Bird One

Had my fingerprints done this past Wednesday and to my surprise I got an email back from the TSA Thursday saying everything was clear. Knocked out my hazmat test same day. I think I’ll be there around 11 to 1130 on Tuesday.

Thats really fast for hazmat took me like 2 weeks. We get all the Hazmat paperwork from dispatch so like half that stuff on the test you'll never need.

I usually am back by noon if I don't get get sent to Chicago or Indy. If you are around I can introduce you to who ever is working, they usually give referrals the first look.

Also I don't know if you heard but they are starting people at 61 cpm , which is 6 cpm more than I started at.

Surprisingly I got my hazmat back in like 3 days. I didn’t know till I called them.

Thats really fast for hazmat took me like 2 weeks. We get all the Hazmat paperwork from dispatch so like half that stuff on the test you'll never need.

I usually am back by noon if I don't get get sent to Chicago or Indy. If you are around I can introduce you to who ever is working, they usually give referrals the first look.

Also I don't know if you heard but they are starting people at 61 cpm , which is 6 cpm more than I started at.

Yeah Bobcat that would be great man if you’re willing to do that. I can wait and get there at noon.

I think you did mention that raise before. That is very promising.

By the way. I was finally able to talk to an od driver today in person who was on his 30. He’s been with them for 5 years. Out of the Chicago terminal. Runs up to the dells. He told me what he makes after taxes. Said he wasnt sure off the top of his head what he makes before. And man unless he has a ton of deductions I think you are making significantly more than him.

Would that be because you have a higher mileage route? Could he make more if he wanted too? It made me have questions about what how the pay works exactly.

I'll post here when I know where they send me.

I'm not sure where they meet in the dells but it might only be like a 400 mile run. Chicago is hard to gain seniority aso it's probably the best he can get for now. For my terminal they say 3 years for a decent run Chicago is more like 7+.

What questions about pay did it give you?

Well I guess what I curious about is you’re pay strictly limited to the mileage of your route? I know you’ve said you can work a 6th day is that about it? If I remember right you made good money that first year on that Fort Wayne route.

You get drop and hooks at $2 each step, so for hooking or dropping a set it's $8 each time unless you are on the clock and those add up fast. I just I had $100 from that alone last week, I checked a random paycheck from a couple months ago and had $172 for that week.

I'm up in Wisconsin right now tomorrow I'll go back to my pay stubs from last year and pull the information for when I ran Fort Wayne.

Technically I never had a Fort Wayne run, I was on the extra board and was just sent there a lot so that skews my number a bit

Fort Wayne is 187 miles each way, usually you'll have to go a different terminal from there, most of the time Chicago but possibly someplace else which can add a significant amount of miles to your day. In addition to the extra drops and hooks.

If you don't mind doing dock work the Fort Wayne run might require it you'd get paid your normal driver rate.

My paychecks for the weeks I mostly did Fort Wayne seem to be around 1,200 but that was at 57 cpm and only 1.50 per drop or hook instead of $2 like it is now.

Yeah I’d probably be fine doing dock work at that hourly rate. I wouldn’t mind that run at all to start. The driver I talked to the other day mentioned that run because one of the guys that ran it got fired for bringing a wrong trailer. But I’m guessing there is more to the story on that one.

Dispatch will love you if you work the dock and don't quit like the guy who had the run did last week.

In order to get fired for that he had to have done it before or had some other problems on his record. They won't fire you for pulling the wrong trailer 1 time, there are a few guys who have done it. I was all hooked up and about to leave when I noticed I had the wrong trailer, right numbers just in the wrong order.