It’s Been A Long Time And I Wanted To Comeback

I'm not familiar with the CA Bit inspection, so forgive me if I'm wrong here. But shouldn't you be keeping track of the registrations and inspections your truck needs yourself? I ask because those are all things I track myself. Registration, inspections, shop maintenance, HUT stickers, etc. all fall under my responsibility, and I schedule accordingly well in advance to avoid any delays or hiccups.

Turtle lays it out for us. Thank you sir!

This is how professionals deal with the problems that hamstring the new guys. I just gave a general explanation hoping to trigger some discussion or at least some thoughts for TCB to consider. It doesn't surprise me that TCB is from the Jurupa terminal. I have heard complaints about that place before. My point was that we learn to deal with the things that hinder other drivers. I worked for Western Express and did very well there. My peers did nothing but complain about the company and how they did things. I am quite sure TCB found himself in a similar environment at Jurupa. I learned how to communicate with my dispatcher at Western Express in ways that would make it easy for him to keep me busy and profitable. It made all the difference in the world for my success.

Turtle gave a great example and it was the very same thing I was thinking when I posted. My dispatcher never tells me when my truck needs to be serviced or inspected. It amazes him that I keep up with all that stuff. He has told me several times that I am his only driver who tells him when to schedule me for service or inspections. I do that because I know if I wait around for them to decide when to handle it I will inevitably be delayed unnecessarily. I know how busy the shop gets so I schedule stuff like that well ahead and make it work with my own timing for home time or a 34 hour reset. There are a thousand different things you (the driver) can do to make your life more easy and productive in this business, Don't expect your dispatcher to take care of all the details. Work them out so they make your schedule productive and enjoyable. A professional driver needs to be his own advocate.

I just had my first "B" service done on my truck since returning to the road. I was three weeks into driving again when I emailed my DM about getting me an appointment at a terminal I was going to be near for a break in a few days. My driver manager couldn't believe I knew the truck was due for service. I had only been in the truck for three weeks. I had just started back to work and been issued this truck. I told him one of the first things I did was talk with the shop director at the terminal that issued the truck to me and I inquired when it was last serviced. I knew the schedule that they service them on and therefore I knew when to get it done. It is handling the details of this business that can keep you being productive and content. It is no fun being a trucker if you are constantly being delayed unnecessarily. One of the best ways to keep yourself making good money is to learn how things work at your company and be a part of the oil that keeps things operating smoothly. It is easy to point out the problems and get disgusted with the way things seem to work for all the guys at the lower levels of productivity. It is far more fun to be Running With The Big Dogs because you knew how to handle the issues that everyone else is stumbling over.

Trucking is a great career, but it has a lot of problems. The guys who really go on to be successful at it are proactive about their careers. They recognize the issues and they react to them in ways that make them seem like minor distractions. Being a professional driver has a lot of little twists and turns to it. We learn how to handle ourselves out here in way that makes things go well for us. If we just keep moving to the next company hoping things will be better there, then we miss out on all the opportunities we have to learn to really be great at this.

I am not saying you shouldn't move on, but I am saying you are new to this and you really need to focus on how to improve your ability to function in an environment that you don't always understand. Knowing how things work and identifying how you can best work in that environment should be your highest priority in trucking. Most of us get that backwards. We tend to think the highest priority should be that we are with the right company. That is often why we struggle so much. We get focused on all the wrong things.

Moe, good to hear from you and glad you enjoy Marten.

TCB, for what it's worth, my son Michael gets his truck serviced in Jurupa and his DM always has an appointment for him to get it done. He's on a regional dedicated account going mostly to Utah (but does runs for other customers frequently) and will get routed to Jurupa with a load and often his home time up in Stockton area is after that. He's on a schedule of 12 days on and 2 days off for the past 9 months and still says he loves it.

The one thing I find a bit surprising is that he gets raises in guaranteed minimum weekly pay and CPM without any notice other than showing up in his check, unless he's just missing the message somehow. Presently at 63 CPM and guaranteed weekly pay of $1425. He drives a Kenworth T680 with APU and has his 18 pound dog "Ginger" keeping him company. To take a dog (no cats allowed), truck must have 150,000 or more miles on it so that means he will never have a new truck, but he's okay with that. He's presently at home with us on his first vacation (4 days) since starting his career 21 months ago.

Regional:

Regional Route

Usually refers to a driver hauling freight within one particular region of the country. You might be in the "Southeast Regional Division" or "Midwest Regional". Regional route drivers often get home on the weekends which is one of the main appeals for this type of route.

Dm:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

CPM:

Cents Per Mile

Drivers are often paid by the mile and it's given in cents per mile, or cpm.

OWI:

Operating While Intoxicated

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

Turtle lays it out for us. Thank you sir!

This is how professionals deal with the problems that hamstring the new guys. I just gave a general explanation hoping to trigger some discussion or at least some thoughts for TCB to consider. It doesn't surprise me that TCB is from the Jurupa terminal. I have heard complaints about that place before. My point was that we learn to deal with the things that hinder other drivers. I worked for Western Express and did very well there. My peers did nothing but complain about the company and how they did things. I am quite sure TCB found himself in a similar environment at Jurupa. I learned how to communicate with my dispatcher at Western Express in ways that would make it easy for him to keep me busy and profitable. It made all the difference in the world for my success.

Turtle gave a great example and it was the very same thing I was thinking when I posted. My dispatcher never tells me when my truck needs to be serviced or inspected. It amazes him that I keep up with all that stuff. He has told me several times that I am his only driver who tells him when to schedule me for service or inspections. I do that because I know if I wait around for them to decide when to handle it I will inevitably be delayed unnecessarily. I know how busy the shop gets so I schedule stuff like that well ahead and make it work with my own timing for home time or a 34 hour reset. There are a thousand different things you (the driver) can do to make your life more easy and productive in this business, Don't expect your dispatcher to take care of all the details. Work them out so they make your schedule productive and enjoyable. A professional driver needs to be his own advocate.

I just had my first "B" service done on my truck since returning to the road. I was three weeks into driving again when I emailed my DM about getting me an appointment at a terminal I was going to be near for a break in a few days. My driver manager couldn't believe I knew the truck was due for service. I had only been in the truck for three weeks. I had just started back to work and been issued this truck. I told him one of the first things I did was talk with the shop director at the terminal that issued the truck to me and I inquired when it was last serviced. I knew the schedule that they service them on and therefore I knew when to get it done. It is handling the details of this business that can keep you being productive and content. It is no fun being a trucker if you are constantly being delayed unnecessarily. One of the best ways to keep yourself making good money is to learn how things work at your company and be a part of the oil that keeps things operating smoothly. It is easy to point out the problems and get disgusted with the way things seem to work for all the guys at the lower levels of productivity. It is far more fun to be Running With The Big Dogs because you knew how to handle the issues that everyone else is stumbling over.

Trucking is a great career, but it has a lot of problems. The guys who really go on to be successful at it are proactive about their careers. They recognize the issues and they react to them in ways that make them seem like minor distractions. Being a professional driver has a lot of little twists and turns to it. We learn how to handle ourselves out here in way that makes things go well for us. If we just keep moving to the next company hoping things will be better there, then we miss out on all the opportunities we have to learn to really be great at this.

I am not saying you shouldn't move on, but I am saying you are new to this and you really need to focus on how to improve your ability to function in an environment that you don't always understand. Knowing how things work and identifying how you can best work in that environment should be your highest priority in trucking. Most of us get that backwards. We tend to think the highest priority should be that we are with the right company. That is often why we struggle so much. We get focused on all the wrong things.

Thank you for posting that, it got me to thinking about my own stuff that I've been somewhat slacking on staying up on. My last B service took me by surprise, but it seemed somehow early. My DM was flexible on it and got me in on it while I was taking a reset, but I should have definitely been paying attention more.

Our portal isn't always correct on milage for it. I'm also going to check all my permits in the book and log the expiration dates into my Google calendar. Also going to grab my 22 IFTA stickers. I got popped for that last summer, got off with a warning, but had been pestering my terminal (and everyone else's) for them.

I need to be more proactive instead of reactive on things for sure.