Profile For Johnny 3

I work for Melton & went through their orientation 4 months ago.. I can tell you 1st hand..everything Brett & Old school said is pretty dead on..

Their orientation is a vetting process & some people will get weeded out for various reasons...14 of the 22 in my orientation got to become drivers for Melton.

You should be fine if you are honest with them, haven't done drugs & can show that you have had a little bit of practice driving a semi.

They also do both kinds of drug tests hair & urine...and they have an interrogation process where they will have different personnel ask you the same questions about various things in different ways...sometimes they will do it in an informal manner to catch you off guard...They are looking for inconsistencies & will send you home if they catch you in a lie...even a seemingly trivial one....I saw a couple people in my orientation sent home as a result of this. They are real big on honesty.

It took me 4 tries to pass the backing test for my cdl...that wasn't even 5 months ago yet... now i am out here everyday sometimes backing into places much harder than the cones at tbe d.o.t. If your instructor isn't much help ...there are some helpful videos on youtube if you look for them...just take the initiative to study outside of class if possible & practice practice practice every chance you get...you'll get there eventually & this will be a memory.

I appreciate everyones' responses.

I do have a mini fridge that i keep some perishables in so I don't want to completely shut off the battery if I can avoid it.

I suppose this is also why it is a good idea to not let it sit too long without starting it.

I have been home for up to 5 days before & let it sit without any issues but I guess there could be at some point.

I suppose I will somewhat try to follow this request & do something else with the stuff I keep in that fridge if my home plans have me away from the truck more than a couple days.

Hello all,

It has been a minute since I've contributed to thw message board but do read it from time to time still.

My new life as a trucker has taken away some of my frequent web surfing tendencies.

Anyhow, I got assigned a new driver manager about 3 weeks ago & just came home for hometime the 1st time since this has happened.

He sent me a list of hometime expectations which included me going back to my truck every day to start it. I am home for 4 days.

To me..I don't see the benefit & My plans when I'm at home aren't always conpatible with this & the closest place to park my truck is 11 miles away too.

I'm not getting paid for my personal gas or mileage for doing this & it can throw a wrench in what I may have planned while I am here as well.

I want some other opinions on this.. Is there an actual reason it should be started EVERY day when I am only here for 4? Will they notice if I don't? Am I wrong for thinking my hometime is my free time & shouldn't have to involve anything trucking related?

Thank you in advance.

ı am from not too far away from there. What is even funnier is that the only bar in this town sells t shirts that say "I <3 Cumming" on the front.

I cracked up yesterday at an exit sign for Cumming, IA. I bet that place is orgasmic! Funny thing is, the population is only like 300 people. I wonder how the town got the name?!

Thank you everybody for your support. I've hit the ground running & have already done about 1700 miles solo in my 1st 4 days. This includes a day where I only did 186 because I spent the bulk of my clock loading & unloading at 2 different places. Tarping takes me a loooonng time by myself. I've got some downtime right now because my current load doesn't take weekend shipments & I'm already within a very short drive of it :) The place I parked at tonight also has free wifi so I figured it would be a good time to take advantage of the opportunity to update my profile. Thanks again!

Hello everybody!

I just wanted to share my excitement with all of you.

I have just finished Melton's training program (orientation and road trainer). After 3 weeks on the road with my trainer, he felt I was ready to go solo & informed the training manager who coordinated it so that his next load ran us by a terminal. I got to drive us there today :) Before giving him his wheel back & unloading my stuff off of his truck.

I haven't been on here much conversing lately because I was kept super busy & used the little free time I had to rest when possible.

It wasn't long before I got my 1st solo task (driving a vanload of orientation prospects to the same hotel I got to check into tonight).

I still don't have my truck yet but should be getting it issued in the next couple days..I will put a new photo up once time permits after this happens.

Everything has gone by so fast since I made the leap to get into this lifestyle.

From being a new cdl student who knew little about semis to getting my license a few weeks ago to today being branded as capable of flying solo all within the last 3 months.

I know that I will have trying & stressful moments from time to time doing this but I am excited for this chapter!

I want to thank G-town, Old School & anyone else who has provided me insight up to this point. I'm sure I will be back for more :)

I want to throw in another vote for Melton...went through their orientation a couple weeks ago & am on the road with a trainer as we speak...They have very decent pay & benefits for a company that will take on new drivers & their training is very thorough.

congrats Victor!

I don't feel so bad knowing that.

That was about where I was at on my 1st couple of practices & i thought that wad just extraordinarily slow. I'll get more practice tomorrow. I'm already hooked up with my road trainer & we are picking up a tarp load 1st thing in the morning.

My first few tarp loads took me 2-3 hours. I got faster each time and of course some loads are easier than others to tarp. After a while I got pretty fast. I would see if I could finish before the other drivers beside me for fun.

You'll find out that flatbed drivers will often help fold your tarps. I had a tanker driver help me fold my tarps once, I said "that's the first time a driver helped me who wasn't a flatbed driver." He told me he used to do flatbed.

Melton sounds like a great company, good luck out there!