Profile For Paul W.

I left SWIFT at the Pottsville WalMart for basically the same reason. My background b4 trucking was in manufacturing. There was this recurring theme where I'd get 'stuck' on night shift for decades because I could get 'numbers' with minimal crew/injuries & no supervision & I suspect since I had no children, which contributed to the no children thing. Once I was even offered 'night shift supervisor' at a job I'd only agreed to do a couple of months a year 'on nights' at the point of hiring. I promptly left when they offered their 'promotion'/title/raise which to me was a sentence. I don't enjoy a running sleep deficit + an irregular start time when pulling 80,000 lbs on public roads with shift that regularly last 14 hrs. The upside was less traffic.

As the story goes, best made plans don’t always go the desired way. No different with me; my intention and also understanding was to be assigned the next available PFG route covering south-eastern Delaware and parts of Eastern Shore of Maryland. Shore routes.

Initially I was running overnight doubles shuttle service between the primary terminal in South Jersey to the satellite yard in Lower Slower Delaware. As it turns out...action is way louder than words. Two openings were filled...while I was still running shuttle. I totally understand PFG is running a business and rightfully so, my shuttle was in their minds, running successfully. Why fix that which isn’t broken. Perhaps more difficult to fill than a route assignment.

I loved running doubles...absolutely loved it, but honestly and humbly admit that driving from 17:00 to 04:00 every day wasn’t my cup of tea. I believed that over time I’d adapt, adjust, get comfortable with it. Wasn’t meant to be...and an obvious physical limitation (turning into a zombie at 02:00) that remained after 4+ months, was addressed.

As necessary...I too made a business decision and began to explore other options local to southern Delaware. Didn’t take too long. I landed a job in early January with a company called Blue Hen Organics (BHO) with primary responsibility to transport mulch, tree grindings (from building sites), wood chips, compost, topsoil and eventually heavy equipment moving from job site to job site (already had first lesson and experience with this).

Secondarily, operate heavy equipment loading my truck, loading other trucks and maintenance of our ginormous yard. There are 10 employees of the BHO division; I’m one of two CDL A drivers.

I start my day at 6:30AM and typically finish before 5PM, M-F, occasionally Saturday morning. I’m like a kid in a candy store driving a kick-in’ Mack Pinnacle with a 10-speed Eaton trans attached to a 48’ Peerless Walking floor trailer. I’ve also become proficient running a wheeled loader with a rollout bucket. I’ve experienced driving and maneuvering (slowly) a loaded semi off-road...challenging most of the time, occasionally precarious.

I’ll continue updating this thread...as time permits and new photo ops occur. Having a blast so far.

First things first, for you Anne... the walking floor:

"What exactly do YOU CALL your home country, Paul ?!?!? The coalminers WERE the backbone OF this nation, last I checked. Your POSTS are derisive. How can we, on Trucking Truth, HELP you?" The backbone is leaving. We don't require assistance. Have a nice day.

I'll bring my galoshes and slide bread bags over my socks to keep my feet dry.

I'm from Scranton and my grandfather & great-grandfather were coalminers there and we are now treated similarly. I think I'd feel just as much at home in a foreign country as my hometown about now.

Andrey, did you come from one of those places? Please give us some basic description of what life is like in those places. What it like to be a truck driver there.

Bruce, I visited these places many years ago. Most of what I know comes from my relatives who live there. I don't want to move this thread away from our general topic, so I'll answer very briefly: Donetsk and Lugansk is a coal mining region. It does have universities and theaters, but still the majority of its population is treated by Ukrainian authorities as dumb and retarded. In 2014 people claimed independence, pretty much like Americans did in 1776. Ukraine called them separatists and declared war. Since then people of this region have been fighting for freedom. Unfortunately, I cannot say anything about truck driving there - I've never driven anything bigger than a minivan before I came to America twenty years ago.

LOL! Go for it, bud. Make sure it's somewhere north in Siberia. I hear Russia is beautiful up there.

My country is no longer my nation and my former fellow countrymen/women providing derision for my inquiring about leaving only accelerates this thinking.

I'm from Scranton and my grandfather & great-grandfather were coalminers there and we are now treated similarly. I think I'd feel just as much at home in a foreign country as my hometown about now.

Andrey, did you come from one of those places? Please give us some basic description of what life is like in those places. What it like to be a truck driver there.

Bruce, I visited these places many years ago. Most of what I know comes from my relatives who live there. I don't want to move this thread away from our general topic, so I'll answer very briefly: Donetsk and Lugansk is a coal mining region. It does have universities and theaters, but still the majority of its population is treated by Ukrainian authorities as dumb and retarded. In 2014 people claimed independence, pretty much like Americans did in 1776. Ukraine called them separatists and declared war. Since then people of this region have been fighting for freedom. Unfortunately, I cannot say anything about truck driving there - I've never driven anything bigger than a minivan before I came to America twenty years ago.

LOL! Go for it, bud. Make sure it's somewhere north in Siberia. I hear Russia is beautiful up there.

I'm from Scranton and my grandfather & great-grandfather were coalminers there and we are now treated similarly. I think I'd feel just as much at home in a foreign country as my hometown about now.

Andrey, did you come from one of those places? Please give us some basic description of what life is like in those places. What it like to be a truck driver there.

Bruce, I visited these places many years ago. Most of what I know comes from my relatives who live there. I don't want to move this thread away from our general topic, so I'll answer very briefly: Donetsk and Lugansk is a coal mining region. It does have universities and theaters, but still the majority of its population is treated by Ukrainian authorities as dumb and retarded. In 2014 people claimed independence, pretty much like Americans did in 1776. Ukraine called them separatists and declared war. Since then people of this region have been fighting for freedom. Unfortunately, I cannot say anything about truck driving there - I've never driven anything bigger than a minivan before I came to America twenty years ago.

I'm thinking of expatriating to Russia but all I really know is truck driving. What do you think my prospects would be as an American?

The Soviets are not now, nor have they ever been, a friend to these United States of America. Hate to be a downer.

This is very far from truth. Both nations fought against their common Nazi enemy during WWII. I agree, it was not for long, but nonetheless it was, and at that short time they were like brothers. My late grandfather told me about that.