Profile For The Little Trucker

Congrats! I knew a guy from CDL school who wanted to go to May. We always teased him and I called him Mr. May because he was totally taken with the recruiter. She was the first recruiter he'd encountered and after her presentation he was sold on May and started trash talking the other companies. He told me once, "I know all those Swift drivers are unhappy." Haha. Joke's on him--he was still in school by the time I got my first truck and he never did pass as far as I know.

Glad things are working out well for you. Are you still doing OTR?

LOL yeah Rosalita knows how to sell a company. I was never sold on it however but I did like that she brought different kinds of food. Instead of just pizza like everyone else. And yes I'm still doing OTR. For now, I prefer it. I'm down here in my home state of Texas in my home city of Houston!! I was so excited to get this load. I miss my city. At the same time I have had some reminders of why I left it lol. Now I'm headed to Wyoming. I am not thrilled with all that snow up there!

Feeling a wave of nostalgia. A year ago around this time I was new to the site and nervous as heck about dipping my toes in the trucking industry. Your answers convinced me someone like me could be a trucker. Here I am sitting in my cab after helping someone else back up. I can't believe I have come so far!

I've covered every state in the 48 except for Maine and Delaware. I've had my little hiccups. I've driven in the snow, driven in the rain. I've made so many friends and seen so many things. I'm not with the same company I started with, but I'm with one that fits me and my needs much better.

And too much time alone has forced me into self-evaluation and self-growth. Thanks to everyone who had a hand in creating this site and making it what it is!!!

Hey Little Trucker, I remember you!! Haha, we started about the same time so I've been more reflective lately as well. Who are you with now? I'm still with Swift, doing more local stuff now. It's crazy, I just had a memory on my Facebook a few days ago from a year ago when I got my permit. A year ago, I was spending my first week driving an hour a day in a beat up old semi and now I have driven well over 100,000 miles in most of the US. Crazy..

Hey Paul I remember you too! I am with May trucking now. Nowhere near the best company but I've worked out a few kinks (changing dm's, etc.) And now I'm a lot more comfortable over here. I still miss some things with Swift but I like it over here just fine. I'm glad you got a local gig!

I have to agree with you 100% because this is the most informative trucker site that I have ever seen in my short time getting ready to become a truck driver. There is nothing quite like having a support family and I sure like this one. Great wisdom and knowledge all around.

Yes this is a very informative site. It's also very family like. They answer your questions and crack jokes at the same time lol

Feeling a wave of nostalgia. A year ago around this time I was new to the site and nervous as heck about dipping my toes in the trucking industry. Your answers convinced me someone like me could be a trucker. Here I am sitting in my cab after helping someone else back up. I can't believe I have come so far!

I've covered every state in the 48 except for Maine and Delaware. I've had my little hiccups. I've driven in the snow, driven in the rain. I've made so many friends and seen so many things. I'm not with the same company I started with, but I'm with one that fits me and my needs much better.

And too much time alone has forced me into self-evaluation and self-growth. Thanks to everyone who had a hand in creating this site and making it what it is!!!

Prime Inc has tanker positions for rookies. Most of these are if you're located in the northeast. It's worth a try.

Thank you I will. And I guess I'd better keep Love's in mind too.

Now that I've laid out my diatribe a couple of pointers to avoid hard braking.

When I pass snowplows I do it slowly. Like if they are going 40mph I'll pass them at 45 mph. I will frequently back off in snowy conditions when you have a wall of traffic moving as well.

I am not a fan of 55+ mph zones with traffic lights, I think they should be required to have those warning signals that it will turn red like they have on the Nebraska 2 and a few other places. That said, oftentimes you can judge the lights by the crosswalk countdowns and if you can't just slow down. Especially if you are running OTR, running 5 mph under the speed limit in the city or being cautious at lights isn't going to cost you much time.

And Matt just for the record, I don't think his job should be in jeapordy over hard braking events either. But he admitted in his post that he is indeed the cause of the events so it's not really a technical issue. I think if he's constantly having to hard brake he should try to find a solution to the problem instead of carrying the problem over to another company. I wasn't accusing him of being inattentive either. I was just saying it might be a factor or it might not.

And I don't know anyone who is a fan of 55+ mph zones with traffic lights. But they do exist and the only thing we can do is do our best to drive through them safely.

I was going to suggest Schneider, myself. Keep up with them. Things change from week to week. You can also put yourself on their alerts where they text you every time there's an opening that fits your criteria.

They call them "Schneider Alerts."

Also check out Love's Truck Stops. I think they're part of another company called Gemini, so look then up under that name too. They do hire newbies for pulling fuel. Make sure you have your tanker, hazmat, and doubles/triples endorsements before you apply. Having them already makes you more competitive and I've seen Love's pulling double tankers in Utah.

-mountain girl

Thanks for the advice. I will suscribe to Schneider alerts. As far as Love's, I'm sure they only do local. And I would rather not start out pulling double tanks just yet.

I am interested in driving tanker. Everyone I talk to says you first need tanker experience, in addition to or in place of tractor-trailer experience (depending on what company you're asking). The only beginner tanker company I know of is Schneider Bulk and they said they currently do not have any tanker opportunities. I would like to stay over the road if that's possible. Does anyone know any beginner tanker companies that do OTR or am I asking for too much?

Soooooo...I'm not trying to be a smart aleck here, but is your actual question "what company can I go to next?" or "How can I prevent further Hard Braking Events?" If your company is treating you right in most of the critical arenas (pay, hometime, etc.) and the only issue they have with you is hard breaking, then maybe you ought to be figuring out how to better your driving. Hard braking events are usually the result of inattentiveness, as in they are usually a last ditch effort to correct something that could have been otherwise avoided. If the light is stale-green and the speed limit is a little higher (such as 55 mph) there are usually signs that flash when the light is about to change. If there aren't, maybe try slowing down as you approach the light enough that you can stop safely and reasonably if needed. Also, if the light turns yellow and you cannot stop keep going.

I just think that if you go to another company, you're going to have the same problem. So instead of telling us "you don't know why you are screwing up like this," maybe try to figure out what you're doing that you can do differently. Hopefully I was of some sort of help.

All set for my big update. No dice, usb device not recognized? says it's not connected but gps says connected? Help?

USB not recognized The last usb device connected to this computer malfunctioned,and Windows does not recognize it (that's what it is still saying)

Did anyone answer this young man's question in a pm or something? I'm having this same issue on my Rand McNally 730 and when I tried to Google a solution to it, This thread popped up on Google's results page (kudos to TT for getting around and being so accessible LOL)!

Also, if you do not have the GPS powered up before connecting & try to power on once connected you will get that error. You have to have the GPS powered up before you try to connect to your computer or you will get that kind of error.

Ernie

PS

I used to work on computers for 15 years before I started driving.

What if you've had the device turned on when you connected it and you've tried all of the ports?