ORIENTATION

I apologize for getting a little off-topic on the last post. I get caught up in a thought and just kind of follow it a little while to see where it's going. Writers sometimes call it falling down the rabbit hole. I'll try to do better, but I know me. There will be times when a thought just has to be followed.

I said I would get to Orientation at a trucking company. I have not heard of a single company who doesn't have an orientation class. They have DOT compliance issues for every student or new hire, including the drug screening, physicals, and reams of paperwork.

If a company says you need a document and you don't have it, please don't get on the bus. Get the documentation and then get on the bus. Speak with the recruiters. Part of their job is to make sure you're prepared with all the information you need to get hired. It's a waste of their time, your time and effort, and the company's resources to get you there just to make you leave and come back again. It doesn't leave a very good first impression of you.

As a student, you have your newly minted CDL permit and all your documents. You're ready to show up at the company for the orientation class. These classes usually begin on Mondays, so they'll have you on the bus to arrive on Sundays.

You'll be put into a dorm at the terminal or in a hotel. Usually, this is going to be a shared room with another student or driver with the same company. Unless you pay for your own room, that's just how it works.

You followed your directions and show up in the orientation class on time Monday morning. You'll be greeted and given a spiel welcoming you and telling you what you can expect.

A new hire and a student will go through all the hiring paperwork, fill out anything they missed on their applications, and do their physicals and drug tests. A new hire will go through a company manual. This goes into pay, policies, benefits, where things are located, contacts, etc.

A student will get to work learning how to drive a truck. This is just like any classroom. You have an instructor, materials to learn, tests to take, and practical applications (driving a truck). The orientation will lead the class and introduce the people who are going to teach you other aspects of the job.

Driving instructors will take you out to the truck and start putting people in the driver's seat. Talk about nerves? Oh yeah!

My own experiences in driving a car didn't prepare me for driving a truck. The shifting is different for one thing. The real difference though was where I needed to drive. I come from a place of less than 80,000 people. My training was done in a very large city, Salt Lake City, Utah. It scared the daylights out of me.

Many of the students I saw were serious about learning and took the whole process seriously. They worked their butts off and still failed to get their CDL because of one aspect of the training or another. For some it's the classroom stuff, but for the majority it's the driving.

In a car, or smaller vehicle you get used to driving within a certain amount of space. It handles like this. It will squeeze through here. It will fit under that.

In a truck, you're dealing with a whole different animal. The controls are similar enough to feel almost familiar. There are more controls, more complexity, and so much attention has to be paid to the ass end of the truck you feel like you're having an out-of-body experience.

Splitting your attention so you cover the whole truck and not just what's in front of you takes time, practice, and an ability to multi-process mentally and physically. When you go through your training they will cover exactly what to watch, when to watch it, and what to do when you don't calculate your moves correctly. It's intense.

Backing...It's a process that is so involved and awkward that it amazes me still when I get it right. Even 2 years as a driver and I find myself setting up wrong and not being able to back into the space I want. I have to go back to square one and really THINK about where I have to have my trailer and when to turn the wheel and how much.

When you think you know what you're doing and have done it right a couple dozen times in a row is when complacency sets in. That will cause you to rush, hit something, and get an accident on your driving record. It will happen. You will call yourself a dozen kinds of stupid and then fix what you did wrong.

The key to backing is set up correctly and take your time. Even then, you will have days when you just can't get that back right. It's a horrible feeling. When you finally get it in the space you need, you'll just feel relieved it's over.

Orientation will be finished when you are officially hired and either get assigned to your truck (for a new hire) or when you get assigned to a trainer.

Trainers are a whole 'nother story.

Thanks for being here...

Renae - The Truck Driving Woman

GETTING INTO TRUCKING

If you're looking to start a career in truck driving, I'd seriously suggest asking yourself a few questions before jumping into the deep end. I didn't. I didn't have enough time or resources to ask the questions I needed to know the answers to. I just jumped and, luckily, I landed on my feet.

There's a hundred trucking companies advertising for drivers. And believe it, they need them. However, the hiring process is pretty similar at all of them, and there are a few things you need to know.

By the way, the only thing you have to provide out of your own pocket is your DMV testing and your personal stuff like food, meds, clothes, etc. Transportation and pre-hire medical testing is paid for by the company. Some companies will even provide your training. The catch here is that you will probably be required to sign a contract of service that generally lasts 9 months to 2 years, depending on the company.

You must pass a DOT (Department of Transportation) physical. Some companies will have you take a physical before coming to school. Some will have you take one when you arrive. If there is any issue on that physical, it needs to be addressed immediately.

One issue that came up was Interstate vs Intrastate qualified. Intrastate was marked on a bunch of the forms and many of my classmates had to retake their physicals to get it changed. Intrastate means you are ONLY ALLOWED TO DRIVE INSIDE YOUR STATE. That's completely pointless for a guy or gal who wants to travel the country. Right?

You must pass a Urinalysis. Drug screening is mandatory in the industry. DOT requires it. Most companies will not hire you or they'll fire you after hiring for refusing to take the test. Random screenings are required by DOT.

Many of the OTC (Over-the-Counter) meds and prescriptions are banned. Is marijuana legal in your state? Not if you drive a truck, or want to.

When you arrive at the Orientation (I'll get to that in a second.) You'll have to do a company physical and/or drug screening ON TOP OF THE ONE YOU DID BACK HOME! I was amazed by the number of hoops I had to jump through to get this license and get hired by a company. Get used to the idea because the physical only lasts for 2 years at the most. Your Medical Card, which is the paperwork the doctor gives you, can list all kinds of restrictions and limit the amount of time it's good for.

High blood pressure? You might get a card for as long as 2 years, but more likely it's 1 year, 6 months, or even less. Diabetes? Same thing. Sleep Apnea? They're going to set you up with a sleep study or take a reading from the machine you're using to verify compliance.

The list of things they can restrict is long and frustrating for anyone with medical issues. Can you still become a driver? Absolutely, you just need to jump a few extra hoops and keep jumping them for as long as you want to continue to drive.

If you don't have a CDL, you need one. There are companies that will train you for your CDL but you need to get your permit. Study at a site or get a test study booklet from your local DMV.

Trucking Truth is an amazing resource for anyone looking into the trucking industry. There are newsletters, blogs, CDL practice tests, and a ton of drivers willing and able to help anyone who asks for it. I used the site almost exclusively, and when I arrived at the DMV for my permit tests, I missed only 1 question on each of the 3 required tests. (Yes! Thanks TT!)

Another thing you need is to be able to pass a background check. Your criminal history and your work history will come under scrutiny. If you haven't worked, what did you do for the last 3 years? 5 years? You better have documentation! Your driving record will come up. References. How old are you? Over 23? Hope so.

Age is not as important a factor as a lot of the jobs out there, but they're really going to look at your physical health.

My school actually bussed a 4'8" teeny tiny 75-year-old woman for orientation. She was bunked with me in my 8-person room. I just shook my head when she hauled out a suitcase of prescriptions. I gave her the bottom bunk and threw my top bunk mattress on the floor for the night. The next day I ran into her in the hallway trying to wrestle her luggage outside for the trip home. I felt bad for her having to leave, but man, that lady had guts. Girls ROCK!

Many training companies will give you a full list of what you need to bring with you. Pay attention to it. If you skip even one required document, reference, identification, etc; you're going to go home. Why waste their time and your own? Just bring everything you're told to bring. It's a pain in the ass, but it will keep you attending the class in the morning and not riding a bus.

The recruiting office is full of people who want you to get a job with their company. If you don't know what questions to ask, ask them what you need to know. 9 times out of 10 you'll be given the straight line as they know it. These people will ask you a million questions and run you a dozen directions to get what you need for them to get you on the bus.

Recruiters have a terrible reputation. If you talk to a dozen company recruiters researching your options, TAKE NOTES! Who said what at which company is important because you don't want to go in thinking company A told you X, company B told you Y, and you get them confused and are upset the minute you step off the bus.

Your attitude and willingness to put forth the effort will make a huge difference in your life at the company you join. But, be prepared for the complainers and whiners to jump out of the woodwork the second you arrive. These people are either students or drivers who have an issue or problem and don't think they're getting a fair shake from the company. Remember people, just because your BOSS isn't going to be hanging over your shoulder, it doesn't mean he/she won't be watching and evaluating what you do.

Sometimes, the issues have nothing to do with the company. A guy who comes to the school expecting to get hired is going home tomorrow because he failed to mention (and get cleared) on a felony he committed 9 years ago. A gal is going home because she's on a regimen of painkillers for her arthritis. (Arthritis doesn't disqualify her, but the painkillers are opiates.) These people are NOT going to be happy with the decision by the company to send them home.

Another guy might leave because his gal back home is looking for a shoulder and his is 1,000 miles and maybe 3 months away. Another gal might leave because she can't provide a valid birth certificate. Someone's father is on his deathbed. Someone has a communicable disease he didn't treat. So on and so on.

Now, these examples might happen to a student or a new hire. The guys to really watch out for are the drivers who've been there a while. If they're complaining, they might have a legitimate gripe or they might just be intolerant of the way trucking works.

The trucking industry is flawed. Every driver who lasts a few months will be able to give you example after example of "what's wrong with this industry!" A lot of these guys pull money-wasting or illegal moves and get called on the carpet. They are sitting in wait for the new kids to show up and bend their ears.

See, here's the thing, trucking is a hard, lonely, frustrating, stressful job. It is a job. It is a job. It is a job. It is not a game, sight-seeing trip, play in Vegas, take a break whenever you want. It's a job. You have work to do and you are going to work for the money you get. You are going to be tired, pissed off, told where to go and when to be there. You are going to eat bad food, not get enough exercise, and wish that you could be anywhere else but where you are at that moment.

Go into it with the attitude that you are starting fresh. Make sure your family and friends realize this is work, not a roadtrip. Distractions and problems back home kill the potential of a lot of drivers. Be firm and tell them you will come home but to start you have to be gone for weeks and months at a time.

But, where else can you make close to $30,000 your first year and go upwards from there. Where else is your office wherever you are? Where else is your view an 8-foot picture window that never shows the same thing? Where else can you see almost any area of the country at different times of the year?

You have to ultimately decide for yourself is the benefit worth the headaches this woman is warning me about? A lot of newbies show up, work for a few months, and decide this isn't for them. That's okay. No job is perfect for everyone. Expecting it is just dumb.

Talk CDL The Trucking Podcast is a great resource of information for any driver. I recommend researching the trucker and trucking forums, blogs, and videos. There's a lot of complaining out there, but there's also a lot of genuine concern for the drivers and the information they provide is really good. Varied viewpoints and lots of discussions.

There are many organizations who make their living advocating "Trucking" and "Trucker's Rights." These organizations are great at what they do. Legislation and regulation is outrageous in this industry. Pay hasn't even come close to the work truckers do day in and day out. The problem I see is that there are so many justice fighters and so many complainers but the actions they are taking just INCREASE the rules truckers have to know and follow. Sheesh people! Step back, take a breath, and ask a friggin' trucker! And oh, actually follow his advice instead of your interpretation of his advice.

Most companies work hard to get their drivers home for hometime. These visits don't last long. Your families are going to have to learn to deal with a paycheck and not you. That's hard. But, the options when you are just starting are incredibly limited. Use your phones, laptops, and make the most of the time you do get to see them.

This has gotten pretty long so I'm going to continue on another post.

Just know that if you go into a school prepared and willing to work, the reward you get in the end will worth it. Is it going to make you a millionaire? No. Will it put food on the table and money in the savings account? Yes, if you stick with it and have the right attitude.

Thank you for sticking it out to the end...

Renae - The Truck Driving Woman

LETTER TO TODD MCCANN @ TRUCKERDUMP.COM

I’m going to just jump into this because it’s been on my mind quite a bit.

I’ve been thinking about the podcast I recently heard on trucker nation. Misty Noel hosts and enjoys talking about health issues for drivers. I haven’t gotten very far into it because she also talks about tax crap all the time. I can only hear so much of that before I hit overload.

She stated that truckers, on average, live 15 years less than non-drivers. I have no idea if this is an accurate statistic, but it kind of bothers me. Why? If this is accurate, then why? Diet, exercise, rest, work conditions, stress, access to medical care?

I’ve been out here since July, 2015. Nope, that’s not very long, but I’ve noticed several things. The general public has no clue and don’t care; and the companies that COULD help us in being healthier, turn us away.

How many Walmarts have you tried to park in that says no trucks. How many grocery stores have access? How many truck stops are actually close enough to shop at a store? I parked at a truckstop recently and had access to a Walmart. After slogging through a flooded field, the thought of hauling 40 lbs of groceries back to the truck was ridiculous.

How many companies have restrictive off-duty driving policies? How many places allow you to drop a trailer for a limited amount of time so you can run a few errands bobtail? How are truckers supposed to be healthier if we don’t have the routine access that other people do?

It wasn’t just the statistic of 15 years less to live that prompted my thinking, but also an article sent to me from a long-time family friend in Colorado Springs.

The TOPS organization is a group that has been working in the Colorado Springs, Colorado area to promote trails, parks, and preserves. Admirable and, from the article, they’ve done great work over the years.

My thoughts while looking at the article were, what kind of access is provided for people like us? What do we get out of it? We bring in the products and provide the materials that keep the economies of the world running. But, it’s like we’re a forgotten minority.

Sometimes, we are the problem. Why should they care about a bunch of guys who don’t bathe, throw trash on the ground, and clog up THEIR commutes? Other than warning other drivers about hazards, most of the CB chatter is trash too. We can’t even behave well to each other? Why?

I was one of the people who didn’t give trucks a second thought until I became a trucker. I love this life. It’s the most money I’ve ever made (which I am fully aware is pathetic), but it just fits me. I’m just disappointed in the country, the industry, and people who think truckers don’t matter.

Anyway, I just thought you might have some thoughts about some of these things and could help me understand.

Thanks for listening,

Renae

Trucker Dump

TOPS article

BE THE NOODLE

 BINGO

This is Bingo. He's a Parson's Russell Terrier (Think Jack Russell Terrier) and he's an old fart.

He's a rescue dog from the Omaha, Nebraska Humane Society. He's been an amazing companion for me during my travels around the Midwest. At 9-years old, I thought being in the truck might be rough on him, but other than the usual learning curve where missteps are often made, he's been a great dog.

The first misstep came when I left the windows cracked about 8 inches when I went into Walmart for a little shopping. I'd just reached the Deli counter when my phone started ringing. The woman on the phone asked if I had a dog named Bingo. I said yes and she proceeded to tell me she found him wandering the parking lot and called the number on his collar.

OMG! Trucks are 13'6" tall! The windows were up about the 10-foot mark. What the hell?!

I ran outside and met up with the woman who had kindly rescued my rescue dog. He had a cut on his inner thigh, but otherwise seemed okay. I let out a sigh of relief and took him back to the truck. Rolling up the windows a few inches prevented a repeat. Either that or he was being cautious.

The second misstep came when the little booger jumped out the window a second time and I found out by the jingling of the tags on his collar. Ugh! The little beast was going to give me a heart attack!

The third misstep came when I was at a shipper. I went to the rear of the trailer to reset the tandems (drivers call it sliding the tandems) and just turned to walk to the front when I saw a Mighty Dog commercial in real life. Leaping from the driver's window like he was going to land in a lake off a dock, he looked beautiful. Strong and amazing.

In slow motion, I watched as he landed and kind of fell/rolled. He immediately stood back up. My heart died a little when he raised his hind leg and just stood there for a minute. I rushed to him, picked him up, and scolded him.

"You're an old man! Are you TRYING to break a hip?"

He appeared ashamed and chastened as I searched for broken bones. After a couple of hours, he was walking mostly normally, but he wasn't thrilled with me when I would move his leg around.

Needless to say, this was the last of the little guy's flying attempts. I think it hurt just a little too much to risk again.

I've had a few hard-braking events when he was in the passenger seat. Lying or sitting on a blanket doesn't prevent a fast slide to the floorboards. Poor guy. He started spending more time in the sleeper bunk after that.

I swear he's got a bladder of steel! That dog holds his pee like nothing I've ever seen. There's many days when we're running around and literally can't stop or we'll be late to the customer. He comes up and looks at me, I apologize, and he goes back to the sleeper.

Only twice has he had bathroom accidents and that was my fault. As bad as it is, a lot of times he gets the same food I get. Unfortunately, his tolerance for truckstop food is less than mine. I learned my lesson and moderated his quantities. I don't know if it's okay for dogs, but a couple episodes of diarrhea on a speed run and I broke out the anti-diarrheal meds. One pill and a trip to the grass and he's ready to go back to bed.

He did get an episode of vomiting due to some bad food he found and ate before I could stop him, but I just cleaned up the mess and cuddled him a little extra. Nobody likes being scolded for something they can't control.

From the very beginning, I knew I could trust this dog. I picked him up and he just melted. He flopped onto his back like a cooked noodle and let me love on him. No matter how I held him, he just trusted in me to keep him from falling over on his head. I thought this was pretty amazing...until I watched him sleep. Somehow he always ends up on his back, neck stretched out, little legs flopped out like a understuffed doll. At least he's fixed and I don't have to look at his balls.

He's been friendly or willing to be friendly to any person who meets him, but dogs? Not so much. He thinks he's bigger and badder than everybody else. If he wasn't trying to pick a fight, I'd think it was cute. We stay away from other people walking their dogs.

I just wanted to introduce the little guy. He keeps me company, entertained, and helps me get some walking in. Unfortunately, that's in ANY WEATHER.

Thanks for being here,

Renae - The Truck Driving Woman

ORGANIZING UPDATE

TWO HOURS!

That's how long it took me to get to the bottom of the bin and find places for what was in it!!!

I'm pathetic. 

MOUNTAIN DRIVING SUCKS IN A GUTLESS WONDER

I've been running a strange little trip the last couple of days. Well, strange for me. It's a intermodal run. Basically, that means a container that goes on ships, trains, or a chassis with wheels. We've all seen them, so I'm not going to go on a major boring description.

The problem I'm running into is a little weird. I haven't been driving mountains or major hills in this truck before. I don't really know how any truck handles certain terrain until I'm there. Then, I don't know how to get the most out of it until I experiment a bit.

It's like trying to push a gazillion tons of bricks up a mountain with a bicycle. Mixed metaphors, but it gets the point across. As soon as it looks at an incline the damn thing starts slowing down. Then, it keeps slowing down until I'm crawling. The bitch of it is that I'm not even hauling a heavy load.

I've tried everything I can think of to maintain a decent climbing speed; changing the transmission from automatic to manual, setting the cruise, not setting the cruise, praying, ...

A run that should have taken a couple days is going to run into 3 days. Fortunately, I can make the deadline for delivery, but it's frustrating the heck out of me. Mountain driving in a gutless wonder sucks!

Thanks for being here,

Renae - The Truck Driving Woman

THE CLUTTER ISSUE

I've always been a disorganized person. This isn't my desk, but it's really not that far from what it looked like when I did have one, which I don't anymore. I have cubby holes, storage cabinets, and drawers. I'm the gal who doesn't have a junk drawer, I have several. Please don't get me started on how many times a year I do "Spring Cleaning."

Throwing away things I bought is HARD! That's $5. This is $10. That's got sentimental value. That's...nope that's going to come in handy some day. Well, that day never comes and I'm stuck with a gizmo whatchamacallit I've only used once.

Being disorganized in a truck is disaster! Rather than everything having a place, its place is wherever I just threw it. I will not say I don't throw anything away. Garbage is garbage. It's gone. But, the toothpaste I bought a month ago is half full but I can't find it, so I go and buy another one. Pretty soon the first one shows up and now there's 2 I can't throw out because they're still only half used.

It's also pretty pathetic that my bathroom products grow pretty quickly. How many shampoos and conditioners can one girl use? Lotion? Several. Perfume? A couple. Medicines of all kinds end up multiplying all by themselves.

I bought a bin thinking I would just put it all in one place and that way I wouldn't have a bunch of bottles and packets stashed away everywhere. It became the junk drawer from hell. I call myself an idiot on a regular basis just because of that stupid idea.

Well, I figured out something. I'm a hoarder. I'm a binge and impulse buyer. I'm a slob. How did this happen? What can I do to fix it?

I told you I purchased the Dave Ramsey books The Money Makeover and The Complete Guide to Money. I also began my first budget. It's not the first budget I've EVER started, but it's the first budget I haven't been terrified of.

The point I'm making here is this, I'm going to have to clean up my act. From the clutter and disorganization in my environment to the clutter and disorganization in my finances, I need to change.

With the decision comes the first step, which is the budget. I won't tell you details, but it's a mess. There's room for improvement. Wiggle room to tweak it until it gives me what I need. This isn't what I want. It's what I need.

He pointed me to a free budget making app called Everydollar. It's easy to use and does the math for you. That's pretty good for me. Math is not one of my favorite things.

While the budget is something I can't expect instant success with, the clutter issue can be. A little time off, a bottle of 5-hour energy, and I am attacking the clutter in my life.

Might be a few days from now, but I'll let you know how it's going.

Thanks for being here,

Renae - The Truck Driving Woman

THE GIFT I GAVE MYSELF

 Today I gave myself knowledge

I put on my reading glasses and purchased a book to teach myself about money. I've been listening to "The Dave Ramsey Show" on A.M. radio for years, but have felt completely blocked in the ability to do anything with the information he was teaching.

Finally, I feel like I can do something about my financial situation. I've always tried to work, and when that wasn't possible, I tried to learn. Usually, a health issue like my back problems, depression, and a few cysts in my uterus and on my ovaries caused me to stop what I was working on. Income dries up and I'm back to square one.

While I've always had some kind of financial support, i.e. Social Security Disability or a state issued welfare, I've tried to reduce my own feelings of guilt by working or learning. Some of this was due to boredom, but mostly I just have too much inner drive to settle for this lifestyle. When those support systems were taken from me, I was mad. Leave me destitute and on the verge of homelessness and I get mad. But, I wasn't just mad about the eradication of one of the financial legs I was standing on. I was mad that I let myself be one of the people who needed it, who depended on it, who counted on it always being there.

I started my working life when I graduated high school and continued to find low-paying employment of one kind or another throughout my adult life. Circumstances and allowing myself to be mired in other people's money problems always kept me barely able to feed myself, much less the families needs. The cycle repeated for years until I find myself suddenly 46-years old with no savings, no retirement, no clue.

It's time I concentrate and learn about the thing that scares me most... Money.

TRUCKER PAY - IT'S WORTH IT...AND IT'S NOT

Beware! All who enter...

The industry sources are saying that truck drivers average 42,000 per year. My own income is ballparking that after a year and a half as a driver.

The problem is that as a company driver, I'm not in control of my schedule. An owner operator or lease purchase driver either contracts to a company or scrambles after their own loads through brokers.

Either way, a driver's schedule is controlled in varying degrees by others. The company sends me a load assignment. I accept the load assignment. I wait for my legal running time. I prep for the trip and arrive to pickup my load as scheduled. Anywhere from an hour to OMG! later, I get to run the load toward it's destination.

I have to stop when I'm told to stop, rest/sleep when I'm told to, and run only when I'm allowed to.

Any American driver will tell you we run a 70-hour work week. That's amazing, right? You work 40? 30? 20? I grant that a 70-hour work week sounded pretty outrageous when I started this career. But, here's the problem with deciding to set an hour limitation on the work week, and driving day. WE GET PAID BY THE MILE!

Some owner/op or lease purchase drivers get more control. They can choose to be paid by a percentage of what the company gets for the load or by mileage. I'm not an owner/op or lease purchase driver, so I cannot say what is better. However, these drivers pay fuel, tolls, taxes, maintenance costs, licensing, etc. They are owners of their own businesses. Everything that needs to be paid for to run the business, they have to cover. If you're a bad business person, you go broke. If you're not, you build until you're happy with the business you made. But, I'm discussing company drivers, not the other guys.

Okay, so you only are allowed 11 hours of driving time per day. You might take a day off, but most drivers keep running for 2 or 3 weeks. But, for the sake of argument you take a day off. 6X11=66. That's under 70 hours so you're legal.

Also for the sake of argument, you actually get to drive all of the 66 hours. You have a truck that averages 60 mph. 60X66=3,960. That means in 6 days, 11 hours a day, at 60 mph you could get a whopping 3,960 miles behind you.

Wow! Almost 4,000 miles per week? That's an awesome accomplishment! You do this every week?

The math adds up, the SCHEDULE does not. As I said, we're regulated by the hour, paid by the mile, and other people tell us where to go and determine how long we have to be there.

Say it takes 3 hours of my drive time to get 30 miles through Atlanta? Say it takes 4 hours to do 50 miles because of construction detours? Say it takes 7 hours to load? Where does my clock go?

Every single day is a fight to get as much pavement under tires as possible. We push the speed limit to reach destinations as quickly as possible so we can move on to the next load as quickly as possible. The more loads we move, the better the miles, the more the paycheck.

The catch-22 here is that we don't control anything except the driving. The other catch-22 is that we don't get paid for every mile the truck moves. Since October 2016, I've put 85,000 + miles on my truck. (I say my but it's owned by the company I work for.) I guarantee that I have not been paid for every mile that truck has moved.

Each load is given an empty miles value and a loaded miles value. My company pays less for empty miles than for loaded miles, but every company has different pay rates. Some get "all truck miles," and some get all loaded miles same as empty. For our purposes we'll just say all miles are the same and call it good. The math is easier.

The miles are determined usually by zip code to zip code, NOT address to address. Do I stop as soon as I reach the zip code? Of course not. I deliver to a specific address. The mileage from the start of the zip code to the address varies, a lot. It might be 2 miles or 15. Those miles take up the clock AND are considered freebies.

The time in a fuel island, at a shipper or receiver, even the time taking a pee break will be counted against the 14-hours of on duty time per day. Driving hours are part of that. So 3 hours of your whole work day is available for things other than driving like fueling, inspections, checking in and out of customers, dropping and hooking up trailers. We even have to use that on-duty time when we break down out on the road and are waiting for a repair truck to come help us.

Enough waiting around at a shipper and your 11-hours of driving time disappears. Waiting in traffic? Huge drain on driving hours and you don't rack up the miles.

Consider this, we are paid pennies per mile. Anywhere from $.26 to a high of $.65 (there are others that pay lower and higher but I haven't personally seen or heard.) This is just the average range. If you're day is spent at traffic lights or in a traffic jam, you still get only the miles of the load. It doesn't matter how much of the next day's potential gets wasted.

Two other points. One is that I've never made this much in my entire life. The other is that earnings in 2017 are the same as earning in 1990. In other words, there's no pay increase that has kept up with inflation or cost of living. If you earned 32,000 in 1990, it would be the same as 64,000 today.

That puts the millions of men and women who work out here away from their families for weeks and months at a time firmly in the category of the working poor. We are literally paid less than a burger flipper. We just work more hours so it doesn't seem like it.

Thanks for watching,

Renae - The Truck Driving Woman

DRIVING DAY - THE STANDARD EDITION CONTINUES

        God shows his hand in my life every day.

Fueling can be a pain in the tush or an easy way to take a potty break. Team drivers might have to fuel every day. Solo drivers might only fuel every couple of days. It all depends on how far they're going and what they have to do after they get there.

There are usually 2 fuel tanks, one on each side of the truck and they hold 99 gallons per tank. It takes a bit of time to fill up one of these puppies. But wait, you're not done.

There's also DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid) and the reefer with it's 50 gallon tank. DEF isn't an every time you fuel issue, but it is necessary on a lot of trucks. If it's not above a certain level, it regulates your truck to 55 mph until you satisfy it's needs. (DEF is an additive to the fuel system that burns off the nasty stuff that used to present itself as black smoke rising out of the exhaust pipes. You remember those, right?)

Reefer (refrigerated) trailers run on diesel fuel too. They are filled up because that's how the trailers regulate the temperature the customer needs his product shipped at. You do NOT want a load of ice cream in a trailer that runs out of fuel. Anyone who has ever worked fast food can tell you the food must maintain a certain temperature in order to avoid making people sick. The trailers can be set for any temperature necessary. I even carried live fish to pet stores and maintained 78 degrees Fahrenheit.

The problems at the fuel islands come from overcrowding and inconsideration. A lot of truck stops have restaurants, showers, convenience store shopping, etc. If there are 5 fuel bays, 5 trucks can fuel. Say, there are 5 fuel bays, 5 trucks fueling, 5 trucks who have already fueled and the drivers are in shopping, and there are 15 trucks waiting to fuel. Needless to say, until the shoppers move out of line ain't nobody going anywhere.

Fuel islands are a good place to turn off your CB radios in these conditions. The 15 truckers waiting to fuel are also most likely in desperate need of the bathroom as well as fuel after driving like a bat out of hell for 6 hours straight. The CB trash-talk is virulent and violent. Usually, nothing comes of it; but there are always stories from truckers who've been around awhile.

As a woman, I'm not exempt from the trash-talking. However, once they realize I'm a woman the physical threats usually dry up. I'm just as stuck as anyone else and I've been patiently or impatiently waiting my turn.

(This is why I started the primitive bathroom arrangements.) I cannot justify to myself jumping out of the truck to run in and use the bathroom if I'm holding up the other drivers. Even the possibility of delaying the rest of us schmucks so I can use the restroom inside is intolerable to me.

The courteous and responsible behavior is pull up after fueling, keep your inside the store time to a minimum, or find a parking space and then go inside. Time and time again a truck is blocking the fuel island because a jerk decided to have his "magazine time" in the bathroom, or order the supersize gutbuster and make sure the fries are fresh out of the fryer. Fast food is rarely that fast.

Some drivers will take their mandatory 30-minute breaks in the fuel island too. It's enough to make most of the drivers out here homicidal, but the same driver who just got ticked by the waste of his time has no problem with pulling the same crap with the next guy in line. Hypocrites.

A day in the life of a truck driver is filled with people who only have their own best interests in mind and to hell with the other guy.

One of the biggest issues drivers look for in a company is whether they care about the individual driver. We are cut off in traffic, undervalued or discounted by the general population, disrespected by retailers and customers alike, and highly underpaid. If the company you've hitched your wagon to doesn't seem like they care about what you go through out there, you don't stay long. As long as your record is clean, you can go anywhere or even 10 anywhere's before Monday.

I'll talk about pay issues next time. It's worth it, and at the same time...it's not.

Thanks for being here.

Renae-The Truck Driving Woman

DRIVING DAY - THE STANDARD EDITION

The average day begins with the getup-and-go routine I've worked out. See the last post if you need a reference.

Once I've done the pre-trip inspection and gotten all the stuff in the truck locked down into their various nooks and crannies, it's time to roll.

I mention this step due to the fact that having a book fall on your head while bouncing down the road, or a full drawer crash to the floor behind you is very distracting. My drawers have a tendency to fly open when they need to stay closed and remain closed when I want them to open. I use a bungee cord and cursing. All depends on the appropriate occasion.

The headlights are on, the stereo tuned, phone attached to the Bluetooth, food and drinks to hand, and the brakes released. Out of the parking spot I roll.

This is the part of my day I really love and dread at the same time. Every day I start driving at a different time, from a different location, and different things to look at.

Today, for example; I parked in a rest area. It's dark, quiet, (other than highway noise and the trucks also parked here with either idling engines or reefers kicking on and off), and there's a place for me and the pooch to do our business.

A lot of ladies out there would be a bit nervous about parking in a rest area for 10 or more hours. Heck, a lot of men aren't all that fond of them. Me? Rest areas generally have less area than a truck stop to park trucks, so there are fewer of them. The other drivers, even though they're resting, will keep an ear out for trouble; and it's generally a place that's patrolled by law enforcement officers on a fairly regular basis.

Another benefit is fewer opportunities to blow my money on useless crap.

Back to the point... I parked with the intention of taking a split sleeper. Which is a 10-hour mandatory rest break that can be legally split into 2 breaks consisting of 2 hours off duty or sleeper, and 8 hours in the sleeper. I miscalculated. This isn't difficult for me since my math skills have always stank worse than roadkill skunk.

I'm writing another post because I can't take the split sleeper break and remain legal. I screwed up. Instead of putting myself in the sleeper, I put myself off-duty. The sleeper has to be utilized if I want the split sleeper. Off-duty needs a full 10 hours to get your clock back. I also approved my logs so I can't even go back and edit. I'm an idiot.

I'll explain...E-Logs are Electronic Logs. There's a lot of controversy regarding this tool. Basically, a computer program keeps track of where, when, and how you log your time. The benefit to me is that it does the time math for me. The drawback to me, and any other idiot, is that garbage in garbage out still applies. If you hit the buttons before thinking, the consequences can be large or small, but there will be consequences. Every line except driving can be edited, but only before you approve them. They have to be approved every 24 hours. Once approved, you have to wake up the safety department to edit them for you. I'm not a fan of waking up people in the middle of the night for my own stupidity.

Back to the driving day...

I usually have checked the weather conditions and traffic conditions on my route and checked my truck-rated GPS to see if I'm still heading to the right place. So, off I go.

I'm watching my truck in the mirrors as I pull away so I don't hit anything and I'm safely heading for the highway. Merge with the flow of traffic, pick up speed, and settle myself into my seat with a sigh.

I sigh to let out the tension I've created for myself in just leaving the parking spot. Driving for 2 to 5 hours at a stretch without this tension release generally gives me headaches, stomach aches, and muscle aches. Driving on the highway for long periods requires a kind of watchful relaxation.

The relaxation is keeping your shoulders from hunching and as good of a posture as you can to be able to physically endure the trip. Drivers are constantly abusing their bodies. I consciously have to remind myself to lower my shoulders, stretch my neck muscles, and generally bend in ways that allow small sections of my body to stretch a bit. It keeps me from being a cripple at the end of the day. I don't like feeling or appearing like I've just gotten off the bull at a bull-riding competition, so I do what I can while I'm driving down the road.

The watchful part is the mental and physical effort of keeping your eyes moving, staying alert, and being ready to react at a moment's notice. I'm constantly finding myself saying, "What if this...? What if that...?"

It's exhausting to stay focused that long, especially without something to occupy your mind, at least in part. Texting is a huge no, no, but one-touch calling and using the Bluetooth through the truck sound system is wonderful. I barely have to look away from the road to dial. And I avoid dialing or anything else when I'm in thick traffic or challenging road changes. (Construction, curves, etc.)

My phone is capable of voice dialing, but the interface keeps asking me if I want to call people other than the one I request. The same applies to texting. I pause too often in my speech to allow the phone's little brain to comprehend that, no, I really didn't want to send a 3-word text. I wanted to send a 13-word text, or even 30.

A lot of people are fully capable of entertaining themselves on the road. Music, talk-radio, podcasts, audiobooks, and other forms of audio distraction keep me from becoming mired in my own thoughts. I turn it down or off when I'm entering a truck stop, navigating a lot of turns in a short period of time, or entering a customer's property.

I'm in awe of the technology now available that keeps our mobile entertainment with us wherever we go. During training, we weren't allowed phone calls and my phone was an ancient hockey puck. FM radio or silence were the options I had at the time.

There's a lot involved in the day of a truck driver... More in the next post.

Thanks for being here. Please stick around. I promise interesting stuff will show up. Eventually.

Renae-The Truck Driving Woman

A WOMAN'S DAY ON THE ROAD

This is what's coming at you in your first traffic jam behind the wheel of a big rig.


I don't remember what kind of dog this is, but this is what I felt was coming toward me from all directions that first day. It was scary, intimidating, and my leg cramped from using the clutch repeatedly. That ol' leg muscle builds pretty darn quick!

Anyway, this post is about a woman's day on the road. It's pretty similar to a man's day without all the farts, belching, and bathroom humor.

My day starts when it's time to drive and ends when I go to bed. Huh? Does that use all the minutes of a day? Yes.

I set my alarm for about an hour before I have to actually put it in gear. I set a second alarm 15 minutes later. I set a third alarm for 30 minutes later. I set a fourth alarm for 45 minutes later. There is a method to my madness. I promise.

An hour before I get behind the wheel I'm sound asleep and the alarm goes off. I have the most annoying tones and set it to maximum volume. I actually do occasionally hit snooze or sleep through it. Thus, the second alarm. This one usually gets my tush out of bed.

Once I manage to pry my eyes open and take care of morning needs, my copilot is pleading with me to help him take care of his. Regardless of my appearance, I step out of the truck, drag the leash out, and proceed to follow him around. (Him, is my Parsons Russell Terrier named Bingo. He's 9+ and a shelter rescue from Omaha.)

Now, you'll notice I didn't step out of the truck until AFTER morning needs. You guessed it. I've got a primitive bathroom setup. Picture large cups, empty (until used) water or soda bottles, and a plastic lined bucket and you get the idea. Hand sanitizer, wet wipes, and gallon jugs of water are pretty essential. I've also got an electric kettle to boil water and a basin for getting the old spit bath going.

A lot of drivers take that morning trek into the truck stop for a morning shower to get going. My shower is whenever I can fit it into the schedule. A day or two without a shower won't kill me or anyone else as long as you wash the necessary areas in between times. Some drivers wash at the end of the driving day. Some will grab an hour or so out of the schedule.

At the 30-minute alarm, I know I need to hurry my butt along. The hair gets pulled back after a quick dry shampoo or spray of conditioner and a combing. Whatever clothes I grabbed to take the dog out are checked to make sure I've got clean stuff on. (You would not believe how many times I've sniff tested my clothes!)

This is also when I grab a quick bit of food and set up the dog for the day. Sometimes, I have what I need in the truck. I have a fridge now, but that wasn't always the case. In training, I honestly don't remember seeing a fridge in the trucks. I guess it was a space-saving issue to accommodate the trainer and the student driver's stuff. I'll talk about the shopping issues later.

Food and drinks are set where they'll be handy going down the road. Usually, this means a couple water bottles and whatever snack foods I'm craving at the time. I am a pop drinker, so I almost always grab a 44 ounce fountain drink. One of these keeps me from caffeine withdrawal all day. No, I'm not drinking the loaded versions. Sugar free is bad too, but I'm getting the caffeine and not the huge calorie count. (It's better than grabbing the coffee, which I can't stand without tons of extra crap. The only time I drink coffee anymore is when I'm constipated. Works every time. Usually when it's the most problematic.)

By this time, the 45-minute-from-wakeup alarm is going off. Turn the truck on, get the Qualcomm to wake up, and start my pre-trip inspection. The pre-trip is all about making sure the truck is in good working condition. Opening up the hood, checking fluids, brakes, connections, tires, wheels, lights, air lines, mudflaps, and the list goes on. Getting back in the truck, you check all the gauges, interior systems, braking systems, and all the other bells and whistles are working. The general consensus by DOT (Department of Transportation) and companies is that this should take up 15 minutes minimum of your day.

When that 45 minute alarm goes off and my Qualcomm is awake, I put myself on duty for that pre-trip inspection. While I'm doing the inspection, any messages from the company have finally been sent to me. These include everything from safety messages to load plans. I usually finish my pre-trip a little earlier than 15 minutes and take the leftover to look over what the company has sent me.

You'll notice that nowhere in my morning routine have I done anything that improves my appearance. No regular makeup routine. No jewelry choices. Nothing. If you're a girly-girl, you might think about that. This is not the career choice of the easily insulted, intimidated, or high maintenance kinds of women. Many women on the road will take the time to do a makeup routine, but they have to include the extra time it takes in their plans or forgo it altogether when time is short. It's short a lot.

Which, right now, it's short for me. Gotta get that shuteye for my final push to the yard. My day starts at 1 AM tomorrow.

Again, Thanks for visiting and hope to see you again,

Renae-The Truck Driving Woman

LIFE CONTINUED IN TRUCKER SCHOOL

Well, life did continue in trucker school. I told the kids I was running away from home, hopped a bus for 21 hours, and tossed my stuff on a bunk. (With 7 other bunks!) Most companies have a bunk system or sharing system for housing. This is just one of the more extreme.

So I arrived and immediately felt like I was at summer camp! Not.

I arrived and immediately felt like I was in a Twilight Zone episode. Remember, I have avoidance issues. Being around other people in any shape or form has reduced me to hiding in my room for extended periods of time. There was one other woman in the room when I arrived and another showed up shortly after. The first lady was the sweetest and took pity on us.

She'd been with the company awhile and appointed herself our tour guide. The enforced close quarters did start off fledgling friendships. Without these two ladies I would have lost what I had left of my marbles.

After a couple hours of running around looking into every available nook and cranny, I found myself at the smokers' tables.

(I'm a smoker. Yes, I know it's evil incarnate. One of these days I will throw the nasty little sticks away and chew out every person who comes near me. But, not today.)

You might wonder why I'm going over the little details here and not waxing poetic about trucking. The answer is that this environment was a radical change in what I was comfortable with. I was horribly self conscious and tried to be as friendly as I could without giving my inner turmoil away.

I found myself talking to other students, new drivers, and old hats at the trucking game. Everyone had a story. Good or bad, I listened and took it all in. I did not stay silent. I did not hide.

A vastly different approach to people and situations for me. I didn't melt. They accepted me for the most part and sometimes I couldn't help but laugh at the stuff they talked about. I even found myself explaining how I had found myself there.

A word of caution is necessary here. Women are the minority in the trucking industry. I believe the last statistic I heard said 6% of all truckers are female. The statistic is slightly overstated. That includes female delivery drivers and local drivers like the UPS lady, the gal that stocks grocery shelves with bags of Doritos and the like.

These women are truck drivers. However, they are not truckers. Here's how I define a trucker...

A trucker is a person who drives a tractor and trailer around the country and doesn't see their homes or families for weeks and months at a time. This might be a week away or many weeks, even months.

A truck driver is someone who delivers goods using a large truck or truck and trailer and manages to get home every night.

Many other drivers will argue this definition. Some will say you aren't a trucker unless you can't picture yourself doing anything else. Others will say you aren't a trucker unless you've been on the road for a gazillion years.

No matter what definition you use, women don't choose this work very often. That's actually pretty sad. Women across the board are considered a better risk by the carriers (trucking companies). They have fewer accidents, better driving habits, and generally better customer relations than their male counterparts. This isn't universal. Some women are nasty and some men are professional. But, in general, this is how the male vs female drivers are perceived.

Moving on.

I survived truck driving school and went into my first truck with a trainer. Apprehensive and knowing how much I stank as a driver, I got behind the wheel and found myself immediately in a traffic jam!

Until the next time... Thanks

Renae - The Truck Driving Woman

If Hell Looks Like This

"If you're going through hell, just keep going..."  Winston Churchill

Now, if hell looked like this, we probably wouldn't be worried about going through it. Fortunately, or unfortunately, life is full of ups and downs that kiss, hug, and kick us at times. My life sure has been filled with these opportunities to surprise me.

As a divorced woman, raising kids (sometimes one and sometimes two), it was all about keeping the roof over our heads, the lights on, and the food on the table. I was more successful than I could have been, and less successful at bringing in the extras. My kids will tell you they never had name brand anything, birthdays were scheduled for after payday (whether that was on the day of or not), and food was...edible?

I had some real issues. I couldn't stay at a job more than a year or two, depression kicked me in the face constantly, self-esteem issues, financial stress, and back pain were just a few of the problems that plagued my early adult life. Needless to say, I made a hash of it.

I was able to get disability for my depression, and occasional help with the back pain. The constant sleep deprivation from pain and a system that puts pressure on the disabled person to continue or discontinue disability based on criteria I never really understood, made for a very unhappy and broken woman.

Relationships were short-term failures. Unhappy people make poor decisions and even poorer life partners. Nothing satisfies them for long. That's why people say to avoid them. I finally avoided myself. As weird as that sounds, it's the absolute truth. I became the woman who only came out of her room to find food and use the bathroom. I never talked on the phone, barely interacted on the internet, and God forbid anyone require me to see them in person.

Then, my mother went into a nursing home and my disability was cut at the same time. First of all, my mother's income was buying our groceries, while mine covered the rest of the necessities. House, gas, utilities, phone, etc were my responsibility. The doctor who evaluated me and was responsible for my disability discontinuing said I had borderline-personality disorder. I scratched my head and mumbled, "Did my depression go away? Am I not suffering from what I thought I was?"

Borderline-personality disorder is a huge catchall for diagnosing mental illness. I looked it up. There's a thousand other diagnoses that fit under this umbrella. If I wasn't depressed, what was I? Well, I'm not a sociopath, nor a psychopath; which are the first choices that come up when you look up borderline-personality disorders. Whew! That was a close one.

I looked closer. In addition to chronic major depression, I have Avoidance Personality Disorder. Every dang symptom listed fit me on both. And here the doctor is saying I'm fine and go to work you lazy bum.

I was pissed. Livid. Here I was with nothing and every door was getting slammed in my face because a doctor didn't know an accurate diagnosis from his anal orifice. I am not a doctor. I am not qualified to diagnose or treat. But I am an expert on myself.

The final straw was the last check that came in. What do I do now? The kids are grown. Mom has been moved to a nursing home. I'm not truly responsible for anybody but me. I still have to pay lot rent in the trailer park and electricity. My own needs aren't really that much. So how do I survive the situation?

Me? I went to truck driving school. I had to ask for my brothers to help, which they did. That's all for now. Thank you for reading my blog...

Renae - The Truck Driving Woman