Do Sleepers Have Microwave Ovens In Them?

Todd...there is no such thing as a typical day, month or year as an OTR driver. There are lots of variables, that cannot be predicted. Not going to tell you how to spend your time, but researching something like that isn’t going to give you the answers you are looking for.

Due to the nature of the Walmart Dedicated account I am committed to; the average day is 12 hours, about 7-8 of which is actual driving. For a reefer load that has 5 store stops, unloading time is anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes per store stop, the sum of which counts down the 14 and 70 hour clocks. I have many times shut down my truck at the end of a shift with only minutes remaining on the daily 14 hour on-duty clock. I consider that a highly productive day or one fraught with problems. Either way it’s part of the job. Search on Walmart with my name and you can read more about the job and my experiences.

You are right about one thing, time management is a critical skill best learned and understood through experience. This is a life style, not a conventional job.

Todd...throws another dagger...

And the only way I can help "change the industry" is by joining a trade union, voting on elections and/or sending messages to my elected officials in Washington, DC. I can post here what "I don't like" but that is just blowing off steam, that's all.

I love this industry Todd, most of us on here do. It puts clothes on our backs, food on our tables and financial support of our families. We all work hard and most of us enjoy trucking.

Don’t insult us with a post like this. Your knowledge is only superficial, your experience is zero. Until you actually perform this type of work first hand, no one on this forum can accept a calling-out like this.

Careful, the kids you are “calling ugly”, might be mine.

GTown, Todd Holmes is never going to understand any advice, comment or suggestion handed to him. He has more problems than anyone here on TT and doesn't seem like he wants any advice just wants to ask questions for the sake of seeing his name on the Forum. Just look at how many questions he has going at any one time.

I hate to say it but unfortunately I 2nd this.

GTown, Todd Holmes is never going to understand any advice, comment or suggestion handed to him. He has more problems than anyone here on TT and doesn't seem like he wants any advice just wants to ask questions for the sake of seeing his name on the Forum. Just look at how many questions he has going at any one time.

I hate to say it but unfortunately I 2nd this.

I agree.

Todd, almost every question you have would be answered simply by doing the High Road Training.

And while you do ask some questions that will help other new drivers and those, some are just ridiculous, like color coordinated trucks and trailers.

Stop making yourself a laughingstock, do some training, and start the ball rolling, or just admit that you aren't interested in actually driving.

GTown, Todd Holmes is never going to understand any advice, comment or suggestion handed to him. He has more problems than anyone here on TT and doesn't seem like he wants any advice just wants to ask questions for the sake of seeing his name on the Forum. Just look at how many questions he has going at any one time.

I hate to say it but unfortunately I 2nd this.

You guys need to realize although the replies are to Todd’s posts, it’s for the benefit of thousands of others reading it who actually are serious about trucking and are not the Monday Morning quarterback critiquing a game they never once played.

GTown, Todd Holmes is never going to understand any advice, comment or suggestion handed to him. He has more problems than anyone here on TT and doesn't seem like he wants any advice just wants to ask questions for the sake of seeing his name on the Forum. Just look at how many questions he has going at any one time.

I hate to say it but unfortunately I 2nd this.

You guys need to realize although the replies are to Todd’s posts, it’s for the benefit of thousands of others reading it who actually are serious about trucking and are not the Monday Morning quarterback critiquing a game they never once played.

I totally understand.

It seems as truckers have to be clever enough to "find time" for all the basic everyday HUMAN living functions somehow, perhaps by waving a magic wand. Drivers are still HUMAN after all, are they not?

You have to understand that trucking is an extraordinary job for extraordinary people. This is not a job or a lifestyle that the average person would be both willing and capable of handling. There are a lot of jobs that fit this description - police officers, firemen, doctors, etc. You don't just grab an average dude off the street and put them into those kind of jobs and expect them to excel. Once in a while someone will surprise you. Most of the time they'll get their asses handed to them.

There are tons and tons of average jobs for average people. You'll work reasonable hours, you'll have reasonable job duties, and reasonable expectations. But if you want to drive an American Big Rig you're going to have to step up and handle the life and death situations, terrible weather, tight schedules, solitude, living quarters the size of a closet, time away from home and family, and very long days.

But it's also one hell of an adventure and an unbelievably fulfilling job and lifestyle if you're the right type of person. For me, it was an incredible blessing to have the privilege of living that lifestyle for so many years. For others, it's the ultimate nightmare.

I always say there's no faking it in trucking. You'll either step up and handle it or you'll run home with your tail between your legs. One way or another everyone finds out quickly if they have what it takes to call themselves an American Trucker. To me that really means something special.

GTown, Todd Holmes is never going to understand any advice, comment or suggestion handed to him. He has more problems than anyone here on TT and doesn't seem like he wants any advice just wants to ask questions for the sake of seeing his name on the Forum. Just look at how many questions he has going at any one time.

I hate to say it but unfortunately I 2nd this.

I agree.

Todd, almost every question you have would be answered simply by doing the High Road Training.

And while you do ask some questions that will help other new drivers and those, some are just ridiculous, like color coordinated trucks and trailers.

Stop making yourself a laughingstock, do some training, and start the ball rolling, or just admit that you aren't interested in actually driving.

Sorry, that should read "new drivers and those considering a career".

Microwave ovens are very inexpensive. I have one in my truck. They're easy to put in your truck, providing you have an inverter big enough to power one adequately.

Most companies don't provide them, but why should they?

Todd...throws another dagger...

And the only way I can help "change the industry" is by joining a trade union, voting on elections and/or sending messages to my elected officials in Washington, DC. I can post here what "I don't like" but that is just blowing off steam, that's all.

I love this industry Todd, most of us on here do. It puts clothes on our backs, food on our tables and financial support of our families. We all work hard and most of us enjoy trucking.

Don’t insult us with a post like this. Your knowledge is only superficial, your experience is zero. Until you actually perform this type of work first hand, no one on this forum can accept a calling-out like this.

Careful, the kids you are “calling ugly”, might be mine.

G-Town, please don't take anything that I write here personal on these boards. I've never spent so much as a single minute inside the cab of a Class 7/8 truck in all of my 54+ years on earth. Honest. The mere thought of doing it has come and gone from my head since boyhood. Most of "what I think I know" is from: "hearing what people say", "what I hear in country-western songs", "rumors", "gossip", "what I see on TV", "what I read in books", "what I see in videos", "what I see posted on the Web" and 'what I see in Hollywood movies".

Let me tell you something, when I went into the military, I was surprised at how different it was from what I saw in war films or TV shows. By the third week in basic training, I asked myself, "What the devil am I doing here? What in God's name have I gotten myself into?", "I wish I were home!" But I managed to "cowboy up" somehow and graduate boot camp and put in seven years of honorable service.