Profile For Ozymandias

I agree with Mikey, don’t mess with the slots inside a truckstop. I enjoy slots every now and again. There are plenty of Casinos across this country that have truck parking. A good chunk of those that don’t are close enough to a truck stop that they will send a shuttle. the slots inside a truck stop are a true suckers gambit. Majority are for store credit only and the odds on them are worse than most casinos.

I’ve been to Laredo several times. No issue. I’ve done a 34 at the Love’s on the west side and parked on a side street on the industrial side of town. No issues!!! The biggest issue in Laredo is nearly everything is cross docked. So if the Mexican trailer isn’t there, you are stuck sitting. Also, if you are with a company that sends it trailers across the border, you WILL be missing the glad hand seals on any trailer coming back from Mexico. Mexican drivers hoard them for some unknown reason.

I was going to mention the glad hand seal thing, lol. I always make sure I have extras if going to Laredo. Another thing that some companies require if you are dropping off a trailer to go across the border, is a trailer inspection report form. Basically, the companies want to make sure that the trailers comming back from Mexico are returned in the same condition, especially that the tires are in the same condition, and that newer tires are not changed out for older tires while down there. Ask you company if that is a requirement for you.

We do not send our trailers into Mexico. Only Canada. But we have a drop lot in southern Cali, that is literally right next to the border. We get told to always bring extra glad hand seals as they all get stolen off of any trailer in the drop lot.

My AMT skips gear very well, thank you. It hasn’t missed one yet, LoL.

As stated before, quit trying to put the cart before the horse. One step at a time. In time you will learn how to skip gears. It is something that comes with experience. Right now just focus on going to the next gear without grinding and not missing it. The rest will work itself out in due course.

Don’t do the small fleet. I’ve been there and done that. Not worth it. Old School hit the nail on the head when talking about profit margins. They will do just about anything to save a buck. Stuff won’t get fixed. You will paid on 1099 so they can avoid paying taxes and insurance on you. Trucks are old beat down and not well maintained. Not only are they on the cusp of bankruptcy, how quick do you think they will hand you an IOU for a paycheck if that will keep their business afloat?

I will never go back to a small company. Tbh, I would NEVER consider working for a company with less than 100 trucks and 20 years in the industry now. I don’t care how much they would claim I could make. I will stay where I have a new, well maintained truck and consistent freight and paychecks.

Just sayin’

p.s. if you prove yourself you are known within a company regardless of size. I could e-mail the president of the company I work for and get a reply that day or the beginning of the next business day if it was sent in the evening. Tbh, if I am at the terminal as long as he is not busy, I could have a sit down face to face chat with him. No issue.

I’ve been to Laredo several times. No issue. I’ve done a 34 at the Love’s on the west side and parked on a side street on the industrial side of town. No issues!!! The biggest issue in Laredo is nearly everything is cross docked. So if the Mexican trailer isn’t there, you are stuck sitting. Also, if you are with a company that sends it trailers across the border, you WILL be missing the glad hand seals on any trailer coming back from Mexico. Mexican drivers hoard them for some unknown reason.

I notice you listed mainly LTL/Home daily type jobs. Is there a reason you feel you need to be home daily?

The problem is most Local positions require experience for a good reason. You are ill equipped as a rookie for daily city driving. The Fuel thing completely baffles me. Tankers are a bad idea in general when it comes to rookies in the first place. Let alone hauling fuel. No company in their right mind is going to give a rookie a rolling pipe bomb do drive around. The fact that you even thought it was a good enough of an idea to apply frankly scares me!!

Please stay away from the small company. I guarantee you that he would be lying to his insurance company to insure you. No 2 truck operation can afford to insure someone straight out of school.

So basically your 2 options are: ACE hardware or apply to larger OTR companies.

Hi there, this is my first posting here. I'm a rookie OTR driver with just a few months of experience (Class A, dry van, automatic). I really enjoy this job, but first, I have a family to look after so I need much more home time than just 1 day per week (I work 6 weeks and then I'm 6 days home) and second, I hate my boss, he's very rude and aggressive. It's a very small company (they have just 4 trucks) in MO and I would like to leave it in the near future. So, I'm wondering if:

1. Schedules like 5 weeks out, 2 weeks home / 4 weeks out, 10 days home or similar are possible at all? If yes, what companies should I look into?

2. Would you recommend to get a 1 year of experience in my company first? Or would, let's say, 6 months be enough? I heard it might be challenging to get a job in a good company (especially with requests like mine) with less than 1 year of experience. Is it true?

Thanks!

General rule of thumb is stay with your first company for a year. However if you have 6 months incident and accident free, changes company can be ok. Just make sure to give whatever company AT LEAST a year. No one like a job hopper that chases greener grass all the time.

I do know of a company that will let you kinda work whatever ONCE you prove yourself to be a safe, efficient, productive driver. I do NOT know if they still hire people in Nevada as they shut down their SW regional positions a few years back. They may hire people for OTR in that area though. At first you would want to stick with the 1 day for every 6 thing for the most part. Just to prove you are a hard worker. I knew one of their drivers that lived in Florida. He would go out at the beginning of a quarter and once he hit 30k miles he would go home for the rest of the quarter. So he would spend about 10 weeks out then take 2-3 weeks off.

One thing to remember is, since you have a family to take care of, when the wheels aren’t turning, you’re not earning. As a suggestion maybe a 9-11 days out with 3-4 days home may be something a little more viable. That way you are home more frequently, but are not completely killing your income.

God speed