Profile For Rad

Now that’s what I’m talking about, Banks!! Sheesh wish I would have known about them earlier. I’m gonna check them all out. I can still apply. It seems everyone want to just throw me keys and put me in a truck nowadays anyway. Hahaha…bad joke.

Last I checked with , Estes they didn’t have anything available. Old dominion looks very promising. They want 2 years ltl experience. All I have is 24 hours of school big bro and about 600 unofficial highway miles under my belt so far. I’m as green as they come, but I think I’m worth the time putting into. 🤷🏼‍♂️ I’ll see what’s up.

No disappointment here, or any negative feelings for that matter.

You're new and inexperienced. The most important thing for you right now is a company that would be willing to eat your mess ups because they understand you're new, not a company that's willing to take a risk because they're desperate.

I'm not telling you to go OTR. I didn't go OTR, I went straight local and have no regrets. I didn't want to leave my family for weeks at a time and even if I did, wifey wasn't having it. I don't want you to make the same mistake you made and the only thing that changes is the name on the truck.

Did you go to a truck driving school and get a 160 hour certificate? If you did, you may want to consider old dominion. They're hiring in Brooklyn, I think the building is right under the BQE by the Meeker Morgan exit (Humboldt McGuiness if you're coming from the other side) and they're a fantastic company. No guarantees, but worse they can do is say no. There's also New Penn in Maspeth and I think Estes has a building in the Bronx. All decent-good companies and you'll be in good hands.

No disappointment here, or any negative feelings for that matter.

You're new and inexperienced. The most important thing for you right now is a company that would be willing to eat your mess ups because they understand you're new, not a company that's willing to take a risk because they're desperate.

I'm not telling you to go OTR. I didn't go OTR, I went straight local and have no regrets. I didn't want to leave my family for weeks at a time and even if I did, wifey wasn't having it. I don't want you to make the same mistake you made and the only thing that changes is the name on the truck.

Did you go to a truck driving school and get a 160 hour certificate? If you did, you may want to consider old dominion. They're hiring in Brooklyn, I think the building is right under the BQE by the Meeker Morgan exit (Humboldt McGuiness if you're coming from the other side) and they're a fantastic company. No guarantees, but worse they can do is say no. There's also New Penn in Maspeth and I think Estes has a building in the Bronx. All decent-good companies and you'll be in good hands.

This is most definitely a stepping stone. I originally wanted to go through Schneider’s training program. I sent them quite a few emails and applications. I wanted to try intermodal. They had a few other interesting accounts as well. To my surprise, they said I didn’t have any experience. I told them but you have training opportunities right here on your website. They told me that I already had my license and that I needed to get my license through them in order to take advantage of that opportunity. I was like sheesh, ok no problem. He told me to get at least 3 months. So that has been my hurdle. They have plenty of nice careers here in the city. I live next to these ports and plus I think that stuff is kinda cool. Go into a port, pick up a load and head to a terminal, repeat . Most of that stuff is M-F. I’ve filled out all of the applications, prime , CR England ,etc and they are all ready. I really don’t want to live in a truck, but have been prepared to do so as a last result. I know you guys are all pro OTR, I think it’s great. But my son, just is everything to me. Like I don’t think you guys understand. He truly is my best friend and I really can’t fix my self to be away from him like that. I’m almost kinda sad to be away for these 12-14 hour days. We really do everything and always find new adventures together. He is a true blessing. Anyways, so yeah Jb hunt was another. They had a nice rite aid account m-f $300 a day. I’m like that’s right up my alley. But I need experience to even talk to any of these companies. I personally would like to get more comfortable with my backing. I back like an old man , especially on weird angles.

Yeah that dump truck outfit was an opportunity on Craigslist. I told him straight up, I have never drove a dump truck in my life and don’t have any experience besides about 300 miles of driving. He said can you start tomorrow I was like ok. Then boom here I am driving a 117,000lb Mack truck. I really did enjoy that truck. I was like wow I can do this. Everything was going well, until I started smoking on the way back. When I fully inspected the other truck, which was new. It needed an oil change and had 3 flats on the inside. So I couldn’t tell you what was wrong with the first or why that happened. I really believed they had little elves that came at night to service the truck. I mean that’s what I was led to believe. Your paperwork was in your truck and I was told your being watched. I was just going with the flow and was just focused on driving. Anyways learned a big lesson after that episode. So again the plan is to get these 3-6 months and hopefully be able to go through Schneider’s orientation and secure an account. Next would be jb hunt or an outfit like that. If I find a nice dumpster opportunity you guys already know what it is. I like those Mack trucks. I think I fell in love with that. But we will see. I know you guys are ****ed with me and most want me to go OTR , but I just can’t leave my boy and I’m sure I can get by with all the opportunities here around the city. I feel if I can make it here as tight as it has been, I should make it anywhere. I passed my road test in the Bronx and I mean cmon, if that wasn’t a challenge. You got traffic, scooters all around you, construction, racers cutting you off. Hunts point is a whole other crazy. A bunch of trucks just packed and double parked, tight docks. That’s the day to day over here. I’m feeling good about it. Just need to respect the road and all that comes with it. Im a very courteous driver and really care about this license and the job. So even though if you don’t agree with the route I’m going, just send those good vibes over this way. I truly do mean well and not trying to offend anybody. ✌🏼💪🏼

As a professional dreamer still trying to get settled in in this industry: focus on that commitment. What are your long term goals with this? --- not in the sense of "Oh I wanna go back to hauling for quarries" but --- is this a stepping stone, something to get you out of the pits of retail? Is it a second career?

Focus too much on the short term, like you did with the prior company, and you'll shoot yourself in the foot. Again.

There are reasons beyond number we recommend starting as an OTR driver but you're more or less locked in for at least a few months to build some distance from your previous errors. I'm hoping for the best for you and look forwards to reading updates as they happen.

I hear you ,Banks. You guys mentioned LTL and that’s what I found. It just happened to be local, so I jumped on it. It was either that or the iron works company for the 23/hr plus Saturdays. Central said they would give me the 2 weeks of training, which sounded great to me, especially after I told the manager I’d like to work on some backing. He said to come on in, so that’s what I did and they took me on. I didn’t realize that this company was so bad, but I made a commitment and I’m gonna see it through. I figured loading and unloading will help me get more familiar with my job and just give me that more experience. Sorry if I disappointed you over there Banks, but that’s just where I’m at with all of this. The dump truck, although brief was just an awesome experience. No doubt I was naive, in just taking the keys and carrying a load like that. But I went ahead and did it. I think that is somewhere I would like to be in the future. I toasted the brakes or who knows what on my first solo run. I would have gone further if I may have had a trainer, but I’m still pretty proud of how I handled that situation. I really wanted to bring that load on home. But I guess it just wasn’t my time, for that action. I’m sorry if that annoys you as well. Bethpage , is about an hour and 20 minutes away from me and that’s driving there at night time. I would imagine during the day or in traffic that commute would be 1 45 maybe 2 hours. No thanks and a Saturday. My last resort was going to be leaving my family and go to prime as I think they are the only real mega that offers training. I’m not trying to go OTR if I don’t have to. JB hunt, Schneider, they all want 3 months experience. If I can slug it out here and get some cdl time, I’d like to jump on over to a respectable company like that. That’s the plan anyways. I have hopes and wants yes. Are the odds against me with this central transport, I’d say yes. I know this place is more than likely gonna suck. I’m gonna practice as much safety and caution as I can. But you know what Banks, I just might land somewhere real nice. So I’ll take that bet of yours, because I’m just crazy like that. I promise to do my best.

 I just reallt hope the respect my concerns if I come across some malfunctioning equipment, especially a trailer I would have to drive or tractor

when I come across a bad trailer or equipment? Are they going to pay attention to my concern or force me to push something that’s obviously a hazard.

I wish I could tell you they would, but their reputation says otherwise.

 I train for 2 weeks at 180 a day. I won’t get paid till the third week

Like Bobcat said, more of that 1950s stuff.

I would like to work for fed ex, but all of their terminals are gonna require tolls and most likely a 45 minute or more commute. This would be a steady 30 minutes and it’s M-f.

23 was kinda low and I would have to work some Saturdays

Again, your priorities are off. If you can get to central in Brooklyn without paying tolls, you can get to FedEx in Bethpage without paying tolls.

You hope for a lot of things, but hope doesn't get you far. Taking advice from people that know this industry and paying attention to a company's practices is what gets you to where you want to be.

If somebody told me that I can work M-F exclusively, but I have to load/unload my trailer, argue with dispatch about unsafe equipment and get paper checks, I'd laugh. Give me the Saturdays every week.

You refuse to take solid advice because you have hope and wants. That dump truck company satisfied your wants and you hoped a lot, but look where it landed you. I'd bet that Central will be more of the same.

Last thing. I really do like the dump truck outfit. Like I really do. Hopefully, I’ll get my experience up and can revisit that scene with a better company. Most of them it seems are union. But I really wouldn’t mind doing that all day. We will see what the future holds for me. I’ll Keep you all in the know.

Well, I’ve already committed to central transport. I start Monday. They are starting me off at 28.00 an hour. I train for 2 weeks at 180 a day. I won’t get paid till the third week. I’m not too worried about all that. What I am worried about is how everything going to go down, when I come across a bad trailer or equipment? Are they going to pay attention to my concern or force me to push something that’s obviously a hazard. I really don’t want any strikes on my license. I’m really going to be in top of my hours and any issues out the gate. Gonna keep a nice like and gonna be that annoying guy with the check in messages. Soon as I start…lol.

I would like to work for fed ex, but all of their terminals are gonna require tolls and most likely a 45 minute or more commute. This would be a steady 30 minutes and it’s M-f. I just need to get at least 6 months experience nice and clean. Apparently they days are going to be 10-12 minimum, 14 even. I’m not feeling the overtime after 55 hours. But I’m willing to earn my keep, for the experience. I just reallt hope the respect my concerns if I come across some malfunctioning equipment, especially a trailer I would have to drive or tractor. I will call the department of labor if things get funky..lol. But seriously, let’s all respect each other and we will be fine. If you want to be mean to me because I’m new that’s cool too, but don’t do me dirty, is all I’m saying. Side note : just today an iron works company offered me a job. 23 an hour driving a B truck. It had teamsters union access, and I believe she said 100% benefits. I originally was gonna go with it, but central got me first. I had already filled out their application and took there medical. I just went through they whole interview process and got picked up. I explained the MVR incident and they said ok. So I was like cool. I was turned on by the whole union deal , but I thought that the 23 was kinda low and I would have to work some Saturdays. She said to keep in touch if anything. I thought I left them with a good impression. The job was basically delivering iron and stuff like that into the city’s construction sites. It sounded pretty sweet. Some deliveries would be at 4 am, I didn’t have a problem with that. That 23 though was kinda killing it for me and it’s a B truck. Like I said I was gonna do it.

Central has 45’ trailers, a little smaller which I think would be good for me to whip and learn with. I hope someone shows me some good load securement lesson. Never loaded a truck on my own. Gonna be YouTubing that stuff. I have tanker and hazmat so who know what they gonna throw at my rookie butt. But I promise you all to do my best and be as safe as possible. If they get mad at me, it’s gonna be because I’m trying to be as safe as possible. Learned my lesson already with that. Lol. And to top it all off I’m just gonna be pushing nice and easy. And if they feed me to the wolves with the backing, just gonna be handling that slow motion and I’m gonna be getting out allot, most likely. Sorry 🤷🏼‍♂️ Lol. Peace and love everyone.

FedEx freight will. Overtime after 8 hours a day, good equipment and they'll train you well.

As for central, I've never heard anything good about them. The pay rate is low, the equipment is bad, they don't do direct deposit and they short people on hours worked. You load your own trailer to start the day and unload it at the end.

Could be a local issue, but I've heard it from more than one person. LTL people tend to stay in the LTL world, even if not at the same company.

Apologies for the late reply. Thanks for your response Andhe, I really appreciate it. You hit it all right on the head. I definitely didn’t smell anything, but then again how would I really know. I’m still super inexperienced. They were drum brakes for sure. I don’t think I was riding the breaks was definitely using the maximum Jake’s, which is stage 4 going downhill and whenever I felt I needed to slow down, a little more than usual. Other than that I had it at stage 3 high. That day I didn’t check anything before or after leaving the quarry. I was naive in believing my trainer the day before that the trucks were serviced every night. BIGTIME lesson learned on that one. I’m pre trip, inspect master now, anytime all the time.

And to keep you guys up to speed. They ended up calling me back. I inspected the other “new “ truck that morning. I drained the air tanks, Oil was at 30% on the dipstick. And I found 3 flat tires on the inside back trailer. I let them know and they told me to take it to the tire shop. First time I ever did that. I was told to pick up some wood and drop it off in the yard. At the end of the day, they let me go. They said I needed more practice backing. 🤷🏼‍♂️ Everything happens for a reason, so I was cool with it. I am a little peeved that a ruined my fresh new little license with that incident it’s definitely marked as an accident on my MVR. As a property damage. 😔. Not happy about that at all. Almost regret going all the way through with this company. The dump truck was definitely fun, even though I didn’t know exactly what to be looking out for and such. I thought I handled it pretty well, it being my first time ever.

On a brighter note. I took all of you guys suggestions and found an LTL. I think it would be a good start. I have to use a forklift and load my own truck or at least unload it. The pay is pretty good. Overtime after 55 hours nonetheless, but it’s pretty much a M-F local. I’m reading the reviews now and am a little nervous. It’s called central transport in Brooklyn, ny. The yellow trucks. The reviews are pretty bad , the place does look a little run down. Apparently the trailers are old and unsafe. I guess I will see first hand when I start. Oh yeah I’m hired, I explained the accident on my MVR and they gave me a shot. What do you guys think. You all did say ltl. Who is gonna hire a guy with no experience. Im pretty appreciative. Not sure what I’m getting into, but safety os gonna paramount to me. Hope it doesn’t cause any problems. I really cherish this license and don’t want any more problems or marks on it. At least not this early on in the game. Never used a forklift and yet to do a docking by myself. Any and all tips are appreciated. Love you guys. 🙏🏼

I've been thinking about this thread my last couple of shifts, because I haul this weight every day too. Honestly, if the only trailer you pulled before starting this job was an empty one you used to take the road test, then you don't have the experience to know whether or not you were using too much brake. You Were Using Too Much Brake. It's something that surprised me moving to overweight from flatbed-how fast your brakes can heat up, even with a couple extra sets on the trailer. All it took was a quick slow down on an off ramp and a few stops in city traffic, and I could smell them (but that's the thing-I know what hot brakes smell like, I can't believe you didn't smell anything.) I had to change my driving style-level three jakes all the time loaded, no playing the stale green game, looking further ahead to plan for longer stopping distances, etc. I honestly don't touch my brakes (unless emergency stop) until my speed is in the teens. My jakes are doing all the work. When I break over a hill, I am in the gear and at the speed I want to be in for the ride down. (Ignore cars behind you, put on your flashers.) If you're starting down a hill at 55 and brake down to 40ish when momentum has a hold on you, you aren't going to have enough brake left to stab on the way down (which I do very little of, too.) You're happy with 5-10 under the limit, but that is really nothing, I've got a couple hills I'm 40 under at that weight.

I also find it interesting the owner thinks you aren't to blame (wonder if he'll change his tune if you decide to apply elsewhere.) If I were to smoke a set of brakes tonight, I'm pretty sure my boss, my peers, and even I would believe it was my fault. And even if it was a mechanical thing, I should have noticed something wrong before reaching the ignition stage, or noticed it on a check. Did you do a check before leaving the quarry? Not that the weight is extreme, but I do a check every time I'm stopped and out of the truck just to help prevent incidents due to mechanical failures (our tankers have several more air line points of failure than most trailers.)

Disc or drum?

I did notice myself flooring it on some of those inclines and going 32-34 mph , if that helps. I need to watch my gauges more in those scenarios to see how she is handling it. I was really just watching my speed and mirrors. The automatics pretty much do all the shifting for you. But I think I need to pay attention more to temperature and the gears I’m in and how it’s all taking a toll on her.

Slate hill and mountain road are incline, but once I get on the highway it’s a nice stretch of decline. I really don’t feel like I was riding the brakes.

This is all most definitely my responsibility and on me. I’m gonna take this all as experience going forward, nonetheless. I will pay more attention to the gear that I am in and basically walk my rig down any inclines. I’m not a speed demon I don’t mind cruising at 40- 30 mph the whole trip.

I have been losing sleep over this actually. Been watching YouTube videos for a few days now. I’m green , but I don’t think I’m a complete moron. I’ve studied enough to know, a little something about truck brakes. I know you want to drive with distance and speed as to not resort to using your service brakes too much.

on my trip there, it’s only 100 miles each way. I basically take I 84 straight down. from the last exit to the destination it’s about .5 miles of mountainous driving, if that. ( I make a right on mountain rd and that leads me into slate hill road, so you can imagine the trip.. lol) i use maximum engine braking and a little stab breaking if needed. I arrived at the quarry no problem. I raised my axles dropped the load, picked up another, weighed and all was good. I pulled out and was feeling good about myself. I’m sure someone would have noticed if I had smoking brakes. No on the way back up it’s all incline pretty much. Which I what I don’t understand. My dad said maybe I didn’t depress the trailer brake in all the way. You know I’m not gonna rule that out. I really hope that wasn’t the case. And it’s something I will be looking out for in the future. (Experience gained +1💡). Either way I’m moving on along and I didn’t notice smoke till about 10-12 miles upon leaving the quarry. I Immediately pulled over to a nice fat shoulder and went to check and I called dispatch and told them I was smoking. I was told to then call the mechanic. The mechanic wasn’t too helpful said maybe a rock got stuck and I blew a tire and that he needed to know what was exactly going on. All the while the smoke is getting kinda worse now. I hung up the phone and then just took matters into my own hands. I started to see flames now so I grab the fire extinguisher till it was empty. it sorta died down, but then it’s like I just ****ed it off. Boom goes one tire. It got worst. So now I’m dialing 911!! I kept dispatch in the loop all the while. And was like this is out of my control now. Fire department is on the way. Boom another tire. I was just really disappointed and just worried. Fire department said it looked like the inside tire blew, because the rim was chewed up. But my this time, tow truck guys and everyone had an opinion. So I’m still waiting to hear back. I don’t know. One guy said it could have been a line or something. I don’t know man. But I’m supposed to call on Monday to see what the deal is. Police wrote up an accident report. So I don’t know how that’s gonna look and reflect on me, going forward. But I really want to drive. I really do like the dump truck outfit. And that’s about all I got to say about that. 🤷🏼‍♂️

You asked how the brakes caught fire. How were you using them coming down the mountain? Riding them all the way down?

So you were going uphill when it happened?

I’m not aware it’s possible to partially release your brakes. And if your gauges showed air it isn’t a leak not allowing them to fully release. Your gladhand hoses weren’t torn were they?

I went down at exit 126 Chester, right there. I don’t feel I was riding the brakes. I would stab them just to slow down, as needed. I definitely wasn’t speeding. I use the trucker app and it goes red if you are over the speed limit. I like to drive 10 below the speed limit. Everyone passes me by on the road. It feels good that you know where I was at. Yeah, it’s pretty hilly. Like I said I felt good and was just so disappointed when this happened. It is an automatic maybe I’m underestimating the weight and should have gone slower. I was getting comfy and was doing 5 miles under the speed limit on this go. I was looking forward to bringing back the load to the yard and showing them I could handle it. I did give a few stabs on the service brake before hitting a curve here and there. Trying to play back I think I have a little habit of giving a stab, before hitting any type of curve, especially if I’m not familiar with the road.

If he left Mountain Rd to go back to NYC he was going downhill. It's a steep incline down. So steep, that there are signs for trucks to test their brakes before exiting at exit 1. Way too step for an inexperienced driver to be taking at over 100k pounds.

If it started smoking 10-12 miles out, it's possible you didn't push in the trailer air brake at all. Like grumpy says, I don't think it's possible to push it partially. It's possible that there was an air leak you didn't notice or that you burned the brakes going down.

I have been losing sleep over this actually. Been watching YouTube videos for a few days now. I’m green , but I don’t think I’m a complete moron. I’ve studied enough to know, a little something about truck brakes. I know you want to drive with distance and speed as to not resort to using your service brakes too much.

on my trip there, it’s only 100 miles each way. I basically take I 84 straight down. from the last exit to the destination it’s about .5 miles of mountainous driving, if that. ( I make a right on mountain rd and that leads me into slate hill road, so you can imagine the trip.. lol) i use maximum engine braking and a little stab breaking if needed. I arrived at the quarry no problem. I raised my axles dropped the load, picked up another, weighed and all was good. I pulled out and was feeling good about myself. I’m sure someone would have noticed if I had smoking brakes. No on the way back up it’s all incline pretty much. Which I what I don’t understand. My dad said maybe I didn’t depress the trailer brake in all the way. You know I’m not gonna rule that out. I really hope that wasn’t the case. And it’s something I will be looking out for in the future. (Experience gained +1💡). Either way I’m moving on along and I didn’t notice smoke till about 10-12 miles upon leaving the quarry. I Immediately pulled over to a nice fat shoulder and went to check and I called dispatch and told them I was smoking. I was told to then call the mechanic. The mechanic wasn’t too helpful said maybe a rock got stuck and I blew a tire and that he needed to know what was exactly going on. All the while the smoke is getting kinda worse now. I hung up the phone and then just took matters into my own hands. I started to see flames now so I grab the fire extinguisher till it was empty. it sorta died down, but then it’s like I just ****ed it off. Boom goes one tire. It got worst. So now I’m dialing 911!! I kept dispatch in the loop all the while. And was like this is out of my control now. Fire department is on the way. Boom another tire. I was just really disappointed and just worried. Fire department said it looked like the inside tire blew, because the rim was chewed up. But my this time, tow truck guys and everyone had an opinion. So I’m still waiting to hear back. I don’t know. One guy said it could have been a line or something. I don’t know man. But I’m supposed to call on Monday to see what the deal is. Police wrote up an accident report. So I don’t know how that’s gonna look and reflect on me, going forward. But I really want to drive. I really do like the dump truck outfit. And that’s about all I got to say about that. 🤷🏼‍♂️

You asked how the brakes caught fire. How were you using them coming down the mountain? Riding them all the way down?