Profile For Scott O.

For the OP—do you run Qualcomm, PeopleNet, or ?

Qual.

Actually I do a lot of long hauls coast to coast with light loads. Interstate driving. Dispatch does a good job too, so I’m not even exaggerating when I say I’m against the governor 80% of my on duty time. I run 70hrs per week every week for weeks. Simple math shows that if I were going just 3mph faster during this 80% of my on duty time then I’d be making an extra $268.80 per month. Chump change.

No. head of maintenance said the speed is governed evenly across the board for all company trucks regardless of cruise vs. pedal. Also said it would take company codes to adjust governor speed. I’m thinking these have been new trucks from the factory, and they haven’t realized they’re set too high

For the past few months I’ve been realizing other company trucks have been passing me on flat ground going 3mph faster. The drivers even admitted to me their company trucks are governed higher.

When I bring it up with management they insist all trucks are governed at the same speed.

How can they not know? And how can they get away with it? I would think this would qualify as insurance fraud as the insurer covers them for only one governor speed.

This company has been decent, but this reeks of dishonesty, and I’ll probably be looking at other companies, because they refuse to acknowledge the facts and refuse to turn my truck up. We run like 80% of on duty time at maxed out speed, so I figure these guys running 3mph faster are making north of $250 more than me per month for the same amount of drive time.

I’ve got 2 yrs experience. Any recommendations for companies with passenger program?

Some really great suggestions here. A lot of suggestions were the reason I decided to go OTR in the first place. I've been losing the most sleep over figuring out who to apply to. I need to make over $1,000 per week to justify going to a different company.

Problem is, how can you know how a company is going to be until you're there? I have my list of questions, but there's so much more to it that can't be figured out from a Q&A

My cdl is based out of South Dakota, but I'm originally from Santa Barbara. I still have family out there, and it's always a pleasure to visit. I wish I could find a dry van company that does southwest regional, and would let me bobtail up there every other weekend for 3 days off. That would be awesome.

Does anyone know about those tanker jobs where they load at wineries in that part of the state and then ship them across country to unload somewhere?

What y'all have said about the local jobs actually being more stressful is what I've always consistently heard.

I completed one year OTR 2 months ago. I took a short paid vacation, and then got back in the truck OTR.

I certainly am not as excited as when I started a year ago. In fact I just can't see how I even lasted a year in this situation. I now understand the comment, "mobile jail cell" I heard when researching this career path. I feel like I'm starting to go crazy. I'm sick of people jerking me around all over the country. I'm tired of all the 12-14 hour days, I never feel like I get a break since I live in the truck. I hate being stuck 24/7 with a reefer unit - most of all right next to my ear while trying to sleep. Earplugs don't cancel all the noise and the high frequency vibration agitates me.

The poor planning, the customers that make you wait hours on end, the breakdowns and of course throwing an extreme fit of rage when I haven't had a good night's sleep for weeks and the stupid elog is ticking down the minutes and I can't even find a parking place to sleep.

Also, have you noticed how no one appreciates truck drivers even though without us they wouldn't even have food, or - in the case of the snotty (yes 90% of the time they have a snotty attitude) warehouse receptionists - jobs?

I'm thinking about going local, but that seems difficult, and requires an investment for an apartment and car as a minimum. And then of course, what if that local job ends up being even worse than OTR?

I think I can relocate anywhere in the country for a great local job. I'd love banker hours, but that's probably not realistic. I was thinking either linehaul or some sort of out and back tanker position (basically a linehaul position) would be a good fit. But is that sort of position realistic with just a year of experience?