It was mid August the last time I posted here. A lot has happened since that post where I was bragging about my first truck assignment, a white Freightliner that I was running regional with.
I am no longer working for Millis or even driving a truck. I have two stories to tell. One is for all the driver wannabe’s and the other is specifically about training and driving for Millis.
First, to update you on my short driving carrier. I kept a fair journal, from my search for a company, for where to train and then my training experiences up to my first truck assignment
So, after my last post about driving the southeast region for Millis I made the change to long haul. I was getting a lot of short trips and sitting between dispatches. My miles were short and pay checks were un-acceptable. One Monday after TAH it was 2:00 PM and I still didn’t have a load. I decided right there that I was done with the SE Regional gig and called Millis and told them that I wanted to go long haul. They were very accommodating and told me to take the Freightliner to Cartersville, turn it in and pick out a KW T2000.
The next thing you know I had a glass load and was headed north. For the next two and one half months I was driving long haul and having the experiences that I had expected. By the time I quit I had driven nearly every state in the East and done it at the most beautiful time of the year. I experienced most of what I have read about here, from meeting a-hole drivers to salt of the earth drivers. I stayed at truck stops that were so disgusting that you wanted to throw away your shoes because you actually touched the ground there, to some that you truly looked forward to getting to visit again. I stayed at rest stops that made me feel like I was RVing on vacation and had times where I drove all night stopping at every exit never finding a place to park. I had customers that treated me worst than an illegal immigrant with lice, and those who respected me as a professional driver. I even had the random, fine tooth comb, inspection by the NY DOT. I got to take a five stop load that sent me up and down the New Jersey TP and had me backing into places that some would have trouble putting a Honda Civic in. I picked up paper loads in Wisconsin, delivered in Rochester NY and then picked up paper in Niagara Falls and took it to Wisconsin.
It was in New Jersey when all that changed. I think I did well becoming and being a truck driver. I delivered every load that Millis gave me, safely and on time. I never complained or balked at taking any load. My belief that Millis was a good family oriented company turned out to be wrong. I was treated very poorly by them from the top down except by other drivers. The only time I asked anything from them was when I had a family crisis while in NJ. My mother had a heart attack and the same day I found out that my debit card was compromised and my checking account had been looted. I needed to get home to Georgia from New Jersey as soon as possible. Dispatch promised to get me home right away. I was given four more loads to get home that took me from NJ to WI to AL. They took six days to get me home including stranding me in the Richfield WI terminal for two days with no load. I found out from other drivers there that several loads left that yard going straight to GA while I was sitting there. During that six days I talked to 4 dispatchers and anyone in the home office who would talk to me. Each time they acted like they didn't know I had made a request to get home and didn't offer any apology or sympathy for my distress. I finally got a load from near Green Bay to Cherokee AL where after delivering there on the fifth day I contacted dispatch again and was asked again, ‘why do you want to go to Georgia?’. So I spent another night there and finally, after six days, got something going to GA. I dropped it in the yard in Cartersville and I turned the truck in. I'm done with Millis.
So that’s my story. Now, my advice for aspiring truck drivers; You will feel pride in becoming a driver and safely and professionally operating the rig and delivering the load on time. However, rarely will your company, the customer or anyone along the way care or appreciate you for it.
You will see some of the best of Gods creation.
If you let a company take your money to train you, you will never hold the cards. Get your training independently and then decide who you will drive for. Don’t expect to make much of a living as a new driver. Expect to make between $500 to $700 per week while you are out but that is just when you are driving. A lot of the time, to the company, you are a tool sitting on a shelf. When you go home for a couple of days your pay is nothing.
You will get to know yourself really well. Character can be described as how you behave when no one is looking. I enjoyed this test but believe me, there are lots of traps out there.
This has been long so that is all for now.
No comments:
New comments are not allowed.