Alright, so far the wild goose chase for a trailer caused me to go from a plan if being early for the next several appointments to now scrambling to make it to the appointments. Now, my pre-load turning into a live load has caused me to be late. My next stop is Berkshire Cold storage in Chicago near Wrigley Feild. It looked tight on the map, but nothing could prepare me for the real thing. I pulled onto the street the facility is on and it was pandemonium. There are trucks parked all along both sides of a 2 lane road. Several trucks are double parked making it a very tight squeeze to get past. Trucks are trying to come in and out so there’s a now trucks having to back up so the other can get through. In total there must have been more than 25 trucks waiting for docks. Meanwhile, trucks are still trying to get into already tight docks while avoiding the parked trucks. There is just no room to move. I looked like a clown car parade mixed with a rodeo.

Here is a picture of the road leading into the place

I checked in and was told I needed a $300 check for the late fee. I had to call that in and they in turn had to call the customer for approval. I also told them about the situation and told them I’d update the ETA once I was unloaded. With that squared away, I went back in, delivered the check and was told, we’ll call you when we have a dock.

It looked like there was a spot to turn around at the end of the docks but I couldn’t see for sure, I decided with the trucks parked every which way, I better walk over first so I don’t get stuck with no way out. It looks like there’s enough room so back to the truck I go. As I started to get going in there was someone turning around. Once he gets pointed back out, he backs in to park, making my tight turning space even tighter. I got around but it was so tight The rear fairing of my tractor is almost touching the side of the trailer. I finally finish the turn and when I look at the entrance ( which is Now one way due to the double-parked trucks) Has two trucks trying to head in. I couldn’t go back and they couldn’t go forward. I talked to the two drivers and they agreed they had to back up so I could get out so they could re-enter to turn around. Once I got turned around I found an out of the way spot along the side of the road and settled in for what I knew was going to be a long night.

As I waited I watched some of the other folks backing in to see if I could figure out a plan for when it was my turn. I watched one driver spend 45 minutes and still not get even close. He got out to look for the millionth time and he honestly looked like he was going to cry and I don’t blame him one bit. I was having a panic attack just knowing that I was going to have to figure it out as well. He finally got in with the help of two spotters.

I checked in at 3:00 pm. At 2:00 am I get the call to move it into a dock. I pulled back the window shades to find that the area had cleared out considerably. Thankfully I had enough room to back in without too much trouble. I needed every bit of space available so I don’t know what I would have done with parked vehicles in the way. It didn’t take them long to upload their few pallets and get me on the way.

It’s now 2:40 and I figured, I’m up might as well drive, I can still make it to Cincinnati by 11:00. I got about two hours down the road and the lack of sleep hit me like a ton of bricks. I tried everything I knew of and couldn’t shake it off. I pulled over at the next truck stop, messaged my FM with my situation and punched the ETA back to noon.

Thursday, has been back to more normal and minor problems. I’m on the road for another week. Hopefully things will stay a more on the sane side for the next several days.

I don't know yah bud and nor am I currently even a CDL holder, in fact I feel like one of those wannabes who hangs around the arena or the stadium all the time.

BUT I can understand things not going your way, been alot of that in my life lately. So let me just give you a internet pat on the back a smiley to cheer you up

I’m in my second week solo and it’s been pretty rough the last couple days. My first week had some bumps along the way. I made some wrong turns, had a tough time backing a few times. At one shipper it took me longer to back into the dock than it did for them to load me. I had to figure out how to hook up to a trailer on an ice rink. It took me a while to figure it out. I ended up raising the landing gear a bit so I could slip under without bogging down, but not High hooking either. I ran out my clock and needed to call for personal conveyance. Had to call to fix HOS issues. I had several trips where I severely underestimated the timing of customer check in and drop and hooks All in all mistakes I can learn from and part of the learning curve.

This week however, has been a frustrating mess so far. Nothing out of the ordinary from what I’ve read here, just frustrating and happening all at once. I’m normally a refer driver, but on Sunday freight was light so I ended up pulling a van load for Monday morning delivery in Marionette, WI. No problem there. After dropping off Monday, my next load is ice cream cones coming out of Green Bay and delivering to Nestle In Fort Wayne. The cones don’t need refrigeration, but the instructions specify needing air suspension. All of our vans are spring ride. I called my FM to get direction on swapping out the trailers and she had to get with someone in planning to figure out what they want to do. They Finally decide to send me to our Appleton terminal to swap the van with a reefer. I drop in Appleton and the only empty refer in the yard has a glad hand lock on it indicating it needs repair. I ask maintenance for an eta and it’s waiting for parts, so no go there. I called my FM for direction and the best we could come up with was wait for one to show up. In the meantime she was going to tru to find one for me. One of the instructors saw me looking for a trailer and mentioned that we usually have empty trailers at Jack’s pizza in Little Chute. I messaged my FM for permission to bobtail over there, it’s about 20 minutes away. She replied “go for it I’ll add it to the workflow”. Cool, off I go and by golly there were three empties just begging to be loaded up somewhere. I got hooked up and loaded. I started the day with about 6 hours on my clock, so, I figured with the short runs, I should be able to make it to South Bend and deliver early Tuesday with plenty of time on my clock to make my delivery and pickup and get at least 1/2 way back to Aurora, IL to drop off late Tuesday. Well, with the trailer chase, I made it All the way to Sheboygan, not exactly whet I had planned. So, I had to get on the road at 2:00 to make my appointment on Tuesday burning up 6 hours of my clock for the day. Delivery was a drop and hook , but the Nestle office tells me the drop yard is 3 miles away, gives me an address and says to google map it. Well, guess what, my google map route has me turning on a road with a no truck sign, only I don’t see the sign until I’m already in the turn. Luckily there was a Pepsi DC Right on the corner and I was able to park and call in for a truck safe route to the drop yard. When I enter my info for my new trailer I get an error moon the PC. I call in to my FM again and apparently the system thinks that trailer is supposed to be somewhere else. So I had to wait for that to be straightened out.

My next pickup is only 15 miles away, but, by the time I’m loaded and on my way, I only have 30 minutes left on my 70. So I had to backtrack 15 miles to the nearest truck stop to park it for the night. The next morning I do another D&H and head to Geneva to get loaded. The load in Geneva was supposed to be pre loaded but isn’t even started yet. 4 hours later, I’m on my way but now late for my next appointment (it’s a two stop load) I had already talked to my FM about the timing she said we’d probably incur a late fee, but obviously not our fault. This is where things get really crazy. To be continued...

Hey Wild-Bill,

Hang in there, man! This is rookie hell you're going through. It's a right of passage. Everyone goes through it. It sounds to me like you're handling it fine. In a few months, things will go far more smoothly for you.

I can assure you this is the most difficult stage of your entire career. The learning curve is the steepest it will ever be. You're learning so fast right now your head is spinning. Things will be better soon.

The big thing I worry about at this stage is your mental state. Stay positive! Believe in yourself and trust that all of this is just part of the process. This is not how trucking will always be. It gets much easier.

Try to understand everything that's going on and always look for ways to get better, but don't look to place blame for everything that happens. At this stage, whether it seems that way or not, most of the problems you'll have are because of your lack of experience, even though it may often seem like it's dispatch or the customers or bad luck that's causing most of your problems.

Some people will start placing blame for everything that doesn't go smoothly on their company. They don't realize that before long they'll know so much more about trucking that they will avoid most of these problems altogether.

So don't let anything sour your attitude. Stay positive, keep a cool head at all times, learn from everything you do, and trust that things will get much easier over the next few months. You'll look back on all this and laugh. You'll see brand new drivers and you'll think, "My God I'm glad I'll never be in that stage of my career again. That poor guy!"

Stay with it, man. You're just paying your dues right now. Everything will work out fantastic. Things will get easier, I promise.

Wild Bill, after reading this last night all I could do was laugh! Not laughing at you, but laughing because I can look back a few years ago when I had similar experiences myself. As Brett points out, keep the faith! It DOES get easier as time goes by, you'll get more skilled at backing, and eventually you'll look back on these fond memories.

The first couple of months solo can be referred to as "the times that try men's souls" because they are! You're going to question everything: dispatch, shippers and receiving, other drivers, directions, and yourself. I promise you've already wondered if this is worth it, working so hard for so little? No matter how little you seem to be accomplishing right now, you are learning and storing a great deal of knowledge and experience during this time.

Stay positive and laugh at yourself (it beats crying!) and trust that it will get better. All you need is time and patience.

Wild Bill as I read your posts all I could think off was things I got into at that stage of my career. Espically the trailer chasing. As has been said, it will get much easier as you build experience and confidence.

I agree with Brett sounds like you handled it all well, up to and including recognizing when to stop driving. Most folks at your level don’t do nearly as well. Congrats sir!!!!

There will always be days you question if this career is worth it. Only you can answer that for yourself. As you can see many of us always answer yes when we ask ourselves that question. Keep the faith.

Wild-Bill's detailed reports serve now to amplify what I've been reading through in terms of "rookie rough spots" in the months since I joined this forum. PackRat, I'll couple with that the further-down the non-rookie road, less-than-stellar recent experiences you've been posting in your daily journal...

In sum, Wild-Bill brings much to the table in terms of potential to succeed and many people will identify with that..... yet, these realities do present great challenge in the absence of a really well-prepared mindset.

I believe that in a similar position, without advance knowledge and preparation, I'd be pretty vulnerable to severe discouragement. I'm thanking my lucky stars to be receiving the benefit of the support, encouragement and rational explanations that are the mission of this site.

And not for nothin', but the lessons inevitably paint a broad brush and affect more generalized life attitudes..... I'm feeling really grateful and for the third time today, I'm posting here.