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Experienced Driver
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Owner operator, Husband, Father, Veteran,
Posted: 3 years, 9 months ago
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Kansas City Sucks For Truck Stops
I hate that place and will never go there( that pilot ) . What I do is after I arrived at the shipper or receiver, I can usually head to Oak Grove if I can’t park on the property.
Posted: 3 years, 9 months ago
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Plans always change in trucking
One of the big deals about APU’s is that you really need to get them serviced at dealerships that charge $140 an hour. So when all of the sudden my fuel intake tube in my fuel tank got clogged or broken they couldn’t fix it but it took them several hours to figure out the problem.
Labor is one of our bigger costs because they just sit there scratching their head and getting paid while doing it or sitting on their cell phones and you’re not allowed in the shops (especially dealerships) to ask why they are texting thier girlfriends instead of turning a wrench. In this particular case rather than use the same hole and replace the part that goes into the fuel tank they decided to drill a new hole and Off the old part.
If you find honest mechanics they are worth their weight in gold especially if you can leave your truck with them while you’re at home.
Rob you are so spot on. It always happens when you really don’t want it to, or so it seems to me. I have went to customers over and over where things went smooth as silk, then that one time you figured it would, it doesn’t. Just part of the job.
I ended up sitting until 630 before I could hit the road. When I get in for paperwork some of our drivers were acting like this job is the worst due to it. Drama queens lol. Everything in life has pros and cons. To me needing to occasionally wait on loads due to such an increase in volume going out doesn't even come close to outweighing what I love about this job. I'm on pace to make more money this year than I ever thought possible without a college degree since that's what's engrained in our heads as kids.
Yeah sometimes it’s like that, this Thursday I took my APU in for a service that should’ve been two hours and a couple hundred dollars but turned into $1800 and losing an entire day which impacted the next load to the degree that revenue for the week dropped by 30%( on top of repair).
OUCH! I give you (and other O/O) credit I'd lose my mind dealing with the financial side of repairs whether it's the shop or losing out on revenue for the day/week. What caused the repair to be much more extensive than you expected? Didn't you just have the APU worked on not long ago?
Posted: 3 years, 9 months ago
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No I’m not saying it’s right to crawl up somebody’s ass, what I’m saying is it is not a persons job to intentionally block traffic in the left lane. I see it all the time speed limit 70 in a car doing 65 moves into the left lane and then gets right next to a truck and just sits there blocking traffic.
I've been known (in my personal vehicle) to "impede" traffic by doing the speed limit (70) while passing a long line of trucks doing 65. I disagree with your arguement Dan if I interpreted correctly. Are you implying that a truck has the right to be within feet of a vehicles bumper to bully them to moving over?
I'm not ashamed to admit I've called other companies about their unsafe behavior. Example, I called a mega carrier in last month for not maintaining their lane while speeding 10+ through an active construction zone. I've also called 911 watching a truck weave all over the road nearly going into the ditch in the middle of the night.
I'm not out here to get drivers in trouble or ruin their livelihoods but I have absolutely zero respect for those engaging in such unsafe behavior. Call me a snitch or what have you, I don't care.
Posted: 3 years, 9 months ago
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Hi folks, from Fort Sill, Ok and good morning this Sunday!
Today 21 November are you still near Fort sill? I’ll be returning back down there today after I get a shower (Delivered there this morning then drove up to Oklahoma City and then find my next load is right there in Lawton where I just left).
If you see this in time let me know and I’ll give you an address and show you around my truck.
Posted: 3 years, 9 months ago
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Plans always change in trucking
Yeah sometimes it’s like that, this Thursday I took my APU in for a service that should’ve been two hours and a couple hundred dollars but turned into $1800 and losing an entire day which impacted the next load to the degree that revenue for the week dropped by 30%( on top of repair).
When it comes to the money in my business I micromanage everything and watch every dollar because I have goals.
Posted: 3 years, 9 months ago
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I personally choose to use a CB for a couple of reasons but I do understand why people turn them off. I turn mine off anytime I get near Memphis for instance.
Things like the original post, are the number one reason for me but a close second is being able to get off somewhere before getting stuck in traffic
Then there’s a third reason that I didn’t think too much about when I first started using a CB in the truck, and that was being able to communicate while moving when you see something wrong with another truck or someone seeing something wrong with your truck.
This week I’ve pulled next to three different trucks for three different reasons and none of them had CB’s
One of them was their fuel caps was off
The other two were blown tires on their right side of their trailers.
So if another driver pulls up next to me and shows me a CB Mike I would at least know to turn it on if I were them.
It is also paid for itself in the amount of time I’ve saved over the years not getting stuck in traffic.
Posted: 3 years, 9 months ago
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If you were in the left lane and the truck is behind you then you are impeding the flow of traffic. It does not matter what the speed limit is. It’s the police job to enforce the law , not civilians. So if they’re trying to get by you just move over. There is a reason that states like Florida are now ticketing people in the left lanes for impeding the flow of traffic.
Singular rate of speed does not hurt people or create risk(within reason). Differential rate of speed does.
Posted: 3 years, 9 months ago
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Terminated - unsafe performance - Difficulty Finding New Employer
All of the safety department people I know will look at this worse than an accident . Nobody is ever fired for one time heartbreaking event in any company I’ve ever heard of and I can tell you the head of safety at national definitely wouldn’t have. In fact what Jill would say is that a pattern had to be established for them to legally fire you, which if you’re owning up, you might wanna do completely because firing without an accident requires a good deal more proof than one heartbreaking incident.
Posted: 3 years, 9 months ago
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One of these days I will shoot video of going into the caves. I’ve been to a bunch of them almost all of them in Missouri.
I hear there are some in Illinois, that I haven’t been to yet.
They are nice in the winter when it’s much colder up above😁
Posted: 3 years, 9 months ago
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Question from a 4 wheeler
Actually, three years ago Florida instituted a slow poke law for the left lane.
And regardless of speed limit what I said is true it is not a person‘s responsibility to intentionally hold back traffic, that is the job of law-enforcement.
If you go over to I 75 near Ocalla you will see people getting pulled over on a regular basis especially heading southbound from Gainesville area by Florida Highway patrol.
I don’t usually head down to the area that you drive in so I’m not familiar with the issues in your local Waze area but I do know if the state did in fact make The slow poke law.. I don’t advocate for anybody to drive dangerously especially aggressive driving. I also do not advocate for anybody to pretend they are line Forssman and force others into a dangerous situation by pulling out in front of them at a slower speed than the person who is in the left lane is already going.