Truckerfag thread: Read the Ghat Dang OP edition

>Obtaining a CDL: How do?
Community College or a dedicating truck driving school. Do your research and don't get sucked into a "school" that's actually just a meat grinder for a shit company. Do not pay over $5000 for a course that lasts several months.
>How can I into avoidings shit companies?
Here are some decent/good companies:
pastebin.com/Sv0cyWyH
If you don't see the company you're looking at included on this list, lurk moar.

>I could totally go to school but I'd rather be a trucker.
If you think you'll love the lifestyle, maybe. You'd be better off getting a """""real""""" job. You can fall back on trucking at any time, but it is essentially a path of decent money for those that fail at everything else.
You can have good business sense and work ethic and make it big as an owner operator, but you would do even better at any other job.

Obligatory meme section
-----
>You will get fat.
>The only clothing you'll own are pajamas.
>The only reason you get paid well is because you work 70 hours per week.
>The longest relationship you'll get is 15 minutes with a lizard.
>Eating nothing is better than roller dogs.
>You have the most dangerous job in the nation.
>The D.O.T., Police, and Le'dash-uh in receiving hate you, and will harass you every chance they get.
>Other drivers hate you.
>Your job will be obsolete once self-driving trucks become available.
>Your loved ones miss you.
>If you don't change careers you will forever be considered a cuck and a homo. Especially if you cuckbox with another fag driver.
>lol 'murrica

>4 4 T O N N E S
>4
>4
>T
>O
>N
>N
>E
>S
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Pervious threat

Woo new thread. Thanks for the pastebin in the OP.

Normal? Not really. Some drivers get fucking pissed, most are cool.

Thanks for linking this one in.

>0600 app
>arrive 0530
>storage tank to put product in at 97%
>wait for hotmix to get made to use up product
>1100 finally finished unloading

Usually only takes an hour to unload.
Glad I get hourly while load/unload.

Babby's first trucking job. Local delivery, M-F job. Only part I'm nervous about is making routes since it seems like every day is always slightly different. Does Google maps or Waze or some other GPS allow you to input all your stops and set up a route for you?

My rand mcnally gps allows for multiple stops. Also, if youre worried about it buy a map.

I'm sure you can route multiple stops, but I just want to warn you to be careful using Google Maps and similar GPS apps. It will route you through lots of roads you don't necessarily want to take a truck down. If I need to GPS something, I just look at it on a map and get there via main roads.

The mix was fucken hot too.

Yeah I know regular apps will set you through residential areas and stuff, I think I will get a hang of the locations soon to know their general location and to avoid getting off the highway early to go through neighborhoods.

That looks pretty cool, though I imagine it needs its own data plan? Problem is the guy I'm replacing has been doing it for 22 years so the company has no GPS units or maps, I'd have to get my own.

>data plan

For a dash mounted gps? No. Its plug-n-play. Whichever one you get make sure it comes with lifetime map upgrades. It might cost a little extra but its well worth it.

>Only trucks I consistently pass are CRST
Isn't CRT like 68-70? They always pass me, and I'm governed at 65.

They might be that fast. He might be thinking of cr england. I think theyre governed somewhere on the low/mid 60's.

Confirmed. Skyline governs their trucks at 65, always passed CR England, rarely passed CRST trucks.

Side story
>Stopped last week for bite to eat
>Chatting with another driver, turns out he lives down the highway from me, few towns away
>Had previously ran Lease/Op + Training for CRST
>CRST ran it like teams, newbie basically learned nothing aside from doing it all himself
>Dude liked it that way because he got 75% of every load's payout
>Then one day a trainee fell asleep at the wheel and ramped off a ditch over a fence into a field
>Truck totaled
>CRST refuses to pay for anything, even though it was their own trainee that did all this
Dude said he's already got them in court, lawyer tells him it's open-and-shut since they covered trainee on workman's comp. Apparently they tried to claim they weren't responsible because the trainee wasn't yet an employee or some bullshit.

> trainee
> receiving a paycheck
> not an employee


Wtf?

Thanks I'll have to look into one. Think the 730 is good enough? The TND 70 and 80 are kinda tempting because they can double as a dash cam which my truck does not have.

I've heard that from other crst drivers too. The maintenance is just as bad they won't authorize repairs unless you take em to court or pay out of pocket. And this is on company rigs. Owner ops get a special kind of dicking.
>what the truck we sold you was a lemon? Well that load is late now. We're gonna charge you 500 a day till it gets there.what's that? You can't afford to replace everything in the truck we sold you?suck to be you.

The Garmin Dezl units also support dash cams. I'm sure the Rand McNally TND line works fine, but I had several drivers advise me to avoid them and get a dezl. They all claimed the newer TND devices blow.
Probably just trying to talk nonsense in hopes that he'd drop it and not go to court, but that didn't work.
Sounds about right.

My set up. Big one on the left is onviously gps. The small one on the right is my dash cam. I take videos off of it and upload to youtube.

>they won't authorize repairs unless you take em to court or pay out of pocket

I've been known to take faulty equipment to weigh stations. Dot really really likes me when I do that. The company has gotten the Fix-It ticket every single time. It typically gets fixed in just a couple of days.

I'll look into these, thanks

Nice setup, hopefully the truck has a cigarette lighter to power it, I've been looking and can't find one lol.

The dash cam is actually plugged in to my cb power supply via a cigarette lighter style extension cord found at any truck stop. My truck itself has 6 plugs.

It's always hot you fucking tar nigger

#
Aw shit nigga was you northbound on the 15 out of cali?
I thought I saw a Gordon/Heartland trailer with shit on his dash go around me.

Whoops, yeah. I meant CR England.

Heh...
>went through England's meat grinder
>fell for the fleece program
>losing money fast
>dispatched a load of potted plants out of oregon to new jersey
>I can't make this on time, not enough hours
>we'll look into repower pick it up
>trailer has slight air leak
>if it holds air with the engine running just roll
>btw we need you to deliver this
>uh...I'm gonna run completely out of hours in illinois
>you'll have to make it work it can't be late
>what part of out of hours don't you understand
>it has a $250 per day late penalty you may be charged back
>dafuq?
>rolling through wyoming, angerous.
>air leak gets worse, can hear it flowing constantly
>can't build over 100 psi
>stop in big spring nebraska at the bosselman (now a flying j)
>get okay to get the shop to "check and advise"
>verdict:shit's fucked you need all new air lines front to back
>why didn't you get it fixed in salt lake city?
>I didn't go through and I'm short hours as is, why didn't you get this repowered?
>well you'll have to just run with it it's too much to get fixed at that shop
>this thing is fucked it's not safe and getting worsd
>you'll be charged with abandoning a load if you don't roll with it
>jesus christ...
>come up on north platte scale
>get prepassed
>go on anyway
>hey can I get a level 1?
>uh....why?
>well...why don't you take a look at my qualcomm...
And that's how I got 3 people fired. I left that shit show a few weeks later.
They claimed I owed them sone $6,000 for repairs to their lease truck. I never paid, they put it on my credit, I got it easily removed and just this year got a $2,200 class action settlement check.
CR England. Not even once.

Jeez man. Thanks for the scare and I will forever remember to never go to C.R. when I get my license.

"One of the only companies worse than SWIFT."

I was on 15. But not in cali today.

BTW Pride (not prime) is owned by one of the England family.
Also BTW Knight, England and Swift are all Utah based, and there's significant backroom dealing and even marriages between the executive families.
Also also BTW Dick Simon was another Utah-based blight on the industry, but the company went under after their horrific mistreatment of employees got them in shit too deep to stay afloat.
However, the members of the board (Dick's kids) proceeded to strip the company of assets sold at ridiculous discounts to new corporations under their own names and continued business as usual under lower profiles.
Kelle's transport service is the most successful of these spinoffs.

PREPARE YOUR ANUS.

Nah mate, you have cold fat, warm fat, hot fat then fucken lava fat.

Well that's where I'm parked. You'll notice I'm nowhere near cali. Plus I have an appointment with the dentist today. Litterally going to end up getting to the yard packing my stuff up and drive straight to it.

I take my CDL test tommorow. If all goes well I'll start my mentorship with whiney kun next week.

Maybe you can be whineys first

Ill get him a lot lizard.

Fucking daycabs making me look bad.

Some do. Company I work for just got fancy new touchscreens that let you do just that.
Downside, it's an asian-american voice pack. And she's a bitch. TURN LEFT AT CIRCLE TURN LEFT AT CIRCLE.
It's a roundabout, bitch.

Took this pic yesterday. The inside of my yard tractor.

Only because your truck is too fucking long.

>But the more axles, the more brakes.

That was the argument CTP and the other trucking lobbyists used, but they didn't bring any hard data to congress to back it up. No studies, no track tests. Lobbying fail.

The safety argument went beyond stopping distances anyway. people were asking questions about cornering stability and the effect of the extra weight in a truck/car crash.

>How else would overweight permits ever be possible?
The idea behind permitting is that you're doing something special and unusual that doesn't happen every day. It's OK for that to be less safe than a business-as-usual load.

Fuck that, those push button shifters should never have been invented. I want an actual selection lever; push button bullshit.

The old Ottawa I used vibrated like jack hammer while idling in drive but I loved using it.
It tank pressure fast but at least I could idle it without having my foot on the pedal.

I got inspired while sitting at a cons, and I did a thing.

ONE OF YOU NEEDS TO MOVE!

I-271 S passing under OH-94
White vans rolling ~62-63 in a 70 with one attempting to pass right before going uphill.


*It lost

>no whiney crashed in the bushes

>Bought to take a nice trip to Wisconsin
>Finished unloading and heading to next stop
>Dispatcher begins ringing my phone off the hook
>"Hol'up, man. I need you to run this here instead."
>It's 300 miles, delivers the next day, and is three stops
>All of them are Fort Worth
>Want to kindly tell him to go fuck off, but can't since I'm a cuck driver
>Get to trailer and grab the bills
>The entire load is three pallets
>I'm not going to get any miles, rest, or compensation for this shit
>First place takes forever on one pallet
>Second place takes it off and hands me my bills
>Third place is down a street that is not made for trucks
>Having to dodge tree limbs for 2 miles
>Finally get to the end where the building is at
>It's an office with a cafeteria and no dock
>Sure enough this is the stop
>Get to unload the remaining 700lbs of yogurt by hand
>I'm now ready to collapse
>Phone begins ringing right as I climb back in my truck
>Dispatcher now wants me to head across town to pick up a load that is 100 miles away for delivery that evening
>Turn phone off and go to bed instead

Seriously reconsidering my career because this shit happens all the time.

On average how many days a week do you guys actually sleep at truck stops? If you don't stop at a truck stop every night, do you stop during the day to have a shower? I'm finding I maybe end up at a truck stop once a week, and it doesn't even necessarily have a shower... I also find while I can stop for up to 2 hours each day and still be able to drive afterwards for the missed time I'm always rushed into my unload/pick up.
tl;dr do you guys actually get a shower in everyday? because i haven't showered since Monday and I hate it...

I stopped at a flying j to shower yesterday
>shower #271 your shower is now ready
>my ticket: 297
>OH HELL NO
I went back to the truck and used half a gallon of water and a wash basin for shower and shave.

I don't shower every day.
However, I clean my pits and ass with rubbing alcohol every day.

Job change certainly that dispatcher is an ass.
I'm home only 4 days out of the month the rest is spent at truck stops I try for a shower nightly. And plan my day accordingly
>asking us to fill out w4 and I 9 by the first.
>Oh and sign our new policy thing on our website
The website I can't log into? That one?

CR England is also predominately run by the Mormons.

>get home enough time for a shower and change of clothes
>check mail see this.
Welp. Guess I'd better look up those Texas truck stops I liked. I'm probably going to be in laredo forever now.
Hopefully this means I get a new dispatcher.

I finished Slaughterhouse Five on my drive to Albuquerque. It just fucked my shit right up.

I dont shower everyday, but i do carry a small wash basin, soap, and rags in the truck. Get water from truck stops about once every other day and that night i have a wash fit for a whore.

Seriously though, even having the stuff in the truck is a step in the right direction. Especially when hauling the kind of trailers i do (Conestoga, step deck, flatbed) with the loads i do ( steel, dies)

I think I'm gonna get a few big jugs of water and a wash basin for in my truck. I know what you mean about the line of work thing, i get covered in grain dust at least 1-2 times a day.

>grain dust

I bet that shit is real fun to breathe.

This shit is the best root beer ever.

So you just stand there by your truck at a truck stop, completely naked, and wash yourself?

You laugh, but I have seen some dudes in the fuel aisle washing themselves with the water hose before.

Welp we had a student go active shooter on the range today everyone had to get inside for like an hour while security tracked him down.

Fuggen wat. Seriously?

Exactly zero days a week

if I were to send your company an e-mail or call them with your truck number telling them that you did X Y and Z that was either road road, wildly unsafe, or illegal, what would they do?

i always say i'm going to report truckers that are blatantly putting peoples lives at risk but I never do because I don't think anyone really cares.


>price chopper nigger 3CM behind me on a one lane country road while i'm doing the speed limit

>stoplight ahead where i'm taking a right, put blinker on and begin to slow down

>price chopper nigger flashes his high beams in disgust and passes me on the right

>would not have seen him if I wasn't already watching him. would have t-boned me otherwise.

Holy crap this rain. It just doesn't stop.

I shower when convenient or feel disgusting. Definitely not everyday. Seems like once every 2-3 days.
>Spread axle
>Long hood pete
oh boy that must fun

If you were to call to his safety dept, I doubt they would do anything unless he actually damaged something. No one gives a fuck unfortunately.

I'd switch to a different a company. It's definitely not like that everywhere.

No. I close the curtains and sit in the bunk. As long as youre careful with the water theres nothing to worry about.

do i really have to walk you through this?

Generally speaking they wont do much unless its a serious complaint. Yours (depending on the company) MIGHT have gotten the driver called by safety dept. This is also the reason a lot of us have dash cams.

>complaint comes in diapatch calls
>pull over and get memory card out of dash cam
>email last 30 minutes of footage to dispatch
>complaint dismissed and problem solved

>cruising down the road
>phone rings
>it's safety are you in a safe place to talk?
>uh yeah...
>we had someone call in and give us your trailer number, said you ran them off the road
>i don't believe I've ever run anyone off the road...
>they said it was about 11am, they were driving a red civic
>not ringing a bell. 11am? I was in chicago on the 294, they probably failed to merge into me from an on ramp or something.
>yeah most likely. Have a nice day and drive safe.

Receiver here
Gonna have to charge you for all the damaged, faced Poly board
$40 a sheet, can't sell that stuff on top
Where are your cornerboards?
Cardboard mini-corners, don't think so
Don't you care about doing a good job?
What taught you how to tie down?
Think it's ok to destroy someone else's property?
Why aren't you tarped?
That's expensive stuff, we paid for tarping
Tell you what, I know you already unstrapped, but the manager is refusing this load
You need to move your truck off our property, got other trucks waiting
You can tie down on the side of the road
Manager is call the police if you don't move right now
No, you can't use our fax machine
Toilet? The Love's is up on the Interstate, they have a toilet
Boss already called the shipper, he is on the phone with your dispatch right now
You have a load to pick up? Heading home?
Not my problem
You need to move your truck, right now
No, I am not joking, do I look like am joking?
Adios

...

Who doesn't love the pushbutton shifter?
>*Blinking 5*

Had some really bad auto corrections in it

I wish some of you cheap fucks would actually pay for tarping, then I'd be able to go easier on it. But nope, a dozen of these loads in the last 6 months and not one of them were tarped.
Do you know what a pain in the ass those shitty edge protectors they give me are to put on when I'm not allowed on top of the load and I'm not allowed to use the ladder?
Nothing would make me happier than for you to reject this load and get me banned from this account.
Go ahead, make my day frend =')

I actually had this exact same call last year and it went the same way.
>Hi ___ we got a call from someone saying that you ran them off the road early this morning in GA. Does this sound familiar?
>Uhh, no. If I did I probably would have noticed.
>Okay. Remember to be curteous and stay safe.

Actual call, some background first.
Down south dont remember where. south bound. Up ahead
>weigh station all trucks right lane

Ok, story time.

>already in right lane
>slow down match traffic speed
>come up on sing
CLOSED
>move left and continue
>15 minutes later get phone call

>Hey user, this is (dipshit) from safety dept.

Oh, hey. Whats up?

>youre south bound in (dont remember which state) right?

Yup.

>we just got a call that you ran the weigh station.

...no... They were closed.

>the sign said open

How would you know? Youre 1500 miles away. The sign said closed. I kept going.

>but your prepass didnt go off

This state doesnt have prepass

>so...wait... What sign are you talking about?

Ok, ill explain it like this. (Father talking to potato child mode engage)
When youre driving down the interstate, ok?

>uh huh

There is a sign 1 mile before the station. That sign said closed.

>...wait.... What?

Im not repeating it again. (Click)

Friend of mine had an escalated version.
>wisconsin back road, snowing
>suddenly state trooper
>no shoulder, flashers until he can pull into a gas station
>we got a report you ran someone off the highway, afraid I'm going to have to arrest you while we investigate
>ain't no way I ran someone off the road
>they identified your truck and trailer.
>well I'm not afraid of your investigation but can I park my truck at the truck stop five miles away? I don't think this gas station wants my rig here until you get it towed
>yea that's fine
>truck parked
>so where did this supposedly happen?
>(some highway nearby)
>uh...I haven't been on that highway and I can prove it
>oh?
>bol with timestamp showing I was picking up my load 40 miles the other way not long this is supposed to have happened. It wouldn't make any sense for me to be on that highway, let alone the impossibility of the time. We can call the shipper and verify...
>let me call this in...
>well...I guess it wasn't you...
>no shit. Am I under arrest?
>no.

Yeah
>he had 2 felony charges he didnt tell swift about.
>they kicked him out
>he threatened to shoot up the school
>the escorted him off property
>he sneaks back on about an hour later
>security guard sees him with a gun
>whole yard/school goes on lock down
>security team catches him after like an hour
>he sat next to me in my truck the past week

So was he actually shooting or just a guy who may or may not have had a gun? Still, bet the ol' heart rate was up a little.

How do you email that much video? File size would be huge.

Most dash cams are DVD quality or worse

My cam records 3 minutes at a time. I have unlimitrd data on my phone.

I really hate this strapping job. Sorry.

Please, tell me how you would have done it.

>America

I have a ton of plastic v-boards, got the telescoping stick that they sell, works great, throw the straps, lift the board. Move straps with the lifter
I haul that stuff from Mansfield all the time, company makes me tarp, pays for it, they used to not pay, told me tarp on my own time, nope, plus the crappy plastic wrap always ends up ripping, shredded, gone halfway to the receiver, had a few refusals, now I get to tarp, take a picture of the load and of the tarp job and once I get to the consignee, send the pics to the shipper, receiver and my dispatch, my company even sends my photo to pick up and drop off locations so they know who is coming, just a small outfit, only 25 trucks, so customer service is a major priority, I even have to wear a uniform, kept presentable, I have to ETA everyone along the way, some companies care, some give zero shits

I agree with everything you said, but my company will not pay me to tarp and they will not buy real edge protectors, so that's the way I have to do it.

Unfortunately, most of these go directly to job sites and they don't give a fuck by and large. Oh well. If Roehl wants the small fish contracts they can have them, I only get paid to do what they tell me to.

Sprechers actually has their own pubs up here where you can get that root beer on tap.

If your ever in Texas try this, it's my fave.

What if you didn't have unlimited data? Does the company provide a way to send it?

>cross strap AND u-strap
>u-strap isn't even somewhere it does something
>straps don't have half twist so they'll BRRRRRRRRT the product to pieces
>all the straps are fucking the product

This guy replied for me I was going to say, there's nothing inherently incorrect or dangerous about the strapping job. I'm sure it held fine, and would have held fine with just the straight straps over top. I'm seeing a lot of damaged product, the worst of which are the stacks at the back, damaged on several corners. What were you hauling?

Mostly I have an issue with the angled straps. They become longer when they're angled, and if they slip at all then the straps become very loose very quickly. Never seen anyone do a butt strap on the bottom of the back stacks either. I see that one is held in place by the X straps, which is good, but not sure if it was necessary.

Not trying to be a dick. Whatever gets you paid.

Basically this.

What's the difference in dedicated and regional? Which gets more home time?

I'm 22 thinking of becoming a trucker. My plan is to OTR 24/7 until I save $100K or turn 30, whichever comes first. Then try to get a dedicated or regional gig, buy a house, and spend weekends fishing.

they both get the same hometime.
dedicated ensures you are going to the same place over and over so itll probably be better planned out. otr is a crapshoot but variety

Kek no trucker saves 100k I'm 21 btw

>he doesn't have a personal shower on his truck

Just imaging myself parked somewhere nude feeling the breeze showering is pretty dank

any canadians here?

want to compare my salary: i drive a DZ truck, work 40-45 hours a week, i do like 20 stops a day. im getting like 40k a year with good benefits and 4 weeks paid vacation.

I can't tell if I'm doing alright or if I'm underpaid and I can't decide if its worth it to make more money if I have to work 70 hours a week for it.

I have been caught out before. You think you're in the middle of fucking nowhere, so you have an outdoor shower and some bloody farmer comes driving out of the bush from nowhere.