Will I Learn Everything About Every Control Inside A Truck?

If we get a flat in conditions like that, we'd be in the comfortable sleeper waiting for road service to get there as that is above or below engine auto-shutoff temperatures. Just one of the many things you could have learned if you'd actually bothered to listen to the people here that are actually doing this job successfully. May you get into this industry and find yourself with nothing but US Cold Storage and Americold runs with a dispatcher that fights layover and detention pay requests.

"May you get into this industry and find yourself with nothing but US Cold Storage and Americold runs with a dispatcher that fights layover and detention pay requests."

Now that's just COLD (-10 continuous). lol. :)

Im.replying.for.future.readers.

I drive a 2016 Casacdia.for.prime, one of.the largest and highest paying companies with the newest equipment, not.a.mom and pop as he implied. I have never been.denied a repair. all equipment will fail at some point and his boasts about only working for.a company with state of the art equipment is laughable if he thinks a brand new truck can't have defects, or wont react to extreme comditions. heat and cold.cause metals to.expand and contract which is pure physics. the stress will break things. extreme heat will cause APUs and reefers as well as trucks to over heat.

anyone who has waited for AAA in a car can tell you that it can take hours, even in a city. so just imagine being in the middle.of nowhere in KS or NE. so it has no.bearing on the quality of your company.how long the roadside assistance takes, they are a.contractor basically, not.your company repairmen.

he stated that he will only work for a.company that runs him.on interstates, but apparently he has never.opened an atlas. some states have limited interstates. no company is going.to pay for.mileage fuel and.maintenance costs for a driver to go out of route 200 miles. its.not.cost effective. check put dodge city and liberal Kansas. tell me how you would get.from two of the.biggest meat plants in the country to an interstate. plus, many of.tge customers pay for specific routing.

regardless.of what his personal doctor says about his fitness for duty in trucking, any company.will send him to their choice of DOT doctor and perhaps an agility test consisting of lifting various weights, bending, twisting, climbing, reaching and more. the company will decide whether to hire him based on their findings, not.his doctors.

his attitude about choosing a company is way off base. we don't choose.the company, they choose us. our choice is really selecting the company who will accept us. we've seen plenty of drivers who did stupid things to blemish their past either.criminally or moving violation wise which limited their prospects. for instance.if he "chose" to work for Prime but they said he couldn't pass their agility test and rejected him, he'd have to "choose" to work.somewhere else.

bottom line: most who start out in trucking fail. you can research the important topics and learn how to.become the best of the best..to become dispatch's "go to" driver that can open doors at various companies, or you can worry about music, the looks of the trucks, the shape of the foit pedal and if truck drivers will ever fly to th moon.

DOT:

Department Of Transportation

A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.

State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.

Interstate:

Commercial trade, business, movement of goods or money, or transportation from one state to another, regulated by the Federal Department Of Transportation (DOT).

Reefer:

A refrigerated trailer.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

OOS:

When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

APUs:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

Im.replying.for.future.readers.

I drive a 2016 Casacdia.for.prime, one of.the largest and highest paying companies with the newest equipment, not.a.mom and pop as he implied. I have never been.denied a repair. all equipment will fail at some point and his boasts about only working for.a company with state of the art equipment is laughable if he thinks a brand new truck can't have defects, or wont react to extreme comditions. heat and cold.cause metals to.expand and contract which is pure physics. the stress will break things. extreme heat will cause APUs and reefers as well as trucks to over heat.

anyone who has waited for AAA in a car can tell you that it can take hours, even in a city. so just imagine being in the middle.of nowhere in KS or NE. so it has no.bearing on the quality of your company.how long the roadside assistance takes, they are a.contractor basically, not.your company repairmen.

he stated that he will only work for a.company that runs him.on interstates, but apparently he has never.opened an atlas. some states have limited interstates. no company is going.to pay for.mileage fuel and.maintenance costs for a driver to go out of route 200 miles. its.not.cost effective. check put dodge city and liberal Kansas. tell me how you would get.from two of the.biggest meat plants in the country to an interstate. plus, many of.tge customers pay for specific routing.

regardless.of what his personal doctor says about his fitness for duty in trucking, any company.will send him to their choice of DOT doctor and perhaps an agility test consisting of lifting various weights, bending, twisting, climbing, reaching and more. the company will decide whether to hire him based on their findings, not.his doctors.

his attitude about choosing a company is way off base. we don't choose.the company, they choose us. our choice is really selecting the company who will accept us. we've seen plenty of drivers who did stupid things to blemish their past either.criminally or moving violation wise which limited their prospects. for instance.if he "chose" to work for Prime but they said he couldn't pass their agility test and rejected him, he'd have to "choose" to work.somewhere else.

bottom line: most who start out in trucking fail. you can research the important topics and learn how to.become the best of the best..to become dispatch's "go to" driver that can open doors at various companies, or you can worry about music, the looks of the trucks, the shape of the foit pedal and if truck drivers will ever fly to th moon.

Sorry, folks, it is the next morning and I could not resist to check back here in spite of my "goodbyes" yesterday.

I want add at least one or two more things. OK, acknowledged that I would likely get roadside service in case of flats.

But what if any driver (not just me) were to have something serious like chest pains or a HEART ATTACK on the job out in the middle of nowhere? Will any trucker communications technology inside the vehicle allow emergency services like ambulance, police and fire to respond instantly? What is the longest it could take an ambulance or life-flight helicopter to reach a driver in a critical medical emergency in any part of North America in any weather?

What people here don't understand is that I have a history of heart issues and being hospitalized for heat injury. Maybe I should just stick to non-transportation type work in the relative safety of the larger city.

DOT:

Department Of Transportation

A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.

State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.

Interstate:

Commercial trade, business, movement of goods or money, or transportation from one state to another, regulated by the Federal Department Of Transportation (DOT).

Reefer:

A refrigerated trailer.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

OOS:

When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

APUs:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

Im.replying.for.future.readers.

I drive a 2016 Casacdia.for.prime, one of.the largest and highest paying companies with the newest equipment, not.a.mom and pop as he implied. I have never been.denied a repair. all equipment will fail at some point and his boasts about only working for.a company with state of the art equipment is laughable if he thinks a brand new truck can't have defects, or wont react to extreme comditions. heat and cold.cause metals to.expand and contract which is pure physics. the stress will break things. extreme heat will cause APUs and reefers as well as trucks to over heat.

anyone who has waited for AAA in a car can tell you that it can take hours, even in a city. so just imagine being in the middle.of nowhere in KS or NE. so it has no.bearing on the quality of your company.how long the roadside assistance takes, they are a.contractor basically, not.your company repairmen.

he stated that he will only work for a.company that runs him.on interstates, but apparently he has never.opened an atlas. some states have limited interstates. no company is going.to pay for.mileage fuel and.maintenance costs for a driver to go out of route 200 miles. its.not.cost effective. check put dodge city and liberal Kansas. tell me how you would get.from two of the.biggest meat plants in the country to an interstate. plus, many of.tge customers pay for specific routing.

regardless.of what his personal doctor says about his fitness for duty in trucking, any company.will send him to their choice of DOT doctor and perhaps an agility test consisting of lifting various weights, bending, twisting, climbing, reaching and more. the company will decide whether to hire him based on their findings, not.his doctors.

his attitude about choosing a company is way off base. we don't choose.the company, they choose us. our choice is really selecting the company who will accept us. we've seen plenty of drivers who did stupid things to blemish their past either.criminally or moving violation wise which limited their prospects. for instance.if he "chose" to work for Prime but they said he couldn't pass their agility test and rejected him, he'd have to "choose" to work.somewhere else.

bottom line: most who start out in trucking fail. you can research the important topics and learn how to.become the best of the best..to become dispatch's "go to" driver that can open doors at various companies, or you can worry about music, the looks of the trucks, the shape of the foit pedal and if truck drivers will ever fly to th moon.

Sorry, folks, it is the next morning and I could not resist to check back here in spite of my "goodbyes" yesterday.

I want add at least one or two more things. OK, acknowledged that I would likely get roadside service in case of flats.

But what if any driver (not just me) were to have something serious like chest pains or a HEART ATTACK on the job out in the middle of nowhere? Will any trucker communications technology inside the vehicle allow emergency services like ambulance, police and fire to respond instantly? What is the longest it could take an ambulance or life-flight helicopter to reach a driver in a critical medical emergency in any part of North America in any weather?

What people here don't understand is that I have a history of heart issues and being hospitalized for heat injury. Maybe I should just stick to non-transportation type work in the relative safety of the larger city.

Oscar, we didn't understand that because until this thread, you never discussed those serious issues..only TRIVIAL matters such as music and truck instrument panels.

The likelihood of you getting hired at ANY company is slim with a heart condition. Sorry but true. You will most likely be wasting your time and the tax payer money, not to mention dealing with a ton of frustration when you go through it then find no one would hire you.

Is there a button for emergency response in the truck? Yes. But it is not medical specific so police may be dispatched first. Medevac won't work in high winds of the plains or winters in the mountains.

How long could it take? Of course that depends on where you are. When I say "in the middle of nowhere" I'm not lying. You can drive for a couple hundred miles and not see a town in some places so response time will vary.

Call 911. Drivers who get sick/injured on the road go to the hospital.

But guess what..even the phone doesn't work in some areas. Trying to type "med help" on the Qualcomm would probably be better if possible because dispatch can GPS you and get help. But if that dispatcher is busy cause daytime has 75-100 drivers per fleet and night dispatch can cover 300 drivers at one time..then that isn't good.

I know you think we are hassling you, but we aren't. This is the reality of trucking and not only can not everyone do it, but many don't want to.

Qualcomm:

Omnitracs (a.k.a. Qualcomm) is a satellite-based messaging system with built-in GPS capabilities built by Qualcomm. It has a small computer screen and keyboard and is tied into the truck’s computer. It allows trucking companies to track where the driver is at, monitor the truck, and send and receive messages with the driver – similar to email.

DOT:

Department Of Transportation

A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.

State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.

Interstate:

Commercial trade, business, movement of goods or money, or transportation from one state to another, regulated by the Federal Department Of Transportation (DOT).

Dispatcher:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

Reefer:

A refrigerated trailer.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

OOS:

When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

APUs:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

Also, you have been flippant about your health issues. You can't say you are healthier than a woman which is offensive to women, but then claim the victim of "but I'm disabled".

Seriously it's not about you. It's about the potential of someone with heart and health issues has to KILL a family on the road, destroy company, public and private property, as well as product that results in millions of dollars in lawsuits.

We drive 80,000 pound killing machines that can torpedo down a mountain at 90+ miles per hour and burst into flames. Even if it doesn't kill anyone but the driver, the clean up and losses are staggering. The company then pays. Do you think they would take a risk on an unhealthy person?

Think real hard here. If you were the owner of a company, would you hire someone who could put your company and profits at such risk?

Oscar, sorry I'm done. Each and ever piece of information I and others have given you has been dismissed, debated, and downplayed. You keep changing your story to align with and support your come back.

Not going to waste my time anymore.

Good luck.

Sounds like that guy from a few years back. Patrick, I think? Just Trolling. The Job Hopper. You gotta remember Patrick!

His profile said: 25 year old from TX, who hates sports, drinking, drugs and marriage. Devote Atheist.

His Posts Said: Married my wife back in 1975 because I hate violence. I love being married for longer than you've been alive.

So he's 25, been married for 40 years, job hops and fakes injuries, and every thing in his life is caused by 'us' uneducated idiots.

This has the sound and tempo of good old Patrick.

TROLLIN' TROLLIN' TROLLIN'...

Also, you have been fliipant about your health issues. You can't say you are healthier than a woman which is offensive to women, but then claim the victim of "but I'm disabled".

Seriously its not about you. Its about the potential of someone with heart and health issues has to KILL a family on the road, destroy company, public and private property, as well as product that results in millions of dollars in lawsuits.

We drive 80,000 pound killing machines that can torpedo down a mountain at 90+ miles per hour and burst into flames. Even if it doesn't kill anyone but the driver, the clean up and losses are staggering. The company then pays. Do you think they would take a risk on an unhealthy person?

Think real hard here. If you were the owner of a company, would you hire someone who could put your company and profits at such risk?

I believe I said I am now RECOVERING from disability. I am receiving disability pay right at the moment. I feel quite better now than I did five months ago. My doctor has told me that I am expected to fully recover (chest pains shortness or breath, chronic fatigue syndrome, suspected sleep apnea , everything) when my weight gets down below 200 pounds.

I will not even attempt a trucking career until I get below 200 pounds anyway and that could be another year from now.

It is my doctor's medical opinion that all my disabilities are obesity-related.

I never said I was ready to start driving tomorrow morning.

Let's say that right now I feel no weaker than the average 50+ age woman. Even men with a slight heart condition have a little more endurance than the average middle-age woman. Sorry, if that sounds sexist, but that is my humble opinion. I can occasionally lift up a 75-pound box and move it across my apartment without falling out dead but that does not mean I am fit to work for a moving company full time.

I was just posting here because I am bored but I wanted to try to FEEL life as a trucker out for the time being. I probably really won't know what is all about until I get out their and get my hands dirty.

Still, even a young, healthy truck driver with a heart "made of steel" could get in an injury accident (not even his own fault necessarily) and may need life-or-death treatment immediately. When I was in the army, a young soldier under 30 in my unit had a heart attack while running during PT and never had any medical condition like that before. He was on the heavy side, i should note.

I have seen a lot of heavy truck drivers and many who smoke. It seems to be a common problem. People in that condition are prime candidates for heart attacks and strokes.

Even men with a slight heart condition have a little more endurance than the average middle-age woman. Sorry, if that sounds sexist, but that is my humble opinion

Not only is it sexist, but it's arrogant, which is quite the opposite of humble, and it's 100% dead wrong, which is right in line with almost every ridiculous assumption you've been making from the day you showed up here.

I just came back from the health club. There are quite a few women there in their 50's that would take you on in any challenge you could throw at them and laugh in your face while you're lying on the ground screaming for an ambulance.

I live in the Adirondacks. I routinely see women hiking alone, in their 70's and 80's, climbing some of the tallest mountain in the state with a big smile on their faces.

I get the impression you've been cooped up in that house for a very, very long time because you seem to have no grip on reality at all.

Those in the health clubs would be a given, but I'd bet against him in any challenge between him and our lady truckers.

Oscar, one of the issues you're going to have to come to grips with is that whether you're 500lbs with zero muscle mass or a 20 year old body builder, this job is going to be a challenge, physically and mentally, at least until you've been doing it for a while and in ways that you won't be able to wrap your mind around until you actually do it. Driving responsibly for 10+ hours a day by itself is more physically and mentally straining than you could imagine. Then you have things like trailer sweepouts, washouts when you're nowhere near a truck wash, fighting with landing gear cranks that don't want to cooperate, fighting with trailer doors that don't want to open and close, the list goes on and on.

I mentioned this in another thread, but for the last year I've been pretty much on a diet of fast food, mostly out of convenience. The way you seem to think this job goes I should be big enough to not be able to fit in a truck, let alone drive one, but instead I've lost 75lbs. Brett and I can disagree on what kind of physical activity can lose weight, but the fact remains that it happened so clearly it's not nearly as easy as you seem to think it is.

Another important part that has been, as far as I've seen, touched on briefly but really not all that much is that none of this is really going to be your choice. Whether YOU feel you can do it or not, whether YOU feel you're fitter than whatever kind of group you choose to degrade is completely irrelevant. If you have a heart condition, you're not going to be doing trucking. If you have heat sensitivity, you're not going to be doing trucking. That isn't someone being mean to you, it's not something you need to defend, it's simply a fact that companies aren't going to take on that kind of liability.

If you can change those aspects you'll have a better chance of course(not to mention be healthier, which is always a good thing). But then you should also consider your attitude. You've been hostile towards people here who have told you how this industry works based on their years or even decades in the industry and you've seen how they've responded. Now, look into the future. Your dispatcher is unlikely to have experience in the industry and will STILL tell you how things need to happen in this industry, but instead of simply laughing at you on a forum when you go into a little tantrum, they'll just park you and hit you in the wallet, something none of us can obviously do. I applaud you for wanting to make health changes so you can do this job, but almost more important than health in this industry is attitude. If you have a **** poor attitude, you may well get hired, go through school, and even get through training, but you're probably going to end up not making any money.