Profile For Leeva804

People at my school struggled for 3-9 months to get their license. I and lots of others finished in one month. It’s vary’s but you never know if it’ll click for you

I forgot to say because I am single with no kids I get corn holed by Uncle Sam and the great state of Illinois to the tune of around $600 a week.

Man they’re killing you!!! I was offered a six figure job with Estes and was so mad when they didn’t hire me lol. I didn’t have hazmat tanker, or doubles but I was only a week from getting it at the DMV.

They were gonna start me at 68 cents a mile! If I worked a sixth day I would have easily cleared six figures!

But it all worked out I landed a gig at Fedex Ground with a good contractor. I’m at 82K+ a year. I’m happy as a champ home daily and weekends off. But I’ll say this that 100K is nice man. I look forward to the day I get there.

Hello all I started my trucking career last October and was terminated for frequency of accident may 25, 2021 I am currently looking for another driving position but no one I've contacted is willing to give me another chance and I understand why. I will list accidents below so everyone can get the complete picture of my situation, any help will be greatly appreciated. 1. During training I attempted to make a u turn at a truck stop and bent the driver side panels behind the sleeper happened around December 12, 2020

2. I was in Dunn, NC at a loves while I was pumping fuel another truck pulled into the fuel isle from the wrong side his trailer was partially in my way, after waiting about 30 min I decided to try nd squeeze past his trailer so I could deliver my load. While getting through I grazed a fuel guard. Yellow mark on front passenger side bumper

3. In pontoon Beach, IL I was attempting to back into a spot and hit another truckers mirror.

All accidents I called dispatch immediately and reported them, all accidents I was at fault, all accidents dot nonrefundable

Charges on my DAC report are 1. Accident - turning 2. Accident- struck a fixed object 3. Accident- property damage

Again any help is greatly appreciated, I understand I was wrong and really jus need another chance. Thank you

Will Western Express take you? I gotta say three incidents in such a short time like the ones you mentioned are minor and it’s crazy companies will not hire you. I’m not sure about this but I believe after 1 year experience you can work around finding a job with multiple accidents as insurance companies are willing to take you. My boy got hired no issues with NFI with three minor accidents, but he had one year.

Within the first year I believe you’re screwed by most mega’s because they can’t hire you because of insurance. I could be wrong.

I bet if you look on craigslist you’ll find a good job. I would even take a class B job if it will pay the bills seeing as those accidents won’t really be gone until three years.

But for real don’t hit nothing else. Try your best to think before you act. Watch bone head truckers and see how truckers every week have accidents in the most insane ways and learn.

Your second option is owner operator but you’re likely not fit to take up your own with no proven experience.

I’m definitely saving to own my truck outright these companies have to many rules for me. Luckily with what the gig I landed recently I’ll have my truck paid off in three years to avoid these carriers who will ding you for minor accidents.

You can say a driver is basically non-hire-able but everyone deserves to have a fair shot at getting better. You didn’t hit anyone or injure anyone. It’s amazing how mega’s will do everything to stop a rookie from even improving. There is countless stories on here and truck report of drivers who had three accidents or more only to land a job through luck and never had a accident again.

But these mega’s will literally make that most will give up by their standards. But I’ll say this OP no more accidents man. You gotta nail it down if you land a new gig.

I'm approaching my 6th month of OTR... and looking to switch to a higher paying company.

Does anyone know of any OTR companies that may include as much of the following as possible:

+High CPM and miles per week/weekly minimum

+Services 48 states... (like to run coast to coast)

+Able to accumulate home time... for example, can earn 1 home day for every 6 days out w/ no cap on accrual

+No/low touch dry van or reefer

+Newer equipment w/ APU's.

+Self dispatch or no forced dispatch

Thanks for your input...

Shaffer trucking and Crete pays really good for otr drivers. I think it’s .59-.65 cents a mile and maybe 2500-3000 miles a week. I have read stories of drivers who have reported making 75K-85K+ first and second year driving. Some even saying 90K.

I jumped four times my first year so you’ll be fine if you make the jump. But definitely don’t do more than two. Research and be very careful.

Hey, CONGRATULATIONS on accomplishing all that you have! Especially the debt thing.

Whatever was not for you, I hope it’s behind you now. What’s waiting for you at the new gig, I hope is all you wish it to be.

Focus on the positives that came from that Walmart gig. For whatever you didn’t like, it DID allow you to accomplish a lot.

Congratulations!

Thank you kind sir! I’m truly looking forward to the change and I’m actually excited to get back into a manual truck again. Best part about new gig is it’s 15 minutes from my house so the drive home will be fast and cost saving now.

Also I’ll just have to bite it if it’s like the Walmarts since it pays .68 cents a mile.

I genuinely hope it works out the way you hope it will. Thats your attitude at this moment, but did you feel a similiar way when you started the Walmart dedicated? If I remember correctly you were making much more doing that than your prior job. Most people after they get the hang of things start to allow little things to get them worked up. We recently had a guy walk away from a 100k a year job to go pull construction equipment because he allowed small things to change his mentality of the gravy job we have. To be honest, at my current company I've dealt with far more cry babies that allow the small things to affect their entire day than I have at any other job I've had.

Did Estes give you any idea of how long it typically takes to get your own run? What kind of miles the xtra board is getting on a consistent basis? That 68 CPM doesn't mean anything if you don't have runs available for you.

Good luck.

The TM said I can expect to run 2300-3000 miles a week and my two days off on the weekends will not start until I get home. Late or not.

The reason I chose Estes is because my friends runs out of the Commerce Road terminal and has showed me the checks and described Xtraboard. Completely gravy run including staying in hotels.

He’s clearing nothing less than $1600 gross or more a week. My problem with Walmart dedicated is you can hustle and work as hard as you want to offset the crazy hours amd unfair practices on the account but you’ll never make more than what they allow you to make. Which I plan to tell you guys about regarding seniority on the account.

Either way 1 year experience the doors have opened for me and rightfully so.

Correct me if I’m wrong but they load the trailers I don’t have to go and hunt them down to load it. As long as I can chill in the truck and sleep or whatever I’m cool with that then fine.

It depends. There were days where I wouldn't have to do anything other than wait and other days where I would just go in and do it myself because I wouldn't have the hours to make it back if I didn't. I'm not a fan of motels so I always did everything I could to avoid the layovers. Idk how estes works, but at FedEx there are linehaul runs that have dock work built into them.

Ok so I misread on Line-Haul. I’m glad you guys informed me. I think Walmart Dedicated is definitely not for me and I’m fine with that. I would like to try Linehaul and drive longer routes. I’m hoping the big E is justice for me.

Actually, before that the reason I chose Estes was because they offered me a line-haul position and I don’t have to deal with human beings unloading me.

Unless Estes is living in the future you will still have to wait in human beings loading and unloading you trailer and someone else's.

Correct me if I’m wrong but they load the trailers I don’t have to go and hunt them down to load it. As long as I can chill in the truck and sleep or whatever I’m cool with that then fine.

Also I’ll just have to bite it if it’s like the Walmarts since it pays .68 cents a mile. But I’ll be honest I want at least interaction with receivers and loaders as possible. Give me load and let me run and do bare interaction.

Because there aren’t any notes outside informing you to come through the front door which most Walmarts leave unlocked. So literally you need to possess a handy dandy notebook to write down all Walmarts who don’t open doors because there are so many. If you have six stores in a day prepare to chase down about three employee’s to get unloaded slowing you down for the day and wait..... affecting your pay.

You see I chose Line-haul because it allows me to truly be performance based on how I run. When these Walmart Stores take long it not just affects you getting back late or being late to the next store. It also affects your pay!!!

Yup that’s right lets say your first load was a 130 mile two stop that takes 4 hours and 20 minutes to finish. Guess what Walmart employee’s ducking and dodging you have now made that easy gravy load into a 6 hour 40 minute load by moving slow. It happens far to often. And don’t get me started on falling over pallets. Can add another 30 minutes to your day.

So instead of you coming back and accepting a 279 mile three stop load. Prepare to come back and accept another low paying 130 mile or less load paying jack squat! Happens all the time and there is nothing you can do about it.

Is a job truly performance based if other employee’s can ruin my chances of max performance? That’s a question many truckers could debate about this account.

Damn I’m going in ok another part later. I’m gonna tear this account down and break it down so if a new driver wants to work on it they know exactly what they’re going into. I know it’s all negative but I will post some positive but I assure you there are way more negatives I just have to mention.

Finally as of April 1st, 2021 I’ve accomplished no incidents on my driving record. One year experience driving both day cabs and sleepers at U.S Xpress Walmart Dedicated.

This review is and will be my finale take on the account as I move from U.S Xpress to Estes LTL regional OTR xtraboard.

I truly believe Trucking truth is for the fellow driver. Sometimes I read articles from new truck drivers on this very forum and some of you not all..... on trucking truth can really give it raw to new drivers about what to expect from their first year.

Seriously, it’s no joke and I found out the hard way on Walmart dedicated that six days on 1 day off was a big mistake. I remember my instructors at CDS always said you have to find a balance in trucking. Between home time and being on the road. How right my instructors were about home time.

Walmart dedicated is something you will either love or hate with a passion. For me it was a mixed bag from the beginning. I knew I had $23,400 debt I needed to magically disappear and go away asap.

So starting the account was about learning how to back and drive solo. Money would have to come later. What really had me nervous about Walmart dedicated was the backing. There is a ton of backing you must perform daily. Most backs are extremely easy and even a newbie could do tons of Walmart stores, but

be warned there are stores like Walmart 5880 where you’ll have a heart attack the first time you go through to deliver. Backing was the reason I struggled at TMC when I first started. Of course, my second time around with U.S Xpress I definitely focused like a laser to get as good as I could at backing a trailer.

And I truly believe practicing in the yard everyday put me at a whole new level to handle the Walmarts I later visited that were troublesome.

You could easily spend hours practicing in the yard after a shift if you wanted. It’s a blessing for many because you learn quite a lot how a trailer swings and how to correct.

But what about the home time as mentioned above. Well, it’s only after about the second or third month when I started grossing $1400-1600 a week that I realized I had figured the account out enough to make bank.

So while I averaged a good deal more than most drivers there were even weeks I brought home $1200 or less gross. Because of loads being pre-planned by our planner who plays favorites with all the drivers. Will touch on this later. So prepare for Seniority as it’s a big deal at Gordonsville, Va. Mostly every week I maxed my 70 hour clock. Then I would have one 34 hour reset off. And believe me when I tell you it goes by fast!!! Most times I found myself sleeping the day away.

Also, Listen fellow truckers I do not recommend anyone to do what I did. Do not work 70 hour weeks plus 10+ hour commute added to work week to drive a hour each day back and fourth to work. You will become a living zombie.

Home time and rest is very important and only realizing this later did I stop and think wow..... why am I working so hard like this. I’ll tell this if it was not for my goal of being out of debt I would have stopped really early on working that hard.

I felt depression, sadness, regret, anger, like literally I felt all these emotions from working these hours every week and I did those mad hours all year while not turning down one load given to me. Two loads a day 10-13 hours each day!

Again, all the emotions I felt were a constant weekly roller coaster each week. Couple this with what I feel is the most stressful aspect of the account and that’s being unloaded by Walmart employee’s.

It gets so bad man let me tell you about these employee’s at Walmart who must unload your truck. Actually, before that the reason I chose Estes was because they offered me a line-haul position and I don’t have to deal with human beings unloading me.

I hate dealing with people. Receivers can bite it!!! Most weeks you will encounter a Walmart Employee who knows you should be unloaded in 45 minutes only to duck and dodge you once he heres your truck bang the dock.

You’ll ring the door bell for about 10-15 minutes and it will not be opened. Doesn’t matter if it’s raining or snowing or windy they’ll leave you out to dry, but it gets worse if you are new to the account. If you don’t know any better like I did when I first started you’ll be hanging out there ringing a door bell for two hours!!! And know one will open the door. This is after hours when stores are is closed.