Trucking Questions

Here is picture proof that companies are reading various sites and following employees and new recruits. As drivers we should expect it. Nighthawk went to orientation at Prime, and the Campus Inn Prime school motel not only followed her facebook page but welcomed her to Prime. Do you think they did that because they are friends? No, it was to watch her.

There are FMs in the Facebook groups watching, there is a Prime member here who used his real name on CDLLife and his Prime FM messaged him telling him to delete his post. He called me panicked.

Military personnel are being publickly reprimanded for social media posts

If you think TT is immune to the investigators of social media, you are mistaken and giving a false sense of security to those posting. We all know there is no way to know who is and isnt reading this or any other site. So telling someone to protect their identity cant be wrong.

Doesnt anyone have any proof we are not being read by companies?

What is a good company to work for that your home every weekend, Does not have cameras in the truck that they switch on whenever they want, call you every time you supposedly take a turn to fast, don't stop at a stop sign soon enough, drive 3 min over, and has a GPS that actually works just for starters

Hi Alli... err... Alicia, now that I know your not a troll, here’s a better response. I would check out the links & advice provided by some our seasoned truckers. I did & am now in my last phase of training before upgrading to my own company truck.

As to your questions, I can’t speak about other companies because I work for Prime Inc. That said, there are no cameras in the cab. The critical incident alarms do go off & you will be called if you take a turn to fast for the conditions, if you have a hard braking incident, too much speeding, etc. Although it’s kind of hard to speed in a governed truck except on a downhill. But your asking for trouble with overheating your brakes if you get into that habit.

Home every weekend is very difficult to pull off unless you get a dedicated route but those can be very difficult & challenging due to the tight backing maneuvers needed to deliver at many of these places. Many food delivering companies & beverage companies offer that but you have to unload by hand & deliver to many places each day.

My cousin works for a construction company and has many of those things you wish for but he’s been driving his whole adult life. I drive over the road in the reefer division. After 1 year I can leave Prime & not have to pay anything back for my schooling & training.

There are reviews of the many different Company paid training programs available on this site. There’s the High Road Training program to help you pass the permit exam. There’s a pdf with the step by step pre-trip inspection. Tons of diaries to give you an idea of what you’ll face during this phase of getting you CDL & so much more.

Try to think in terms of being a safe, patient & respectful driver. Actually, I don’t even know if you’re a rookie or have your CDL already. Good luck to you & please be safe out here. Many families depend on us to get their loved ones home despite their attitudes & bad habits behind the wheel. My daughter included.

To continue the hijacking of this thread, at one of our OC‘s last year a truck caught fire, which spread to four other trucks. I shot a real nice video, as I was close enough to feel the heat, which I then uploaded onto YouTube. Two days later I got a phone call from my driver manager asking me very nicely to please take it down. Which I did without hesitation.

On YouTube a rookie posted a video of her in the top bunk as her trainer was driving down the road. Both were fired. A driver was caught with his pants down (literally) while taking a leak by his truck & he too was fired. Another driver parked on a shoulder & got stuck. He struggles but got himself out of the predicament without a tow truck. Someone sent the evidence to Prime & it went on his DAC as a preventable accident. He appealed but it stood on his record for 6 months while the process played itself out. This is why I changed my handle & removed my email from my profile!!!

To continue the hijacking of this thread,

yeah, after thinking about it, there are tons of drivers on YouTube who get fired for what they posted.

To the OP,

We have lots of articles on unrealistic expectations. The things you seek sound to be just that.

"A GPS that works"....even trucker GPS like Rand McNally can steer you wrong, so an experienced driver would never rely on one. It is a tool, not etched in stone.

"taking a turn too fast" will only trigger a roll over potential if you are excessive, and rightly so.

"dont stop at a sign soon enough" BAM! you just killed a pedestrian and are going to jail!

"drive 3 min over" ... trip plan better

Basically, you can control all of that yourself. Drive better and safer. Choose a company that does not have driver facing cameras...which seems to be most now.

so when it boils down to it..the only thing you really need to worry about is weekends off. that will depend on where you live and your experience level. if you expect that during or immediately following training, you will probably be disappointed.

Splitter wrote to Allison...

...hope you did use your real name on this post, cause companies do research these sites regularly.

Trucking Truth...

Splitter I emphatically agree with everything you replied with, except the above. Unless you can back a statement like that with firsthand proof, it doesn't belong here.

Let's keep it real.

G-Town, with all due respect, I emphatically stand by EVERY word in my post. I’m not going to sit here & justify or quantify anything. It’s as real as Patrick’s response & many more instances throughout the internet of people being fired for things they say or post in public forums. TT is no exception.

If you don’t agree, feel free to delete both that post & this one too. That’s as real as it gets.

Splitter my reply to you was wrong and hasty.

It stands to reason, although is TT is not FB (thankfully), everything written is on public display, and available for corporate scrunity.

Rainy provided the proof I requested (thanks Rainy). I apologize to you Splitter and anyone else put-off by this. We learn from each other, this thread is a great example of that and none of us are above being humbled by the knowledge and experience of others. Including me.

For the record Splitter, only Brett has the authority to delete content, I can only provide input to administrative issues. I seriously doubt he will delete any of this thread. The discussion is an important one and although it was somewhat off the original topic, none-the-less highly relevant and as shown several times, accurate.

I was trained by and drive for CFI. No cameras in this truck except my dash cam, phone and digital camera. Lol. My truck will tell my company if there is something wrong with it or if I go 80 mph or over. At 80 it yells at me too. We don't have a curve alert as far as I know. There are other alarms in the truck as well. I have never been called by safety because of one of these things going off. I try to be a safe driver. All companies have computers in the trucks that feed them all sorts of data. Everything we do affects the bottom line. Tickets and accidents give us and the company points on our DACs. A safe and responsible driver doesn't have to worry about calls from safety. The best call I ever had from safety was when someone complained that I took to long to back into a spot. Forgive me for being careful. The safety guy said he wished he could get more complaints like that.

This topic almost took a nasty turn. Thank you for your updated response to Splitter et all, G-Town. This is a great example of what I love about this forum....helpful, friendly information without all the spiteful remarks that are all-too-common on many other forums, and in the world in general.

Splitter wrote to Allison...

...hope you did use your real name on this post, cause companies do research these sites regularly.

Trucking Truth...

Splitter I emphatically agree with everything you replied with, except the above. Unless you can back a statement like that with firsthand proof, it doesn't belong here.

Let's keep it real.

G-Town, with all due respect, I emphatically stand by EVERY word in my post. I’m not going to sit here & justify or quantify anything. It’s as real as Patrick’s response & many more instances throughout the internet of people being fired for things they say or post in public forums. TT is no exception.

If you don’t agree, feel free to delete both that post & this one too. That’s as real as it gets.

Splitter my reply to you was wrong and hasty.

It stands to reason, although is TT is not FB (thankfully), everything written is on public display, and available for corporate scrunity.

Rainy provided the proof I requested (thanks Rainy). I apologize to you Splitter and anyone else put-off by this. We learn from each other, this thread is a great example of that and none of us are above being humbled by the knowledge and experience of others. Including me.

For the record Splitter, only Brett has the authority to delete content, I can only provide input to administrative issues. I seriously doubt he will delete any of this thread. The discussion is an important one and although it was somewhat off the original topic, none-the-less highly relevant and as shown several times, accurate.