Profile For Joe R.

Guys, I am upgrading in a few days and am wondering which tools I should have on my truck. I am thinking a socket wrench and combination wrench set, both metric and American. A hammer, a pry bar, and flashlight. And of course, extra fuses and light bulbs. Anything else I should have?

depends on what you mainly haul. all those sound good. I tried to carry as much as possible to avoid any service call delay out on the road. we hauled anything from a brand new trailer to trailers as old as 1988. I would carry a glad hand line for low tires you encounter in a drop lot so you can get it somewhere for service or drop with a write up.

screw drivers, pliers, vice grips, zip ties, duct tape, electrical tape, adjustable wrenches. again, depends on what you think you'll haul, age of equipment. how long service calls usually take etc etc.

@moses R. mortgage is $750 a month. carrier i was with had a 5 year contract. shipper must have the cheapest product around, almost all of their customers complain about them. they've gone through at least 5 carriers previously. get the picture? I've delt with frustration after frustration at this place. I always did what was asked of me and gone beyond when needed. I've cussed out other people on other jobs, it's trucking, goes with the territory, never been let go for it. where i live plenty of jobs around to pay the bills as harrisburg pa is a trans hub. quit one job find another the next day, have a clean driving record.

@auggie69 yeah, I know. I'm just fed up with driving in general place i last worked didn't help at all.

any of you guys have any regular runs in any cities in the north east? especially nyc?

Not trying to start a pity party but I had a great paying "local" cabinet delivery gig that was absolutely horrible. I've been driving a little over ten years but after my last run I got back, cleaned out my truck and turned in my keys etc.

It was a dedicated job that was just absolutely chaotic. The customer we hauled for would sometimes let us sit at the dock for 5 hrs. Their customers hated us and them so we'd get punished "6 hr unload time with about 10 hr drive times". We were always late even though it wasn't our fault. They were constantly loading stuff incorrectly and stuff missing, damaged. My dispatch was constantly pushing our hrs. I'd usually get back with 5 min to spare with a ten hr turn around with a hr commute. We the drivers were constantly being stuck in the middle, taking up all the slack from 3 sides.

They would constantly send us to major North East cities on streets that were a nightmare to get in and out of. Drivers were constantly getting in accidents or damaging equipment. I always planned my runs pretty thoroughly to have them switch everything when I came in the morning. Like "oh you have an easy VA run tomorrow" come in " sorry you now have 3 stops in bronx/brooklyn"

I hung in there for 2 years but the last run was my breaking point. Delivered to a job site in brooklyn, was a ***** to back into, then they took their sweet ass time unloading, kept telling them my clock was running, they of course didn't care. I did everything i could to expedite the delivery. sorted all the cabinets, labeled everything even hopped on and off the truck to cart them in, all things that weren't required of me. Still no cooperation. They had me move my truck a bunch of times and I finally snapped . The super of the job site told me to move my truck after I refused unless they got me unloaded. We got into a heated debate. He accused me of delivering the load a day late, which wasn't my fault, shipper delayed the load by 7 hrs the day before. Shipper blamed it on us, saying we had a truck broke down, which was BS. I told the job supervisor to F off he told me to F off and leave so I left. My supervisor called said I had to go back, I did then they finally got their ass to move a tad quicker.

This sort of situation was happening on and off the whole time I was with the carrier. Concerns that were brought up about safety, hrs of service etc. were constantly ignored. Yeah, I know a lot of what I stated is just things that are "well that's trucking" but I had had enough. After 10 years of different BS from different carriers, idiots on the road, impossible dead lines, ever changing BS rules and regs etc etc etc etc. I think I'm ready to hang it up for good. Even the high amount of pay that carrier paid us we still had about 4 or 5 of 20 drivers leave.

Only bills I have are a modest mortgage and your basic utilities. Not married, no kids, no gf. Just me. So I'm gonna find something that pays the bills and walk away from trucking for awhile, maybe indefinitely.

What's the worst, best paying, job you've had to walk away from?