Profile For Onsdag

One of my students actually taught me this helpful mnemonic: P-LABS.

(P)arking brakes - tug test tractor and trailer. (L)eak test, 1 minute. (A)larm, visual and audible. (B)utton pop test. (S)ervice brakes.

Evening everyone, I know I posted a few weeks ago about getting back into trucking, but I've reevaluated what I want and have decided to accept a position back working on the railroad. I worked for a Class 1 previously before I went into driving, so I know what to expect with the position. I do plan to keep my CDL with all endorsements and I am glad that I got the experience of driving OTR but I think going back to the railroad is ideal for me.

Funny that you mention that... because ever since I got hired on with Roehl (pronounced Rail) I've considered myself and fellow Roehl drivers as "Roehl roaders" (railroaders). 😂

Best wishes to you in your new/old career!

Unfortunately, it's pretty slow so I was already off twice this week.

Wow. That's not what anyone is hoping to hear six weeks before Xmas. Hopefully you'll pick up something great in January.

Is anyone else finding things slow right now?

I'm usually out 2 weeks at a time. My last time out I very nearly had 3 separate 34 hour resets. That's never happened to me before. I spent more time sitting around than actually working, which was frustrating.

I'm sorry that you were hit and I hope you can find the person.

It doesn't immediately look familiar to me, but then again I haven't been in the industry very long all things considered.

From what I can tell I don't think it's a major carrier. It has a grille guard, and chrome spike lug nuts - not things major carriers would typically equip on their trucks. My guess would be an owner operator, or smaller outfit.

In the hopes of helping identify it here are some other observations.

Dark colored (blue?) truck. The logo is on the side door, and consists of a white rectangle with a blue "T" on the left and two lines of lettering to the right, with the upper lettering being blue and the lower lettering appearing red to my eyes. Below the logo is white lettering, which may be DOT identification. I don't see any other identifiable information such as a truck number.

Nor this driver...

Is that the new experimental lowboy van trailer? Personally I think it'd work better as a curtainside...

The report is true, and there is video of the suspect damaging the tires. I'm just gobsmacked that anyone would risk their life and limb to cause such damage. And to what end?

Crazy and scary if true. Honest question though, how does one damage ("cut," "stab," etc) a tire, especially the sidewall, without causing a critical failure (i.e. explosion) and risking severe injury or death to the person damaging said tire?

I've witnessed tire failures/explosions on the road and there is no way I'd want to be anywhere near that tire by stabbing or cutting it. I just can't imagine any sane person thinking that a good idea either.

And I would imagine all it would take is one such explosion to wake every driver nearby to come scrambling to find out what the heck is going on.

Never fails to make me smile.

Whenever I train new students I always tell them that I'm not going to sign off on them becoming a professional driver unless they can correctly answer this question: "what is the proper response when you see a child pumping their fist?" I then demonstrate the action. Most get it right on the first try, but I had one guy who honestly didn't know. Never fear, I taught him well and he went on to graduate with honors. Received an excited text several months later saying he had his first experience putting it into practice. Makes me proud and warm inside knowing the next generation is in good hands.

Can't speak for Wilson Logistics, or for lease operations either.

But what I can contribute is a helpful tip I came up with to cut through the propaganda and advertisements companies use for promised earnings. This method is free to use, easily accessible, and can give you a better idea of what you'll actually be earning with a given company than anything they promise. What's more, as an added bonus, it'll also give you a pretty good idea for the safety and maintenance record of the company, which is important because the higher the safety standards and well-maintained the equipment is the more time you'll be spending on the road making miles, and the less time you'll be shutdown due to breakdowns and/or failed DOT inspections.

What is this tip? The FMCSA database.

Just Google the company you're interested in and fmcsa. In this case "fmcsa Wilson Logistics" brings up this link: https://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/query.asp?searchtype=ANY&query_type=queryCarrierSnapshot&query_param=USDOT&query_string=1009435

This brings up a snapshot of the company along with some vital information to help you with your search.

For example, want to know how much money you're likely to actually be making? Take the total reported miles the company made for the year (44,974,385) and divide it by the number of reported drivers (556), which gives an average of 80,889 miles per driver per year. Now multiply that by what the promised wages are (.50 mile in this case), and you have a ballpark figure for what you'll actually be earning as a company driver ($40,444.59 year). Now this information isn't going to be perfectly accurate (reported information was from 2022, and most companies pay more than just miles, i.e. detention pay, etc.), but it'll give you something to work with.

Wilson Logistics looks like they have a really good inspection record with the DOT, which means they take good care of their equipment, therefore they're less likely to be pulled in for an inspection and less likely to be found out of service.

When I first began my career about 30 months ago I used this method to look into about a dozen companies. I then kept all the information I deemed important in a spreadsheet - number of accidents per driver, fatalities, inspections, average miles per driver, etc. Using that information I made an informed decision to go with Roehl because they were consistently in the top for each category I was looking for.

How has it held up? I'd say pretty good. According to the most recent fmcsa data, the average driver with Roehl makes 107,888 miles, and currently I earn .59 mile (actual is closer to .661 with bonuses and other things), which, using my method above, would give an estimate of 107888 x .661 = $71,314. Last year I grossed $75k, which is pretty much in line with my estimates.