Checking In.....

Well it has been a long time since I posted on the forum. Things have been so busy. But I wanted to check in because I recently went into my 7th month of driving (and I haven't been fired yet). It has been a blast and I am loving it. I've learned so much in the past 7 months and I stay open to learn better and more proficient ways to do things. I have to thank Brett and everyone on this forum that helped me get to where I am today. If it wasn't for the High Road training program, I wouldn't have had the edge I did going into school. It was a great help to know kind of what to expect. This was all so new to me.

Melton has been a good company for me. They have taught me a lot and still do. Just coming out of school, I went to the Melton orientation. It was very thorough. They taught securement principles as well as tarping methods. Once I finished my 3-week stint with the trainer, it was either going to be a bus ticket or a set of keys. I was handed the keys to a 2012 Kenworth T660. It was a Cadillac compared to the school trucks I had driven.

Me and "Big Blue" have been everywhere; even a trip to Canada. When I got the truck, there was 260k + on the odometer. Here's what she reads after 6 1/2 months of driving

Now maybe that doesn't seem like a lot of miles to some. But let me just say this. Before I started driving, I would read in the forum about drivers complaining about not getting enough miles. I forget the figures they cited to be an acceptable amount of miles. I have learned that it is not like the company saying, "Here, Bob. Here are 2500 miles for you this week." Or, "Here, Frank. Have 2750." It's not like that at all, at least in the flatbedding division. You have to WORK to get that many miles. And even then, when you work your tail off to get ahead of the power curve. You manage your time so you arrive at the consignee the night before and are camped out in his parking lot so you are the first to be unloaded. That edge you just worked for can be decimated at one stop. It's called 'detention.' For whatever reason, you are late getting out of there. Which means (in my world, anyway) you are going to get to the next shipper late in the day. That means very little, if any, miles driven that day. There goes your lead. I have found that it is HARD to get a lot of miles. I will get more miles when I learn to secure my freight faster (without compromising principles). I get more miles when I can tarp my load faster and still do a good job. I get more miles when I drive smart and efficiently and don't get lost or make wrong turns that take 45 minutes to an hour just to get back to where you were supposed to be. I have made my share of rookie mistakes and then some. But I must say, that number is getting lower and lower all the time. It would be a long thread to have telling of all the rookie mistakes I have made.

I also wanted to report that in these months that I have been solo, I have made Melton's Top 100; that was last September and just last month I made it again. I think Melton has around 1140 drivers currently. So I think I must be doing something right. I just try to do what I am told and do my job.

Here's another thing Melton has done for me. I was on a run from AR to northwest OK when in the middle of the run, my DM tells me to come into the terminal in Tulsa. She told me that I had to turn my truck in. I asked her what I did wrong. She said, "No, nothing like that. You're getting a new truck." "I am??!?" Yup, she said. Well after she was off the phone and I pointed the truck in the direction of the terminal, I got to thinking about all the things I read and heard about drivers getting the new trucks. I heard that only the seniority drivers got them. Fresh school drivers always get the old trucks. Well, perhaps a 2012 Kenworth *is* an old truck..... at Melton. I turned it in and now I am driving this one:

I really count it a privilege to be trucking in this industry. Thanks Brett and Trucking Truth!

3 1/2 months to go to that magical 1 year mark.

Congratulations! It sounds like you are rocking that flat-bed job! Keep up the good work.

It's really great to hear from you, I know you're busy but try to check in every once in a while. We've had a lot of people interested in Melton lately, and I try to convince them that we have some Melton drivers in here, but they are just too darn busy to participate in the forum.

If you ever get dispatched down to Delhi, Louisiana to pick up a load from the SAPA plant try and look me up. We have a good amount of Melton Drivers coming in there for loads

Beautiful truck.Must feel great driving down the road in a brand spanking new kenworth. That Blue is a really great color. I hate most of the color of company trucks...especially red and orange.

Hey that's great news and some awesome pics Wilson! Really glad to hear things are going well for ya.

Before I started driving, I would read in the forum about drivers complaining about not getting enough miles. I forget the figures they cited to be an acceptable amount of miles. I have learned that it is not like the company saying, "Here, Bob. Here are 2500 miles for you this week." Or, "Here, Frank. Have 2750." It's not like that at all, at least in the flatbedding division. You have to WORK to get that many miles

Exactly! It's the greatest fallacy in trucking. That "good companies" will give you good miles and "bad companies" won't. First of all you earn the miles you're given by being hard working, safe, reliable, and professional. Once you've earned that reputation with the company they'll give you the miles but you still have to make it happen. If you don't know the logbook rules well, your trip planning is poor, or you don't know how to convince customers to get you loaded and unloaded in a timely fashion you're not going to be able to run the miles they're giving you anyhow.

So in the end, as we always say, you earn everything you get in this industry. All the miles in the world are available at any company you'd like to work for. Whether or not you'll prove yourself worthy of being given those miles and then go out there and actually make it happen is up to you.

That's the #1 most difficult concept to get across to people about life in the trucking industry.

If you ever get dispatched down to Delhi, Louisiana to pick up a load from the SAPA plant try and look me up. We have a good amount of Melton Drivers coming in there for loads

Thanks Old School. Ever since I've been on the road, I've looked at every Western Express flatbed I saw to see if it was you. Now I see you're at SAPA. Great. I've hauled out of the one in PA and IN. Hopefully, I'll get down there and look you up!