Team Driving By Chelsea Brent

       There are plenty of jobs out there for qualified and experienced truck drivers. Trucking companies compete for the best truck drivers. For many the issues comes down to whether you drive solo or if you drive in a team. There are pros and cons to both. Hopefully this article will help you decide what is best for you.Many people have veered towards team truck driving jobs from Solo truck driving because of the idea that the team can run more hours by switching drivers back and forth. This way they don't have to stop for hours-of-service regulations. This is great in theory, but make sure you get along with your team partner first. There has to be trust and compatibility. Think about it. Teams share all responsibilities, the cab, and sleep time gets traded back and forth. A lot of team truck drivers are married. Married couples get along great and it allows them to see the country together. In fact, they are some the more successful trucking teams on the road. A lot of these teams are successful because they get along. For any driving teams, getting alone is an important key. There are some items that need to be mentioned. Team truck drivers are most often paid by the mile. This means that they split the pay in half, unlike solo drivers that receive full payment themselves. Solo truck drivers also don't have to sleep while the truck is moving. That can be an important factor in choosing between the two. Teams make more money than solo drivers when the drivers are strong and the freight is steady. So, if your carrier gives you enough consistent freight and you get along with your partner, you can make more money as a team driver. But be sure to balance out the plus and minus of both sides when making a decision about a truck driving job.

Rules: In the eyes of a Trucker By Chelsea Brent

Here's the skinny on the rules and regulations regarding truckers' hours of service and cheating. Stay with me here because this will get interesting, I promise. Log books have four category lines: Off-duty, sleeper-berth, driving, and on-duty-not-driving. When a trucker comes on duty after at least a 10 hour break logged in the off-duty and/or sleeper-berth, and goes to one of the on-duty lines the clock starts on a 14 hour period in which he can drive 11 hours. For example, let's say Ed got up in the morning after his mandatory ten hour break and prepare him self for another glorious day of truck driving. It's 8am so he went to the on-duty-not-driving line and log a pre-trip inspection after checking his truck over. he has to log at least 15 minutes for that activity. Since he came on duty at 8am he had until 10pm to drive 11 hours in that 14 hour period of time. So after his pre-trip Ed starts to drive at 8:15am. At 12:15pm he has a minor break down that puts him on the side of the road waiting for a roadside mechanic. He has to go from the driving line to on-duty-not-driving while waiting on the mechanic and while his truck is being repaired. That takes 3.75 hours then he is on my way again on the driving line at 4:00pm. Since Ed came on duty at 8am I now have 6 hours left in which I can drive 6 hours. He has lost his potential maximum driving time of 11 hours. Now the most he can drive in my 14 hour shift is 10 hours. The next 6 hours go by uneventfully and he does his post-trip inspection for which he has to log at least 15 minutes. Note: You can work all of the hours you want as long as you don't drive after your 11 hour or 14 hour restrictions. That means Ed can haul ass down the highway and log 11 hours and 650 miles driving and then be put to work for 6 hours unloading the truck if the receiver requires that, and it's all legal; but he does have to log 10 hours off duty before He can drive again. That  happens to drivers all across the country every day.  Trying to find a truck driver who has never cheated on his log book is like trying to find a virgin in a brothel. Long haul trucker, cheating on log book was just another part of the job. Yeah, it's ridiculous considering you can work 70 hours a week legally, but the way things are, there is a lot of incentive to cheat: truckers are paid by the mile for the most part. The more hours/miles you drive the bigger your pay check. Expecting drivers to adhere to the rules when they get paid that way is a joke and everyone knows.

How to avoid the Stereotype By Chelsea Brent

Here is a short guide of how to avoid the stereotypes and in brace a good image. The stereotypical truck driver doesn’t exactly have the best image. When most people think about a truck driver, they think of an overweight, scruffy looking male. While some truck drivers may still fit this image, it’s a misrepresentation of the trucking industry as a whole. So how can you, as truck drivers, make sure you project a professional image and how will that impact your career? Taking care on the road:  When you don’t have that typical situation where you’re reporting into work daily with your immediate supervisor looking over your shoulder, it can sometimes be very easy to allow yourself to fall into a downward spiral and let yourself go. How can we avoid this? Take a little bit of pride in yourself. When you look in the mirror, ask yourself, “Self, if I were at home, would I go out looking like this? When you’re driving down the road and you take a deep breath and think, “Man, something stinks in this truck,” take a look around! When you see that you’re the only one in the truck, guess what? It’s probably you! There are many people in the trucking industry that just don’t care. They crawl out of their bunk in the morning and just get behind the wheel and drive. Outsiders see these people and that becomes the overall perception of truck drivers. It’s the drivers that are dirty and smelly, who haven’t changed their clothes in several days and who haven’t showered in a week that people often relate to trucking. The driver that showers, changes his clothes daily, and looks for all outward appearances like everyone else in the general public usually is not even considered a truck driver when seen. One dirty driver tarnishes the image of ten good, clean truck drivers. This can only be changed one driver at a time, beginning with you.

Advertisments

There are many different types of advertisement available for the trucking industry. They can use them for the product they are shipping or for themselves. For instance, the Pepsi truck hauls Pepsi products. Another example is UPS or FedEx they advertise them selves on their trucks, moving millions of packages every year all over the country. 

What's an effective and reasonable way to advertise a product? Through truck advertising of course!... a.k.a., a rolling billboard. The best thing about this advertising method is that it can reach many more viewers compared to an ordinary billboard advertisement.  Depending on the contract between the advertiser and the advertising company, the truck being used to promote the product can either be stationary or mobile. However, there are a lot of companies who prefer the latter option to get more people to see the advertisements.  Once an advertiser has given the go signal for a mobile advertising truck unit, the advertisement will follow a certain route in the city. The obvious goal of this advertising tactic is to get more people of a particular demographic to see the advertisement while plying the main roads of the city. This normally includes areas where there are a lot of people either passing by or waiting -- such as factories, parks, retail centers and near public buildings.  The frequency that a truck passes by a certain area will also depend on the contract exchanged between the two parties. It will also depend on the flow of traffic. The contract can be based on the number of miles or hours the truck will be passing through the area and displaying the advertising.  Mostly, the trucks being used for this purpose are large and narrow. But there are also other companies that have come up with their own specifically manufactured trucks for such a purpose. The normal ad size for large truck advertisements is a 30-sheet poster size on each side. The advertiser can also arrange for an external sound system or rotating sign frames for their promotion, all of which will depend on the preference of the advertiser. It is important for the advertiser to be aware of such information so he can make use of this advertising method effective.