Profile For My CB Handle is Frank

Since you weren't able to drive, your team truck became a solo truck. Your co-driver was being dispatched solo loads and getting solo pay. The paperwork, fueling, etc was their job. They were compensated for it already by receiving solo pay so the company isn't going to you pay for it and pay twice.

I'd be more inclined to ask about editing that on duty time so you can get a rolling 34 in. You'll make a lot more money driving with a fresh 70 than nickel and diming the company over paying for some paper work.

In this particular case it would have been fine. As soon as you raised the landing gear, the gap would have closed and it would have been just fine. I know because I've done this before in both a semi truck and a yard spotter. But it never hurts to be extra careful and rehook.

Thanks. I'd been pondering that and I thought that's what would probably happen. I wasn't comfortable with finding out though.

Wow, I just can't go down the road worrying about something like that possibly happening. I have to check for my own peace of mind.

The result of something like that can be devastating. had to pay a 1 million dollar claim in January because the driver did not do what you did and the trailer got loose .... so you can imagine what happened to the lady that was behind him,,,,.....may the Lord bless her

I thought you were Captain Obvious'ing me lol. Yeah, it's definitely a good thing for people to know and a detail that's so small, it gets overlooked more often than it should. Thanks.

Oh I know that. I was saying a few things that I didn't include here while a was cranking it on low for about 300 turns. Lol

The driver who dropped the trailer previously to you, cranked the gear way too high. The landing gear pads should barely touch the ground when spotting a trailer.

I know you know that...meant for those in the forum who may not know that.

Great job catching it!

Oh I know that. I was saying a few things that I didn't include here while a was cranking it on low for about 300 turns. Lol

The driver who dropped the trailer previously to you, cranked the gear way too high. The landing gear pads should barely touch the ground when spotting a trailer.

Here's some pics of a bad coupling I had to do-over a few days ago. I backed in, heard the "click", did the tug test and everything seemed fine until I saw this. I don't know what would have happened if I went down the road like this but I wouldn't want to find out either.

It was on a dirt lot that was wallowed out under the nose of the trailer where other trucks' wheels had been. They had the trailer jacked up about 4 inches higher than my fifth wheel so I backed in close to the king pin and lowered the trailer until the apron was flat against the fifth wheel and backed up. My wheels sank into the ruts more than I anticipated though and it ended up like this.

Not really a nightmare high hook but hopefully this helps some people know what to look for. The pic of the hook around the kingpin actually doesn't look too bad but I know my truck and could see that it didn't look right.

Yeah I thought it sounded like it might be an interesting project to help out with until I got to the part about the wind gust.

The "cup of coffee" comment should have set off some BS detectors as well. I don't think you need to be a coder to know that's not how computers work.

I finally just read this article. I'm still completely unimpressed. This company is attempting to set up a system where the trucks are driven remotely instead of having a driver behind the wheel. But as I've mentioned before, these algorithms are way, way less capable than the software industry would want any of us to believe, because they're trying to raise huge funds, develop some software that seems reasonably promising, and then sell the company for incredible amounts of money to one of the bigger players in the game. The company in this article is named "Starsky":

Of course, Starsky is a for-profit business, not a truth and reconciliation commission. It’s one of a handful of companies trying to seize a piece of the trucking industry’s $700 billion in annual revenue. Starsky has raised $5 million in seed capital from, among others, Y Combinator, the Silicon Valley venture fund and incubator. Its competitors include Embark, which is also backed by Y Combinator, and Otto, a startup that raised no outside capital and had fewer than 100 employees when Uber Technologies Inc. acquired it for $700 million. (Otto is the subject of a lawsuit that claims its co-founder stole technology from Alphabet, Google’s parent.) A fourth company, Peloton Technology, has raised $78 million to pursue adding some autonomous capabilities to conventional trucks.

So no one is accomplishing anything at this point other than to write some software, get some patents on it, and then sell it for massive amounts of money to Google or Uber or GM or one of the other bigger players. So their entire existence is based on hope, and so is their economic future.

As I've pointed out in previous articles, the software is really primitive. Read this and tell me you're impressed:

In the meantime, there are still lots of problems to solve—like wind. Not long into our drive, a gust hits our left side, and the truck lurches toward the shoulder; the wheel turns left, over-correcting and sending us drifting into the next lane. The experience is terrifying, although Runions and Keogh seem unfazed.

“It’s got to adjust, that’s all,” Runions says, explaining that the combination of wind and weight—today’s load is 20 tons, more than in other tests—represents a novel challenge. He keeps his hand on the blue switch and his eyes on his side mirror to make sure we don’t cut off anyone. He looks tense, but the truck finds the right lane after a few seconds.

Keogh says everything is normal. Starsky’s software is written to determine how hard the wind is blowing, he says, and then to steer against the wind and stay in the lane. But early on in a session, the computer isn’t fully calibrated yet. Runions offers a comparison: “You know how you are in the morning before you have your coffee?”

So a simple gust of wind on a flat, dry stretch of highway sent the truck off onto the shoulder and then careening into the hammer lane.

Are you serious?

And then the part about, "You know how you are in the morning before you have your coffee?"

Man, what a fresh, steaming pile of BS. That useless algorithm could have just caused a huge wreck and killed people over a simple gust of wind. One of Tesla's cars that has features that are supposed to detect problems on the highway failed to detect a tractor trailer that was completely across the road and did indeed drive the vehicle straight into the truck, killing the driver of the car.

Your algorithms are sent careening all over the highway by a simple gust of wind and you expect me to believe you have anything worthwhile at this point?

Be serious.

These gigantic corporations have spent billions of dollars over more than a decade developing this software and it still can't reliably detect a tractor trailer sitting sideways in front of the vehicle or maintain its lane when hit with a simple wind gust.

At this point this is nothing but marketing hype. Everyone is trying to convince investors to keep pouring funds into these companies to fund their research and then hopefully pay hundreds of millions buying the company outright one day.

Can't compensate for a simple wind gust. Good grief.

So why would you not educate others so they could do the same?

Anybody who signs a contract without understanding the implications of said contract is an idiot. I would not work for a trucking company that required a non compete. There are plenty of other companies that do not require one. I've heard people say that they were so rushed through the paperwork, there was no way to understand it. BS. I told them I needed time to look through the contracts. And guess what, time was provided.

The most helpful thing for me to learn to fall asleep and take a nap during the day was learning that just lying down and putting your feet up while relaxing can be just as restful as a short nap. Once I learned that, I started relaxing so much instead of stressing over falling asleep that I actually started catching myself falling asleep.

Now I'm a champion napper. There's not much I'm good at but I'm good at napping!

I have a feeling you might have researched this one already but one other possibility is working on ships in Alaska for the Winter seasons. I worked one season up there on a processor ship. It's definitely lots of work for low pay. There would be a lot of possibilities up there for you with your background though.