Profile For Susan D.

I can drive either manuals or auto shifts. An auto simply has a computer do the shifting for you and there is no clutch pedal, however, they do indeed have a clutch.

An auto can roll back on a hill, just like a manual transmission truck can. Most trucks do have a “hill assist “ button that can eliminate roll back and can be turned on or off.

In my 24 cascadia, the shifter and the exhaust brake (not a true Jacob’s brake) are on a single stalk on the right just behind the steering wheel. The wipers and delay settings are on a stalk on the left side just behind the steering wheel.

Simply place your foot on the brake pedal, select drive, or reverse, release your brake buttons, take your foot off the brake pedal and accelerate forward (or backward if you’re backing up). When stopping, simply use your service brake pedal.

When stopping to park, open trailer doors, whatever, stop using brake pedal, switch to neutral, and set your brakes. Most newer trucks will “tell on you” if you open your door and your tractor (yellow) brake isn’t set by honking your city horn very loudly lol.

Now go pass that road test and when you’re issued your first truck with your new employer make sure you know how to operate that auto. Some companies lock out manual mode on automatic trucks and some don’t. West Side used to keep it locked out, but I made the case with our safety department on why they should allow us to have access to manual mode, and they listened. For a couple years now we can use our manual mode in our automatic trucks.

When going down mountain grades, I use my manual mode to control my descent speed to whatever gear I need to descend safely with whatever weight I happen to have at the time in conjunction with my exhaust brake (in dry weather) For example, say I’m going towards Chattanooga and Monteagle and I’m grossing 79k pounds. My max speed should be 25. At the brake check area, as I’m leaving I’ll put it in manual mode, put it in 8th gear, set my “Jake” on 2, stay in the right lane with my 4 ways on and just ease in down.. generally never have to hit my service brake pedal. If I’m very light or empty, I’ll be going down at 45mph, 9th or 10th (I have a 12 speed) or just go auto and set my cruise to 40 and let it ride, because our cruise will allow 5 mph over whatever is set before it turns on the Jake’s all by itself. Use service brake pedal sparingly as needed. Easy peasy.

I do not miss manual transmissions at all although my company does still have them. And absolutely love the disc brakes all the way around, even on our newer trailers (4-5 years old or less). No more drum brakes 😁

Know if the truck you’ll test in has disc or drum brakes.

Don’t feel bad lol. Many years ago I took a scenic route. A day prior, I’d dropped a load at our south Chicago terminal. Delivered a couple loads around Chicago, then was sent back to that terminal to pick up a different load going to a large vending supply company.. was supposed to be delivering a load of snacks to this company. Backed up close to the assigned dock and went to remove seal and open my doors. When I saw that seal on the back of my trailer.. a seal from international paper no less, my heart sank. Without skipping a beat I let them know I’d just been informed of an emergency that needed to be dealt with immediately, apologized profusely. They were kind and said not a problem. I left that seal intact and drove away, headed back to Chicago, got the correct snack filled trailer and returned early the following morning to deliver their load on time (was early the day before lol) Naturally as I was driving away I called my dispatcher and let them know what I’d done. All he said is you know those extra miles are on you, and I said no problem and I wouldn’t expect to get paid extra for my screw up.

💩 happens!

etc

OMGosh, yall are too funny. The one thing we DONT have are driver facing cameras. I do like the sensor on the right side of our trucks when something or someone is on your right side, but it’s a PITA if that something is a guardrail and you’re trying to make a right turn and the truck is alarming and doesn’t want to move 😁

I bet you can turn the volume up on your little voice. Our trucks talk to us too. It’s annoying and can be turned way down also.

Refining recycled oil, cleaning up hazardous waste spills, etc. hmm. Idk but my guess is they haul heavy loads most the time, because they’re often usually slower than we are lol. That’s my only knowledge of “Clean Harbors”. I agree with Kearsey. If it’s a 1099 position, don’t. You’ll want benefits, like vacation, holiday pay, health/medical/life insurance as well as income taxes being deducted from your paycheck and having workman’s comp protections.

Hoping you find that $3k worth it and breathing better.

Long time no see lol. I’ve been a busy girl. Doing fine, still at West Side Transport.. same place I started at in very early 2016. They still treat me well. I’m not a fan of this newest cascadia I have. It’s allergic to water.. every time I get in a bunch of rain, my abs goes haywire. Sometimes I can get it to reset, sometimes I can’t then it derates and I get a tow to a dealer 😁. Sometimes I can limp it to a dealer and they clean and dry the sensors off and send me on my merry way til the next monsoon. Currently sitting in a Rock Hill SC dock for the night due to a very late delivery.. it took me 5 hours yesterday to drive from Smyrna TN to our Chattanooga terminal to pick up this load lol. Traffic was absolutely ridiculous bumper to bumper crawling almost the entire way for no discernible reason.. no lanes closed, wasn’t raining.. just crazy and should have taken me maybe 2 hours. Had to love the flooding on I-26 today headed over here, so you KNOW my truck abs is lit up like Christmas tonight as I try to get all the errors to clear.

I finally made it past the 80k mark in this truck since getting it last August. It’s only been towed 5 times and been in the shop a cumulative 4-5 months. It’s allergic to flying pickups as well. (Long story but suffice it to say I had tire marks at the top of my sleeper and they had to rebuild the entire cab from the right front, including the hood, all mirrors, windows, fridge, right door, steps, right dash, all the way around to the back of the cab. I wasn’t injured other than a glass shower and wasn’t ticketed but I did take several weeks off after to decide if I still have the stomach for the daily stupidity out here on the roads. The jury in my head is still out on that)

I seem to drive loaner trucks as much as I drive this one lol.

Another interesting thing is the Company owner finally retired and sold out the company since he had no family able or willing to take it over. Our CFO is now the president of the company and they claim nothing will change lol. West Side Transport is now owned by EVO logistics, a postal contract carrier. The first change was during driver appreciation week.. a big FU to our drivers with 4 legged companions. Apparently due to transportation and lodging difficulties for drivers with pets, those drivers having pets in their trucks will no longer get breakdown pay if a loaner truck is not immediately available for them to use.. apparently many Uber drivers don’t want pets in their vehicles and not all hotels allow them either.

I’m doing excellent these days enjoying my weekends off hanging out on the Tennessee river and working on my forever home.

Congratulations Big Scott! I hope you enjoy your new job.

Very sorry to hear of your loss. Prayers to you and your family.

Rick will be missed very much, here at TT and everywhere else. So sad to hear. Condolences to his family and friends.

The best company to go with is the one that suits your personal needs.

What kind of hometime do they offer?

Do they allow riders or pets?

Are you required to park your truck at a terminal?

Things like that is what you should be considering, if that makes sense.

They're all good companies, so find the one you'll be glad to work for many years, because job hopping is never a good thing in trucking.

Delve Dave, sometimes DOT WILL pull into truckstops or rest areas to check for these type violations (ie falsification of logs).

To cover myself anywhere inside the cab, I pull the FRONT CURTAINS lol.. that makes the seats part of the sleeper. However, if I get out of the truck, yes I change it to off duty. I'm telling you, sometimes whether you realize it or not, they're watching you.

So Rainey/Kearsey has seen them "harrassing" drivers who are parked also.

It HAPPENS! Don't take any chances because the ticket will go to YOU, the driver... not to your company.