Truck Driving Jobs

GMAN · Joined: 13 Feb 2005 Posts: 9882 Location: Tennessee

ben45750 wrote: can understand.... yeah. I know i'm worth more. no doubt in my mind. Hauling cars with a 1 ton compaired to driving a semi.....the semi is a much easier ride and easier to control. You see them out there on the highway all the time, guys hauling multiple cars with pickups, they are working as hard if not harder than the guys in the 18 wheelers.

Well, I have hauled cars in an 18 wheeler. I usually pulled 10 cars. Most of these pickups only haul as many as 3 or 4 vehicles. If your trailer was only 38 feet you could probably only get 2 vehicles on the trailer. Crawling up and down about 12 feet to chain down vehicles. Squeezing in between the trailer and vehicle doors so that they aren't damaged. Everything you chain down on one of these hotshots can usually done from the ground or mostly from the ground. At least you have plenty of room to work. Nah, I don't think you worked as hard pulling a 38' trailer as you do with a 45' stinger or 53' high mount trailer with 10 plus vehicles aboard. I am not saying that you didn't work hard. But pulling a 48' or 53' trailer day in and day out is much different than pulling a hotshot. It can be hard challenging work. You know going in what the wages are going in. I you didn't think it was enough you should have not taken the job or done something different for a career. You are going to have to get some experience if you want to make more money. :roll:

turboman · Joined: 30 Jul 2005 Posts: 220 Location: Flushing NY

Rob_0126 wrote: I get paid .29/a mile. Im well underpaid. I allow myself $120 a week for food and sometimes i need more. I use a burton to cook but sometimes it's easier to buy fastfood than it is regular cooking unfortunetly.

$120 a week for food is alot. I spend $5-7 a day on soda and redbull and still don't spend more then $100 a week on food. I also don't cook that much. Just cook alot when I do. Big pot of pasta, big pot of rice and beans, big pot of jasmine rise and peanut sauce and some peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches. That's about $40 a week.

mattc2345 · Joined: 27 Jul 2005 Posts: 88 Location: Toledo, OH

Well....Since everyone else has a commend on this issue I might as well add my 2 cents. :roll:

To start off I would have to agree with some of the older drivers here and basically say thats a fair starting wage. I will be starting at 28 cents here in 2 weeks and I am pleased as punch with that, and I would work for less to start out. I can see though that if you are older and have already in your life experience making 40-50 grand a year or more that this will be a pay cut to start out and will throw a wrench into your finances. Whereas the prospect of making 40 grand a year to me sounds very good because I am young and never had a job making near that much.

Someone above made a comment about how new drivers have the same risks that seasoned drivers have and that that's why starting pay should be the same. I can kind of see their point however one critical flaw in this thinking is that a large chunk of a trucker's pay can be determined by one thing: Insurance. The reason a starting wage for a truck is lower that a veteran's wage can more or less be attributed to insurance. I don't have any numbers on this but I could gaurentee you that new drivers have more accidents than veteran drivers. Which of course in going to make insurance rates higher for companies that hire new drivers and thusly make the pay less for new drivers. This can quite easily be seen with companies such as Roehl. If you look they start out new drivers at a better rate than most, and if you read some other threads about them they are more picky about who they let in, which will make them pay less insurance and lead to the fact they can pay a little more.

This post is getting rather long but I think many people have overlooked the insurance aspect. Thats all I have to say about that.

RockyMtnProDriver · Joined: 12 Jun 2005 Posts: 1558 Location: Cranbrook BC

So, you are heading down an 8% grade (73,000 lb, 5 axel) with a student who needs to execute a downshift.

They blow it and now they are in neutral.

They have the skills to do the gear recovery, but are paniking.

So the speed starts to climb and they are not getting it back into gear.

At the bottom of this hill is a stop sign.

You, as a teacher, know you have to keep your mouth shut and let them sort it out. If you interject you will take away their power of decision and action.

You can show no emotion on your face or in your body language.

Here comes the stress. :lol:

rippingrudy · Joined: 23 Aug 2005 Posts: 6 Location: Ontario, Canada

RockyMtnProDriver wrote: So, you are heading down an 8% grade (73,000 lb, 5 axel) with a student who needs to execute a downshift.

They blow it and now they are in neutral.

They have the skills to do the gear recovery, but are paniking.

So the speed starts to climb and they are not getting it back into gear.

At the bottom of this hill is a stop sign.

You, as a teacher, know you have to keep your mouth shut and let them sort it out. If you interject you will take away their power of decision and action.

You can show no emotion on your face or in your body language.

Here comes the stress. :lol:

Ummm, so what do you do? I asked my teacher and he said "never take it out of gear going down a hill'. LOL

RockyMtnProDriver · Joined: 12 Jun 2005 Posts: 1558 Location: Cranbrook BC

rippingrudy wrote: RockyMtnProDriver wrote: So, you are heading down an 8% grade (73,000 lb, 5 axel) with a student who needs to execute a downshift.

They blow it and now they are in neutral.

They have the skills to do the gear recovery, but are panicking.

So the speed starts to climb and they are not getting it back into gear.

At the bottom of this hill is a stop sign.

You, as a teacher, know you have to keep your mouth shut and let them sort it out. If you interject you will take away their power of decision and action.

You can show no emotion on your face or in your body language.

Here comes the stress. :lol:

Ummm, so what do you do? I asked my teacher and he said "never take it out of gear going down a hill'. LOL

Your teacher is exactly right, you should never take it out of gear going down a hill.

Here is the scenario.

You are going down a very long grade, say 8 miles, and you choose 5th direct and the motor is running around 1950 rpm with jake on high.

You come up behind a slower moving truck and you have to downshift one gear to match his speed as it is not possible for you to pass him.

In that scenario, you will have to take it out of gear to move from 5th to 4th gear. You will be in neutral, but hopefully, for a very short period of time.

The key is to know how to successfully downshift downhill.

This is why all of my students are taught downhill downshifting all the way from 6th to 1st or low. And on 8% grades and heavy.

The reason I teach it, is because I have had to do it too many times to count.

Now, if you blow the shift, you need to know how to do a proper gear recovery.

Again, I teach this on 8% hills and heavy.

That is why she was able to successfully complete two gear recovery's after missing downhill downshifts on Friday up on the big hills on her mountain run.

red12 · Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 275 Location: St. Louis, MO

GMAN wrote: Should we all be paid more? Perhaps.....perhaps not. It is relative to what you are worth to the company. No matter what profession you enter, you will need to go through an apprenticeship or learning phase. No one starts at the top of their profession. Some people are not willing to do what is necessary to learn their craft or trade so that they can enhance their value to their employer or to the market place in general. Most trucking companies pay drivers based upon experience and performance. The more experience you have the higher your mileage or wages. The more you run or perform the higher your wages. With time you learn better ways to do your job. You knew what the pay was when you took the job. Most carriers will tell you the average miles per week their drivers run. Based upon those figures, you should have an idea of what kind of money you will make when you go to work for them if your performance is average. I am confused. :?

I Totally agree here with GMAN. You took the job you knew what you was going to get payed. Yeah it may be a big pay cut from your last job of making 50K or more a year I dont know if you was or not. But I think if you want high pay you have to get experience its just like any job you get. The job I work at now I started making 6.50 /hr now I make alot more than that I have been their for 4+ years. But that goes with any job the longer you stay their the more you will get payed. I would be happy getting payed .27 cpm but im may be starting at .26 cmp. Also you gotta think that how does that look on your resume if you tryed to get on with some other company. You may not get hired cause you jumped ship to quick. Im going to be 21 in sept so to me make 30K plus a year is alot to me. But then again I dont have a house yet. But it sounds like you may have not took that into consideration. Im not bashing you on what choice you have made but it may have souned like you didnt take alot of consideration into what you was really doing here.

Rob_0126 · Joined: 25 Aug 2004 Posts: 434 Location: Quitman, GA

Downshifting going down a steep grade is a bad idea, no matter what.

It's fine to learn how to recover from a downshift, but it's best never have that situation in the first place. I was taught to make your gear selection b4 you go over the hill.

If I came across another truck going slower, the best thing to do is use the brakes to slow down enough(say 1000-1200 rpms) and the jakes if the road conditions are good, then make your shift.

When I come across a downshift going downhill, I put more force into the shift to make doubly sure it's gonna go. Yeh, it's not good on the tranny, but Id rather scratch a gear, than drive off a ledge or crash into the side of a mountain. Honestly, if I have to downshift going downhill, I have a bit of stress going on and maybe even a little bit of adrenaline(west VA anyone?)

RockyMtnProDriver · Joined: 12 Jun 2005 Posts: 1558 Location: Cranbrook BC

Rob_0126 wrote: Downshifting going down a steep grade is a bad idea, no matter what.

It's fine to learn how to recover from a downshift, but it's best never have that situation in the first place. I was taught to make your gear selection b4 you go over the hill.

If I came across another truck going slower, the best thing to do is use the brakes to slow down enough(say 1000-1200 rpms) and the jakes if the road conditions are good, then make your shift.

When I come across a downshift going downhill, I put more force into the shift to make doubly sure it's gonna go. Yeh, it's not good on the tranny, but Id rather scratch a gear, than drive off a ledge or crash into the side of a mountain. Honestly, if I have to downshift going downhill, I have a bit of stress going on and maybe even a little bit of adrenaline(west VA anyone?)

What I teach is to get the tach down to 1000 rpm and do a high rise, probably up to about 1600 rpm. It is better to over tach it at that point than under tach, as you can catch it on the way down, if you over tach.

If you put pressure against the gear it will drop in, and it wont hurt anything.

And yes, it is best to not downshift going downhill. But in my part of the world, you will find out that you will do it a lot. And that is why you need to know how to do it.

Here is an example of one 20 mile downhill pitch for gear selection, it varies from 8.5%at the top, to uphill at one point, with most of it being between 4 to 7% downgrade.

5-6-7-6-7-6-7-8-7-6-7-8

In each gear you will be going from low-med-high and up and down on the Jake selection.

And the student is not allowed to touch the service brakes once. They use terrain and road management to select the gears.

If you chose to leave it in one gear, then you would either be going to slow, or to fast.

It is a roller coaster all the way down.

They are always shocked to find out that you can come down off the top of that hill and never use the brakes once.

Of course, they are allowed to use the brakes if they need to for other vehicles, or animals. But it seldom happens.

When we get down to the bottom, where there are some tight S-turns, you should see their Knees twitch wanting to go to the service peddle.

skyraider

Did anyone notice we went from a low pay story to downshifting on a hill and all,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,okkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk :?

yoopr · Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 12865

skyraider wrote: Did anyone notice we went from a low pay story to downshifting on a hill and all,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,okkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk :?

yep-I was just going to post about it but you beat me to it :P

red12 · Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 275 Location: St. Louis, MO

yeah i did funny how that happen no offense RockyMtnProDriver.

RockyMtnProDriver · Joined: 12 Jun 2005 Posts: 1558 Location: Cranbrook BC

red12 wrote: yeah i did funny how that happen no offense RockyMtnProDriver.

Ya, that was me. :oops:

ben45750 · Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 1759

red12 wrote: You sounded happy with star about 2 weeks ago you was say how good they was now you deciede to quit sad to hear that. But I gess you do what you gotta do.

I was Red, I guess after running for 36 hours a person can snap. I just got pissed and realized it isn't worth it. It was also my fault because I let them push me that hard without speaking up for myself, I just wanted to make money. I have also been talking to alot of the bigger trucking company's for the last couple weeks and been offered alot more, some from good company's too. I have 2 interviews with local companys this week. I want to find somthing local, If not I will go back to OTR. I just need the local companys to give me a road test and yard test and I 'll get in (if no insurance hang ups). Star was a good company to get your feet wet but for me that was it.

TruckinJeepDiva · Joined: 09 Oct 2006 Posts: 2

now this one isn't on down shifting, but on pay. What I have found so far as a beginner is that when you get started, you get the smaller pay (i.e. 27-32cpm). Or at least that's if you start out going to a big company through their financing program and learn to drive from them. The smaller/higher paying companies aren't usually going to look at you until you have about 3 yrs or more of driving under your belt. A friend of mine took 5 yrs experience to a small company in Sturgis, SD and gets 2.29 per mile on some of his runs. Granted he hauls bees this time of year and that's the highest paying runs he gets, but still. You need more road time under your belt before you can expect more than .27 cpm.

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