6+ Month Update

Hey everyone, hope you all are doing well. Just want to post a progress report and thank Trucking Truth again for helping me prepare for this great career. I’ve been popping in and reading but haven’t had much to contribute to the conversations.

To start, I’m still with ABF and plan to retire from here in 20 or so years. I have 7 months and a few days of safe driving under my belt at this point. I started out on a 4pm dock/line haul shift filling in for a guy out with an injury, my body never adjusted to those hours. Felt exhausted all the time. When he returned I was moved to an 8:30am on call, P&D shift for about a month, hours I was used to working, felt normal again. Due to new hires, a few more bids were added and other shifts opened up. I’m now on a 12pm P&D shift and love it. Being an early riser, my mornings are free to run errands, see the Doc or dentist, ETC… Plus, this shift keeps me off of lift gate, ground delivery work 99% of the time. Having an old back injury, I wasn’t a fan of rolling pallets off the trailer onto a lift gate and up peoples driveways and such. Sooner or later I was bound to tweak that old injury doing that multiple times a day.

On this current bid, I pretty much just bump docks for the P&D and run a lot of drop/hook, bulk deliveries to and from distribution centers. They added a 6pm dock bid so I’m out on the road more and don’t have to work the dock to often which loses me a little OT but protects my back for the long term, fair trade in my opinion. I also drop and pick up a good deal of our U-Pack residential moving pups which can be pretty challenging trip planning and driving through neighborhoods.

Only down side to my current shift is I’m in a different truck pretty much every day so I can’t leave any essentials in the truck like windex, gloves, jackets, safety vests, etc… I like that I bounce back and forth from manuals and auto’s all time, keeps me in constant practice shifting . My shift averages between 9-11 hours a day. I run about a 1000 or so miles a week. I know that looks like peanut miles to OTR drivers but its quite a bit running local with multiple stops and suburban Philly traffic.

Thanks for reading and Happy Holidays to all!!!

Great update Dave!

It's great to hear from you Dave! I'm glad to see you are doing well.

Great to see everything is going well for you DD! Don't be a stranger.

Only down side to my current shift is I’m in a different truck pretty much every day so I can’t leave any essentials in the truck ...

ProTip: Find a duffel or backpack with plenty of compartments and pack your supplies where you can find them. If everything is already in your bag it's easier to not leave anything at home when you go to work or behind when you're done.

ProTip: Find a duffel or backpack with plenty of compartments and pack your supplies where you can find them.

I do carry a backpack with all my stuff, would just be nice to slip seat the same truck so I could leave a few things in there. I also seem to get stuck fueling the trucks, I hit the truck stop a few times a week. Clean a lot of windows and mirrors as well, I can’t stand the glare from a hazy windshield, I like em crystal clear.

The accountants out in Arkansas must think I’m the dedicated terminal fuel guy when my corporate card statement hits their desk

Glad you are liking it so far, amazing how much of a difference adding a few spots can make for you isn't it?

I do carry a backpack with all my stuff, would just be nice to slip seat the same truck so I could leave a few things in there. I also seem to get stuck fueling the trucks, I hit the truck stop a few times a week. Clean a lot of windows and mirrors as well, I can’t stand the glare from a hazy windshield, I like em crystal clear.

My first 2 years I was a nomad as well driving different trucks almost everyday. I would fill up the truck I used when I getback, only to get back in it the next night and find it empty again the next day.

Life gets better once you have a assigned truck.

Life gets better once you have a assigned truck.

All the senior morning shift guys and the night line haul guys have or share assigned tractors. The rest of us just get whatever truck is there due to someone having off or one of the night shifts that will be back close to our start time so its a crap shoot most of the time. I’m currently 25 of 29 on the list. We have about 20 tractors, I’ve never took an accurate count. 4 guys don’t drive very often if at all anymore by choice, they just work the dock and keep everything in order at the terminal

Congratulations on the 6 months, Dave. Look on the bright side, at least you're not moving a microwave and a TV.

I got my own truck in September. It's a 2016 KW and at the time it had just under 800k on the odometer and needed a lot of minor fixes. It's almost perfect, though. Last week, I was driving along and I had to tap my brakes. I noticed the air pressure stayed at under 100 psi... I pull into a rest area and it's full at 3 PM. I don't know how that's possible, just my luck. That also required some braking and now I'm beeping. I managed to pull into one of our yards just before the brakes locked. The shop guys pulled the tractor out and I was given a spare, so I spent a week shuffling all of my stuff in and out.

I finally got my truck back and now it pulls hard to the right. I had to put it out of service at my building and I'm still shuffling my stuff around.

We have a few guys that constantly bid to stay on the dock. I never counted them at bid time when I was trying to figure out what my options were going to be. In my head, it was like I was 2 or 3 spots higher than what I am.

I'm glad you're enjoying yourself and keep us posted.

Sounds like things are working well for you, Dave!

Thanks for the update.