Finished School, Found JOB, Insights Welcome

Hello, Been a while since I checked in, I have gone through Interstate Truck Driving School, South Saint Paul,Minnesota. I took the Driving test in Wisconsin on my Birthday ( Turned 50) Only got 5 wrong on the test. I have 7 years previous experience. I have taken a job with a company in Cottage Grove MN. Its called American Logistics Services, A pet food delivery company. I'm slated to work 4 days a week with 3 day weekends. They claim I can still get 2500 Miles a week in 4 days. Sounds doable, if it not thru Chicago (lol). Any insights from anyone would be appreciated. I feel good about the company, I've found both negative and positive feedback, If I stay positive it should be just fine. In our meeting I was sure we talked about .42/MI, then I get an email today stating/confirming we discussed .40/MI. I stated that we discussed .42/MI. So we will see where it goes from here, I remember .42/MI

Mark

Since you have 7yrs previous experience, I’m guessing you already know quite a bit. I’ll only question the miles per week. 625 miles a day is certainly doable. But if this is pet food delivery, are you making multiple stops daily? If so, I’d ask them if they can show settlement statements (with personal information blacked out of course) of drivers currently doing this? I requested this of my current employer before signing on and they had no problem producing it.

The gig sounds great. Maybe the two cents per mile difference is a monthly bonus or maybe after a trial period or something like that.

I would just make sure the expected income is what will be. You sure don’t wanna expect paychecks of $1,050/week (gross) and wind up with $700.

Is this a job where you are responsible for multiple stop loads and unloading the truck? Are you going to be driving a combination vehicle?

Steve and Old School, I will of course keep you informed with what I find out. I have been informed it is a straight run, no side stops from Cottage Grove ,MN to Springfield , MO and back. And one other run to and from Ohio. I start Training on the 10 July 2018, and I will post what I know then. I am concerned about the Ohio run. That involves Chicago. I got the .02 cents straightened out. I will be getting .42/cents a mile, and any local runs or load unloads will be $19/hr, I know not much. But as I am starting over, I guess I start at the bottom of pay too. This time around I want to BE THE BEST ME I CAN BE.

Congrats on getting started. I hope to hear how your progress goes.

Chris

Update and its gonna be a doozy. First week was told to be in at 8, didn't leave til 1230, grrr then went thru 3 trucks in the first week also had to contend with a Tornado near askaloosa Iowa, never done that in a semi, scary stuff that is. First one assigned came down with emission issues, second one had DEF issues after i left and drove 40 miles, third one succumbed to DEF issues as well the next day on the way home, ended up taking a 2010 Cascadia, with 878,000 Miles. The second week i took my truck #787 the 2010 with almost 900K on it and got within 7/10 of a mile of my delivery, and blew the splitter box in front of the differential, snapped the shaft. Had the whole road blocked at the exit, ended up rolling back to the side of the exit ramp. Tow truck came and towed my freightliner to an international dealer for repair, I was told by the Maint dept it would be done tomorrow ( this was 2300 Hrs on a tuesday night), OK. So I get told to find a hotel for $70/night or less, um nope, I got on for $89/night. Taking a Freightliner to a International garage is like sending a bike mechanic to fix a Jet airplane. I ended up spending Wednesday thru friday in the Hotel, at my expense, another driver went to bat for me with the owners and got me my hourly wage instead of the $75/day detention pay. plus hotel and food reimbursement. Since then I have had my truck 2010 Freightliner with NO DEF,and other than the splitter issue, I now have a truck with almost 900K, a reman engine with less than 30 K on it and a new rear end. Since the second week the last two weeks have been pretty much flawless. I am very happy driving regionally, Truly enjoying myself a lot. Borrowed a Cobra 29 LTD Classic BT from a neighbor, even when using the tuning function I get no range. I am trying to be the best me I can be this time, the toughest part for me is following far enough back. especially when cut in on. cause that never happens.

Hello, All , Chris,

Its been an amazing time back on the road again. I drive 4 days a week with three off and average about 550-600 miles a day. I drive from Minnesota to Missouri a lot, Indiana, and North Dakota. Typical is out one day, back the next. Repeat. Tues - Friday, with Saturday available for bleed over, if needed. Have not had to run into Saturday yet, Winter is coming!! Company is switching E.L.D. provider,also losing GPS too. Had to buy my own, Bought a Garmin Nuvi 57LM 5" Touch Screen GPS with Lifetime Map Updates, includes traffic too. Sure there is better, and as I go I will improve, gotta start with a sensible budget. Not sure I trust google to route my truck safely. Have had my close calls already, had to fix things with Duct tape. I feel very free when I am out there, I do miss my family though. But I like the pay, its a give and take.

OLD SCHOOL<

Nope, I usually pick up in MN, take to a store Distributors ware house drop off. Go to the pet food Manufacturer and the bring in truckload of pet food for our warehouses where they split it up and we then run out again.

The Garmin Nuvi is as good as Google maps because it is a car GPS. The Garmin dzle line is the truck GPS they make. Be very careful. A brand new Rand McNally atlas is about $30. That is the kind of GPS I learned to navigate with when I first got a driver's license (car). There was no such thing as GPS back then.