Profile For Harvest

I hate to bother a yard jockey with a question, but does that bother you guys?

Not at all, sometimes we can be in a grumpy mood from the shift in general. But we never mind helping a driver out when they need it. Most of us were OTR ourselves. The quicker we can get a driver in and out of a lot, the better for all of us. Only thing that bothers us with drivers is when they just drop a trailer in the middle of the lot crooked, or sleep in the lot without asking where we let bobtails sleep.

I started to get the itch to stay close to home, especially with the declining health of some family members. Just so happens a position opened up at a facility only 10 minutes away from my home with DHL. It was definitely a steep learning curve with the tight backing I have to do in such a small lot. I do overnights, one week 36 hours, next week 48. So equates to 15 days off per month.

Been a interesting 6 months, and found a place I want to stay at for a long time. Higher management can be a pain sometimes. They have us put the trailers only a few inches apart from eachother. So I help drivers pull them out allot, plus gravel lot means sometimes the trailers are too high or too low for people. A few times a week they have me run a daycab to a facility about a hour away. So its nice to get a taste of the road again, plus low traffic overnight.

Last photo shows the view we have of our mirrors when its raining. We run nonstop except for lightning, which can be interesting. Trucks are upkept very well. But sometimes the AC stops working, which on these cabovers it can get HOT lol.

If anyone has any questions you've wanted to know about yard jockeys. Or anyone considering switching to this kind of work. I would be happy to answer any questions!

Allot more vigilant in general on pretrips than I used to be. Not sure if it’s just getting older or from seeing what can go haywire out there. Trying to take pride in my job being as safe as possible as I should.

I agree with Dan67.

The most common scenario is that it needs a serious cleaning and lubrication. Grit, dirt, leaves, road salt, and etc settle into that grease and start making it difficult for the jaws to fully lock in place. You need to be confident in your equipment. Get it in for service as soon as you can.

Only good thing about this, instilled that every time I pick up a trailer. I will get a flashlight and always visually make sure the locking jaws around the kingpin instead of slackin with just a tug test lol.

I do exclusively drop and hook loads. Lately almost every time I try hooking to a trailer, the locking jaws will not fully lock on the king pin. I will back under, go to tug test and go right out. When I back under and stop to check what’s going on. I have no space between skid plate and trailer as normal. But when I climb under with a flashlight I see the locking jaws will only go halfway around.

I can always eventually get it to connect. But I have to try hitting it with a different angle, try lowering the trailer more, hit it a bit harder than normal. But always able to get it, just wasted a bunch of time.

I tried spraying some WD40 on it, but not much else I have tried. Any tips on what could be going on? Would like to avoid having to go to a shop since I just had to sit for a few days due to a DEF issue, but if I have to then I guess I have to.

On a serious note, does this actually violate any rules?

Legitimate companies should show on the DAC, but if you don't see these, take a look at your previous W-2 tax forms.

I'll have to look on tax forms, my DAC I got in the mail just seemed all kinds of messed up. Like some information was missing. Only showed Western Express as information of who I've worked for. Just showed no violations or anything, but allot of info was missing.

I went to the HireRight website and submitted for a copy of my information, I may try requesting again to see if I get better luck. Didn't even show any comments left by companies. Don't most leave comments on your report even if you didn't mess something up?

I want to get better at building a legitimate resume. My only issue is trying to remember exact dates I worked for each company. One of the many downsides of "company hopping" when my cdl was fresh. I know that companies when applying can see your entire driving record, so accuracy in putting dates on resume is important. Is there a way, that I could even pay to see my entire driving history for each company? Or could I even call each company and ask my employment dates? I submitted a request for my DAC report, however it seemed like the report was incomplete and didn't show dates, or even every company I worked for.

This new bout of truck driving I’ve been having a few issues. Overall doing so much better with trip planning, motivation, and making smarter moves. Physically I am in better shape than when I used to drive. However with my herniated disc’s and sciatic pain, I feel almost in agony if I do a full 11 hour driving shift. The worst pain will be my right thigh, especially if I have to keep getting off cruise control.

I have a compression sleeve that makes it bearable; but I just wonder if something else can be done to help besides taking breaks more often. I don’t keep my wallet in back pocket. I adjust my seat height throughout the day. Next in the list to try is one of those purple seat cushions.

I don’t want to be held back from my potential in this industry by not being able to drive as long. If this is an issue anyone else has had experience with, please share.

When I do take breaks, I make sure to walk around allot. Stretch my legs. My left leg does pretty well, I think because I am able to stretch it all the way out. Can’t do that with my right leg, it always has to stay somewhat bent.