Truck Driving Jobs

strawberryrhubarbpie · #1 07-13-2010, 12:55 PM

My husband and I are thinking about buying our first truck, working out of Florida but we realize we will have to go North for the work. We have TONS of questions but I'll start with just this one: when you pick up a load, how do you know it's not going to be over weight? And if you happen to get caught with an over weight load, who pays the fine? The company that owns the load, the owner of the truck, or the driver?

Thanks for the help!
Jen

strawberryrhubarbpie · #2 07-13-2010, 01:06 PM

Also, we are looking for websites where you can find loads. My husband found one I think it's getloaded.com, but if anyone has any other websites to share that would be great thanks!

chain binder · #3 07-13-2010, 01:42 PM

First off,you didn't say how much experience you have.If you pick up a load and it is overweight,you,as the driver,are responsible for the fine.If you aren't sure about the weight.Go to the nearest scales and weigh after you are loaded,if it is over go back to shipper to have it adjusted.You can be under your gross weight,but overweight on your drives or tandems.I personally pull a spread axle flat bed and I know how much weight I can haul.It all comes with experience.As far as load boards go,I don't deal with them.I have my own authority and am leased to a company and I use their loads.That way I know what they pay and I also know I will get paid.Good luck on your endeavor.

RostyC · #4 07-13-2010, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strawberryrhubarbpie

My husband and I are thinking about buying our first truck, working out of Florida but we realize we will have to go North for the work. We have TONS of questions but I'll start with just this one: when you pick up a load, how do you know it's not going to be over weight? And if you happen to get caught with an over weight load, who pays the fine? The company that owns the load, the owner of the truck, or the driver?

Thanks for the help!
Jen

What you need to do is comb this site for information and read up. There is a search feature and you can type in what ever you're looking for and you'll find something.

What type of trailer are you going to pull?

Once the load is on your truck it's all your responsibility, fines and all. There are some shippers that will pay over gross fines but they're far and few between and even then it's like pulling teeth to get reimbursed. None will pay over axle fines that I've heard of.

You can get an onboard scale for about 1000.00 but they're not always 100% accurate, however you'll know when you need to scale a load at a certified scale by looking at your onboard scale.

There's a few load boards out there. Getloaded, Internet truckstop, truckers edge.

This is a rough time to start out in this business. really is. Hope you have a lot of cash.

Roadhog · #5 07-13-2010, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strawberryrhubarbpie

when you pick up a load, how do you know it's not going to be over weight? And if you happen to get caught with an over weight load, who pays the fine?

You get the paperwork called Bill of Lading which tells you what you will be picking up, and all necessary information. (like weight, palletized, counts, destination, etc.)
Lots of times you may haul for the same company, and the loads are consistent, as well as you know your load positioning.

When I hauled frozen fruit, lots of times, I had the same weights on pallets, and shrinkrapped. I'd load doubles, single, then doubles alternating load to the left, then to the right, to lock in the skids against side shifting...two load locks on the tail pallets. Weight would be approx. 38,000# and would allow me to set my bridge axle lengths.

Even though I might always know the axle placement I needed, or had no doubt my weights were correct, I always... always scaled the load. Some places I picked up had scales, other times I had to go to the nearest scale in the area. Either way...for the small scale fee, it's worth it if you are going to be crossing lots of POE.

strawberryrhubarbpie · #6 07-14-2010, 03:21 AM

Thanks everyone for your answers, that really helps us. Our experience: none. I drove tractor/trailers in the Air Force over 10 years ago. A year and a half ago I got my Class B driver's license, and my hubby and I purchased 2 dump trucks and shipped them to Panama where he is from. We didn't make the money we thought we were going to make over there though, so we are shipping one of them back (we sold the Kenworth). Right now we are driving around Florida trying to find work for our dump truck. This is what we prefer to be doing, but if we can't find anything then we want to try the tractor. We have a friend in Palm Bay who owns his own tractor and drives north of Florida. I don't know an exact number of how much he makes but it's enough that they are able to pay their mortgage and bills and still live comfortable (his wife only works 20 hours a week so her income is not significant). Anyway, our main goal is to not work for someone else. We are simpletons so we don't need tons of money to live a nice life.

heavyhaulerss · #7 07-14-2010, 12:27 PM

If & when you get a truck & trailer, scale your light weight, then you will know how much max weight you can haul.

GMAN · #8 07-17-2010, 01:27 PM

You may be able to earn a decent living and stay in the state of Florida. I haven't checked in a while, but at one time you could do fairly well by staying in the state and running in the triangle from Jacksonville to Miami to Tampa. You will likely do better running north of Florida.

GMAN · #9 07-17-2010, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strawberryrhubarbpie

Thanks everyone for your answers, that really helps us. Our experience: none. I drove tractor/trailers in the Air Force over 10 years ago. A year and a half ago I got my Class B driver's license, and my hubby and I purchased 2 dump trucks and shipped them to Panama where he is from. We didn't make the money we thought we were going to make over there though, so we are shipping one of them back (we sold the Kenworth). Right now we are driving around Florida trying to find work for our dump truck. This is what we prefer to be doing, but if we can't find anything then we want to try the tractor. We have a friend in Palm Bay who owns his own tractor and drives north of Florida. I don't know an exact number of how much he makes but it's enough that they are able to pay their mortgage and bills and still live comfortable (his wife only works 20 hours a week so her income is not significant). Anyway, our main goal is to not work for someone else. We are simpletons so we don't need tons of money to live a nice life.

Have you given any thought as to what type of freight or trailer you plan on pulling?

strawberryrhubarbpie · #10 07-18-2010, 10:14 PM

Hi Gman, I would have to say that we haven't given it much thought at all. I used to have to tie stuff down on flatbed trailers in the Air Force, but would need a refresher course since it's been over 10 years. However, we may start out with hiring a driver (until we could both get our class A's) so it would depend on what he/she is comfortable with. And besides, we don't want to leave our dump truck alone. In a perfect world, my husband and I would be driving our dump truck near our house so that we can be home every night, and we will have our truck out making runs with a driver. But we realize that if we have to, we will be teaming up and driving the truck ourselves 5-6 days a week.