Looking For Insight : And Things To Think About

Kirk wonders about getting stuck:

How about being stuck at a shipper or receiver for extended periods of time? or is that just a part of the beast that everyone has to inevitably deal with?

Generally if you don't have your next assignment, you might head for a truck stop. Your shipper might allow you to stay even overnight, but with no truck stop amenities. (I've overnighted like that. But I could take a walk in the woods when I felt like it. 😉)

But hopefully, you'll hit your stride, your DM will know what you can do, and you'll most probably just head out for your next assignment the next day.

Schneider does dispatch a little different than most. Planners assign the loads, based on a bunch of information. Your contact is called a Driver Business Leader (DBL). The DBL can have a tremendous influence over your dispatched loads. So you wanna build a good relationship with them. You will likely never talk to a Planner.

One thing I never experienced with Schneider was them letting me sit for a whole weekend. They aren't making any money if you're sitting and they gotta pay you layover pay. They'd rather get you moving and make some money

I hope this helps

How about being stuck at a shipper or receiver for extended periods of time? or is that just a part of the beast that everyone has to inevitably deal with?

I'm not sure how you define "extended periods," but I only sat at a shipper about four times in two years. It was the Shipper's fault in all cases, but I got paid detention pay. Most companies pay detention. Plus most loads with the big companies are drop/hook unless you're reefer or flatbed. For me grocery warehouses were the worst.

So first couple of days at CDL training at the local community college and already ran into a few snags.

First they didn't give us a list of things that we would possibly need before the class. So day one find out I need driving record, social security card, and a birth certificate. On top of studying the manual for the permit test now I need to worry about all of this. Lost my social security card and birth certificate some how, I suppose from moving a lot being in the military. So I go and have them ordered to be delivered and I go online and request my driving record. Good to go.

Except when I go to take the test for the permit today and find out that because I have an out of state license, I need to have my social security card and birth certificate in order to change my DL over to this state. The instructor said I shouldn't have a problem I just wouldn't be able to get the hard copy of my license yet but that wasn't the case.

So now I'm stuck on waiting for things to come in the mail (hopefully) before I can get my permit and be driving. A little frustrated about the whole thing because if they told us this before hand I could've already taken care of it. Any ideas? Or am I stuck waiting it out for now?

States are getting tougher about their document requirements - especially for CDL licenses.

Got any government ID - military, etc. Passport substitutes for Birth Certificate in most cases.

If that's what they require, you may have to wait until you get your docs in hand, to proceed.

Rick

States are getting tougher about their document requirements - especially for CDL licenses.

Got any government ID - military, etc. Passport substitutes for Birth Certificate in most cases.

If that's what they require, you may have to wait until you get your docs in hand, to proceed.

Rick

Thanks and no, I have my expired active duty ID but that's it. Didn't bother on getting the other one when I got out and now I'm kicking myself in the ass for that decision.

Just frustrated because now I can't learn to drive while everyone else is. Thanks for the help!

Well, good news is all of my paper work came in within about 3-4 days and I got my license switched over and then went to take the permit test.

Bad news is I failed the general knowledge part by about 3 questions. Is it normal to have questions on the test that you've never seen in the manual or went over in class? That seems to be the recurring theme with another guy in my class as well.

We come back and ask the instructor the same questions that we see on the test and he says he has never heard of that, or it's something that he would answer differently too than what the correct answer actual was. It's really frustrating studying online with this websites program and another one for CDL in my state, studying the manual and taking hundreds of practice test (exaggerated) in class only to have completely different questions on the actual test.

I do fine on everything and feel knowledgeable except for when I went to take that test, hopefully tomorrow I have some better luck.

hopefully tomorrow I have some better luck.

Kirk, that is just not a solid strategy! You need to know this stuff. What other reason is there for being tested?

Why aren't you utilizing the High Road Training Program?

hopefully tomorrow I have some better luck.

Kirk, that is just not a solid strategy! You need to know this stuff. What other reason is there for being tested?

Why aren't you utilizing the High Road Training Program?

Old School I went back today and scored a 92 on general, 92 on air breaks, and a 90 on combination!

I've been using the high road training program for weeks now, Kansas CDL permit practice test online as well as the manual and practice test in class, maybe it's a kansas thing but some of the questions were just out there. Or maybe my brain just wasn't working that day!

Drove for the first time today, went down the interstate and through the city without stalling or hitting anything, and actually got clutch leg when we did backing drills at the end of the day! Other than grinding the gears on the old truck I think i did pretty decent for a first time around.