Life on the Road - Trucking News Blog

If you made it past my Become a Successful Truck Driver post and still want to drive or you want to change companies, what’s the best way to find your next trucking job?

It depends on the job you want, if you just want a driving job, bumping docks as fast as you can you can get the free recruiter mags at truck stops, call the companies direct or fill out an application at an online recruiting site.

Look for the Best Job for You

If you want the best job for you, then you’ve got to go looking for it. This is true when looking for any job. The best jobs don’t advertise. Huge job search sites like Monster may be good for a start and I’ve seen a few driving jobs that are put out by private non-trucking companies for drivers that might be okay.

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Popularity: 25% [?]

Nope, I’m not dispensing any answers in this post; I’m just asking questions. Asking questions, though, as Martha would say, is a good thing. Questions demand answers, answers require thought, thought requires critical analysis and critical analysis can lead to the revelation of both problems and the solutions to those problems.

In Part 1 of this post I asked several general questions but only detailed a few of them. In this final installment I’ll do my best to detail the remaining questions and sum up. Don’t think, by any stretch, I’m asking all the questions though.

I’m not even asking all the questions I’ve thought of let alone all the questions that could, and probably have been, asked by others who are far more informed than I am ever likely to be.

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I found this article concerning the use of high-tech for dispatching interesting. Even smaller companies are realizing the value of technology in trucking. However, they only realize it from a dispatch point of view.

For less than the cost of one truck, this company has upgraded their ability to service customers and keep track of shipments. I would guess they will see a return on investment very quickly.

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Popularity: 21% [?]

If you have ever had a problem keeping your composure when it comes to aggressive drivers then you can definately say you are human. It’s a natural reaction to become aggitated at motorists who seem to have no respect for themselves or others around them. But when it comes to trucking and truck drivers, we as professionals need to set the standard when dealing with these types of situations.

I have noticed over the course of my driving career that many truckers seem to think that they are king, so to speak, of the road. I am sorry to tell you, but trucks are no longer sterotyped as “kings of the road”. I remember 20 years ago riding with my father in his truck that cars and other motorists would actually give right of way to big trucks. And even, sometimes, do so with the friendly wave of a hand. Now, those types of people still do exist, but they are few and far between. Now a days most common motorists do everything they can to be in the front of everyone else, including trucks, and they could care less who they have to cut off or run off the road to achieve it.

As professional drivers, it is up to you to keep your composure and deal with these types of motorists by backing away from them if possible. Keeping yourself out of harms way is key in an aggressive driving situation. Do not let aggressive drivers get the best of you. I know it’s hard to do sometimes but you can control yourself. Remember that no matter where you are, there are going to be drivers around you who neglect the dangers surrounding them and it’s up to you to make predictions and adjustments to keep the road a safer place to travel.

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Remember CW McCall and the song Convoy? The state of Colorado recruited Mr. Fries (CW’s real name) to narrate Crossing The Colorado Rockies On I-70 With C.W. McCall. Downloadable MP3’s, one for westbound and another for eastbound. Great information for driving the stretch between Denver and Vail, a lot of safety information, warnings of steep grades and sharp curves by mile marker and some really interesting stories about the towns and sights along the way. A really cool driving tour specifically made for truckers, there’s some good information for four-wheelers as well. There’s even information for four-wheelers when they’re driving around big trucks, like -

If you see an eighteen wheeler coming up real fast behind you blowing his horn, he may want to use the runaway truck ramp, you might want to move into the left lane.

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Popularity: 38% [?]

Look at any of the freebie recruiting mags at truck stops and a lot of ads read something like

Become an Owner Operator, Zero Cash Down, Bad Credit okay.

Sounds like one of those late night used car commercials. I don’t even think I could drive for a company that does that. These companies prey on people’s desire to own a business and make money. Why would you be a company driver making .35 a mile when you can own your own truck and make three times as much?

This is a great deal for companies, a really, really bad deal for drivers. Far too many reasons to list here, these are such a bad deals. You will find more people that fail in these programs than succeed. The driver will fail, but the company and their truck move on to someone else.

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Here’s a quick explanation of del.icio.us (my favorite and the easiest to use).

What is del.icio.us?
del.icio.us is a collection of favorites - yours and everyone else’s. You can use del.icio.us to:

• Keep links to your favorite articles, blogs, music, reviews, recipes, and more, and access them from any computer on the web.
• Share favorites with friends, family, coworkers, and the del.icio.us community.
• Discover new things. Everything on del.icio.us is someone’s favorite — they’ve already done the work of finding it. So del.icio.us is full of bookmarks about technology, entertainment, useful information, and more. Explore and enjoy.

What’s Digg.com?
Digg.com is a place for people to discover and share content across the web, from the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog. Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our users.

Every article submitted to Digg has a count of how many Diggs the story has received. You need to be signed-in to Digg a story. For every registered user that clicks “Digg it” the count goes up one. If a story reaches the tipping point, then it gets promoted to the homepage.

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This was from March of ‘07 Overdrive Magazine, they had an article that came from their survey of owner operators, trying to find out what the successful owner ops have in common. It’s probably more important now than it was then. Their definition of a successful owner -

Creatures of Habit
by Todd Dills
…and especially those whose net income ranks in
the top 25 percent — reveals highlights on the road to success. The
typical high-earning owner-operator is a little more than 50 years old
and has been in business as an owner-operator since he was 30. He makes more than $70,000 a year after expenses and is three times as likely to be leased as independent.

The top 25% have these seven practices in common -

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How much is your vote worth? Apparently to the folks in Washington, its worth about $500 of your own money. In an apparent effort to boost public opinion and make themselves feel good, Congress and the President have offered up a $150 Billion “Economic Stimulus Package“. The key feature of this Bill basically takes the money that we pay in taxes and give us back a little bit of it, and also passes some of that money to people that don’t pay taxes. Think of the sixteen year olds with part-time jobs, that are going to get that new iPod from your taxes! The politicians will then crow about the great deal they gave us taxpayers and spout rhetoric on the great job they are doing up on Capitol Hill. Hmmm, must be an election year! Read the rest of this entry »

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Who will be the next President of The United States?

The primary races are still going with South Carolina being the latest for the Democrats. It looks like Barack Obama has wrapped up The State of South Carolina for the democrats. Hillary Clinton is behind Barack Obama by 15 delegates while John Edwards, a South Carolina Native, could not win his own state’s democratic primary. John Edwards is behind Obama by 41 delegates and is not looking like he will win the Democratic Nomination for President of The United States. Edwards’s former running mate in the last Presidential Election, John Kerry, Backed Barack Obama last month. So now it looks more likely than before that this will be a race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for the democrats.

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