Female Trucker

[Anna Brooke]

Can a female excel in male dominated career such as "truck drivers"

 

[Johndeere4020]

Sure, the competition isn’t that steep these days anyways.

 

[Humble pie]

There is not any job in trucking that a woman cannot do.

 

[Duck]

Can a female excel in male dominated career such as "truck drivers"

Yep. @Injun's been doing it for like 15 years now.

 

[ironpony]

Can a female excel in male dominated career such as "truck drivers"

Women who are good at it usually leave the men in their dust.

 

[GAnthony]

Can a female excel in male dominated career such as "truck drivers"

in my earlier years, when i was on the GM JIT freight board, i'd go to some very tight loading docks. there would be guys in those very large cars, that couldn't back in, to save thier lives.

this one gal came in, and all the guys were watching her, and taking bets on how long it was going to take her to back in, before she gave up. she had a condo sleeper, long wheel base, but not a very fancy rig at all..

well, everyone lost that bet, she got it in, the first try.

what was even funnier, when she got out of the truck.??

she was like 5 foot nothing, and a tiny body frame............lol..

talk about a bunch of red faced jerks.

not me, i don't bet on anyone, doing anything....i laughed my ass off that she showed them guys up...lol

 

[Mike]

In my opinion, nothing about this job favors men over women.

The trucks themselves used to present a challenge for shorter people, but that was always pretty easily addressed, and today, the seat and steering wheel adjustments pretty much accommodate people of all sizes.

 

[mndriver]

Women tend to do a lot of things better than men due to not having the male ego to get in the way of succeeding.

 

[Duck]

Women tend to do a lot of things better than men due to not having the male ego to get in the way of succeeding.

They have even more to "prove" than we do.

And when they fk up, it's more visible. All eyes are on them.

When a man fks up, everyone blames it on his company, his type of equipment, amount of experience, or what's wrapped around his head.

When a woman fks up, all anyone sees is her gender.

 

[Injun]

Nothing stops women from doing this job. @Duck wasn't far from his guess. I've been driving for 13 years. Two biggest pieces of advice I give women entering this field are do your own work and don't get caught up in the bullshit.

 

[Fageol]

And they can be tough. My niece, Virginia Thomas who drives for Ocean Express out of the Sacramento Area, just posted this (I think from SLC):

I am so sick. I don't feel good at all. But I have a load I after delivered and a load to take back to Costco. So you guys can have groceries. My back hurts so bad. I beg my doctor to help me. She said no. I am going to drive my rig right to her office and block her door. You think because you driving a TRUCK in the freeway in a straight line you are a TRUCK driver. You're not even close. Drive a TRUCK for 20 years and go through all the bull shit all real TRUCK drivers go through. Then you know what a real TRUCK driver is all about.

I'd say that works as well for men as it does the ladies.

 

[BlackBart]

And they can be tough. My niece, Virginia Thomas who drives for Ocean Express out of the Sacramento Area, just posted this (I think from SLC):

I am so sick. I don't feel good at all. But I have a load I after delivered and a load to take back to Costco. So you guys can have groceries. My back hurts so bad. I beg my doctor to help me. She said no. I am going to drive my rig right to her office and block her door. You think because you driving a TRUCK in the freeway in a straight line you are a TRUCK driver. You're not even close. Drive a TRUCK for 20 years and go through all the bull **** all real TRUCK drivers go through. Then you know what a real TRUCK driver is all about.

I'd say that works as well for men as it does the ladies.

But... but... I dont wanna be restricted to just drivin forward on the interstate. Sometimes I might wanna drive backward

 

[Fageol]

But... but... I dont wanna be restricted to just drivin forward on the interstate. Sometimes I might wanna drive backward

And we believe that you can do it. Probably even with doubles. You could show us how with a set like this one.

 

[BlackBart]

And we believe that you can do it. Probably even with doubles. You could show us how with a set like this one.

View attachment 61623

That might work for a total of a truck length

 

[Fageol]

That might work for a total of a truck length

There's 5 feet between the tail of the lead trailer and the nose of the tail trailer. Needless to say those sets (almost all the carriers running Anchorage-Fairbanks, run two 45's behind long tractors) kink very quickly if you back them. After a year I could drop the tail trailer and back the dolly to wherever it was supposed to be with just a couple of pull-ups (snow and ice don't help). But backing up those sets, especially if the ground is uneven is close to futile. It doesn't matter if you're running flats or boxes.
Mail set heading south.

 

[BlackBart]

There's 5 feet between the tail of the lead trailer and the nose of the tail trailer. Needless to say those sets (almost all the carriers running Anchorage-Fairbanks, run two 45's behind long tractors) kink very quickly if you back them. After a year I could drop the tail trailer and back the dolly to wherever it was supposed to be with just a couple of pull-ups (snow and ice don't help). But backing up those sets, especially if the ground is uneven is close to futile. It doesn't matter if you're running flats or boxes.View attachment 61626
Mail set heading south.

You might stand a chance tryin that if your dolly has 2 pintle eyes. That eliminates 1 pivot point

 

[Fageol]

You might stand a chance tryin that if your dolly has 2 pintle eyes. That eliminates 1 pivot point

It can be done. It's a useful skill. If you've been on the road even a few days you've seen things go to hell mechanically. because of the load, because of a plan change, etc. So every so often the tail trailer has to be dropped. So you have to hook to a different tail trailer -- Rarely do companies running anything other than methane and pressurized gas tanks, run singles between Anchorage and Fairbanks or Anchorage and Homer.

Normally when hooking a set together one grabs a forklift or a tractor with a pintle hitch and positions the dolly in line with the pin but does not hook the pin to the fifth. Then one hooks to the lead trailer and backs it to the dolly pintle hitch. Once in a while it lines up perfectly otherwise it's get out the winch bar, stick it under one or another tire and yank on the winch bar to move the eye over the hitch. That done, lock the hitch, hook the lines and then back under the tail trailer. But if you have to swap out the tail trailer after already being hooked up to the lead trailer and the dolly and if you've developed the skill, you can save a bunch of time and trouble by backing the already-attached dolly under the tail trailer then hook-up, check up, and go. Failing that, find an old-timer who can do it for you and save some time and trouble.

One lash-up here in Anchorage, B. J. Watson (a good lash-up) used to run Orowheat bread from the bakery in the Portland OR area to Anchorage. For some reason it had to run C-trains. I think that the reason was a law of the Yukon Territory. And you're right, I'm sure C-train dollies would back just about anywhere with a minimum of hassle.

 

[Hammer166]

You guys... Look at the avatar, and she was here once. How many of you sent the PMs she was fishing for?

 

[BlackBart]

Not I ...

 

[ironpony]

You guys... Look at the avatar, and she was here once. How many of you sent the PMs she was fishing for?

Birch-o missed his chance!