Profile For Bud A.

Just a couple thoughts:

Most of the Walmart Private Fleet guys at my DC make six figures. They get paid for everything. They get paid to sleep ten hours in the truck. They get paid a little over $42 for every drop and hook they do. They have great benefits.

Why don't I want to do that? I actually thought pretty seriously about applying there before I took my current job, where I'm on track to make close to 100k this year as a company driver, especially since we just got another raise and they dialed the trucks up 3 mph to 68 on cruise.

1. I don't want to be home every weekend. Not everyone has a home life that's conducive to that.

2. I don't want to be micromanaged. WMPF drivers are micromanaged.

3. I don't want to wear a uniform. No offense to my friends who served in the military or as first responders, but it's not for me.

Other than that, I agree with the previous statements about working to maximize your time.

I'll leave you with this thought that I saw today:

"When I was young I was poor. After decades of hard work, I'm no longer young."

My old truck was terrible for hitting the brakes for bridges and road signs. My new truck is not as bad. I've never had it hit the brakes when I'm on the pedal, only on cruise control. I've been on the same account as PackRat for two years, basically Montana to New Mexico, with most of the loads in Wyoming and Colorado. The worst part of driving in this region is hauling empties back to the DC on slick roads in the wind.

I can't say I drive any different with the stupid radar brakes on this new truck. Maintain distance, don't drive too fast, don't use cruise control when it's slick. Common sense, really. On the old truck, though, every time I came up to the bridge at 136th Ave coming north out of Denver, I turned off the cruise control and made sure I had enough space around me, because otherwise I was going to get a hard brake.

And for everyone who believes that the radar is going to save you from a collision, I've had two events where cars were suddenly directly in front of me and the radar did jack squat. Really, I consider this equipment to be an additional hazard that I have had to learn to deal with on a daily basis.

I don't have dashcam video of when a Tesla hydroplaned and bounced off the guardrail back into my lane where I hit him head on at 55 mph, but he hit me dead on at the radar and the system never engaged the brakes. I do have dashcam video of a Camaro that cut me off. I hit the brakes, not the radar.

Brake check

There's no real shortage of drivers. If there were, the shelves in the grocery stores would be empty, no new houses would get built, new cars wouldn't be delivered to dealerships, and all of us would be getting pay raises to bring us back to 1970s-levels of trucker prosperity. The whole "driver shortage" story has a different purpose than highlighting an actual shortage of drivers.

I cannot recommend Rand Mcnally electronics as they don't last. Their Atlas is a must have. I use Garmin and am very happy with them, I have two.

You can also write down directions on paper and post where you can see. You could use dry erase markers to write exit numbers on your windshield.

People drove trucks, cars, boats and planes long before there was GPS. With a laminated Atlas, about $30, you can trace your route with dry erase markers.

I agree with the comments about Rand McNally electronics. I've had bad luck with them. Garmin has been much more reliable.

It's good to use the built-in navigator in your head instead of relying on electronics. I find that I am much more alert and attentive doing it this way.

These days I go to the same 150 or so places all the time, so I mainly use the GPS to check travel times, and to verify which store I'm going to if it's been a while since I last took a load there. I have the voice instructions turned off.

Two things about using a GPS that are worth considering: First, even when I keep it updated, sometimes the information is just plain wrong. Garmin has a bad habit of putting weight and height restrictions for side streets onto the main route, so the computer tries to route you to exactly the wrong place. It doesn't happen very often, and it's usually noticeable (like telling you to take Auraria Parkway into downtown Denver instead of staying on I-25 northbound), but it's a real hazard if you're not familiar with the area.

Second, I think drivers tend to ignore signs and follow their GPS instead. If you use a GPS, you still need to pay attention to and prefer the information you get from road signs.

The Jackalope is rarely seen in daylight.

Great to hear from you.

You too! I always look for your name when I see a CFI truck btw.

All, my laundry's about done and then I'm getting in the bunk for a midnight load. I generally don't get out the laptop except on my 34s, so it may be a few days or longer before I get back on, but I'll check back in when I do.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention, that's a beautiful "Jack-a-lope" there in your avatar. I haven't seen one with that coloring in a long time.

Hey Old School! Nice to hear from you!

Yes, that is a rare specimen. I have some other pictures of rare jackalopes that I might share, if I can find them.

Hey all, just dropping in to say hello. (I can't refuse a personal request from Momcat! I don't know how I even rate that honor, frankly.)

I think the last time I was here, I had a local gig hauling utility poles on step decks. Since then, I spent a year and a half at Quality Carriers pulling chemical tanks OTR, and then when freight dried up for a little too long, I moved over to Crete.

I've been on the dedicated Walmart account out of Cheyenne for about a year and a half. This has been my first experience pulling boxes, mostly reefer but some dry. I think if I had known how easy it was, I would have done it sooner. I'll admit that coming back empty in the wind in Wyoming sucks sometimes, but other than that, it's great. Mountains and snow aren't really that bad once you get some experience, and chaining is pretty easy compared to strapping and tarping a load in bad weather, or putting on a chemical suit in Houston in August. And anyway, I've only had to chain a handful of times in the last two winters. It pays good, I never leave the mountain time zone (by far my favorite time zone), and I can get home at least once a week if I want to. The only large cities I go to are Denver and Albuquerque. In short, I love it.

I'll have to look around a little to find out what everyone is up to. Anyway, hello to everyone, and especially those of you who don't know me and so don't have any bad memories.

New Hampshire is the only state in the country that does not require insurance.

Live free or die!

Definitely fight the tickets. Btw, did you object to him searching, or ask what his probable cause was? (Hint: tattoos do not make probable cause by themselves.) Although our rights have been stripped in commercial vehicles, we definitely still have some rights left from the Fourth and Fifth Amendments in our personal vehicles, even though the police state has encroached on them a lot since the mid-80s.

You guys didn't care about any of this when you were driving slower trucks, but now that you're in faster trucks you care a lot. When you guys were running 62 mph you weren't here lecturing people about holding up traffic, were you? Now, here you are telling everyone how rude it is to do what you used to do to people every day.

You don't want to back off the gas and neither does anyone else. You don't want to be delayed and neither does anyone else. But it's totally hypocritical that you guys are here lecturing people about this. Seriously, shame on you guys.

First, I did care about it when I was in a governed truck. I learned fairly early on not to attempt to pass unless there was no one in sight behind me, and/or the vehicle I was passing was at least 5 mph slower than me. And I didn't do it. I never talked about it here, I guess, but I certainly cared about it before I got an ungoverned truck.

And as I said above, more than 90% of the time I drive my ungoverned truck on two-lane roads where the speed limit is 60 or 65, so I end up following slower vehicles for some portion of my day every day I work. Because safety.

Apparently my tone was too far off, because I appear to you to be a hypocrite here to lecture everyone. I thought I made it clear in my previous posts that I have done this myself, that I no longer do it, and explained why, but maybe I failed in those attempts. If so, I regret not expressing myself so that what I was trying to say was more understandable.

But I am not ashamed to point out that impeding traffic is dangerous, and that when you decide to execute a pass you also have the responsibility as a professional driver not to create a dangerous difference in speed between yourself and surrounding traffic. Passing when you are 10 or 15 mph slower than other traffic is dangerous. Be careful if you're going to do it. That's my lecture, such as it is.

But,

So, four and a half minutes of your slow ass hanging out in the left lane going 10 or 15 miles per hour slower than the speed limit ...

is subjective, meaning that's how you feel (given away by using "slow ass".)

Most drivers stay in the subjective zone, which only has to do with you. A "Full speed" trucker will feel anyone goingc slower, even by 1/2 MPH, is "slow ass", while said "slow ass" driver in the left lane is doing the best they can to get around the even slower ass truck. It still remains subjective.

And to be honest, we are discussing mere minutes in a given day of trucking. I'm stuck with 62 MPH at Swift. And like you, I don't care to be behind anyone going slower. I will continue to make the move as needed to pass them. Yes, I try to make sure no one's coming up when I move to the left lane, but I'm never going to really stress out.

While "slow ass" may not have been the best choice of words, "impeding traffic" is not subjective. It is defined in the laws of several states. (I won't bother to quote them here, since that may be too pedantic for some of you, but you can google it yourself if you don't believe it's a Thing.)

My concern is not so much about saving time. Yes, I brought that up since I believe that is what is going through the minds of people who regularly impede traffic. "I have a right to get past this truck in front of me that is traveling 1 mph slower than I am able to in my governed truck, therefore I am going to do so, even if I impede traffic." The bigger concern is safety.

The reason there are laws against impeding traffic is that it creates dangerous speed differentials between vehicles. Traveling 15 mph slower than the flow of traffic that is traveling at a legal speed limit is dangerous. Yes, drivers should be alert and courteous and should not tailgate. But also yes, drivers should not put themselves in front of traffic that is traveling far faster than their vehicle can travel unless it is safe.

Taking a passive aggressive attitude that everyone else should be on the lookout for your 62 mph truck while you're passing a 61 mph truck on an 75 mph highway is not courteous and not helpful to new drivers who will likely be driving a governed truck. So to be fair, as you are not really stressing out about it, then I guess you shouldn't really stress out about some "Bulldozer" trying to "intimidate" you into moving back over to the right when you're traveling 13 mph below the speed limit, since both of you are driving unsafely and are the sort of drivers the rest of us need to stay a reasonable distance from.

Just checking in and saw the replies. I really wasn't trying to be an ass, but was just offering how my perspective has changed from when I had a slower truck.

The only reason for the calculator was that often we don't realize just how long we are hanging out there in the hammer lane while we're trying to pass someone. Sometimes we are unaware of just how long we're hanging put in the left lane trying to pass someone when maybe the better option is to back off the cruise by one mph. I know I've been guilty of not really being considerate of others who are able to drive faster when trying to pass.

My only point was that it's no crime for other drivers to want to drive the speed limit. I'm not angry or upset. Occasionally I'll mutter a couple of choice words and call someone an idiot while I'm driving, but I get paid by the hour now so I'm not stressed out by delays.

I remember one time when I got stuck behind two trucks that were traveling side by side for 30 miles on I-40 in Arizona. There was a very long line of traffic behind them. The guy in the right lane should have slowed down, but the guy in the left lane should have probably given up after a while. I definitely thought they were both wrong. I would have pulled off for a break but didn't have the time right then for whatever reason.

Pianoman, this is why we all notice drivers like this and give them names. I think it becomes some kind of personal contest of wills too often, and giving it a name puts it back into its right perspective.