That’s good to know though definitely. I guess when I get there do what I can to enjoy it.
Nervous newbie
- Thread starter Josh
- Start date
It's like going to Florida. Don't do it unless it's paying you plus enough to get back to south Carolina or Georgia Atlanta
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Yeah. I was just looking up dead zones. Looks like what Oklahoma and north of and northwest pretty much and west of Oklahoma to Nevada. Deep into Texas and Florida seems like everyone says is bad but if you stay around the borders it’s ok And all the high north eastern states like Maine until you get about to New York and Massachusetts area. etc.... sound about right?
I actually do not care for the scenery at the moment. Maybe it's just the time of year that makes it look so dreary. It's just brown/tan. Like everything is dead, kinda depressing. Lol. Granted we are barely in CO. Actually in WY now. Only got one other load opportunity. It was delivering in Utah. I refuse to go any farther west.
On a positive note, we were able to do a load of laundry at flying j. It nothing comes in tomorrow morning we'll get the truck washed and move across the street to loves and get a shower in.
Yeah that’s what I was pretty much seeing. Weren’t you having problems with California at first? Might have been someone else I was reading on. Advertised us on the classified the other day being a team Available in January. Had some calls and emails back, talked to some. Talked to a fleet owner yesterday for about an hour on the phone seem like a good legit guy. Doesn’t have a truck with a sleeper we’re looking for (Has the standard 72” sleeper we were looking for 96-100” custom bolt or AA sleeper) but says he’s willing to accommodate us if we give him a couple months to buy another truck. Don’t know if that’s a deal breaker because we want to live comfortably since we sold everything so the truck we get is going to be our home, but don’t want to be picky and got to get our feet wet especially if he’s honest to his words and will accommodate later. I would rather have a good fleet owner for now than a better truck. They seem to be the ones if you scratch their backs they will scratch yours. His whole contract seemed good. So other than the whole truck thing seems pretty good. So might have a fleet owner ready when we get everything done. So we will see. Still on track to be on the road soon enough.
Personally, I would be picky. Even with lack of experience, a team is the hottest commodity. Since this will be your home, would definitely be looking for the comforts you want and not settle for less.
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I kinda agree. i can't imagine spending all your downtime in a truck your not comfortable in. That, and I don't trust anyone. Expeditors was super helpful in our situation and I still didn't trust them. I'm starting to now, they have yet to leave us in a bad situation.
Also, it might just be us, but once you get going and get setup in a truck, it's hard to leave. Our truck is a two bed layout. I would much rather one bed, but if another truck pops up with a husband/wife layout, I would have a hard time leaving this truck.
Side note:: does anyone else's APU have a hard time starting in cold weather? If ours is off for a few hrs, it takes a little bit for it to actually start again. Example: we drove for 10 hrs. Stopped at a rest area to catch a nap and the APu tries to start up. It goes through one whole cranking cycle (maybe 20 seconds) and doesn't start. Then it waits and tries again, even then it took another 10 seconds of puttering and stumbling before it actually got going. It has yet to not start, new to diesel things and I know they don't care for cold startups but this seems a little excessive.
Might need a new spark plug and have preventive maintenance done on it. Wouldn’t hurt to ask fleet owner when it was done last.
Spark plug ?
Probably means glo-plug.
Probably means glo-plug.
I appreciate both of your inputs on this. I've decided to wait it out and seek better opportunities. I think we are going to apply to Fed Ex and Panther today and see what kind of calls we get and go from there. Just see if we can't set up for better opportunities. Had another owner running his with Fed Ex wants us to have hazmat and DoD.
Josh we don’t mess with apu’s to much at freightliner because of thermoking and carrier we do some maintenance on them but usually when it’s cold yeah they will start hard pending on how cold it is, if the fuel is starting to gel or like said prior have it serviced make sure that fuel filter gets replaced some only have an inline fuel filter in the back.
Josh we don’t mess with apu’s to much at freightliner because of thermoking and carrier we do some maintenance on them but usually when it’s cold yeah they will start hard pending on how cold it is, if the fuel is starting to gel or like said prior have it serviced make sure that fuel filter gets replaced some only have an inline fuel filter in the back.
I worked at thermoking for a little bit years ago. I didn't get much into diagnosing starting issues but I defiantly know my way around them. That was in the middle of summer though so no cold start experience.
What are you looking for in a fleet owner? Could always give expeditors a call? Maybe not looking for a large fleet owner? Or scared away by our experiences? If you are interested in that I'll get you a number. Super nice people.
We got approved to dead head out of Wyoming. 500 miles to Omaha where they were gonna sent us. Got about half way there and got a load picking up 80 miles away from where we were heading to minisota. Fun fact, the place we're picking up from is the same place we picked up our third load. Lol. Stopped for the night, time for some food.
Yeah thermokings seem pretty easy to work on reefers and apu. Freightliner we just throw them on there from the manufacture and don’t tell us nothing except to send it to thermoking lol. And of course our thermoking dealer is at a Kenworth so nobody wants to send our customers to another dealer like kenworth or Volvo or peterbilt international etc...
I think what I ask for in a fleet owner is pretty simple and not to aggressively demanding. If you think so then let me know and I’ll turn it down a notch. Here is the link to my ad in the classifieds here on EO. https://www.expeditersonline.com/cl...-READ-Team-Available-in-January-(No-Exp).html All I ask for is a decent size truck to be comfortable in, comfortable enough to be our home because that’s what it is for the next few years and just a good respectable owner and of course good pay. Jason from “The Crafty Truckers” on the first day I posted the adding EO had talked to me a little said he talked to his previous owner I suppose from panther but had no spots available and said he would share our add on his Facebook. Don’t know if he did because we don’t do social media but haven’t gotten any responses If he did. I figured that would be good with his following and plus would trust it due to his experience and if he said they were good people. He did ask me if I were willing to wait until March or spring time because fleet owners aren’t going to want to throw newbies in a truck in the middle of winter and expect them to drive through bad weather. So that makes sense also but if they would be lenient we wouldn’t throw ourselves out into danger and would park or reject a load of the weather was due to be unsafe but we know some things or a lot can be unexpected so... Which we would have waited if we haven’t already locked in school and she’s done with work already etc... so we planned pretty bad because the whole winter thing obviously makes sense.
That’s good you guys are on the move. What do they usually pay you to dead head? Yeah if your owners got more trucks and need another team throw me their number If that’s what you had in mind. She really wants to go with Fed Ex. Even when this guy with Panther seemed pretty good except for the 72” sleeper she just wanted us to look more. So I don’t know why that makes her feel more comfortable but he I’ll do anything. As long as she’s happy. I guess because everybody knows the name Fed Ex. Here’s a look of what the guy Offered me and emailed me. Now on the 1st photo he didn’t offer the .05 for passport but everything else he said was his offer which this was one of his ads. Like I said seemed good but looking for that bigger sleeper.
I think what I ask for in a fleet owner is pretty simple and not to aggressively demanding. If you think so then let me know and I’ll turn it down a notch. Here is the link to my ad in the classifieds here on EO. https://www.expeditersonline.com/cl...-READ-Team-Available-in-January-(No-Exp).html All I ask for is a decent size truck to be comfortable in, comfortable enough to be our home because that’s what it is for the next few years and just a good respectable owner and of course good pay. Jason from “The Crafty Truckers” on the first day I posted the adding EO had talked to me a little said he talked to his previous owner I suppose from panther but had no spots available and said he would share our add on his Facebook. Don’t know if he did because we don’t do social media but haven’t gotten any responses If he did. I figured that would be good with his following and plus would trust it due to his experience and if he said they were good people. He did ask me if I were willing to wait until March or spring time because fleet owners aren’t going to want to throw newbies in a truck in the middle of winter and expect them to drive through bad weather. So that makes sense also but if they would be lenient we wouldn’t throw ourselves out into danger and would park or reject a load of the weather was due to be unsafe but we know some things or a lot can be unexpected so... Which we would have waited if we haven’t already locked in school and she’s done with work already etc... so we planned pretty bad because the whole winter thing obviously makes sense.
That’s good you guys are on the move. What do they usually pay you to dead head? Yeah if your owners got more trucks and need another team throw me their number If that’s what you had in mind. She really wants to go with Fed Ex. Even when this guy with Panther seemed pretty good except for the 72” sleeper she just wanted us to look more. So I don’t know why that makes her feel more comfortable but he I’ll do anything. As long as she’s happy. I guess because everybody knows the name Fed Ex. Here’s a look of what the guy Offered me and emailed me. Now on the 1st photo he didn’t offer the .05 for passport but everything else he said was his offer which this was one of his ads. Like I said seemed good but looking for that bigger sleeper.
Yeah that’s what I wanted to say. Forgot it was a diesel.
You dead headed to Omaha any luck there?
I bet the most important take away from your experience is that anything West of l35 is a no go unless you going to California direct and a good area in California No San Diego or most of south cali
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I bet the most important take away from your experience is that anything West of l35 is a no go unless you going to California direct and a good area in California No San Diego or most of south cali
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We got a load out of Nebraska before we even got to Omaha. Delivered that load in minisota at midnight last night. Got a load Monday morning in Wisconsin heading to iowa.
I personally don't wanna go west of i35 anyway. I thought I saw more loads heading out of co, but maybe they were going to co. FedEx said they had a lot of trucks in that area and had to deadhead them all out.
So your stuck in Wisconsin for the weekend? How’s the weather over there? Didn’t get much but a coating today but I heard the south east is looking ugly so be glad you’re up north. Seems like the rolls are reversed weather wise. Be safe driving if it’s messy.
Josh I have been following you since we started this hiring process with Fed Ex Custom Critical. My husband and I are team drivers and currently going the through the PSP process. We have done everything they have asked of us and are waiting the results of the drug tests. Really not sure what is next. We have completed the Remote Qualification as well. We will be driving for an Owner Operator and driving our truck to training. We will pick it up before we head to Ohio. Any suggestions or advice would be great. Thank you!
I'm curious, what are you guys making as a team working for a FedEx owner?
I am an owner operator trying to find a partner that wants to do this, but obviously the pay has to justify a Life Change.
Is this a good situation for a team or couple?
What can we expect income wise if we own the truck?
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