Profile For John Douglas Barrow

Load shed? Opti idle? What the devil is all that about? It seems as if trucking has gotten too geekish maybe.

It could be that Walmart is run by a bunch of idiots. The products that sell the most should be ordered the most. I wonder how much of the higher-priced name-brand stuff goes bad because nobody buys it. Walmart isn't exactly a store for billionaires to shop. I always buy generic cereals. I won't pay two to three times as much for a box of mere cattle fodder that says Kellogg's, Quaker or Post on the box.

It makes me wonder then why medium-duty vans are even made outside of the purposes for renting out and moving. Then if a business must receive goods by 18-wheeler, the real estate the business is situated on should also be designed to accommodate an 18-wheeler. Pan Am never tried to land their Boeing 747's on a runway built for R/C scale-model airplanes, did they? I would not ever expect UPS to arrive at my front door in a freight train or a sea ship to deliver me a new boombox from amazon.com.

Which reminds me....one time, back in 1987, some tow truck driver, responding from a call made to a telephone number on my AAA membership card, *****ed at me because there wasn't sufficient outdoor lighting at my semi-rural home when he towed my pickup truck there after dark. He also *****ed that I should have had my truck towed to a shop instead of my home. Of course, his rig had the name of a local auto-repair shop on it. This guy was a total arse-wipe to say the least. My truck had a worn-out clutch and would not climb a grade due to slippage of the drive-line. I told this jerk that and he was all like "well, how do you know that, it wasn't even diagnosed in the shop". Come on now, my truck had a manual transmission: why the devil else would it barely move up a hill with the engine revving? Did this idiot think the differential might have been slipping? It was early fall and the pavement was bone dry. It wasn't like the tires were spinning on snow or ice in coastal California. Duh! You see, there was a "professional" driver complaining about no outdoor lights at the customer's lot down a private lane. My real estate was not accommodating enough for his retarded arse. Why the devil do they even put floodlights on tow trucks then? I used to operate a wrecker truck in the army. I did field recovery in pitch-black field conditions. One time my unit CO authorized me to use my truck's floodlights at night for safety reasons. The military often worries about the use of white lights at night for tactical reasons. The idiot I had from AAA back in 1987 evidentially did not operate a wrecker in the service.

Nowadays, if I should ever get a rude or dumb-chit driver or a driver in a crappy tow truck with no a/c on a hot day from a roadside insurance call, I will complain to my insurance company about it.

I'm going to stop giving too much credit to what I read on the Internet. But pray tell me, why should people lend more credit to this particular website than other sources found via Google or my email inbox? Where are the witnesses and testimonials? I don't know anybody in the trucking biz personally to get their side of the story. But I will confess this, I have looked at a few yoo-toob videos of as of late and, by the consensus of them, it seems like 2023-2024 is the total chits for people driving in this trade. My friend who wants to drive is Catholic. He even gave me a rosary as a gift for saving his life last year. He will need a miracle, I now think, from Mary Mother of God, to get inside a big diesel cab as a paid pro. May all you religious folks here keep him in your hearts and prayers. My local Walmart as of late seems to be low on stock on certain things I buy regularly as generic plain yogurt, for instance. There is just that expensive stuff with fancy labels and I ain't paying over $6 a quart for it. If there are too many trucks and drivers, it must be for some other important reason the goods I want to buy are not getting delivered to Walmart.

Todd notwithstanding, it would make more sense to use a medium-duty van to get goods to small buildings with dinky parking lots unless there is a service alley in back of the store to accommodate a big rig.

Like all new drivers, I've gotten into quite a few pickles, but unlike some others, I STOPPED before any major damage occurred, then figured out how to get out of it. The few times I actually bumped into something (I recall two poles, a sign, a building, and a trailer at the DC, all of which were preventable), thankfully there was no damage beyond a few scratches, and my manager gave me another chance because he knew I was conscientious.

Many times I was left shaken, embarrassed (you always have an audience when it happens) and kicking myself for getting in a jam in the first place, but I made each one a learning experience. Thank goodness the Lord protected all those dumpsters, streetlamps, walls, residential street corners, other trucks and cars from one of His biggest idiots.

Family Dollar sent me to places that had no business being served by a 53 foot truck. I believe that many a new driver with a promising future ended their career in the interest of FD wanting to ignore the inherent risks associated with that account. If they cared, their DCs would provide shorter trailers, daycabs, even box trucks, but since they dump all the risk on the contracted carrier, they can turn a blind eye.

So, a driver has to stop & find a safe solution, then spend a miserable day beating yourself up for poor judgement and learning from the mistake. If a person can't do those, pick another career.

It sounds like drivers are often forced to do the impossible. Sending an 18-wheeler to mickey-mouse joint like a dollar store? Come now! The complete mental retardation that is today's human race.

The Internet is so full of things it's hard to get the facts separated from the myths.

I don't know who the devil this Todd guy is, but I won't ask people here about how to help others anymore. I will just let my man come here and ask you folks questions from now on if he is even willing to do that for himself in the first place. I will gladly keep you posted should my man, I or anybody else I know get a job in this business whether it is driving or something else, trucking-wise. Right off the bat, as for me personally, it won't ever be paid driving for me. Chronic medical conditions of mine that keep me house-bound preclude it 100%. It will be some telework/telecommute/work-from-home desk job for a carrier or a government entity, maybe, if my future job is to be motor-carrier-related at all. I'm sure JB Hunt and others in the transportation biz need bean-counters and other admin folks in a swivel chair to "drive" a mouse, telephone and keyboard. I have an associates of science degree in computers already. I'm not totally stupid. I do have a spotless driving record and no felonies nor history of any substance or violence issues. Having no felonies can't hurt me for any type of employment, in or outside of a cab. Of course, I can't reveal the true identities of people I know here as that is not prudent. This site is full of total strangers. I don't think any person here can prove who he/she is to others. I'm done with this thread.

PS - Oh, my man considers him my mentor. His age is 35 and I'm 60 myself. Is there anything, besides posting here, I can do or say on my part that might help increase his chances of succeeding? How might I help my friend?

Anyway, I won't try to champion my man here anymore. I just get beat to death unmercifully. If he does happen to land a CDL job in future, I'll gladly report back here. I will still try to encourage him to try regardless. Does anybody here think I'm a bad person for wanting to see my friend succeed? I can't make him sign up as a member here and I can't make him study materials here. He's a big boy and he will have to make such decisions for himself. Yes, he might have to start out with some small potato outfit in Iowa, maybe. They might not be so anal as big corporations are. Amen, amigos.