Profile For Jeff L.

This will be a very unpopular reply.

I think it is a good thing: 1. It will force trucking companies to pay drivers a decent wage, freight rates will go up as a result. Currently several of the largest trucking companies make more money from their lease programs than they do hauling freight.

2. It will get rid of companies putting new drivers in leased trucks. Sorry but a 90 day new driver barely know enough to be able to even properly pre-plan a trip. The last thing they need is a company pushing a lease on them with bs and 1/2 truths. You are being set up to fail. I have never seen the numbers but I would be very surprised if even 25% of first time lease drivers make it past their first year.

3. If you want to own your own truck there are and will still be non-carrier lease to own programs, where the title of the truck will actually be in your name, not the lease company.

Yes it is really going to suck for the drivers that do have lease trucks and understand how to run a business. If it was a real lease to own you could keep driving either under your own authority or one of the carriers that only use owner operators. I have run several business where we have used contractors and in multiple states, You can not set their start times, work days, etc you can only set start dates and completed by dates. If you try and set anything else they are no longer considered contractors but employees. Trucking companies have always gotten away with this, If you think that as a lease driver for say Knight, Swift, or Prime you are an independent contractor go haul a load for JB Hunt, Coyote, Convoy or any other company and see what happens, can you say goodbye lease hello looking for a new job. All you really are to the mega carriers is a source of revenue.

Only true way to run and have recaps, is a 9.5 hour day, 10 max, saving the last for later. And your hours comeback after midnight, sure your QV shows "hours coming back in 1 day/2 days"? At CRST they always had our "Actual" pick up times, an hour or 2 earlier ( they didn't tell us that) lol

When I drove for knight I worked with my DM so I could drive 9.5 hours a day, It is the only way to run if you can. Once it was rolling it worked well for both of us, he didn't have to worry about me needing to do a reset and I didn't feel the need to drive until I was exhausted. What he really liked was I averaged more miles/month than about 90% of the other drivers.

Another plus to doing that is you have a cushion to find parking. If where you planned on stopping for the day is unavailable you still have time to find something else with out going into panic mode.

Yes that is allowed now, but you must take a 10 hour break when you get to your parking/safe haven.

Matt, what company are you with, I forgot. Do you have the personal conveyance provision to use if your clock runs out and you need to find parking?

If you are running until you are out of time and then going pc to find parking it's not if you will get a violation it's just a matter of when.

This time of year that ramp is as hard as the blacktop. The snow has melted and frozen that gravel into a solid mass.

Wow! I'm amazed at how high up that runaway ramp he went. He must have really needed to use it.

I grew up on highway 9 not far from I70 and this ramp. In high school I use to make real good $ unloading trucks that went up the ramps and turned over. Some didn't even try to make the ramps they would just use the side of the hill and lay it over to stop.

I finished the CDL training at Knight just a little over a month ago. You will be responsible for room and board while at the CDL school plus your transportation to and from AZ.

It's a good program and the instructors are very helpful. How ever do not think that completing the 2 weeks in AZ is the end. It is just the training you need to pass your CDL road test. Everything else is taught on the road with your trainer. So the ability of you and your trainer to get along is important, but it is just as important to have a trainer that you can learn from. I just finished my 30 days with a trainer and was very fortunate to get a good trainer that could explain things in a way that made it easy to apply.

Has anyone here been through the paid CDL training for Knight in Phoenix, AZ? I'm looking for some insight and details about their program. I understand the student is responsible for room, board, and transportation throughout the program.

1 Week of driving with my trainer done. Day 1 - Fog and Rain Day 2 - Level 3 inspection (got our 4th quarter sticker)

It has been a good week, and lots of miles. OK -> SC -> FL -> TX -> OK

Heading out tomorrow morning with my trainer. He was very up front with what to expect. Now the real learning begins.

This almost sounds like several people I use to work with. There were 6 of us in the building, 2 of which were smokers. At that time the smokers were allowed to smoke in the shop area. Everytime one of the smokers would light up one someone always made a comment about it stinking or making their eyes water. The funny thing about it was the 2 that *****ed the loudest would spend every night out drinking in the local bars where the smoke was so thick you couldn't see across the room. Smoke was fine as long as it was at their discretion, the rest of the time they used it as an excuss to put off doing any work.

P.S. I don't smoke