re: I drive a semi truck. Ask me anything.

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didn't know I was supposed to have PPE...."

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ahhh okay I get ya. Some companies require it. My company never really specifically says this but we need a

Flashlight
Gloves
Rain gear
Hardhat
They give us a nice bag of tools(rachet, screw driver, hammer etc
They give us a nice pressure Gauge
They give us a gallon tractor oil
"" gallon of windshield fluid
"" gallon of def fluid.

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Said while wearing flip flops, a wife beater, and sweat pants and standing in a chemical plant/construction site/rig location

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omg yeah you need certain ppe sometimes at certain places.

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Solid thread by the way, I'm in the industry but from the dispatching/logistics side, never drove. Good drivers are indeed tough to come by, safe travels

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thank you much fellow comrade!

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What is better/more in demand being a company driver vs independent? I assume independent means you own your own truck and pay all your own gas insurance repair bills?

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yes if you are an owner operator and run it like a business correctly , it's way more lucrative to truck that way. Company guys can make 70 to a 100k but owners can make 400k and bank half of it.

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so does that mean you just accept jobs and work at will? Vs company you would work for XYZ company and go where and when they tell you?

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some owners use an app that list hundreds of jobs from different companies. They go in and are apart of those company's list of owner operators and the operator will take a job, gets approved and so on. I don't know that much how it exactly it works but that's a nutshell of it. Company driver will start employment and be place on an account of

Over the road (will pull load for anybody that the company contracts with and go across the u.s.)
Teams(two drivers working together either none account or doing otr)
Dedicated routes(one company/acct/list of routes that are assigned as you go)
Daily (home every night on an account or do different routes what have you)
Weekly/Bi-Weekly/gone

Etc

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And for both are you paid by the hour or by the mile/load?

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most companies pay by the mile or cpm(cents per mile) and certain accounts do both cpm and per load together. For ex, if you work the dollar tree account you get cents per mile plus pay per load and 3/4 loads a week. Those guys are live unloaders but their starting pay is 92k p/yr for a beginner driver with no experience. Insane. Also you get extra pay for having to wait during live loads, stuck in accidents, laid over, bad weather etc.

One company I know pays by the hour. Not fond of that. No over time just straight hourly pay. That's a crock.

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we deliver everything for them!


You never answered my question about which region has the best lot lizards.

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we deliver to most all HD's in the south.

As far as the lot lizards, like I've mentioned in previous replies, I don't travel north of i20 much at all. I work anywhere from Mexican border in Texas all the way to S. Carloina and thats it. I've seen two small instances in 4/5 yrs of said lizards and other than that ive never ever seen prostitution at truck stops. I've heard stories about the northwest(cali) and the northeastern seaboard above north Carolina to Maine but here , nothing, unless I don't know where to look. That kind of stuff absolutely doesn't interest me. I got an OT 6.9874(no pics) woman at home that travels with me sometimes when she is off work. I got all of the "in house" p variety I can muster.

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ive heard real stories. They are brought in from other countries and even here. Evidently this is big discussion in this thread and I never have seen/witnessed it once tbh.

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I watched a more recent documentary on this kind of prostitution. They don't have to wander around parking lots of truck stops anymore. They travel along the corridors and rent a hotel room nearby and use the dating apps and codes for interested Johns. With technology, they can keep up with regulars this way and make plans to cross paths.
It's kinda become safer for everyone involved.

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im not a mechanic but here goes.

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Looks good, I'll let you know how it goes.


Question 2-

I have a belt like the one below. Over the years, it no longer holds well. It'll loosen while wearing, the belt is slipping thru the friction buckle. Is there a way to fix it?

You sound like a unicorn :-) and a guy who takes his business seriously.

When I worked as yard clerk, I was always getting drivers who could tell me where they where going but didn't have a pick up/reference number. Sir, you are not the only load going to OKC. Even if they had a BOL on the phone they would have a hard time finding it. So then we begin the slow process of calling dispatch.

They want to know what they were hauling and how much it weighed. The weight part I completely understand but if you don't want to haul bundled pipe or tarp machinery you should ask before accepting the load. We have no say in what you get loaded with.

The equipment thing just drives me crazy. Flatbed guys are the worst. Never have dunnage or enough(and want us to just give it to them). No chains for loads that need to be chained. Or straps for loads that need to strapped. And don't have a tarp or a tarp big enough. We once had to unload a rock saw off a truck because the driver didn't have chains.

To be fair, there are quite a few drivers who have their shite together. But when you come across the guy who asks you how to he should tie his load down, it's like fricking truckers..

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going but didn't have a pick up/reference numbe

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if they new where to look they would know it. When I go into shipping/receiving at HD dc in Houston for example, I walk right in and give them the last 4 of the reference number, the pull my folder with all the info and I sign and I'm gone. Their reference numbers should always be in their work order they got from their TS/broker(if owner op) or whomever they got the job from.

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Flatbed

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seems like like they would have all the necessary equipment to run that flatbed correctly with loads esp with covering them and straping them down. There strict laws in place for secured loads on a flatbed. I see alot of them on the road and I look for the 1 strap per 10ft law to see if they have enough straps on their payload.

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BET

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I enjoyed reading your responses to questions in this thread.

I was a Logistics Lead/Warehouse Manager for a plastics company off of Fulton Industrial in Atlanta years ago and it sounds like the trucking industry has changed tremendously since the 90's.

Our heaviest load out was 9200lbs.(Plastic bottles) Drivers, especially O/O loved the light loads

On weekends, I sometimes moved trailers in/out of our dock doors and always thought it'd be cool to drive full time.

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I do stay away from carbs at all cost during the day though. Carbs are not my friend cause they make me tired. Carbs shouldn't be your friend at all as a trucker. Eat lots of meat and veges veges your good. Occasional mild amount of carbs are OK at night cause you'll sleep it off.

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That has to be hard considering most truck stops I see just have fast food joints in them. No real restaurants....