Questions about non-driving positions.

[JohnPrestonBailey]

Not an unreasonable goal.

I think that can be done with five years' hard savings as a driver followed by some desk job until I become an invalid in old age. The compromise might be that I might not be able to live in Santa Monica, CA or someplace fancy with an ocean view. I'm sure I could learn to love Oklahoma, Indiana or some other mid-West state much better with my own private backyard and two loving hounds.

Here is a new-construction 3BR/2CG in Yukon, Oklahoma just west of OKC for renting at only $1,275/mo.

Amazing 3Bd/2Bath Home (Walking distance to New School)

Brand Spanking New One-Story 3 BD/2 Bath Home in the beautiful Redstone Ranch Community located in Yukon - one of Oklahoma’s fastest growing economies with A Rated Schools (New elementary school to...

oklahomacity.craigslist.org

Pets welcome and no smoking. The no-smoking part is good because I don't smoke and want no roommates who smoke.

This is just an example about how nice a house can be rented in the boring tornado-prone mid-West.
Could I get $425/mo. per room plus roommie's share of utilities?

Oklahoma is crappy but this home looks like a "diamond in the rough" for living.

 

[Uncle Birchy]

I think that can be done with five years' hard savings as a driver followed by some desk job until I become an invalid in old age. The compromise might be that I might not be able to live in Santa Monica, CA or someplace fancy with an ocean view. I'm sure I could learn to love Oklahoma, Indian or some other mid-West state much better with my own private backyard and two loving hounds.

Here is a new-construction 3BR/2CG in Yukon, Oklahoma just west of OKC for renting at only $1,275/mo.

Amazing 3Bd/2Bath Home (Walking distance to New School)

Brand Spanking New One-Story 3 BD/2 Bath Home in the beautiful Redstone Ranch Community located in Yukon - one of Oklahoma’s fastest growing economies with A Rated Schools (New elementary school to...

oklahomacity.craigslist.org

Pets welcome and no smoking. The no-smoking part is good because I don't smoke and want no roommates who smoke.

This is just an example about how nice a house can be rented in the boring tornado-prone mid-West.
Could I get $425/mo. per room plus roommie's share of utilities?

Oklahoma is crappy but this home looks like a "diamond in the rough" for living.

Thats cause ya living in a "boom town"

They talk about McDonalds and Walmart are paying almost 20 an hour in the Bakken

What nobody else say is theres a "severe" housimg shortage

Gonna be paying like Manhatten rent to live in a room above a meth lab

Same thingy in South Texas too Motel 6 is like 150 a "night"

Wow unless ya living in a truck and aint gotta pay "rent" 4 get it

So wages abit "higher" they suck that outta ya the other end

And when oil crashes "again" and the lay everybody off

Youd of been "better" off at home

 

[Electric Chicken]

Not an unreasonable goal.

And a far cry from the 2k a month California dream he also posited and apparently backed away from after I addressed it.

 

[Electric Chicken]

No, I am not. I have just sent an email message to the Oklahoma Dept of Voc. Rehab. and told them I want to enroll in their program to be an OTR driver. They may support CDL training and pay for it.

So, should I just give up on life now and die?

Who says I have to even buy a house? They can be rented cheaply in states like Oklahoma. Putting roomies in the vacant rooms would make things cheaper even.

The only thing I would be spending while five years behind the wheel is the bare minimum needed for human living needs. I would buy no fancy new toys or anything during the time in the saddle. I'm extremely conservative with money. I have no spouse, children or dependants to support, not even a caged bird to feed right now.

I could just rent a house in the mid-west until I die. No property taxes. No mortgage interest. No home repair bills. No homeowner insurance. Whatever it takes to support two bird dogs, a small 17' trailer boat and a pickup truck and put a few pieces of furniture in the rented house to make it rentable to roommates.

There's always social security if I need it in my ripe old age and a possible pension.

A modest mid-west house to live in (regardless who owns the deed) and two dogs, a truck and a little boat is not wanting a lot at all. This is supposed to be America, for Christ sake, not Africa.

I'm willing to relocate pretty much anywhere in Lower 48 America any mega-carrier wants me to move to transition from driver to local job position. I would expect my salary, however, to be on par with the local cost of living index. If they want me to move to Los Angeles to become a dispatcher, trainer, manager or whatnot, they had better pay me Los Angeles wages to live, pay rent on a 3br/2CG home and work in LA, not Oklahoma wages to live and work in LA.

You're the one who wanted to move to LA. Lol.

 

[JohnPrestonBailey]

Thats cause ya living in a "boom town"

They talk about McDonalds and Walmart are paying almost 20 an hour in the Bakken

What nobody else say is theres a "severe" housimg shortage

Gonna be paying like Manhatten rent to live in a room above a meth lab

Same thingy in South Texas too Motel 6 is like 150 a "night"

Wow unless ya living in a truck and aint gotta pay "rent" 4 get it

So wages abit "higher" they suck that outta ya the other end

And when oil crashes "again" and the lay everybody off

Youd of been "better" off at home

I paid about $54.95 at the Motel 6 in Lawton Oklahoma early this May the evening before the morning I moved in to my "new" apartment. I had my veteran's discount. I paid damn near $140 at the Holiday Inn Express in Dalhart, Texas the night before because it was getting late, after 9PM, and I was too dog tired to try to push it to Amarillo or even Dumas, TX in the panhandle. That Penske 26' truck I was driving had my car in tow and those damn rented moving vans have no sleeper berth as you know. It is very tough sometimes to find parking for a moving van with a car in tow at a motel and the later you try to check in at night, the less likely there will be a vacancy. I drove past the Holiday Inn Express in Dalhart and saw an older Peterbilt conventional with a lowboy trailer parked out in the lot so I knew they could accommodate my Penske so I made a big U turn as soon as I could.

Oh, those Penskes are dangerous in wet weather!

I was unloading the truck at my "new" apartment in early may. It was raining on and off. The metal ramp was wet. I was pushing the dolly loaded with boxes down the ramp and my feet slipped all the sudden. I had to hurry down the ramp with the dolly so I would not slip and fall down, I had no downgrade braking power in my shoes to hold me back. My hand truck was a runaway truck. My foot also slipped on the all-metal cab step getting out of the cab but I was able to catch myself in time. I was wearing Nike Monarchs with all rubber soles, what the devil? I changed into my soft-rubber flip flops and had much better traction on the wet loading ramp.The Nikes have very hard rubber soles and don't seem to grip wet surfaces as well as soft rubber. Flip flops are designed for swimming pool areas and showers as you know. They're designed for wet surfaces.

Do you professional drivers have special footwear for wet weather situations? Do truck drivers need to wear deck shoes in bad weather to maintain their "sea legs" on board?

I emailed Penske corporate about this but never got a reply. They are risking themselves major lawsuits. The rental store provided no training to the customer in getting in and out of the cab during wet weather or using the loading ramp in wet weather. They could have better cab steps and ramps with non-skid surfaces.

I think I will get on the telephone to them this week.

 

[Ontario Outlaw]

I recently left being a Technician. It is NOT easier to fix today’s trucks, the problem is it has made a technician a parts slapper

A good well trained tech

To paraphrase-

WHY did we go from being a mechanic to being a technician?

 

[r3gulator3]

To paraphrase-

WHY did we go from being a mechanic to being a technician?

Electronic.

 

[Ontario Outlaw]

Electronic.

No offence meant but I prefer mechanics

From what you post you’re a very skilled mechanic

I just hate the word technician

 

[Silverwolf]

I recently left being a Technician. It is NOT easier to fix today’s trucks compared to trucks pre 94. It’s not easier to fix today’s trucks compared to trucks pre 07 for that matter. They tell you all this technology helps technicians do “xyz” but, the problem is it has made a technician a parts slapper and you the customer pay for parts that get put on that were unnecessary (yes they will tell you they “had to” so they don’t have to eat the cost) because the tech relies on the fault code to tell them what part to replace, when a real technician would look at more aspects and figure out what actually caused the failure.

Also I make more driving than I did as a shop manager at Freightliner. Let that sink in a minute. I know there are a lot of folks who speculate that mechanics make this glorious money. But it simply isn’t true. A good well trained tech will make 20-25 an hour for an average of 65k a year including their shop bonus in it. If you aren’t doing better than that driving you’re working for the wrong company.

I make good money driving too. Hes talking about taking an office position. That said, wages are different everywhere. Up here in BC, a mechanic makes 40 -60 bucks an hour, consumer pays 80- 180 hr. I pay my equipment operators 40hr to run a backhoe. When we were visiting wifes family in Florida, brother quoted his operator at 21hr, no benefits. I also pay full benefits, medical , dental , and extended medical, holidays and sick time. Its all about competition. I have lots so I pay lots to keep good people. Any dispatching or office or related to that is an entry level position here, and does not pay well. I guess technology effects people in different ways. Old vehicles don't need technology to fix. But I find new vehicles just as easy, if not easier for me because I know how to use the technology . I've spent hours before chasing electrical faults on an 87 f250. Basic carb motor. Not even injected. Then my 02 f350 took me 5minutes on a computer, and all was found. Didn't even get dirty. Fixed. Buddys truck broke down on side of highway. I remember in the old days, hooking up the trailer full of tools to go figure out went wrong. Now I bring my lap top, and a basic house hold tool kit the size of a lunch box. 5 minute scan, go get the part. Install, done. No hours of trouble shooting and ohm testing wires. lol. Yup I can see technology being tough if your scared and cant understand whats up. But if you know how to use it, man is it easy.

 

[Electric Chicken]

I make good money driving too. Hes talking about taking an office position. That said, wages are different everywhere. Up here in BC, a mechanic makes 40 -60 bucks an hour, consumer pays 80- 180 hr. I pay my equipment operators 40hr to run a backhoe. When we were visiting wifes family in Florida, brother quoted his operator at 21hr, no benefits. I also pay full benefits, medical , dental , and extended medical, holidays and sick time. Its all about competition. I have lots so I pay lots to keep good people. Any dispatching or office or related to that is an entry level position here, and does not pay well. I guess technology effects people in different ways. Old vehicles don't need technology to fix. But I find new vehicles just as easy, if not easier for me because I know how to use the technology . I've spent hours before chasing electrical faults on an 87 f250. Basic carb motor. Not even injected. Then my 02 f350 took me 5minutes on a computer, and all was found. Didn't even get dirty. Fixed. Buddys truck broke down on side of highway. I remember in the old days, hooking up the trailer full of tools to go figure out went wrong. Now I bring my lap top, and a basic house hold tool kit the size of a lunch box. 5 minute scan, go get the part. Install, done. No hours of trouble shooting and ohm testing wires. lol. Yup I can see technology being tough if your scared and cant understand whats up. But if you know how to use it, man is it easy.

Yeah OBDII definitely makes diagnosis easier and that's on the basic rudimentary level of it. I've used a little Bluetooth scanner and my smart phone to fix a lot of stuff.

I stare at a carbureted motor and I'm kind of lost.

 

[Uncle Birchy]

I paid about $54.95 at the Motel 6 in Lawton Oklahoma early this May the evening before the morning I moved in to my "new" apartment. I had my veteran's discount. I paid damn near $140 at the Holiday Inn Express in Dalhart, Texas the night before because it was getting late, after 9PM, and I was too dog tired to try to push it to Amarillo or even Dumas, TX in the panhandle. That Penske 26' truck I was driving had my car in tow and those damn rented moving vans have no sleeper berth as you know. It is very tough sometimes to find parking for a moving van with a car in tow at a motel and the later you try to check in at night, the less likely there will be a vacancy. I drove past the Holiday Inn Express in Dalhart and saw an older Peterbilt conventional with a lowboy trailer parked out in the lot so I knew they could accommodate my Penske so I made a big U turn as soon as I could.

Oh, those Penskes are dangerous in wet weather!

I was unloading the truck at my "new" apartment in early may. It was raining on and off. The metal ramp was wet. I was pushing the dolly loaded with boxes down the ramp and my feet slipped all the sudden. I had to hurry down the ramp with the dolly so I would not slip and fall down, I had no downgrade braking power in my shoes to hold me back. My hand truck was a runaway truck. My foot also slipped on the all-metal cab step getting out of the cab but I was able to catch myself in time. I was wearing Nike Monarchs with all rubber soles, what the devil? I changed into my soft-rubber flip flops and had much better traction on the wet loading ramp.The Nikes have very hard rubber soles and don't seem to grip wet surfaces as well as soft rubber. Flip flops are designed for swimming pool areas and showers as you know. They're designed for wet surfaces.

Do you professional drivers have special footwear for wet weather situations? Do truck drivers need to wear deck shoes in bad weather to maintain their "sea legs" on board?

I emailed Penske corporate about this but never got a reply. They are risking themselves major lawsuits. The rental store provided no training to the customer in getting in and out of the cab during wet weather or using the loading ramp in wet weather. They could have better cab steps and ramps with non-skid surfaces.

I think I will get on the telephone to them this week.

Look here @JohnPrestonBailey what I get "sick" of is these STUPID KIDS who somebody told em 2 show up and Get Rich..

I once interviewed for hauling sand ..

The "only" way the $$$ worked out is ya got a Sleeper Cab..

"Nope" was a dayjob..

4get it