My life as a container truck driver ends this friday!
 

I gave these folks my two weeks notice.I am tired of the level one and level 3 inspections at the scales because of my GVW and axle weight.Being shut down as a result of the the inspection(missing 2 days of logs).I am also tired of the no billing at the rail yards and having to bring the load back to job.It makes no sense for freight in a 20 foot container box to weight 43k.I am tired of seeing CSX,NFS,Conglobal,TCW,St. George and Pacer Cartage container yards.I am even tried of going to BTT and driving through the many yards and rows while looking for just one box #.It gave me the experience and I am thankful for the agent who hired me and taught me all about containers.

Re: My life as a container truck driver ends this friday!
 

As far as the 20' boxes weighing into the 40k lbs, you are looking at small, and heavier freight, and it doesn't make much sense to put it into a larger box. If you think the container freight jobs are bad now, you should have tried it about 20 yrs ago, you will see that many changes have happened in this time. Always keep your logs current in this type of trucking, if you don't its all on you! Sometimes the boxes are not where the say they are, it happens, but I think you will find them where they are supposed to be more than not. Quit that job and take on another type of problem with a different part of the industry. Its really a trade off.

Which company ?
 

Which company do you drive for ? Which part of the country are you from ? Do you know of any similar companies in PA ? Since you haul cans, what kind of hometime do you get ? Are you paid mileage, or paid by the hour ? Thanks in advance, and best of luck with your career move....I really hope it works out for you.

It is for a compnay in IN
 

They just have agents here in Georgia who dispatches us.Container hauling is the bottom of the barrel and no one should haul that crap.Have you ever took an empty can to a shipper and he refused to load it because you didn't see a hole in the roof when you closed the doors behind you?Do you think the broker wanted to pay my agents?I was left with $150 out of my pocket for burning fuel and I didn't get paid for it.The painful thing was the 100 miles of back roads that I had to drive to Etowah ,TN.I don't know if some drivers have ever been to John Manville.
This bad experience last week made me hang it up.
Any state that has rail yards do haul containers.I get paid about 95cpm loaded and empty with 25%fsc.
Container companys in atlanta are desperately seeking drivers and the ones that haul containers do want to be home every night.When you haul containers you drive loaded and come back empty or vioce versa.Bridge Terminal (BTT) have a high turn over rate for their O/O and they are said to be the best.

I know a kid my age 22 years old O/O he bought a 96 pete 379 and pulls to loads a day and makes around 725.00 a day SO he says anyway. But he allways says he is over weight on axles. He wants to pull fuel tankers but for his ins. company he has to stay with in 100 mile radis and his yard.

I leased to BTT for a SHORT amount of time. In my opinion they are not so great to work for, at least out of the Charlotte terminal. This was about four years ago, maybe things have changed there since then.

The container drivers who make the most money are the ones who look like they are making the least by the looks of their trucks.

These people live within a few miles of the terminal. They buy a very cheap truck, usually a cabover, for around $5000.00 or less. They leave the truck at the terminal every night, and only pull city loads that have a flat rate.

This way they may gross $300.00 to $600.00 a day, and maybe drive at most 150 miles, usually less than 100.

They go home every evening and start up the next morning. All the dispatchers know them because they talk to or see them several times a day. Very little maintenance is done to the trucks. Slick tires are no problem. If one blows, then put on a used one.

These trucks will usually run for several years like this, then throw it away and buy another $5000.00 truck.

That is how you make money pulling containers for rail yards.

The trick is getting in with the "group" that gets all the local stuff every day.



I made good money at my last rail company, but I had a dedicated account, and I lived half way between the pickup and rail yard. This way I had less that 10 miles out of route every week.

Re: It is for a compnay in IN
 

I have pulled out of the Johns Manville plant in Etowah before. They inspect trailers and if there is any light coming in they won't load you.

Re: It is for a compnay in IN
 

This is part of the drivers responsibility when checking out a container and you have to sign a TIR indicating that you checked for any damage(holes),once again it just shows this particular poster always has an excuse why it's someone Else's fault.I had to take back a few containers in my day and I accepted it as my fault for not checking closely enough.

No they didnt, friend of mine quit after only 4 months due to their BS. I know he ran overweight all the time and the thing that struck me was that they used to tell him to just go over the scales and if the overweight fine is issued that they will pay for it. It happened on couple occasions..

I worked for BTT for 4 years,it wasn't that bad,I would not have left if I didn't buy a new truck and need a little more income.

It is the price you pay when you deal with foreign shippers,what would you expect them to do ship the container back to China and have them reload it to make it legal?They always offered us extra money if we were to run around scales and always paid tickets when we were caught.

Container work isn't for everyone,I actually liked it,but I didn't have to do much live load or unload,usually delivering to rail yards.most time in and out in under 30min with getting an empty to go back to shipper.