Life changes

[tlombard]

It is now official. I got the final sign off today that says I'm ready to hit the road with a trainer. Tomorrow is a normal day from 8-5:30 to get our fuel cards and stuff like that and then I just hang around here until they have a trainer ready for me to actually hit the road! But even if it takes a few days to get paired up with a trainer and actually get in a truck, I'm still getting paid even if I'm just sitting around and working on the online class/test stuff that I will have to get done to advance through each level in order to get on my own. Hopefully I get hooked up with a trainer soon and can get on my way. I am now officially employed as a truck driver and can put it on my resume I guess. And after over a month, I am finally on an actual payroll and will have consistent money coming in. That will sure look a little different than all the office positions that I've had in the past 23 years.

Now over the next 4-6 weeks with a trainer I get to drive to all five regions that the company serves and have to negotiate driving down at least two mountains from the list of about 30 that the company recognizes for the training purposes. The Donner Pass is one of them and for some morbid reason I kind of hope I end up there for one of them. It is also the longest of them all in reality, I probably don't want that one as my first. I am just ready to get out there.

[Fat_Bulldog]

Congrats!

[Radbird]

Let us know before you tackle Donner Pass. That way we can check breaking news in case we never hear from you again.

[GeddyWrox]

You oughta start a travel blog and post about your experiences from the road once you start working.

[tlombard]

I have actually thought about that. I have to report to the yard tomorrow morning for a bit to watch a couple more informational videos and from then until I finally get a trainer, I have nothing to do except kill time. I'm planning on setting one up to kill some time. Things should get really interesting then. School was a lot of fun. This orientation was mostly boredom followed by a few minutes of fun here and there when we actually were able to get into the trucks and do stuff. It is about to be an entirely different world here soon. Heck, I will be living in a truck with a complete stranger for 4-6 weeks once I get paired up with somebody. That will definitely be a new experience. There will literally be nowhere to go to get space or time to myself once I get on that truck. We'll basically be living in a moving 10x10 foot room together.

We got our fuel cards and payroll stuff today so that was good. We got our official company IDs and payroll stuff as well. I actually need to set up my fuel and payroll card this evening too. They automatically load $50 onto the personal side of the card twice a week as advances for any expenses that we may need for the trips like windshield washer fluid, load locks and things like that so I have to get that set up tonight. That's also where our pay goes first. From there you can have it moved to your bank account automatically but even if you don't do that then your fuel card works as a debit card at any location other than a truck stop which is interesting. The money comes out of your personal side instead of the company fuel account which is literally only good for fuel at certain truck stops where the company has negotiated deals. If we for some reason need to get gas at another gas station then it comes out of the fifty dollar advance. You also have to call the fuel department to get that authorized. The company has deals where they save forty seven cents a gallon at the approved truck stops so they do NOT want us getting fuel anywhere else. At least we get to use the rewards programs for ourselves. 100 gallons of diesel at a time means nice savings for the company and nice rewards for us that can be cashed in. Apparently some guy used his for a sixty five inch TV not too long ago.

I also found out that once we are on our own we get paid three days after we submit the paperwork for a load instead of weekly. If you drop off a load on Monday and submit the paperwork in the app then you get paid for that load on Thursday. There is no reason to not deliver a couple of loads a week so I'll literally get paid two or three times a week if not more depending on how long the runs are. I think I'll like that but maybe I won't in the long run. We'll have to see about it. Sounds nice to rip off a 1500 mile run in three days or so and then get the nearly $800 three days later. At that point I should have another trip finished and get paid again in a couple more days unless I'm running from one coast to the other.

It all comes down to planning your trips and finding that next load before you deliver the load that you are under at the moment. The advice we have been given so far from other drivers is to call the dispatch for the region before you get to the receiver to let them know when you are scheduled to deliver and see if they have another load nearby that will be ready right after you complete the run you are on so you don't have down time. You definitely have to hustle and be on top of your stuff in this career but at the same time, you can choose just how much you actually want to work. If you are happy with the money you make driving 2000 miles a week then OK but if you really want to hustle, you can get somewhere near 3000 miles a week and make that much more. We've also been told that we will have to play the game in other ways too. A couple of drivers told us that there are times where they will ask you to take a load 100 miles or less. There isn't any real money in that when you consider time waiting to be loaded, unloaded, waiting for a spot at the dock while another truck is being loaded or unloaded, etc. and some drivers will refuse those loads every time. But we were also told that if you take those short runs and help dispatch and the company out, you make them happy and now they owe you and you will get hooked up with a nice run the next time. The classroom instructor also more or less admitted that dispatchers will favor certain drivers and those are the ones that always get there on time and safely. There is definitely a political element to the hustle if you want to make a LOT of money.

I also have to start thinking about being a contractor and leasing a truck. There are risks involved there but they do pay a lot more. With the leasing program you get a newer truck and priority on loads plus the right to refuse any load you don't want to take because at that point you are running your own business. Of course along with that comes a lease payment on the truck, repairs, maintenance, you have to worry about your own taxes more, etc. The routine maintenance is covered by a six cents per mile amount that gets put into a maintenance fund which can only be used for that and the truck will have a 500,000 mile full warranty. You don't have to pay for the fuel out of your own pocket but it does come off the top of what you get paid. Plus that lease payment is due every week and comes right out of the personal side of your account every week as well even if you don't run at all. The way one contractor explained it to us is that you are going to start each week in the hole between $1000-1350 on average. Since you get paid a lot more, you can do that theoretical 1500 mile run in three days and now you are clear of that obligation by a couple hundred. Then the deliveries you run after that are pure profit. It all seems great on paper but I want to see the fine print. They say there is no risk and you can walk away from the lease at any time with no penalties except having to pay for any damage to the tractor as well as wear and tear (the tires and brakes have to have the same life left as when you received the truck for example) but there is no way it is that nice and neat. The contractors do make more money but I need to know more about the risks. That is a decision that is about six weeks or so down the road. It sounds a little to good to be true. I'm going to talk to other drivers during the next month and a half and also see if I can see a copy of a contract to read the fine print before even considering it though. We're dealing with large companies and they will try and get you every way that they can if you let them.

[Donnie Ebert]

Obviously the blog/site needs to be called gatewayroadbird.com.

Thanks for the narrative journey. It's been fun/enlightening to read about all that goes into getting out on the road in a big rig.

[GeddyWrox]

Obviously the blog/site needs to be called gatewayroadbird.com.

OBLIGATORY

[tlombard]

Well, that was one thing that I was struggling with and now that issue is solved. Expect to see the beginnings of Gateway Roadbird soon.

[tlombard]

It will be a week or so until I an afford to officially register GatewayRoadbird.com but it is coming. I've started building my site and will have some stuff up soon.

I got all of my qualification cards from the company today so I'm now just waiting to get paired up with a trainer which will hopefully happen tomorrow morning and I'll be on the road within 24 hours if all goes well. I just have to meet with the coordinator tomorrow first thing in the morning. While I'm waiting to get on the road I plan on putting some posts together about my time at school and the things that I have experienced so far. I also linked my Instagram account so I can share pictures. As of this point, I literally don't have a single post on my Instagram so the first one for the site will literally be my first post ever!

I definitely need to get out there and get some pictures to use on the site because the template I used just filled everything with stock photos of random stuff and it's pretty darn plain, but I do have my first post and the About section written as well as the general layout to start. Now I just need to fill in the previous month and a half worth of experiences in posts so that there is a base from the beginning and then I'll be ready to really post and post pictures once I hit the road. Things will probably be a bit out of order for awhile though because I don't want to wait to post new experiences/learnings just to wait until I can get something older posted. Within the next ten days or so, I'll officially register the domain and be ready to share it here hopefully.

If one of you tries to make a quick buck by stealing the domain name out from under me, forget about it. I'm broke and will just find something else to call it. Maybe I'll find out who you are and name the site xxxxisadbag.com or something if you do that.

[tlombard]

Well, that didn't take long. I just got the call to let me know that I've been assigned a trainer and he's just a couple of hours outside of town. It is time for me to pack my stuff up at the motel and get back to the yard so they can take me to meet up with him at a truck stop near there and my new adventure begins really soon. I'm excited. I spoke with him on the phone for a few minutes and I like what he had to say about how he views training and I think we'll get along well. He said his goal is to have me basically running the truck all by myself in the third week and that's exactly the experience what I want and what I need. I don't want to be sitting in the passenger seat for weeks at a time just riding along and doing nothing.

It is time for me to pack everything up here at the motel and get moving!