My Life As A Trucker

DallasBlack wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

Well it looks like my recent incident is being overlooked. Might have something to do with the holiday or the fact I got 3,000 miles last week. Being a very hard worker and determined person is what's going to keep me on the road (but most importantly, by the grace of God). For years I have tried to please my flesh and put The Lord on hold but things kept happening and I knew that I would have to go back to God if anything was to ever improve. Since renewing my relationship with Christ I have had situations that could have ended badly but by some chance of fate (I call them miracles) I was able to get out of them.

Maybe you should ask God to help you stop crashing into shit.

Well, maybe shit should stop crashing into me. Ever stopped to consider that?

Plus, I've only crashed into one thing (concrete pillar the first time and I hit it about 1-2 miles an hour). The second time was caused by me avoiding a crash and the third time, something got caught up under the truck. Considering some of the accidents caused by drivers (that still have jobs) in this company, mine are very minor. We've had drivers total trailers, roll over trucks, and destroy property. Actually considering all the tight spots I've found myself in, the fact I haven't had more incidents shows how well I'm learning to control the tractor and trailer.

Reading all your adventures as of late, I tip my hat to you sir. Very impressed about how you've handled these situations and your general attitude. Meeting truckers on the road often, I've heard some pretty bad stories, much worse than what you've been through.

Sorry DB, but nothing you've done is acceptable and justifying it by comparing to what others have done is only gonna head you towards another train wreck. Own up to what you've done, part of it is your fault (fact) regardless of circumstance, and most important learn from it. To elaborate on the "fact" I place in parenthesis above....say you are turning right on a green light and get half way through the turn and somebody runs the red light and smacks into your trailer, Let's say they were DUI too. Even though you were not at fault in a citeable offense (ticket), the courts and insurance will find you at partial blame due to you being a "professional" driver and might have been able to do something to avoid the situation. Point being, take responsibility, learn from your mistake(s), and carry on without repeating careless, stupid practices. You say you have been in tight situations, fine. So have millions of other truck drivers and most handle things without excuses and finger pointing at other people. The sooner you realize this, the better off you'll be and a asset for your company.

Take care and be careful

I'm sorry, but where have I not owned up to anything? I never once tried passing off my mistakes on anybody else. Sure I have pointed out the outside factors that caused the problems, but I never tried to absolve myself from any of the blame. Believe me, nobody, NOBODY, has been harder on me than myself. You don't realized how pissed off at myself I've been at my screw ups. However, I need to put them behind me because when you dwell on your mistakes, you set yourself up for more of them. The best I can do is learn from them and make sure they don't happen again. All I was doing by talking about worse things done by others was pointing out that as long as those are the only incidents I have, I should still have a job, and if not, I can still get another.

I don't know how you got the impression that I was passing the buck, but that is simply not the case. I thought you would give me more credit than that.

Sorry if I seem a bit defensive up there James B., I'm sure you mean well. However, I have to drive everyday with the knowledge that my next mistake could be my last with this company and getting lectured by people doesn't help. I also feel that you don't completely read what I post but just gloss over it and focus on certain parts. By talking about tight situations that I've been in was not bragging, it was me saying that I have the ability to get out of a tough situation without damaging anything as long as I stay focused and don't panic. It means that I have the ability to avoid the mistakes I've made. It's not an attempt to gloss over my mistakes but to help me avoid any more. People have made worse mistakes than me and have become top drivers in this company. That doesn't mean my mistakes are OK, but it also means that I'm not a total screw up and I have a chance to be a good truck driver too.

Dallas, I don't believe he was lecturing you, he was trying to give you advise based on his personal experiences and letting you know how it sometimes sounds to us all here. He is not saying you won't be a success, but giving you solid advise in order to insure your success.

manny wrote:

Dallas, I don't believe he was lecturing you, he was trying to give you advise based on his personal experiences and letting you know how it sometimes sounds to us all here. He is not saying you won't be a success, but giving you solid advise in order to insure your success.

I understand and I really do appreciate him wanting to give me sage advice, but he did accuse me of trying to make excuses for my mistakes:

Quote :

Sorry DB, but nothing you've done is acceptable and justifying it by comparing to what others have done is only gonna head you towards another train wreck. Own up to what you've done, part of it is your fault (fact) regardless of circumstance, and most important learn from it.

I pride myself in taking responsibility for my actions and not putting the blame off on other people so I was irked by that and I always learn from my mistakes. I may have overreacted, but that's because I didn't think I've given any reason for people to think I'm that kind of person.

I dunno, maybe I have, but it has never been my intention.

Hey DB

Maybe I have a different perspective on life than most. Yes, you never, "passed the buck", in a manner of speaking. I was refering to you comparing what you've done with what others had done. That is justification and can be construed as an excuse. When you have children, perhaps the concept will become evident ? The rest was from the voice of experience. Owning up keeps one from second guessing themselves and being with that "under a microscope" feeling from your superiors. The mention of it being part your fault is a matter of reality, plain and simple. You are now a professional driver with a CDL and the law applies to you in way different aspects than ever before.

James B. wrote:

I was refering to you comparing what you've done with what others had done.  That is justification and can be construed as an excuse.

I wasn't using it for justification, it was just a statement meaning that I will still be able to have a job. In other words, others have done worse and still kept their job. If they fired me for any of those mistakes I made, then they would have every right to. This is a job, not a charity, so I wouldn't expect them to give me any more chances (and in a right-to-work state like Texas, they can fire me for almost any reason anyways). However, knowing what others have done assured me that they would give me a chance to redeem myself.

Just shows how easily something can be misunderstood via indirect conversation.

take care and good fortune DB

Well, I got to have some time away from the truck (4 days). Nice to have some time off, however, I had to leave the place I called home since 1996 for the last time. Until such time that I can afford my own place, I will be staying with my mom on the rare time I have time off. Tomorrow I go back in the morning. Hopefully, now that one chapter in my life is over with, I can start making some real money in the next one.

Because I still have problems backing up when there is not enough room in forward corrections and I can get lost or out of route from time to time, log manipulation is a good friend of mine. Also handy the times I have to wait several hours for a load to be ready or when H.E.B. keeps me waiting for 6 hours, or Wal-Mart for 4 hours to be unloaded. We are allowed to use loose leaf logs instead of electronic logs (which you can't manipulate to your advantage). However, my company is going to start transitioning to e-logs due to our government threatening to force it upon truck companies in 1-2 years. They are giving some drivers the choice whether to do it early or wait til it's mandated. Any driver who has been shut down due to not driving legal will have to go electronic as well as students coming out of school going to their own trucks. I am neither of those but I have only been in my own truck for a little over a month. I hope I get the choice as in order to get the miles and make the money I need to, I have to be able to play with my logs from time to time (and no driver on paper logs doesn't manipulate them anyways).

I will figure out how to still get the miles I need if I'm force to do e-logs but I hope to keep doing it the old fashioned way. The rules and regulations our damn government has put on truck drivers is bad enough (causing the need for drivers to play with their logs in the first place), but this mandate to force companies to use e-logs is worse. A bunch of stinking bureaucrats who know nothing about the trucking industry making rules for truck drivers. It's bad enough they classify us as unskilled labor without interfering in our ability to make a living.

Quote :

drivers to play with their logs

I'm sorry, but when you take that part out of context, it just sounds so hilariously.... wrong.

It's funniest when you think of the logs as poo poo.

DallasBlack wrote:

Because I still have problems backing up when there is not enough room in forward corrections and I can get lost or out of route from time to time, log manipulation is a good friend of mine. Also handy the times I have to wait several hours for a load to be ready or when H.E.B. keeps me waiting for 6 hours, or Wal-Mart for 4 hours to be unloaded. We are allowed to use loose leaf logs instead of electronic logs (which you can't manipulate to your advantage). However, my company is going to start transitioning to e-logs due to our government threatening to force it upon truck companies in 1-2 years. They are giving some drivers the choice whether to do it early or wait til it's mandated. Any driver who has been shut down due to not driving legal will have to go electronic as well as students coming out of school going to their own trucks. I am neither of those but I have only been in my own truck for a little over a month. I hope I get the choice as in order to get the miles and make the money I need to, I have to be able to play with my logs from time to time (and no driver on paper logs doesn't manipulate them anyways).

I will figure out how to still get the miles I need if I'm force to do e-logs but I hope to keep doing it the old fashioned way. The rules and regulations our damn government has put on truck drivers is bad enough (causing the need for drivers to play with their logs in the first place), but this mandate to force companies to use e-logs is worse. A bunch of stinking bureaucrats who know nothing about the trucking industry making rules for truck drivers. It's bad enough they classify us as unskilled labor without interfering in our ability to make a living.

So...truckers are mad about no longer being able to pull scams?

It's not a scam, it's survival. We get paid by the mile so if we aren't moving, we aren't making money. In a perfect world, the regulations would be viable. It is not a perfect world and those idiots in Washington don't seem to understand that. It doesn't help the fact that none of them have any clue how our industry works (otherwise they wouldn't call us unskilled labor) and there is no lobbying groups looking out for our best interests.

Flush your logs, don't play with them...

DallasBlack wrote:

It's not a scam, it's survival. We get paid by the mile so if we aren't moving, we aren't making money. In a perfect world, the regulations would be viable. It is not a perfect world and those idiots in Washington don't seem to understand that. It doesn't help the fact that none of them have any clue how our industry works (otherwise they wouldn't call us unskilled labor) and there is no lobbying groups looking out for our best interests.

So you're saying you're driving when you're not? Yeah, that's a scam. Haha.

Eyesore wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

It's not a scam, it's survival. We get paid by the mile so if we aren't moving, we aren't making money. In a perfect world, the regulations would be viable. It is not a perfect world and those idiots in Washington don't seem to understand that. It doesn't help the fact that none of them have any clue how our industry works (otherwise they wouldn't call us unskilled labor) and there is no lobbying groups looking out for our best interests.

So you're saying you're driving when you're not? Yeah, that's a scam. Haha.

No saying I'm not, when I am. You only have so many hours you can drive. Say your stuck in in a traffic jam for an hour. You only cover about 15-20 miles in the time it normally takes you to cover 55-60 miles. You figure you cover about a mile a minute so you count that hour as only 30 minutes and the other half hour on off duty time. You can't say you were driving when you weren't because the miles on the truck would contradict that. However, the DoT can't prove that you covered that distance in 30 minutes or an hour (unless you passed a weigh station during the time you count yourself off duty in which case, they've caught you).

Another example is you start your day at 8 am and get to your destination at 10 am. They take 6 hours to unload you making 6 hours lost that could have been spent driving (you have 14 hours from the time you start your day to the time you end it, whether you drove 2 hours or the maximum 11 hours). If I hadn't passed a weigh station or fueled the truck (both time stamps allowing for no log manipulation) I can have my log say I started my day at noon, got to the destination at 2 pm and was unloaded by 4 pm. Instead of losing 6 hours, you only lose 2. As long as I dispose of the original log before the change and the paperwork is either turned in or doesn't show arrival time, the DoT can't do anything about it. Whether they suspect log cheating or not, they have no proof.

One example that makes manipulation really necessary is this: At most places, once unloaded you have to leave the property immediately. What happens if they take 6 hours to unload you but your day ended 2 hours before then? You have no choice but to drive illegally to get from the property to a legal place to shut down at, often times up to an hour away. By manipulating the log you allow yourself to find a safe legal place to spend your 10 hour break without being in danger of a log violation.

Yep, a scam

manny wrote:

Yep, a scam

A scam is a way to get money you don't earn. I earn every damn mile I drive. Truck driving is hard work and the bullshit rules our government has imposed on this industry is hurting the drivers and only the drivers. We have to find ways around this crap in order to make a living. It's not our fault companies hold us for hours on end for our loads to be ready or to unload us, or that construction on roads holds up traffic. The rules don't take into consideration the bullshit we have to deal with. We don't do this to cheat someone out of money, we do it because the government has imposed rules that stifle our ability to make money.

I guess I shouldn't expect any of you not in the trucking industry to understand. You don't know what we have to go through. Most of you are salary or hourly and get paid whether productive or not. We have to drive, we have to have the wheels moving down the road or we don't get squat. So we lie about not spending 6 hours waiting to be unloaded so we can have a little more time for driving. It's not like we aren't well rested after those hours. We are usually sleeping in our beds while being unloaded and we are ready to go but because of the stupid rules we can only drive a little more or not at all. We are not trying to get paid for nothing, we are just trying to get the time we need to earn our pay. If we are paid by the mile and we actually drive the miles we are paid for, then who are we hurting? We aren't cheating anybody out of money or trying to get paid for doing nothing. We are trying to do our job despite rules that are preventing us from doing so.

It is of my unequivocal opinion that if the government wants to F*ck around with its people, then the people have every right to F*ck back, so if truckers, the very backbone of American society within capitalist function, need to pad their mileage just to feed their families and/or pay the rent, then I say let it be.

We should be more concerned with the scamming that circulates high on Capital Hill.

You guys should be really happy today. No federal government! Yay!!  

DallasBlack wrote:

manny wrote:

Yep, a scam

A scam is a way to get money you don't earn. I earn every damn mile I drive. Truck driving is hard work and the bullshit rules our government has imposed on this industry is hurting the drivers and only the drivers. We have to find ways around this crap in order to make a living. It's not our fault companies hold us for hours on end for our loads to be ready or to unload us, or that construction on roads holds up traffic. The rules don't take into consideration the bullshit we have to deal with. We don't do this to cheat someone out of money, we do it because the government has imposed rules that stifle our ability to make money.

I guess I shouldn't expect any of you not in the trucking industry to understand. You don't know  what we have to go through. Most of you are salary or hourly and get paid whether productive or not. We have to drive, we have to have the wheels moving down the road or we don't get squat. So we lie about not spending 6 hours waiting to be unloaded so we can have a little more time for driving. It's not like we aren't well rested after those hours. We are usually sleeping in our beds while being unloaded and we are ready to go but because of the stupid rules we can only drive a little more or not at all. We are not trying to get paid for nothing, we are just trying to get the time we need to earn our pay. If we are paid by the mile and we actually drive the miles we are paid for, then who are we hurting? We aren't cheating anybody out of money or trying to get paid for doing nothing. We are trying to do our job despite rules that are preventing us from doing so.

I get what you're saying. A lot of jobs are designed to screw the workers. As long as you get the job done, it doesn't matter.

If you manage your routes and actual driving properly, you should already be at your destination or close to 10 hours away before shutting down. Then that way, when ya get up..(if there) wait and log in after unloading. If 10 hours away (or so), you are still legal and have your 10 hours off after arriving at the unload place. You can also, play around with sleeper berth time to extend your 14 hour day. Take the time now to learn how to plan better, so you'll be dialed in when that day in the future comes that e-logs will become required.

The insurance companies are more to blame than the government. Fatigue is a big issue ! I am not even gonna go into how stress from not driving factors into fatigue. Like I said DB, plan better and request to get on a dedicated run. A lil advise....remember the traffic patterns for each area you travel into, A journal may help. note the morning anf afternoon traffic jam times and routes and again. Plan to go through the congested areas before or after those times. Driving a truck involves alot more than turning on a key and punching an address into GPS. The extra effort will benefit you with more time actually rolling down the road and less stress. If ya need some help, just ask.