My day.....

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  #321  
Old 06-04-2006, 09:45 AM
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Originally Posted by Novacane
Nothing really jaw dropping to add today, but I did manage to put 600 miles in my pocket, and considering that I had a wreck that held things up just south of Chicago, and the traffic in Chicago and Indianapolis was really heavy(I came through Chicago during EVERYONE'S lunch break).

I made it as far as I thought I would, about 2 hours from home, I am on the Ky, Tn state line, and even though I had a lot more driving time left in me, I had to stop for the night since my 11 was up.

On a side note, there is talk of the yearly dot crackdown happening next week, I think the 6,7,8th and I was wondering if anyone else heard about it. I have only been through the whole deal one time, and that was with the nursery, so I was light and never got the red light, didn't seem like that big a deal, but this year pulling for Roehl, I worry that the chances are greater of getting the red light since I am heavier and run for a huge company.

Needless to say that I am keeping everything squeaky clean, but I still get nervous, are there any horror stories from other drivers on the boards that got nailed during the magic 72 hours(or however long it is). I am thinking that it is more exaggeration than anything, or maybe last year was a easier year than others, oh well, only time will tell.
I see that the DOT is getting serious with all the companies... we got hit by the DOT recienty also. I think it was the same week or the week after... all I know is TMC paid a heafty fine for log violations. Be safe out there.
 
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  #322  
Old 06-04-2006, 10:07 AM
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I have a question, when you state your pay, is that gross or net?
 
  #323  
Old 06-09-2006, 09:31 PM
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Originally Posted by ant1v1ru5
I just found this thread.. I must say it is SO great to read how a trucker's day goes,
especially for a noob like myself that is planning to become a professional driver. ..............
I found this thead about 2 weeks ago myself. I really want to say a big
"Thank You!!" to Novacane for all the info she has shared in this thread.
It is very interesting and helpful for some of us who have not yet begun
our truck driving careers.
 
  #324  
Old 06-13-2006, 07:48 AM
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NHHunter, I usually mean bring home pay, or net pay, other times when I specifically mention it, I talk about gross. I tell net to give an idea of what the pay is like after insurance and other deductions that everyone has taken out, because my gross is pretty high and I thought it might make it sound like I was making more than I was, so that's why I use the net more often.

Thanks for all the nice remarks everyone, my intentions where to help new drivers by telling the good bad and ugly, and it seems as though my idea was accomplished for the most part even though I have been slacking here lately, but I wasn't shut down anywhere with net access this whole week, so that's why no updates since my last one where I said I was gonna start posting more often, so in this post I will have to cover a lot of ground because a lot of things have happened including some major changes in my career, so here we go..............

I was supposed to leave the house Monday morning, but I woke up and felt like a turd, I was very ill and there was no way I wanted to drive, although if they really wanted me to I would have, but Roehl was very understanding and told me to wait till Tuesday morning to leave the house, which I did and what a difference a day made! Yet another reason I like my company, they are pretty good about things like this.

So I go to leave Tuesday morning and surprise, the batteries are dead yet again, this was around 3am, and nobody was awake to boost, and the local shop didn't open till 7 so I had to wait. So around 8am I was ready to leave. I had a 3 hour trip to the consignee and made it there uneventful other than it took them 2 hours to get me unloaded.

I leave there and went to a steel plant around 25 miles away. Although I wound up sitting there from 3pm to 9pm :shock: waiting to get loaded. They finally load me and I have no choice but to shut down in the parking lot of the shipper.

I get up Wednesday morning and guess what, the batteries are dead again! An hour later I was on my way to Ellenwood for them to finally look at my truck. On the way there I came across a very bad wreck on 285 and it took me 3 hours to go 75 miles, it was a bad wreck involving multiple trucks. I got there and they gave me a loaner which I had to swap equipment to, and that's a lot of stuff.

I finally get done and it takes about 2 more hours to get a load, finally I am told to deadhead to South Carolina to pick up a load of spool cable to deliver in Texas, whoo hoo, the wait paid off, Texas here I come.

Again Texas was pretty cool, good people and decent roads, although, the summer is starting and I didn't realize how darn hot it could get down there, up till now the weather has been pretty much even with Tn's for the most part, this time it was HOT over 100 at times.

I made the drop in Beaumont, and was dispatched the longest run to date, 1800 miles from where I was to Houston, to deliver in Pa. And even though this weeks paycheck was only about 430(net) next weeks will have over 3k miles if what I had to do today doesn't screw me out of this run.(keep reading, I will explain).

So I make my way to Houston and arrive at the shipper and have to wait for a Melton driver to finish up before I could get loaded. I wait for over an hour and finally a woman comes out and tells me that it might be a while since that driver had been there 4 hours and only had 9 straps thrown, and one tarp in place. All this time I assumed he was waiting to get loaded, when he was actually taking a long time to finish up the tarping job.

So tired of waiting I decided to go over and lend a hand to get him out of the way. Turns out he was a really nice guy, but he said that this was his first load, and that he didn't go out with a trainer or anything, they have a 5 day class on securement, and that's it, no hands on experience whatsoever. Of course this came from one person so take the information with a grain of salt.

Anyway, I showed him some tips and tricks, and a little less than a hour later he was gone and I was loaded working on my load. It was the insulation panels I have hauled many times before which isn't a real pita but it gets difficult because you can't tighten down the straps cause you could literally cut the load in half by cranking down to hard even using the proper protectors. So you have a fine line you have to tighten to, not too tight not to lose.

So I got finished up and hit the road. There must have been a storm nearby or something cause there was a cross wind coming from the pass side that was wreaking havoc on my tall, light, wind catching load. So about 50 miles down the road I pulled over to check the straps since the load had time to settle a bit and the straps were easy to get to since the load was so tall that the tarps wouldn't come all the way down the sides leaving the bottom foot or so of the load exposed.

I go over the straps again and was pleased that all was well. So I head back out again and around 30 miles later I noticed that the tarp on the front of the load was flapping a little on the front drivers corner. I pull over at the next exit and put some extra bungees on to tighten it down and keep it from flapping.

I hit the road yet again and around 40 miles later it flapping again :x
So again I pull over and add even more bungees and finally, no more flapping 8)

So all is good for around another 100 miles or so, no flapping, and the only thing that isn't perfect is the horrible cross wind that makes the light trailer want to change lanes on it's own, still it's not that big of a deal and I am enjoying my day knowing that I am on my way home, the weather is nice for the most part and I am on the longest run of my career, things are good.....................

Oh my god what's that, it's a sea of red in my mirror, holy &*^% bungees are flying everywhere the REAR tarp has BLOWN OFF!! :shock:

Thank god nobody was around me and nobody got hurt. The rear tarp had blown off and was being dragged behind the truck being held by 2 bungees, how in the world they held that huge tarp while being dragged down the road, I will never know, but thank goodness they did.

Of course I hit the emergency lane as fast as I can and get back to pull the tarp off the roadway since it was hung on the drivers side rear corner and was in the lane just a little, and even though 2 truck could have passed without hitting it, I wanted it out of the road asap and in about 10 seconds I had everything safely off the roadway and trying to figure out how in the world to get this heavy tarp back on top of the 13 ft load by my self on the side of the interstate with trucks blowing by continuously.

I get on the load and attempt to pull it back up there, but with the wind off the passing cars and trucks it was impossible, every time I made a step in the right direction, wind would take it from me. At that point I wanted to get off the road and decided to get the tarp in the side box and get somewhere safe since there was nothing else I could do under the circumstances.

Now my drivers side box is empty, but since the traffic is blowing by, there is no way I can get in it safely, so I take the stuff out of the pass side box and put in the sleeper and stuff the tattered tarp in the empty box and head for the nearest truckstop.

Now keep in mind hundreds of things are going on at this time, and I can't really explain it all, so don't think that what I write is the only things that were going on, I did everything by the book.

I understand that everyone is going to want to know what caused the tarp to blow off, and I am sorry to disappoint you, but I honestly don't know, I did everything the way I should and didn't have any sign of trouble before it happened and believe me I keep an eye on the load when I am driving. I had a 4ft overlap from the front tarp, which is more than enough, and it was tucked nice and neat with no areas to catch wind, not to mention over a hundred bungees holding everything down since the tarp didn't cover the whole load and I was afraid of flapping(this was the LAST thing on the list in my mind that was possible of happening).

Anyway, I had been out in the Texas sun all day and had worked on 3 loads, 2 of my own and the load for the other driver I helped with, and was at the end of my day, I was really tired and worn out. And even though I tried, there was no way I could get the tarp on top of the load by myself.(other men couldn't either, they tried to help but weren't successful)

So Roehl says to duct tape up the damage and they would arrange for a Freightliner dealership with a tow motor to put the tarp on top for me the next morning. So I drag it out into the grass area next to the parking lot and spent the next 2 hours using duct tape to fix the damage done to the tarp. I was finally finished for the day and laid down for some much needed sleep, my body was worn out and my mind was too, stress is a powerful thing.

The next morning was a no go with the dealership, and they set it up for some help at a TA. I get there and they help me out by putting the tarp on top of the load, and then tell me I can't tarp on the property due to safety reasons, so I strap it down and head out to find a place that would let me do it which turned out to be impossible, nobody would let me work in the parking lot, and I guess I can understand that, but it was so frustrating.

I wound up having to go all the way home where the local truckstop would definitely let me do some work on the lot. So I make it home around 9pm Sunday night, and am finally able to tarp the load. It was good that everything was wrapped in plastic nice and tight and was in good shape even after the long trip, plus I thankfully didn't hit any rain, so I got lucky.

Anyway, I get home and finally get the tattered tarp put back on the load and realize that waiting for the tarp to put on top and finding the place and going through all the hoops had taken too long and now I can't leave out in the morning as early as I should, great, yet another thing that makes me look bad, and all this time I have been so good about being on time only to ruin it now.

I decided that after this whole situation, that I am going to switch to curtainside or van, not because it's what I want to do, but because I feel that I should be able to lift that tarp no matter what the situation is, not just the perfect scenarios I am used to(they will set the tarp on top of the load for you at the shipper).

I really made my decision final when I got to thinking about what I could have done to prevent the whole thing from happening to begin with, and the honest to god answer is nothing, the load and tarp was secured the right way from the beginning. I think that a fluke along with a hard crosswind was the reason for it, but I did everything the right way and still something like this happened to me, and it could have been so much worse, my career could be over, or even worse my or someone else's life.

I understand that there will always be accidents that can happen, but this was over the top dangerous and I would never have to worry about this problem with a van or curtainside, even though the chances of it happening again are slim.

So I called Roehl today and asked if there was anyway I could make the move and still be home on the weekends, since a friend drives se van division and he only lives around 75 miles from me, so surely they might be able to help me out and get me a se regional van run, but of course they can't do it, I have no choice but to go national, so, I guess that's what I am gonna do, at least that's the plan right now.

I really don't want to quit the company, I love working there, but I could switch companies now and possibly come out on top with better pay, and a better rider program, but I am at least going to give national a try before I dismiss it unless something changes.

I got chewed out today for stopping and pumping 30 gallons of fuel to make it to my fuel stop, and it isn't the first time either, and today they more or less told me to let it run out of fuel before I do that again, so we will see I guess.

There are a lot of things that could be better if I swap companies, but there are a lot of things that could be worse as well. I just want to stay where I am and run se regional, but it isn't going to happen unless I move or change companies.

Figures, just when me and my family are starting to get comfortable, a job change might be on the horizon, and there is always something that can go wrong and put things on hold for a extra week or two, which would put me back to being where I am used to, behind. I am so disappointed, frustrated, and hurt this happened to me after I am so careful about my loads, I ALWAYS go above and beyond what it takes to make the load safe, and it didn't help me a bit.

I just keep telling myself it could have been so much worse, and that I was pretty lucky considering the circumstances. I didn't hurt anyone, and the damage to the tarp was surprisingly small, the load wasn't hurt, and even though it was a PITA, I still got everything back in line and am now ready to head out in the morning.

I guess I will see what the world of curtainside or van is like here within the next few weeks. I told them that I would stay in the flatbed division until they could switch me out, but it shouldn't be long till that happens. I feel as though a small dream has been taken from me by having to switch, but it should be an easier job, and I should be able to make more money, of course that is theoretical, so time will tell, I will update more when I can, sorry for the novel everyone.

Oh, and just one more thing, I was talking with dispatch the day after I dropped off my truck in Ellenwood, and they finally found a bad battery out of the 4, I KNEW that something was wrong and kept telling them. Of course, now I will be swapping to a standard truck without the boxes, so it really makes no difference now, but at least whoever gets it next won't have the constant battery problems I have had to deal with for months and months now.
 
  #325  
Old 06-13-2006, 09:53 PM
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never hurts to throw a strap or two over your tarps.
 
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  #326  
Old 06-13-2006, 11:26 PM
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You said the tarps weren't to the bottom of the load and that it was open and exposed still?? That is prolly why it flew off, the wind got up under it and the force of the wind pushing the tarp up and off the load/trailer snapped the bungies like toothpicks. How only 2 were left and holding it on the trailer, I have no idea. Basically, you had yourself a nice little sailboat rolling down the road.

I have hauled that type of insulation your talking about if it's the foam looking stuff. I use 2x4's or 2x6's to strap them down. Lay them horizontally across the trailer on top of the load and run the straps across that. The boards have to be as wide as the load to work properly. Lay a strap on each end of the panels and you should be alright and able to strap them down nice and tight.
 
  #327  
Old 06-13-2006, 11:47 PM
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Novacane, AWESOME thread you have going here!!! 22 PAGES and GROWING! Keep up the great work and be safe out there. I agree with the post about a commercial letting people know about trucks and why they do certain things (running side-by-side, crossing the yellow line when turning, extra stopping distance, etc...) If only I were a TV producer!!!

Fred
 
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  #328  
Old 06-14-2006, 07:12 AM
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Well, it was a decent day, didn't lose any tarps or anything, so that was cool, lol. I think I was a little paranoid this morning when I left cause I seen the tarp move many times even though it didn't. I wound up throwing some extra straps on top of the load just to be 100% and to ease my mind a little.

After I was back at it a while, the tension seemed to ease up a bit, so that was a good thing. The load I have wound up being relayed from me cause it had to be there, going to a air force base or airport, something important, but I did manage to put over 500 yard sticks in my pocket, so it was okay.

I met up with another driver right on the W. Virginia/Virginia state line, close to Winchester. He was a awesome guy and after explaining to him why there was duct tape and extra straps on the load, he explained that it's not a uncommon thing, and that it had happened to him 3 times, of course he had been driving flatbed for 16 years so 3 loads out of the thousands he has delivered isn't all that bad. But I told him it wouldn't happen to me again.

He was disappointed since I am the only woman flatbed driver he has ever met, said he seen women driving the flatbed, but not being able to secure and tarp the loads by themselves, so it seems as though I must be a rare breed, at least for the next couple days or weeks at the most.

It took us two hours to get the equipment swapped because the parking lot was so crowded and we wound up being parked a long distance away from each other and since it was so packed we couldn't even bobtail, we had to carry everything across the parking lot tarps and all.

Man I hate giving this up, especially since he told me that he wouldn't have been able to get the tarp on top of the load by himself either, and he was being sincere. I know this because he was having trouble carrying the tarp(since he insisted on him carrying it and not me) across the big parking lot so even though he wanted to do it himself I carried it 3/4ths of the way when he had to set it down to rest a bit, and it was pretty easy for me, I just can't climb with the awkward thing.

Even though I had to relay the load, the load I picked up from him had around the same miles to deliver anyway, so I didn't lose any miles in the relay process like I usually do, so that was a good thing.

So now I hope that I get a 600-700 mile trip so that I will be able to get it turned in by the deadline for it to be on this coming paycheck since it will include the 3k I have so far, but a nice long run won't hurt my feelings a bit, shoot, I know I will be paid for the miles eventually, so it's all money in the end.

I tried calling the head honcho's trying to figure out what I need to do to make the swap, and of course even though I left message after message for them to return my calls, no one ever did, so that was disappointing.

I just don't want to be stuck pulling the flat for too long or I will not be able to make the swap, when the fear of the whole tarp incident wears off, it will be hard to change since this is what I want to do. Plus, all I have to do is throw some extra straps on top of the tarps and it will never happen again theoretically, so I am already trying to talk myself into staying, but everyone else is urging me to change, giving the argument that I could make the same or better money and not have to work half as hard or get as dirty, which are good points, but most just can't understand that I do it cause I love it.

One thing I do know is that going national is going to kill my hometime, and I fear that I will have to move on, and at the worst time too. Remember when my Grandfather passed away? Well, the will has been read, and the probate is almost finished which means I will soon be able to build me a house out on the farm where I have always wanted to live, and changing jobs will look bad to the bank when I ask for a loan, plus I will have my year with Roehl in a few months which means I will lose my vacation time I have been saving and planning for.

But it seems as though it's gonna happen no matter what, but I can stick out a few months if I have to, so I can look for a decent company that will let me run SE regional and pay decent as well, I just have to find the place and start talking to find out what my next step will be. Even with all the bad things I have gone through and as much as I have complained, I could have retired from Roehl happily, and the sad part is that they probably don't even care they might be losing an employee that feels like I do about the company and who would have stayed loyal to them.

Like I say, only time will tell, we will see what happens next.

P.S. anyone know of a good company that hires in my area and has a SE regional fleet? I would especially be interested in one that allowed Chris to come with me, so all the happy company drivers let me know who you work with.
 
  #329  
Old 06-15-2006, 05:17 AM
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Well, you are reading a post from a ex-employee of Roehl Transport, or I guess I am a soon to be ex-employee. I have tried and tried to work something out to be switched over to a different fleet, but they just refuse to work with me.

That combined with yet another chew out session about stopping to get 30 gallons of fuel before my scheduled fuel stop, has pushed me over the edge. I finally stood up to dispatch having nothing to lose at this point, and told him that while in orientation, the head of the flatbed division plainly told us that we could stop and get some fuel, just try and not go over 50 gallons.

I also explained that whenever I had 100 miles of fuel left in the tank, and the next fuel stop is still 250 miles away(after sending in a macro letting them know I needed fuel sooner and they either don't do anything, or just tried to send me to a place I still can't make it to with the fuel I have) I would be stopping to get fuel since that 30 gallons would be much cheaper than the tow bill.

He told me that he doubted anyone would tell me to get fuel whenever I needed it, and I simply told him to call the person I was referring to, of course he wouldn't but that isn't the point, one person tells you to do one thing, another person tells you something else, it gets old, and I am tired of being yelled at for doing something I was told would be ok they their boss.

It is just one thing after another and I am tired of it, they took months to fix a battery problem, that should have been fixed the first time the truck was in the shop so many months ago, or the second time, or the third time, well you get the point. It just shouldn't take them that long to get it fixed, and I really feel like the only reason they finally fixed it was because they were tired of paying someone to come out and get it started after many months of me getting a boost(and being chewed out for that taking too long as well) and doing the footwork for free myself, funny how the truck was in their shop several times, and they couldn't find anything wrong with the batteries, but after paying 4 times all of a sudden they have the problem, which was what I told them it would be from the beginning, fixed.

There has just been too many 200 and 300 mile runs and days of tarping 3 loads a day with hardly any miles to show for it to keep going, so I gave up and formally gave my 2 week notice. I told them I would like to work the whole 2 weeks to be better prepared for finding a job, and it would give me some time to save some money up. Of course they said they understood that and said it shouldn't be a problem.

4 hours later, after a 200 mile trip, and waiting for a driver to get there with a relay load, I was told to bring it to Gary to turn in everything. Wow, thanks for the 2 weeks Roehl, I am sure glad I gave them the courtesy of a decent notice. Now I will be in Gary, with HALF of my belongings since I am still in a loaner(which is a newer truck with only 100k miles that is a pos with wires exposed and a abs light that won't go off) and they won't get me to Ellenwood, they said they will go through my truck and ship my stuff to me.

My clothes, jewelry, cb, xm radio, all kinds of software and games, movies, well, just lots of my personal stuff(I was under the assumption that I would be back in my truck after the Texas run, which is the reason I left most of my things in the truck, it would be less to swap out) will all be rummaged through by complete strangers, I just hope I don't have things mysteriously disappear in the whole shipping process.

You know, I wasn't the best employee, but I was FAR from the worst, yet I get treated unfairly in my opinion, this isn't right. I just hope and pray I can get a ride home, there is no way anyone I know could travel this far to come and pick me up.

I called my trainer friend today to let him know the news while I was waiting, and he was shocked they would do me this way. He said that it just makes him want to jump ship even worse, and that the company has gone so far down hill in the past year and a half that is has him worried about his future.

But now I will start a new saga of Novacane, and hopefully the updates will be better, as well as the money and the way I am treated. It looks like Barr-Nunn might be my next employer, but I am far from having my mind made up at this point, I haven't really even thought about it formally yet since quitting was the last thing on my mind, I really wanted to stick it out here, but they refuse to work with me and let me change over to another fleet. Of course they said they would rehire me, but what good would that do! Shoot, if I am gonna start all over again, I might as well make more money and work less doing it, and most Barr-Nunn drivers are pretty happy, but only time will tell.

Anyone have some good information on a good SE regional company to run for?
 
  #330  
Old 06-15-2006, 05:32 AM
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IT'S ABOUT TIME!!! :P :P :P

Seriously, as much crap as you went through, you should move on. Yelled at or not.

I'm crossing my fingers for the next company to be better.

And, NO MORE TARPING! 8)
 
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