Well the new journey is about to begin. I left out of the house this morning around 10am and headed north to Gainesville. I stopped along the way to have the truck and trailer washed and arrived at the Gainesville Quality Inn around 5pm. The terminal where I'll be attending orientation is supposed to be less than 5 miles from here.

I was told that this is the only hotel in the area that has truck parking hence why they set me up here. Well it doesn't really have truck parking but more like the hotel allows trucks to park here if you're staying here. In other words, it was a little bit of a tight parking lot to pull into. I am hoping that tomorrow I can leave my trailer at the yard and just bobtail back as it will be easier that way.

I am both excited and a little nervous. I am excited to get back to work after 7 weeks off. Nervous may not be the right word, but I was told that they (Lone Star) are extremely ANAL when inspecting your equipment. So much so that they don't even like to see oil leaks :shock: The terminal manager told me that drivers have come up here thinking their gear was good to go only to have Lone Star tell them they need some $2,500 worth of repairs, new tires, whatever. I believe my equipment is satisfactory, especially since I just had a new DOT inspection done a couple of weeks back. BUT, is it up to Lone Star's satisfaction? I hope so and will find out soon enough.

not much else to post. I am going to go get some dinner and chill out the rest of the evening. I will update tomorrow when I get back to the hotel.

 

Day 1 of orientation is over. There are 11 of us here all are company drivers except myself and one other. The pay scale for company drivers seems pretty decent and starts out at .42cpm for the 1st 30 days and then goes up to .44cpm after that. pay increases are then based on what "classification" you have which just translates to what kind of trailer you're pulling. For me, I will get 67% for my tractor and 8% for my trailer. I was advised to get rid of my flat as soon as possible and go to at least a step if I want to make the "big" bucks. 75-80% of their loads are permit and usually require a step, DD, or specialized trailer.

Anyways, as with any place you go, it was paper work, paper work, drug test, more paper work, video, and even more paper work. As I was warned, they are very strict and anal about many things. Because most loads are permitted, I can definitely relate to why they are the way they are when it comes to various things.

My personal hurdle was going to be the equipment inspection. It actually had me a little uptight last night and this morning thinking about what they may find and was wondering if I was going to get my "walking papers". I was relieved to have them tell me the ONLY thing they found wrong was a small exhaust leak on the hose clamp to the turbo. That's it!! whewwwwwwwwww. They did tell me that I will need to have 10 each 3/8 grade 70 chains and binders along with 8 portable winches. Neither of which I have. I carry 5/16 chain and only have 3 portable winches which are all in use securing my dunnage to the trailer. I can purchase them on my own or through Lone Star. I think they said 10 chains and binders would be $450 and the winches would be $125. I will have to verify the prices and check on when I must have them. If it's required before I roll out, then I will just buy them here, if I have a time frame, then I will get them later after I shop around for the best deal.

A lot of the day to day paper work they require of drivers is almost identical to what I have been doing with Davis, so it wasn't much of a surprise for me as it was to others in the class. My impression so far (still early obviously) is that I am going to like it here.

EDIT: I forgot to mention something I found interesting. If a company driver doest not have a load within 24hrs after unloading, they get paid $15hr until reloaded. That doesn't apply to us O/O's, but thought that was pretty cool, it sounds like a win-win situation for the company guys.

 

Good job on passing that first inspection DD.


Now...are you thinking Stepdeck...Double-drop.....or Windmill trailer???

:lol: :wink:

 

Good job on passing that first inspection DD.


Now...are you thinking Stepdeck...Double-drop.....or Windmill trailer???

:lol: :wink:

 

Good job on passing that first inspection DD.


Now...are you thinking Stepdeck...Double-drop.....or Windmill trailer???

:lol: :wink:

 

Thanks Stan.......x3 (your triple post.... :lol: ) And yes I'm thinking step deck. Actually been thinking about one for some time and now I have an "official" reason to look more seriously. Gonna get my feet wet first and see how things go and if everything works out, I'll look at trading in the flat for a step. The terminal manger told me in one of our conversations a while back that several of her O/O's own multiple trailers (i.e flat, step, dd) so that they can haul whatever whenever.......I definitely can not afford 3 trailers at this point and time but who know in the future right........

 

Day 2 of orientation is over. We got out a little early today because several of the drivers needed to get new physicals done.

Today was another day of paper work, videos, lectures, etc. So far all of Lone Star's policies and procedures in regards to the way they want logs filled out, trip-pak, etc are basically the same things I've done at Davis so it's nothing new to me. To most of the others in class, this stuff is a new learning curve but everyone seems to be catching on.

I called my terminal manager this afternoon when I got back to the hotel just to give her an update on how I was doing. She was pleased that I passed the equipment inspection as this seems to be the killer for most. In fact the other O/O in the class left yesterday because Lone Star said he needed to raise his 5th wheel, put mufflers with heat shields on his straight pipes, and a couple of other things to meet their requirements. He said it was going to cost to much and decided to leave. Anyways, the terminal manager was already asking if I was going to be out of here on Thursday. She wants to bring me into the terminal so she has a load lined up for me already!! She didn't elaborate on what it was or what it paid yet, but said it was loading in Garland going to Houston and then she has another one lined up from Houston to Seguin. Talk about pre-planning!!! She told me to call her tomorrow with an updated status of when I'll be out of here so she can set the loads up. Pretty damn impressive if you ask me.

Will update more tomorrow.

 

Sounds like everything is going great Devil Dice! I think you will be really impressed with the amount of step and double drop freight they have. After you get a feel for how the freight is working out you may even decide to invest in a double drop. Keep us updated on your loads and how things work over there!

 

Yeah orientation is going good so far. They have repeatedly stated that 75-80% are permit loads and a lot of that is step and DD. They have also indicated that they have a lot of freight and good rates. We'll see soon enough I suppose.

 

Do they offer any training on the specialized load securement? I would think with the types of high value freight they haul that they have some kind of standards for the way things are loaded and secured. I mean... its not like you are gonna be hauling too many loads of shingles, coils, etc... with these guys. I think you have made an excellent choice getting on board with this outfit. I think the rates are really going to suprise ya! It will be a lil bit of a learning curve for ya, learning to deal with all the oversize restrictions, but no doubt it will pay off for you! You should keep a camera with you to take pics of some of these loads. Good Luck DD!!!