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Fozzy 10-22-2017 05:42 PM

Back to trucking for me
 
After nightmarish hell that was my last job (and to be honest the other management job) its back to trucking. Nothing as strenuous as OTR, its a local-ish job hauling some higher end horse feeds. Out and back.. some overnights. Very small fleet for the feedmill and their name is on the truck. I go out with someone tomorrow and the rest of the week with some of the bulk trucks. I know that some will think that I'm going backward... and to some degree, I feel like I failed. But I got damned sick of rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Companies that refuse to work on root causes of their accident issues will never stop or even ebb the flow of accidents. Its a colossal waste of time and effort and if you care or dare to remind the 20 somethings that are in charge of these things. It will make you unpopular and dangerous to those who are in charge of things.. It doesn't mean that the safety people don't care.. it means that the system is broken.

repete 10-24-2017 05:42 PM

Ahh, what does it matter if it's a step forward or back? Who even decides that? Are you happy? I made a LOT more money years ago doing bodywork but hated the job the employer and most of the other workers I really hated dealing with the stress hurry hurry hurry, that's good enough , it's gotta be perfect but we only have a couple hours ectra. I haven't had a migraine in a few years and even my acid reflux problem is much better I also no longer come home pissed off at the world and take it out on my wife. Friends and family thought I was moving backwards when I said I was getting my CDL , I didn't care and am so much happier now. Hope the same for you!

Fozzy 10-25-2017 12:35 AM

I wish I could say I was happy. honestly, I just have no idea at this moment. Right now I have to gear back up and get back in the mindset. The good thing right now is that I have found a feedmill with some trucks.. not some company with trucks who is contracted to a feed mill. These people seem really laid back in some good ways, I just don't know how well I will adapt to this. The trucks are older, but seem well taken care of mechanically but the trucks that i have looked at have not been taken care of by the drivers. They are dirty, and most of them really need to be organized.. but that is my OCD flaring up. My truck will NOT be one of the rolling dumpsters that I have seen here. The trucks are turned up to 75, but I have no need of that whatsoever and frankly, neither do they. They run a paperless logging system (Geotab) that is accessed with cellphones or tablets. Loads are out and back except some occasional back hauls of product from the company itself. Today I went out on a bulk feed load of horse feed (high dollar stuff).. it offloads into silos using a boom off of the truck. Going out on a semi-truck load of pallets again tomorrow and then again on Thursday. I'll be on my own next week.

Mr. Ford95 10-26-2017 11:16 AM

Good luck with it Fozzy. You gotta be happier not dealing with the know it all 20 somethings! You can just deal with yourself while driving!

I got fed up and left my place last year, I jumped into the unknown. I'm much happier overall, my body is happier. Yeah I'm not home every night, granted I drive overnight, but that's OK for me. That jump into the unknown sucks!

repete 10-26-2017 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Ford95 (Post 540075)
Good luck with it Fozzy. You gotta be happier not dealing with the know it all 20 somethings! You can just deal with yourself while driving!

I got fed up and left my place last year, I jumped into the unknown. I'm much happier overall, my body is happier. Yeah I'm not home every night, granted I drive overnight, but that's OK for me. That jump into the unknown sucks!

I think the last 6 words are the key! It's scary when you climb out of the rut you've dug for yourself and called home for a few years, it's even worse when some one drags you out and your forced to make that jump. Years back I hardly gave it much thought but as you get older the rut seems to get more n more comfortable.
I've been giving it some thought lately myself, I'd love to get something in the 40 hr aweek range instead of 60 but then again I am kinda comfy.

Fozzy 10-28-2017 10:25 PM

Had a pretty decent week. I think that I'm going to have to just get out there on my own with this and start making my way on stuff. The information I get is kind of iffy. Its not really hard stuff. We got back from a short load of bagged feeds (two stops) the stops that the drivers are calling "tight".. really are not bad from the places I have dreaded in the past and there was a driver's meeting. Before I got the trailer dropped in the dock, the Mill Manager came up and asked if he could speak to me privately (uh oh). He asked if I would be willing to accept a position as a driver safety manager / leader. I was OK with it. sooooo heeeeere we go! LOL! I am working with the Mill Manager as he knows little to nothing about the trucking end of this business. I am looking at all the facts and figures and there really is an easy way to get all their problems under control. I explained first that they need an SOP. The drivers all know what to do, but there is no organization, nothing on paper that the manager can point to and get on the drivers a** who isn't. SOP I'm working on now. Then they (ALL OF THEM) need knowledge. They need to now about the CSA, PSP and other trucking things that have come up in the last couple of decades. I have been assigned their only Volvo.. its the truck I wanted. It needs work, but its quiet, solid and will turn rings around the Pete and KW.. Looking forward to helping these folks. By helping them, I help myself.

freebirdrfd 10-30-2017 12:36 AM

Good luck, I hope things work out for you

repete 11-01-2017 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fozzy (Post 540094)
Had a pretty decent week. I think that I'm going to have to just get out there on my own with this and start making my way on stuff. The information I get is kind of iffy. Its not really hard stuff. We got back from a short load of bagged feeds (two stops) the stops that the drivers are calling "tight".. really are not bad from the places I have dreaded in the past and there was a driver's meeting. Before I got the trailer dropped in the dock, the Mill Manager came up and asked if he could speak to me privately (uh oh). He asked if I would be willing to accept a position as a driver safety manager / leader. I was OK with it. sooooo heeeeere we go! LOL! I am working with the Mill Manager as he knows little to nothing about the trucking end of this business. I am looking at all the facts and figures and there really is an easy way to get all their problems under control. I explained first that they need an SOP. The drivers all know what to do, but there is no organization, nothing on paper that the manager can point to and get on the drivers a** who isn't. SOP I'm working on now. Then they (ALL OF THEM) need knowledge. They need to now about the CSA, PSP and other trucking things that have come up in the last couple of decades. I have been assigned their only Volvo.. its the truck I wanted. It needs work, but its quiet, solid and will turn rings around the Pete and KW.. Looking forward to helping these folks. By helping them, I help myself.

There ya go! Sounds like a good gig and kinda exciting sitting up a new program. Be prepared for some push back from some of the old timers, I can see some resentment there.

Fozzy 11-06-2017 11:31 PM

I get more and more depressed when I meet what passes for drivers. Yes, I have already angered the two hot dogs here. Why? I have no real idea other than being a threat to their idiotic and shoddy behavior. The one dude who was the lead driver seems to me to be running a game on the Mill Boss.. The other driver is self taught and can for the moment use that as an excuse. The two other drivers are from schools and have apparently had no training from lead driver super dude. I am not including ex-driver #5 who is no longer a driver for some pretty bad reasons. He was not prepared and was allowed to go out and destroy his career before it began. I have run a few loads on my own over the last week. The loads are pretty heavy, but not super heavy. 40k-44k. The scale pretty easy.. but no one seems to be doing it. I have scaled, all of my loads and all of them required sliding the axles waaaaaay back. 36k is a no no. We have had one of the newer drivers catch an over weight for 36k+ along with 9 CSA violations. These guys are apparently ignorant of the scale of their problems.. drivers just cannot do that these days. As usual, I have take the "worst" truck in the fleet and made it mine.. it was VERY dirty so for the first couple of days it was spic and span and several other cleaners and elbow grease. She cleaned up inside really nicely. Its an automatic transmission that I really like (low gear and reverse seem "slippy", but I may just have to get used to it. They have the trucks set for 75MPH.. Pay by the hour is nice.. so why in the hell do I want to do 75MPH? Anyway.. stay tuned for the continuing saga!

Blacksheep 11-09-2017 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fozzy (Post 540157)
I get more and more depressed when I meet what passes for drivers. Yes, I have already angered the two hot dogs here. Why? I have no real idea other than being a threat to their idiotic and shoddy behavior. The one dude who was the lead driver seems to me to be running a game on the Mill Boss.. The other driver is self taught and can for the moment use that as an excuse. The two other drivers are from schools and have apparently had no training from lead driver super dude. I am not including ex-driver #5 who is no longer a driver for some pretty bad reasons. He was not prepared and was allowed to go out and destroy his career before it began. I have run a few loads on my own over the last week. The loads are pretty heavy, but not super heavy. 40k-44k. The scale pretty easy.. but no one seems to be doing it. I have scaled, all of my loads and all of them required sliding the axles waaaaaay back. 36k is a no no. We have had one of the newer drivers catch an over weight for 36k+ along with 9 CSA violations. These guys are apparently ignorant of the scale of their problems.. drivers just cannot do that these days. As usual, I have take the "worst" truck in the fleet and made it mine.. it was VERY dirty so for the first couple of days it was spic and span and several other cleaners and elbow grease. She cleaned up inside really nicely. Its an automatic transmission that I really like (low gear and reverse seem "slippy", but I may just have to get used to it. They have the trucks set for 75MPH.. Pay by the hour is nice.. so why in the hell do I want to do 75MPH? Anyway.. stay tuned for the continuing saga!

I'm not sure how old you are Fozz but I feel we are just be a dying breed of trucker, I hear where you are coming from because more and more I feel like a dinosaur in this profession and frankly look to the day I can retire.
It's changed a lot from the early 80's and it's more then I want to put up with these days, but hey I'm a cranky old man nowadays.


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