You Knew It Was Like It Is Before You Got Into Trucking.....

I never got into trucking to make a million dollars. I got into trucking because I love to travel. I love to drive.

Yes I talked to different drivers from different companies. As you well know, I talked and talked and asked dozens of questions here. And to other people I know that are either in trucking now or have retired from trucking.

I heard all the stories about waiting at a shipper or receiver for hours getting loaded or unloaded.

I know all about the odd hours. I have been there many times.

What I never read anywhere is how many hours I would spend waiting for dispatch to approve me to B/T home on a holiday. 4+ hours.

What I never read is how many Qualcomm message would not get answered when trying to change a time on a delivery or a pickup. Or just needing a answer on something.

What I never read is how many hours I would spend at a customer that is closed because of a screw up somewhere and getting no answer on your Qualcomm when you try to convince them your pickup is closed.

What I never read is how many hours I would spend at a customer's with a load that they reject because of a paperwork snafu. And not get paid for it.

Guyjax. I totally agree with what you said. But there are many more things out there than just the few things you talked about that is hard to swallow with trucking.

My recent trip. A 5 day trip to deliver a 758 mile trip. My DM gave it to me while I was standing next to him. We both got a puzzled look on our faces. Why 5 days? He sent an email to the load planners at 9am. At noon, there was still no answer. I just made a choice to call them on my own.

I got a number off the Qualcomm and decided to call them on my own. I didn't get done with the pickup till after 4pm. By the time I got a chance to call, there was no answer. Still nothing from the load planners.

I contacted my DM. Just caught him before he went home for the weekend. Had him check on my delivery. Check the company hours. I found out why the delivery was going to take 5 days. They were closed for the holiday weekend. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. They would not be back open till Tuesday morning. My delivery date. They were going to have me set for 2+ days and wait.

I stopped for the night and sent a message to the evening DM. I told him, I didn't want to set around all weekend not making any money.

The next morning I was told to go to Richmond and drop the load. Someone else will take it Tuesday morning. He gave me a 300 mile trip for today. Which took all day. The directions from my company took me 2 1/2 hours out of my way. 300 mile trips???? That should be the local guys job. Not an OTR driver.

Guyjax. It is much more than money, home time, and the odd hours that I am upset about.

If this "problem" is trucking wide, maybe I didn't pick the right career after all.

I came here for a career and a change in my life. Making a decent living along the way was part of the plan. No, not get rich. But at least decent pay.

My last paycheck was 134.00 after taxes and company deductions.

I haven't gotten over 1800 miles except for one time working for this company. I know there are slow times and busy times. I am from the bus industry. No one has slow and busy times like them.

I don't know how slow it can be when I hear fellow truckers in my company talking about asking their DM's to slow down. They need a break.

Yeah, I know. Driver's like to brag. But even a friend that I went to class with tells me he gets no less than 2200 miles. Usually 2500 miles or better.

I can't get out of the S/E region. I have asked, why am I getting all my trips in a part of the country that I can't make good miles. The answer, "that is all we have right now."

I don't know what it is like to make 550 or 600 miles in a day. Where I have been driving, you can't do it and stay legal. You can't even do it and be illegal. The terrain, traffic, and roads keep you from making good time.

And as far as home time. I knew I would get home maybe a few days every 2 to 4 weeks. Most times 3 to 4 weeks. My issue is. When I request it and it has been approved, it is always changed. My days off are my days off.

No where I have ever worked, even in the Military, did my employer change my days off after they were requested and approved. It happened only one time in the Military even. In 6 years.

Were all my requested approved everywhere I worked? No. But when they were, I got what was approved. No one ever changed it.

My wife works weekends. I have explained that to my DM. When I request time off, I request thru the week. I have requested time off twice. The first time it got pushed back 2 days. This time, not happened yet, I was given a load to deliver on what was suppose to be my drive day. The drop was over 500 miles from my home.

I am waiting now to see what happens over the next 3 days. See if they actually get me home on my requested time.

Maybe many here will disagree with me. But that is my time off. I worked for and earned that time. When I request time off and it is approved, I expect to get that time off.

You can research your tail off about something, but there will always be things hidden till you come face to face with them. And see things from the inside.

Keep it safe out here, the life you save might be your own. Joe S.

Here are some things that we usually forget.

Your Qualcomm signal is blocked by an overhanging tree and none of your messages got out. I never knew that could happen.

Scheduling pick up and delivery screw ups happen from time to time and we hope they are a rare occurrence.

Dave

Here are some things that we usually forget.

Your Qualcomm signal is blocked by an overhanging tree and none of your messages got out. I never knew that could happen.

Scheduling pick up and delivery screw ups happen from time to time and we hope they are a rare occurrence.

Dave

It is not the screwup that I have a problem with. People make mistakes. The problem I have is setting for 4 hours for nothing. Not getting paid. I sat for 4 1/4 hours. I might get paid for 15 minutes if I am lucky.

As far as your Qualcomm message getting blocked. Not sure where you heard that, but the signal from the Qualcomm is not blocked by tree limbs. Tunnels don't block the signal. Weather has almost no effect on it.

Virtually the Qualcomm can send and recieve messages anywhere.

Keep it safe out here, the life you save might be your own. Joe S

Believe me, it did. My DM didn't know where I was. I even checked and noticed that my messages were not coming in or going out. Now the Qualcomm log was working, but the signal wasn't getting to Denver. I moved my truck about 15 feet, and all of my messages finally went out. I was in a situation like yours, only the scheduled pick up time on the Qualcomm and the shipper itself were different.

Joe, sitting and waiting is just a part of the job. That's why we say we are legally allowed to work 70 hours in a week, but we usually work much more than that because of the tasks we do on sleeper berth. Sitting unpaid and waiting is just part of the job. We have stressed this many many times. We've always been saying that if we would get paid by the hour then we would probably be at minimum wage or below - you can work two full time jobs and make more and work just as much.

Hurry up and wait.

Is a common phrase for truckers for a reason. I do feel your pain brother, but there's no getting around it. We sit waiting for others so we can do our job.

This is an interesting conversation. I've been sitting on the sidelines waiting to see how it unfolds and now I'll jump in a bit.

Guyjax is right - most of the stuff you'll come across out there we've covered somewhere here at TruckingTruth.

But The Blue Angel is also correct - there's no way to cover everything that you'll come across out there.

I would have to say the overriding message we're trying to get across to people coming into trucking is that being a truck driver is often times a gigantic pain in the *ss! But at times the experiences you will have are absolutely priceless and there's no other industry on Earth quite like it.

With that in mind, it's incredibly important to go into this industry with a very open mind and an unbelievable tolerant, patient attitude. Expect it to take at least a full year to really even start getting a grasp on how to budget your time, understand how your company works on the inside, get to know important people within your company, learn to work with dispatch, and understand what's acceptable and what isn't when it comes to the way you're treated as a driver and the things you're asked to do. That first year you're in for a lot of surprises, both good and bad. You have to roll with it and keep that positive attitude or you're going to become miserable and burn out.

Blue Angel you make a lot of valid points and some of them I'd like to reply to from an experienced driver's perspective.

I can't get out of the S/E region. I have asked, why am I getting all my trips in a part of the country that I can't make good miles. The answer, "that is all we have right now."

I don't know what it is like to make 550 or 600 miles in a day. Where I have been driving, you can't do it and stay legal. You can't even do it and be illegal. The terrain, traffic, and roads keep you from making good time.

Blue Angel, you're still new to this but I can tell you from 15 years out there that you can most certainly make 550-600 miles in the Southeast in a day. Easily. In fact, you can do it in the Northeast which is 1000 times worse when it comes to weather, terrain, traffic, and population density. I don't know what's stopping you from being able to turn 550-600 miles a day in the Southeast, but it isn't the trucking industry and it isn't the Southeast.

I stopped for the night and sent a message to the evening DM. I told him, I didn't want to set around all weekend not making any money.

The next morning I was told to go to Richmond and drop the load. Someone else will take it Tuesday morning. He gave me a 300 mile trip for today. Which took all day. The directions from my company took me 2 1/2 hours out of my way. 300 mile trips???? That should be the local guys job. Not an OTR driver.

Ok so first of all, holiday weekends screw up everything for almost everyone. Sometimes it works out great and you stay busy, sometimes you sit around for a day or two. You decided you didn't want to sit around so they found you an extra run to take. Hooray! But then you're unhappy with the mileage because "that's not your job". So you want to make more money and run more miles, but only if they're the type of loads you feel fit into your job description? Now the idea that 300 mile runs aren't for OTR guys you clearly made up in your head because nobody in the trucking industry ever said 300 mile runs aren't part of the job for an OTR driver. I ran dozens and dozens of loads over the years that were shorter than that. Instead of complaining, I took the load and said, "Ok, I'll run it. But can you try to get me pre-planned on something with good miles after this?" 90% of the time I'd get great miles on the next run or the one after that. You trade favors with dispatch. That's a key component of the job. You asked for a favor - give me more miles. They obliged. You smile, say "thank you", and ask for even more miles as soon as you're done with that run. If you're the type to get the job done, run the short runs, trade favors, and get along with people you'll almost always have all of the miles you could ever want.

As far as the company directions taking you 2 1/2 hours out of route.....well, you have an atlas, right? A GPS, right? You've looked up places on Google Maps, right? You know not to ever trust any one source of directions blindly, right? Well now you do. That's something we've talked about on here a million times. You always use multiple sources of information when determining a route. Never trust any one tool blindly. That's not the trucking industry's fault. That's just a rookie mistake. We've all done it. Hopefully not twice. That's just part of learning the job. ...to be continued...

I don't know how slow it can be when I hear fellow truckers in my company talking about asking their DM's to slow down. They need a break.

Yeah, I know. Driver's like to brag. But even a friend that I went to class with tells me he gets no less than 2200 miles. Usually 2500 miles or better.

Ok, that right there tells you that either you or your dispatcher aren't getting the job done. If dispatch told me they were doing all they could do to keep me busy, asking other drivers at my company about their miles is always the first thing I would do. Once I had established myself as an awesome driver with my company and my dispatcher I expected to be rolling whenever there was freight available. After all, I deserved it. I earned my place as a top-tier driver. So if I wasn't getting miles, nobody should be getting miles. Trucking companies take care of their best drivers. There is always plenty of freight for the top drivers. It's the lower-level drivers that get the leftover scraps - if there are any. And I was never a lower-level driver.

Now let's assume it's not you that's the problem. You run hard, you get along with people, your safety record is solid, you take the lousy runs without complaining, and your on-time pickups and deliveries are either perfect or real d*mn close. You're kickin *ss and taking names out there. You're doing everything a top-tier driver can possibly do and yet you're not getting the miles you clearly deserve.

Then it's time to have a talk with your dispatcher and his/her boss. If dispatch repeatedly tells you there's nothing they can do then you have to find out what's going on. Have a talk with dispatch's boss and that person's boss. State your case in a calm, professional way. Tell them you know that other drivers are getting a lot more miles than you are and yet nobody is doing a better job than you. So you'd like to know what it's going to take to get the miles you deserve - the miles the top drivers are getting.

If you're really doing the job as well as you think you are the bosses are going to pull strings. They'll put a note in the computer making you a priority. They'll tell your dispatcher to make sure you're getting better miles. They'll do whatever they do at your company to make sure their top drivers are taken care of.

But believe me when I say 95% of the drivers out there aren't nearly as good as they think they are. They think they're doing an awesome job. Everyone always thinks that about themselves. But when you compare the top 5% of drivers on the road to the rest it's clear why the top-tier drivers are a cut above the rest.....they run harder, they do more favors for dispatch, they get along well with people, they're calling customers to move appointment times ahead, they're using every last legal loophole available on their logbook , they're always safe, they're always on time, and above all else they just always find a way to get the job done when most drivers wouldn't have been able to. Those are the drivers that are running when everyone else is sitting.

And as far as home time. I knew I would get home maybe a few days every 2 to 4 weeks. Most times 3 to 4 weeks. My issue is. When I request it and it has been approved, it is always changed. My days off are my days off.

No where I have ever worked, even in the Military, did my employer change my days off after they were requested and approved. It happened only one time in the Military even. In 6 years.

...I have requested time off twice. The first time it got pushed back 2 days. This time, not happened yet, I was given a load to deliver on what was suppose to be my drive day. The drop was over 500 miles from my home.

I am waiting now to see what happens over the next 3 days. See if they actually get me home on my requested time.

Maybe many here will disagree with me. But that is my time off. I worked for and earned that time. When I request time off and it is approved, I expect to get that time off.

Ok, first of all, maybe a sample size of one home time request being pushed back isn't enough to get bent out of shape about. You're only on your second home time request ever. Give it some time. Also, try to understand that dispatchers and load planners are not magicians. They don't magically make runs appear that take you straight to your house at the moment you'd like to be there. Most of the time they'll get you home on time. Once in a while you'll be a day or two late. But that should be the exception. If you desperately have to be home on a given day and time, like for a court case or something, make sure you request it a day or two early just in case.

The overwhelming majority of complaints a first year driver will have are either:

1) Normal, everyday aspects of trucking they didn't understand or expect

2) The result of simply being a rookie and not knowing the ropes yet.

It takes time to really understand how this industry works. A lot of time. It will take a minimum of a year to really start getting the feel for it and 3-5 years to really get good at what you're doing on a level that puts you with the upper 5%. There isn't a rookie driver in America that can pull off the things a seasoned veteran can. You simply don't have the experience and knowledge that only years on the road can teach you.

So hang in there Blue Angel and all of you rookies out there! This is a tough industry. It takes time.

Blue Angel, you're still new to this but I can tell you from 15 years out there that you can most certainly make 550-600 miles in the Southeast in a day. Easily. In fact, you can do it in the Northeast which is 1000 times worse when it comes to weather, terrain, traffic, and population density. I don't know what's stopping you from being able to turn 550-600 miles a day in the Southeast, but it isn't the trucking industry and it isn't the Southeast.

I stand corrected on the mileage. It is true, if you are running with a full clock and you have your 10 or 11 hours to work with, you can do better than 500 miles a day.

I haven't seen a day full of hours in over 2 weeks. Last time I saw a day of full hours was when I sat at a shipper for 5 hours and ran my 14 hour clock out long before my drive clock. And after the 4th time my 70 hour clock was shot to heck. But yes, I do stand corrected. If you have a full clock, you can run 500+ miles in a day.

I have a question. I have read Old School talking about long load times. And I forget who it is that runs the reefer. But they have also talked about long times at a shipper/receiver. After you have spent 3 or 4 trips in a row with long load/unload times, how do you get your hours built back up to a full clock? Without shutting down for a day or more.

As far as the company directions taking you 2 1/2 hours out of route.....well, you have an atlas, right? A GPS, right? You've looked up places on Google Maps, right? You know not to ever trust any one source of directions blindly, right? Well now you do. That's something we've talked about on here a million times. You always use multiple sources of information when determining a route. Never trust any one tool blindly. That's not the trucking industry's fault. That's just a rookie mistake. We've all done it. Hopefully not twice. That's just part of learning the job.

And as far as the route. I might be a novice at truck driving and I have tons of things to learn and will have for a long time to come. Route planning is not one of the things I have a hard time with.

When you check online, with your Trucker's atlas, with your DM , and with your GPS. Your GPS has the better route. But when you check it with your Trucker's Atlas, it shows that it is not a legal truck route. I have since found out that Rand McNally, while very good, leaves tons of good truck routes off the map. I even tried asking other truckers on the CB. And of course, like a lot of times today. No one either had a radio on, or they didn't want to help.

So, after checking all that. I wanted to do with my GPS. I would have gotten there 2 hours sooner, but it wasn't an authorized truck route. I took it that my company would know what route was best since this is one of our regular customers. And if I go by their directions and get stopped, they pay the fine.

After arriving at the customer, I asked them about the roads around here. I told them how my company had me come. She laughed. They know better. Your trucks come on highway 300 all the time. You company should know the right route.

But now I know. I go the short way around next time.

When you have checked all your resources and still get a wrong answer, where do you turn.

I took it that my company would know what route was best since this is one of our regular customers.

I know what ya mean Joe, you would think they would have the directions right. But for some reason even after drivers tell the companies a better way to get there the canned message for directions does not get changed.

I remember one specific load while out with my trainer. He looked at the load and said they still have not changed the directions, he had been there many times and informed his DM about the corrections that needed to be made but nothing ever switched.

Woody

I am not a professional trucker yet but I agree. There is a lot of pro's and con's people should think about in the Trucking World. I have my mind set on ending with a career I know I can do. I have a family life just like alot of us do. But my life can't go forward without a career that I will die for. Was away from home some times I did 21 on 7 off. I really regreted going home because the list of things to do while you are home got way 2 long and very expensive. So finally my wife and I have came to an agreement. If a list is to be made please keep it short and remember my time at home will be about 4 days long. That will give me 1 day of laundry and food shopping. The last day home will be with a remote in 1 hand and a Soda in the other. I am not sure if I made a point here but I have read a lot of post on here and figured I would throw a students word in.. God Bless All and Be Safe..

Is that a old Melton truck as your avatar? very nice haha. I mean yeah every company has its faults. Ive drove for CRST and hated it, my DM wasn't a good fit for me and made me hate every day being otr. 3 months with ****ty pay and not being sent to the house not even once. The company I'm with now, I have a DM that fits me. Which isn't an easy task because when I met my DM I was fresh out of the Corps. 0311 deployment in helmond prov. I have a strong personality and come off as a bit of an ass. She has an easy going personality and we fit. I was 21 and still in that mode. Combat vets understand that. She is older maybe late forties and I've had her as my DM for almost two years. A lot of the new guys coming into Flatbed quit withen 3 months because of one thing or the other or the long work days securing and tarping the load properly. The drivers here will jump your ass if we see you short cutting securement. and that causes friction. Short cutting a load will seriously injure or kill someone. And Yes, I am apart of this new generation and yes, I am embarrassed to admit that because the idiot drivers make all of the young ones look bad.

First, Find a path you WANT. Only coming to flatbed or hazmat tanker cause its "good money" You wont last. Get into the field you want to be in and then find a company you like. Then ask EVERYONE via forums, leg work talking to drivers. Looking up their DAC EVERYTHING. Having a DM you don't like or get along with will break you. Having a DM that looks out for you and get along with I promise you, you will get plenty of miles and enjoy it more. First starting in trucking, you wont make much, you have to do what every other driver did that was in your exact same shoes. Pay your DO's. after a year or hell even 6 months your pay will be much better. I started at my company at 34CPM and a ****y truck, I proved my ability and got a brand new t660. When I took leave to deal with crap in Florida, I took leave at .43CPM and my DM made sure to get me to NY for that nice run from AK Steel in PA down to Laredo now thats a mighty fine weekend run. Prove yourself and doors open. quitting cause you had a bad experience with one person isn't going to get you any where. suck it up and keep the wheels turning. Do your best and make sure you do it right. And the most important part of this essay. Please, take showers more often than once a week, really. it kills us when you skip hygiene.

And CortaroAz, 99% of that wasn't ment for you, just the part about the avatar :P