Profile For Robert

Been driving for 3 years, mainly regional stuff, drop and hook, dry van type stuff, always used electronic logging devices which are quite straightforward. Presently working part time so last week I agreed to do some extra work, casual hauling for another company, a 'mom and pop' type set up. The trucks and trailers are old, and they do not have electronic logging. The work involves running out of state, but only 8-10 hours in total. When I turned up as arranged the boss wasn't around, a yard worker simply pointed at the truck and said take the empty trailer to so and so and come back with a loaded trailer. My concern is what about keeping a log, do I utilize a paper one, and is there a generic one or does it have to have the company logo on it? What about the hours I accrue with my other employer, do I need to carry hard copy print outs of these hours in case I get stopped by a DOT inspector? They also said because of Covid there is now no Bill of Lading paperwork, it's apparently emailed electronically but does this seem right, would this satisfy a roadside DOT inspector? Also the trailer I hauled had no inspection stickers displayed, I did query but they said bring back and they would take care of it? Please try and be constructive, I have found that the rules around trucking seems so confusing and sometimes I find found you get told different things depending on who you ask, also the rules aren't always clear especially in times of COVID. Before I do another run I will insist on speaking to the owner about some of these issues but in the meantime your feedback will prove helpful.

Six months update on my first proper trucking job. Sorry it's a bit long but it may help one or two newbies like me.

First of all this job is not for the faint hearted. Lots to learn. I mean lots. Rarely a day goes by were everything goes as planned. Take last night. I-376 Tunnel and surrounding roads closed in and out of Pittsburgh because of protesters. Try using navigation to get your way out, nav systems like Waze are geared towards car drivers, and even my trucking navigation app kept wanting to send me back onto roads affected by the protest. In the end got on the phone to my wife who saw where I was and managed to get me along an alternate route, unfortunately this involved negotiating along small narrow residential streets with vehicles blocking the road and low trees and bridges to worry about in the dark. To make matters worse an alternate route was affected by a landslide and completely closed off. Very very stressful. This is a route I have done many times but did not anticipate any problems so in future I intend to familiarise myself with the area I am going in case there are any unexpected road closures. I made it back but I know there were other drivers from my company were still out there trying to find a way back.

Other info for people starting out- dropping and hooking trailers, always check the 5th wheel is locked and secure by going under and shining a torch and making sure it is secured properly, know of one or two instances where people haven't checked and they have pulled away and trailer has dropped, in one example it happened with a loaded trailer into the start of the journey resulting in trailer breaking in half.

Do a good pretrip on trucks and trailers. I know for a fact that some drivers hook up and are away, I have come across some pretty serious issues after doing a pretrip, ones that would have been longstanding, it amazes me when I see drivers jump in a truck at the start of their shift without checking anything, or same with hooking up to a trailer.

Check your load. Sometimes my loads will be strapped but never assume this has been done correctly. Get in and check and make sure it is tight and if necessary add an additional strap or use a bar. Cranking gear on trailers can be difficult to rotate and can work different directions so bear this in mind! Recommend buying a dash cam, got one for $20, some people are very dangerous on the road, not a day goes by without there being some idiot pulling out in front of me or cutting me up and if the worst were to happen I would have a bit of protection.

Reversing-do it slowly, never be afraid to get out and look especially if you are instances where you have to do it blind side. If you are in a lighted place like a dock area with other drivers around at night dim your lights so you wont dazzle other drivers trying to park up.

Keep to the speed limit, no excuses. Easy to drift over especially if you have a truck that will go 75 or so especially on a turnpike with a full load!

Delays are inevitable. Do not go over your 14 hours. Its your call whether you think you have time to fit in another run. Dispatchers just want the load out whatever but it's your call. You will find some places you go to are slower than others at unloading or having spare trailers, you will get to know which ones! I have had one instance where I had to take a full load back on account of them not being able to live unload or having an empty trailer I can take back, our company does not allow driving distances by bob tailing except in extreme circumstances.

Have a positive attitude. Goes a long way. Be polite. Treat people the way you want to be treated. Most truckers want you to do well but I have been disrespected by one or two other drivers for absolutely no reason. Some drivers think they own the truck, on one occsion I was an hour late in returning with the truck I share for no fault of my own and he resorted to personal insults. One or two drivers had warned me this guy was a 'nasty piece of work' and they weren't wrong ! To resolve this I told him what I thought of him, and the next day asked my boss could I use one of the spare hire trucks-problem solved! Thankfully its the type of job where 95% of your time is on your own so I can easily ignore the arseholes, every company has them but you will find most fellow truckers want to see you succeed and do well, and will do everything they can to help!

Hope this post helps some of you, good luck out there, overall it is a very good job!

You are obviously a good employee, they would not do this for just anyone

I'm a rookie driver and have found out that the vast majority of trucks for the company I drive (think big drinks company) are mostly automatic so an automatic restriction may not be that big of a deal than it may have been a few years ago. I find the more experienced truckers tend to choose to drive the 12 speed manual transmission trucks but I prefer the automatics, so easy to drive (especially given my arthritic knee joints) and they still give the choice of operating the gear changes manually.

Hey guys, unfortunately due to my low grades I had to take a break from full time college at the moment, so I've decided to prepare for a career in truck driving for a couple years at the very least could be longer but who knows where life will take me. Anyways I'm most likely going to be attending a company sponsored school and I've narrowed it down to prime and CR England. I have a few concerns however; I'm aware that CR England trains on only automatics and at the end of training you'll have an only automatic restriction on your license, would this help or hinder me in the short term? I know the industry as a whole is moving towards automatics but its always best to know the fundamentals of a manual. At the same time however I believe these are two really great options to get started in this industry I just don't know how I feel about being stuck with an automatic only restriction on license. Any help is appreciated

Maybe trucking companies that don't work within the law? You have to be a citizen to get your CDL A. I'm not sure if a temporary visa will even work. If one of those trucks got pulled for inspection, they'd be as screwed as screwed could be. It'd be nearly impossible to insure the trucks. Deportation, hefty fines, revocation of business license, jail time. More risk than it'd be worth.

I'm not entirely sure why you're concerned with this at all anyways?

Not quite a citizen. I have a Green Card and have a CDL A, Hazmat and TWIC card.

Thanks, its a really great job, so much to learn but I will never ever get complacent. Got a call at lunchtime today, got a 6pm start till finish run all week, about a 280 mile round trip, but almost all turnpike so hopefully not too bad. Really looking forward to it, right now I would work for free just to build up experience, best not tell my employer that though!

Great to hear you did a proper pre trip! That definitely would have been a costly repair. Thorough Pretrips are always important but when your driving a different truck i feel it's even more important. Unfortunately many drivers don't even do their inspections when slip seating because they think the next guy will and have any repairs taken care of. I've seen some guys for other companies that rent spaces at same yard as us not even get out of their truck while logging their pre/post trip! This isn't a problem with the guys I slipseat with but I've heard from drivers with other companies they deal with it frequently. As far as your backing goes don't worry about it. You didn't hit anything and you got it in, that's all that matters. If it takes you 2 minutes, or 2 hours as long as you don't hit anything you were successful. Sure it may be embarrassing or stressful, but not as embarrassing as hitting Something. Great work!

Started with a big multi national company, my first proper driving job, is only a part time position, effectively zero hours contract so need to check in daily or they contact me if there is work. Did my initial safety/orientation training and road check earlier in the year, but only started driving with them in the past week due to them being slow and my own ongoing work commitments.

On Wednesday did a short round trip of about 150 miles with the safety guy in the passenger seat. Loaded trailer on outbound, empty one on return. Thought I did OK with the driving, dock reversing, changing trailers etc, nothing too difficult, included turnpike and mountain driving in fog and rain but no issues.

They asked me to come in the next day for the monthly staff meeting. After the meeting I thought I'd be off home but the boss pointed to a tractor and said hook that up to trailer such and such located in a yard a mile away, come back to have the load checked and then haul it over to a place about 60 miles away! Couldn't believe it, was expecting at least another week or two training!

Here is the importance of a pre trip guys. I looked under the hood and there was evidence that engine oil spewing over the top and middle part of the engine, on the hoses and underside of hood. It was difficult to pinpoint where the leak was but there was no leak under the truck. I struggled to pull out the dipstick cos it was the wire type and was badly twisted and bent. When I got it out uess what, no oil at all showing on the dipstick apart from a clag of oily debris right at the end! Brought to attention of supervisor who thanked me and pointed to another 3 tractors, basically pick one of them!

Everything else went pretty well apart from taking a bit of time reversing in a tight alley dock which held up a few of the guys but got it in there at the end (Iput this down to fatigue), but I stayed a little while to watch how the pros did it, they make it look easy as reversing a car into a regular parking spot yet it took me about 6 attempts, I did better on my CDL test-must improve! Paperwork also a bit overwhelming as well as trying to get head around in cab computers etc, but all in all a really enjoyable, but exhausting day!

Really pleased with myself as its my first proper driving job since I got my CDL A last summer and it's certainly the first time I've ever been trusted to take a truck out on my own. Had some road driving experience in the military 30 years ago but it was very limited. This job really suits me as it's home every night and flexible enough to allow me to continue with other part time job. The pay is $20 an hour and includes other benefits, not bad for this part of the world!

Looking forward to my next adventure, hope they have something for me on Monday!

Thanks for the further responses. I really want to make the right decision because I'm now 50 and keen to find something I can do for the next few years or even take me through to retirement so finding the right job with a good company is very important. Sometimes I wish I started trucking earlier when I was younger and fitter, and single and without kids as going down the road seeing different places would have been awesome, but I do believe there is a truck driving job to suit everyone but my requirements restrict me somewhat. Thanks again, your opinions do help, even if they do vary!

OK, thanks for taking time out to reply

Wanted to ask opinions from people on here about what to do as regards a job offer. Got my Class A CDL in July. Shortly after I secured a driver position driving reefer trucks delivering foodstuffs to grocery stores. Great employer but only worked a few weeks due to postal worker job I'd applied for much earlier becoming available. Been working at the post office, it's a good job, delivering mail in the countryside but quite simply the hours aren't there and there are zero benefits. Did think about asking for the previous driving job back, they are advertising again and I left on good terms but the big drawback is that it is too far away and the hours aren't great. During the past few months I kept my fingers in the CDL pie, looking for suitable positions, I also got my HAZMAT endorsement. I have very limited recent experience (have military tractor trailer experience but that was a long time ago), consequently most job opportunities I see for someone in my position are for OTR drivers with the big companies. I want something where I am home every night or 90% of the time, and I do not want to work nights, more of a 9-5 job if you like. To this end I'v been offered a job with a local company, driving a route delivering gas from a tanker unit to businesses and residential homes. The hours are great, 730 to 430 M-F with overtime opportunities. Full training, uniform and other benefits and I will be able and I will also gain HAZMAT experience. The pay isn't great, starting at $17 an hour but is negotiable. The only fly in the ointment is the job requirement is for a Class B driver. My concern is that if I took this job and then in the future if I went for another driving job, would the Class B driving experience count towards me getting a Class A driving position or would it just benefit the HAZMAT side only? My only realistic alternative Class A driver job prospect here in rural PA for me right now, is hauling milk, but the hours aren't great. Any advice would be appreciated.