Question:
Well Feb. 5th will be five months on the road for my wife and I. If someone would have told me five months ago that our inexperience would cause us our most time delays and the largest part of our frustration in the field I would have believed them whole heartedly. But now that I have been in the field for almost five months I know better. Allthough our inexperience has caused us some time delays and some frustration they are nothing compared to the time delays and frustration caused by other sources.
Let me start with the misinformation, lack of information and poor directions that we receive from our company. These are probably the biggest causes of time delay and frustration that we have run into on the road.
After that SuperTruckers (I will go into further on another thread in the next couple of days) and then comes the four wheelers. Yes the supertruckers come before the four wheelers. I think I have put them before the four wheelers because the are supposedly the professional drivers out there.
I am posting this link so that when all the wannabee's are finally newbies they are not to hard on themselves. Thinking that the problems that they are having are all of their own doing. If you stay aware of what is going on around you it will help you to keep from being your own worst enemy.
GLB (Greased Lightning)

Answer:
poor directions that we receive from our company.
I usually ask dispatch for a Phone Number for the customer & I CALL the customer Myself for directions & such.

Answer:
Many times the directions you get via the qualcomm are written by drivers.
There are a thousand and one things that can go wrong on any given day in the world of trucking that will try to make you late on what should be an otherwise doable run.
Here are a few tricks I use to minimize the possiblity of being late.
Unless I have been to a place I add one hour get lost time to my ETA's.
I add 30 minutes delay time for every 500 miles of travel on a load when figuring out travel time (how many hours of driving just to get from city to city.)
If I know or think I will have extra time I stop as close to the destination before taking it. (At least within 50-75 miles if at all possible)
The biggest time saver is: Do your pretrip and post trips. They can save you from sitting for hours on the side of the road waiting for road service.
Only two things I know of are infinite. The universe and human stupidity, and I am not real sure about the universe.
Answer:
You're right glb22,
Lack of experience doesn't cause the problems you listed.
But experience over time helps you anticipate some of them better, and know how to deal with them.
For example: Directions to a part of that town you've been to before (like downtown Los Angeles) allows you to use your experience to realize there's no overnight parking, you'll probably be unloading from the street, and a phone call to verify they're actually expecting you at the appointment date you've got, is a good idea.
The problems you list aren't "your doing", that's for sure! But part of the job, unfortunatly, is solving most of them on your own. Experience does indeed help you get better at solving and fixing some of them before they turn into REAL problems.
The others? They just come with the territory, I guess, and you have to wing-it as you go along.
One thing's for sure -- something you can look forward to -- is the way you start getting good at NOT LETTING THESE THINGS SRESS YOU OUT. It usually takes a couple years before that pit in your stomach goes away when you realize you've made a wrong turn down a dead end with no place to turn around. But it will, and your experience will have taught you that the best thing to do is just float through it as cool and calm as you possibly can be -- then forget about it the moment you get out of it.
Good luck to you -- hang in there.
.
[This message was edited by Shuffler on January 19, 2003 at 11:12.]

Answer:
Along with Chclt snda, my husband never fully trusts the directions from the company, he calls as well. If there is no way to get a hold of anybody, that's where I come in
kris