Profile For Large Marge

Sorry for the typos. Tired. I'd appreciate any advice.

Hi,

I'm on my first solo week after training and it's been a case of Murphy's law. I woke up to a flat trailer tire my second day and I blew a trailer tire today (probably because of the heat) and now my load is going to be late and I'm paranoid that I'm going to be in trouble even though i know im not at fault....ok I'm rambling.

That asid, my biggest concern is with my truck. It's a 2012 volvo 9 speed. Saturday was all mountain driving and my truck kept getting stuck in gears. I'd be accelerating a hill in 7th, when the RPM's drop to about 12 I try to clutch to neutral (double clutch) but the dang shifter won't come out of gear. This has been happening today too on small inclines though not as bad as Saturday. The truck overheated at one point going down a hill in 7th while the RPM's dripped and speed dropped. Odd. During the last part of my drive today, I'd be in 7th going up a small incline, but when the incline flattened out, my truck would shake at 1500 rpms and I couldn't shift to 8th.

I know I'm new, but is there possibly something wrong with my truck?

Thank you all for posting these tips. Today is my first day solo and I'm a bit nervous about being a lady out here on the road. I like the seat belt thru the door tip. I made sure to do this a couple of hours ago. I never would have thought of that! I got into trucking to team with my husband but the company won't let me team until I do 30k solo miles. I'll be a better driver in the end but I sure wish we were together.

Empty trailer,start in 4th gear,make your turn,find correct lane,then shift to 5th,while engine is screaming at 1800rpm. Safe drivers lol.🐎

It's a lot to multitask when u r new.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Romans and Country Men..... I humbly bring to you a dose of the real world.

I recently graduated from CDL school and signed on with one of the big start-up companies. I am into my second week of a four-week program with my trainer, and we are hauling some freight baby! So obvioulsy I am a rookie and as such, speak from a rookies point of view. First and foremost I want to say that while the job is hard, it is also interesting and gratifying... and I am loving it. However, and most of you may already suspect this, the Real World looks much different than the comfy little world of our respective CDL Schools with our kindly and helpful School Marms. For example:

In school we are taught that we should manage our speed based on the posted speed limits and road conditions so as to operate in a safe and responsible manner. In the real world..... HAH! Out here CPM (cents per mile) is King. As best I can tell, I may be the only person out here paying attention to the speed limit. Virtualy everybody is passing me. And sometimes these guys are not pleased that you are following the posted speed limit. Here is an example: "It's 2:00 am and I am travelling East on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. It's lightly raining and foggy, and I am passing through a construction zone with two narrow lanes bounded by concrete walls-of-death and a posted 55 MPH. I'm traveling right at the posted speed limit and I see in my mirror a truck coming up behind me. So I hunkered down and focused all of my attention on staying in my narrow little lane so he could pass. This guy, a livestock hauler, comes barreling by me at a speed closely resembling 70 MPH. As soon as the end of his trailer passes my bumper he jacks over into my lane and flips a switch that ignites 3 rear-facing, bright-white spotlights completely blinding me! WTF! I mean... how DARE I be doing the speed limit through a construction zone at night in the rain and fog. What an a-hole.

In school we are taught it is very important to maintain a safe following distance, and that distance should be 1 second for each 10-feet of truck length at speeds below 40 mph (add 1 second for speeds over 40 mph). In the real world.... HAH! Many of the drivers on the road seem much more concerned with cranking as many of those miles as they can per hour, and I understand that. It boils down to making money, which I (and my creditors) am all for. But some guys out here are down right ridiculous, travelling at highway speeds 15 to 20 feet off the bumper of a minivan. What are they thinking...... "Hey, screw that soccer mom and those damn kids! If they wanted to be safe they should have stayed at home! I got money to make! YEEEEEHAW!"

In school we are taught it is very important to conduct a thorough pre-trip inspection at the beginning of your shift. So far, out here in the real world.... HAH! The very first thing my trainer taught me was how to make an e-log entry showing that a pre-trip was done, without actually doing one. Every day I ask my exalted trainer of he would like me to raise the hood and at least check the oil. The answer is typically, no we'll do that later. The weird thing is, this guy is a lease/purchase operator. This means he is working his tail off to eventually own this truck, all the time letting it go to hell in a hand-basket. I suspect, and pray, this guy is not representative of the industry norm when it comes to vehicle maintenance. He is a nice person and I feel lucky to have someone I can get along with, but when I get my own rig I will be running my show a whole lot differently.

So to sum up.... Out here in the real world things work a little differently, but you learn to accept and live with these realizations because overall the job is great. I intend to operate in a safe and responsible manner, and not fall prey to the feeling of "Screw safety! I have to make another $0.32!". In doing so I guess I will be part of the 10% I have been hearing about. Won't you come join us?! Cheers!

I'm new to trucking and I'm about to go solo if the stars align tomorrow. I am very cautious and I intend to follow posted speed limits and slow down as I deem fit. During training trucks sped past me all the time. They can get the tickets. I intend to be safe. Pass me. I don't really care. I'm a defensive driver and I intend to extend this to truck driving.

And a big accomplishment it is! It's actually a lot of work to get the CDL, then it keeps getting to be more work once you get it! But work equals money, right?

Congratulations!

It was hard work, no doubt. My next obstacle to overcome is backing the trailer at the customer/truck stops. Backing around cones is one thing, but doing it on the job is a totally different animal. Nothing worth doing is ever easy they say...

Congrats

Thank you!

The last couple of days were rough. I spent hours practicing backing maneuvers. I think the pressure to succeed was overwhelming me because I kept screwing up the offset. After 8 hours, I called it a day. I felt discouraged and defeated. I think the stress brought on a cold too.

The next morning, things clicked and I was getting all my maneuvers down, for the most part. Test time came and I was nervous as could be. I took a moment to say a prayer and take a deep breath. I aced everything...pretrip, skills, and driving. It was the best feeling in the world. Especially since the day before I was ready to throw in the towel. Luckily, my examiner was really cool. He made me feel very comfortable during my exam which was extremely helpful.

Of all the things I've accomplished in life, I am most proud of earning my CDL.

Also depends on the company. Prime only wants 5 years from me unless I have previous commercial driving experience. But, I went to irs.gov and got all my tax records since the begging which at least reminds me where my employment was for which year including corporate addresses. Then, I downloaded all my bank records for the duration of the account. From there I cross referenced my direct deposits and check deposits with the tax records to get the months of employment. A little time consuming but, this is also how I got all my addresses too.

That's a smart way to go about it. I had to go to the irs website to get wage and income transcripts as part of my application.(http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Get-Transcript)

Good luck to you at Prime. I look forward to reading about your journey.

I apologize in advance if this has been asked before. I have done a search on this site and couldn't find an answer. I also did a google search and my states website is beyond confusing. I live in Tennessee and feel confident I am ready to take my Class A CDL learners permit test. However I am unsure if I need to have a medical card before I can do this. I know I can call the DMV but they wont reopen until Tuesday so I was wondering if anyone happened to know. Thanks in advance as any information would be helpful.

I was bored so I looked into it. Section 1.4 of the Tennessee CDL manual indicates that you do need a DOT physical to test for the permit.