From the road...

My employer has hinted that they will be installed with the e-logging equipment later this year. Yay!

One of the XPO drivers I see almost every day tells me that he intentionally sets his off at least once a week just to piss his boss off. He can get away with that because he's union.

 

Make a magnetic mount so you can move from rig to rig. Time is money. If it saves you time it will pay for itself

 

Cabs are usually aluminum and fiberglass. Magnet no worky but suction cup may...

 

I used a spotter ONCE!! Little Mexican guy jabbering at me to pull forward around 2 truck parked illegally on a one way street.
I knew better before I even started,but figured why not? I'm at a chicken plant,and hes Mexican,so he knows better.
Ended up clipping a peterbilt on my blindside while Juan kept motioning me on.
Then the little bastard ran back into the building and left me to do my police report.
Good Memory...

 

I go to a warehouse tomorrow night where you have to blind side in.The warehouse was never designed for 53ft trailers.
You have to cut it in so tight you will rip off your lines.
I now set up,unhook every line except my red,and usually make short work of it.Theres been a lot of equipment tore up there.
I will post some pics tomorrow night when I'm finished.Truckins funner-n- hell!!

 

I got in some deep doo-dee last week.Ive had the flu,and driving sick.
I woke up and had a text message that I had been recorded going 73 in a 55 last night on I-24.
Seems the old camera told on me letting the truck eat going down a hill.Im governed at 65 in real life.
I texted back that I was NOT@! driving that fast,and that he should get a real job and get outta my ass.
He then tell me to come see him.I then figured it was our safety boss,and I had wadded off into a hole...
I told him I would gladly come see him and turn in my phone and fuel card.I never agreed to the camera,
that was bullshit.One week later,and no ones said shit to me,but my days are numbered.
I'm NOT driving with a camera on me.They can go back and review my whole 11 hr drive every day on camera.
I don't need that.If you don't trust me,then I'm not the man for you.They sure as hell aren't going to defend me if I get a ticket.

 

Didn't XPO buy out Conway?

 

You got e-logs or paper logs?

 

I'm so glad I got out without ever having to do e-logs or cameras or any of that shit. I would set the cruise at 75, drive until I was really tired, sleep 5 or 6 hours usually (when I had to do overnights), get home as early as possible and make up a story in the log book to try to make sense of it legally. I usually had a back-up log in case I got pulled in, a couple times I was either writing while waiting in the inspection line or tearing out pages to get to my made up stuff.

 

And this is why we have elogs now. The 14 hour rule is BS though. It would be nice to break your day up where you weren't rushed.

As far as the camera, I don't have one now but my other company didn't really bother me much. It did seem like invasion of privacy with the one facing in but once I got stopped in just put my hat over it.

 

Why do you say the 14 hour rule is BS?

 

So you do not have to worry about running out of time if you wanna nap mid day or get stuck in traffic or at the shipper, etc.

Make it that you can't drive more than 11HRS in a day and leave drive time management up to the driver. Not everybody drives the same, all depends on their driving style and commodity they haul. I'd hate to drive a reefer and be on e-logs, those places take forever so you better hope you didn't start your clock when you pulled into the shipper/receiver.

 

Good points. I just wish the break was longer. Between grabbing a shower, eating, sleeping, and getting up with enough time to wake up, there isn't enough time.

I like driving a reefer for the company I work with. They pay automatic detention after the first hour at every stop.

Arrived at a 10:00 PM pickup last week at 8:00 PM, was told it wouldn't be loaded until midnight. Was told I could just pick up the load after my 10 hour break, so I did. Got $180 in detention pay.

Of course that made me late for the next two stops, but it wasn't my fault.

 

I use mirrors when i back anything up. Guess my idea of a blindside is the side that you can't see. We can always see one side whether it's passenger or driver side when backing? Eh, IDK. I don't have my A's anyway.

 

Driver's side is backing up with the trailer going left. You can look out the window to your left and see the trailer going left.

Blind side is backing with the trailer going right. It takes time, and getting out to look as many times as you need to.

 

Here's what i was thinking. Dude uses the corner of the building as his guide/point of reference. Works for either right or left ?

 

Daycab.

He has a back window to look out of.

You cant see anything out the back in a sleeper truck.

Also, if there was another trailer where the dumpster is at, it wouldn't be a 27 second back.

 

Yep, that day cab changes everything.

 

Mirrors can't catch the ass end of the trailer? Isn't there like 6 mirrors on each side of the rig?

I'm getting my A's soon enough, just as a backup plan when my body falls apart from a life of concrete.

 

Not when you are turning like that. You can see about halfway down the trailer.