And why would he want to sit around waiting weeks if not months for Maverick to give him a call. He could take home in excess of $4,000.00 plus in that time.

I did think about callin ATS.Its just been a run of bad luck with TMC so far I guess but its startin to seem like its not ment to be or some thing.From the many truck issues to the FM that seems to think I am a punching bag its startin to wear on my nerves.And monday I get to try and get my FM to get me some place to get a truck.

mrgrim, have you called your trainer? he has a vested interest in your staying put and may be able to contact your FM for you and "straighten him out"

I speak with my trainer all the time.He knows every thing that has gone on so far.He is a good guy but he can do but so much.My FM is the one who has to get me some place to swap the truck.

A truck has to be found, then the trainer gets you there. A FM has very little power, he is just a facilitator. He enables you to do your job. He just passes information on to you. I think of mine as my employee. Certainly, not the other way arround.

you are correct sir. 2 6 volt batteries wired in series = 12 volts. 2 pairs of series wired 6 volt batteries wired in parallel =12 volts.. 3 12 volt batteries wired in parallel = 12 volts, wiring them in parallel gives you the same voltage, but gives the amperage of all of them added together, wiring them in series give you the voltage of them added together.. ie 2 500 amps 6 volt batteries wired + to + and - to - would give you 6 volts 1000 amps. 2 500 amp 6 volts wired +to- and + to - would give you 12 volts 500 amps.

this concludes today lesson

does it have a refrigerator? they run the battery down in about a day.

Mr. Grim: The problem with your batteries lies with you starting your truck and running it for 30 to 45 minutes yesterday. You used a lot of power from your batteries to start the truck and in the current temperatures you are experiencing in your part of the country you didn't charge the batteries as much as you drained them. I figure they need at least an hour at high idle 1000 rpm to restore what juice you used starting the engine. These alternators don't put out a lot of current at low idle.

I got home at 1:45 pm Eastern time on Thanksgiving day. I had to do two trailer swaps to get there. I swapped my Empty trailer in Scranton PA for a loaded one going to Epping NH, Then swapped that with a driver living in Manchester NH for a load destination Augusta ME. That was after being in Austin TX on Monday morning. ( Sorry Terry, didn't have time to see if you were around)

I spent 35 hours at Joplin last week getting a routine full service done on my truck. I think I have seen molasses run uphill faster than that. The guys in the Lexington SC shop are the fastest that I have seen, doing a full service in less than 6 hours, beating all the other terminals and all the peterbilts that I have been to so far.


Terry Lamar is correct: Your Fleet Manager is your employee, as are the shop employees and other support staff. A good boss keeps his employees working productively with kindness, not anger. Some of your employees however are tenured and cannot be fired so you have to put up with them. Some need reminders, and some simply need appreciation. Your workers are human after all, and kindness towards them will yield much better results than yelling. You may think that you started driving a truck to avoid dealing with people all the time, but that just doesn't work. You still have to deal with people and the better you understand people the more successful you will be in this job. I got a book at Wal Mart titled: "How to deal with people you can't stand." or something like that. It is great for giving you a new perspective on other people, and yourself.


On the subject of TransFlo: I have started using it. I have been able to get my documents scanned within 48 hours of my delivery time in the first week. The advantage to me is that the documents are instantly delivered, so if the company needs their documents for billing purposes within three days we should now have all three days to scan them in, and they are delivered anytime, no missing the trippack pickup time the day after delivery and coming up a day late. I am worried however that some weeks I have been able to make these line haul runs around the northeast and the only pilot I have passed is the one in Newburgh NY that I hate so much. Some weeks getting to a transflo stop could prove difficult.

Tape: for taping receipts to the transflo sheet is provided by the truckstops, just ask for it. Yes you are going to waste someones time by taping things in the line but it won't cost you for the tape. I guess I will carry my own thanks.

I hope you all had a good holiday.

I know a couple of our O/O's that have pets with them. When I went thru orientation we had a new hire O/O that had his dog in the truck. He had to take it out for them to put in the qualcomm. The policy is remove or cage your animals while in the shop. Our shops will do maintanence on O/O trucks at normal shop rates. Most companies wont touch O/O trucks.
Also fuel surcharge is figured at 1c for every 5.5c of change over $1.50/ gallon. (TMC's math is better then national DOE math) FSC should be minimum 34cpm now but I've seen some shippers paying 40-45cpm. If your truck gets more than 6mpg you can make money on FSC.

I ran the truck 45 min at 1000 rpm with the cruise as its what I was told to do to keep it from doing what its done.I hooked up the cables and let my pickup run for 30 min connected before I tried to start the tractor and no dice.I went over the cables on the batts and one was a little loose but the rest were good and this was before I connected the jumpers.I am going to go try it once more and let it sit connected for 45 to an hour and see if it works.