BMW is cutting the bonus it pays to executives so it can save money and put that money toward its electric cars.  HUH?  Electric cars are a tiny, tiny part of the market and only for a certain person who thinks that they are making a difference.  That same person has to not mind that the lithium mines are terrible for the environment.  The lithium is strip mined and sent on an around the world trip to be made into a useful compound for batteries.  Those same batteries take cobalt which is mined in Africa, mainly by CHILDREN.  There have been numerous undercover investigations of this.  Pre-teens being made to mine cobalt, many dying or being injured in the process.  All so you can have your electric car with less range than my Sonic.  Wonderful.  I see -20F in the winter, an electric car is not in my future.

The Rand McNally 740 Truck GPS gets the best reviews from viewers of Trucking Answers.  Get yours HERE.

See you on the Road in a non-electric car!

You know I always recommend drivers have their own dash cam.  I use one in my truck and in my cars.  The one I use, the Asako is on sale right now for 35% off!  Get it HERE.  Even if your company has a camera, they own that footage and they may or may not ever give it to you.  Plus, if someone runs a light or you get accused of that, you can't get the footage of the drive cam system.  On your own dash cam you are in charge of the film.  Use it once and it can save your career.  I am a big advocate of them.  This camera faces in and out but you can turn off the inward facing camera.  I like it because you can turn it back on if you are talking to the DOT at your window.  Then, there is no question of what went on.  It also records sound which can be switched on and off.  I did a video about it that you can watch HERE.  This is a great price for this camera but if you don't get this one, get a dash cam as soon as you can.  Your career will thank you.

​See you on the road!

I wanted to put this out there that the BlueParrott 450 is only $112 right now on Amazon!  That is about the lowest I have seen it.  You can check it out here. I don't know if that is only for this weekend or what they are doing but if you have wanted one now is the time to get one and if someone you know needs one this is the time to get it.

I will be live today for about an hour if anyone is around.  Let's chat for a little bit and see what is happening.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

See you on the road.

In a recent snowstorm there were several huge crashes in Ohio involving as many as 90 vehicles.  Why is this?  People, please leave enough room to stop.  Yes, even in bad weather.  If you cannot stop if there is an accident in front of you, you are traveling too fast for conditions.  If that means leaving 500 feet and going 25mph, that is what is means.  Everyone that crashed into the growing accident scene should be ticketed.  I see this often as I am sure you all do as well.  Tailgating by all vehicle is rampant and needs to end.  We need to do our part as professional drivers and NOT TAILGATE.  Tailgating could mean an accident or worse.  Do people think it will get them to their destination faster  or are there just more bad drivers today?  If we want to not have cameras in our face and watching our every move we need to drive safely.  Unfortunately, when studies are done companies find that camera equipped  trucks have much less chance to get involved in this type of accident.  The more of these there are, the more cameras we are going to get.  Drive safely.

​See you on the road! 

There are companies, many companies, that believe it is just fine to have a student do team loads with their trainer.  This means that the student drives while the trainer sleeps.  How is this a good thing?  It isn't.  These same companies do not believe the student is competent enough to drive the truck by themselves.  This type of "training" only enriches the pockets of everyone except the student.  The company makes money on higher rates for team loads and the trainer generally gets paid for all of the miles the truck drives.  The student, who is not being trained at all, is given the crumbs of what is left over.  Used and abused with low pay, many of these new drivers leave the industry entirely.  Then, these same companies complain to the government of a driver shortage.  The only shortage is a shortage of good companies.  In any other case if a teacher handed out work and then went to sleep in the back of the class they would be fired.  Why is it accepted in trucking?  New drivers don't know any different and it is not their job to change the industry.  It is our job, those of us that have experience, to help the industry get better.  Spread the word and let us help get regulations to mandate trainers be up in the passenger seat and logging on-duty any time a student is driving.

Did you know you can groceries delivered to your truck with no delivery fee over if you get over $35?  I use Shipt and you should, too.  Click this LINK and get $50 off your annual fee.

​See you on the road!

Being a truck driver is a very dangerous job. Before you start any truck driving job as a commercial
driver, be sure to know this;
Being a Professional Commercial Semi Truck Driver is one of the most dangerous jobs around the world.
Many times, in the United States of America, this occupation alone has managed to maintain a ranking
within the top 10 dangerous jobs consecutively, year after year.
To know more about what you would need to know before you begin a career in trucking, continue
reading below to help you save time, money and your energy.

Introductions
First, please allow me a brief moment to introduce myself so you can gain a better understanding of
what is being stated here. My name is Michael. I can be found on various platforms like YouTube as
Michael : Semi Truck Driver. I have been trucking across the USA, parts of Canada and Mexico since
January of 2000. My training for this occupation began prior to this date.
I have written many successful articles on my website ( SemiTruckDriver.com ), from in depth detailed
information to humorous poems that reference being a truck driver in some form or manner. I have
been a Company Driver, Lease Owner Operator, Owner Operator, Dispatcher, Safety Advisor, and a Load
Planner.
At one point in time, I even “attempted” to gain my own authority to allow myself to be my own
company. Though, that was short lived to a degree.

Where To Begin In Trucking?
Starting in trucking will be difficult due to the sheer number of honest and reliable sources not available.
Everyone for the most part may tell you what you want to hear. There are a small handful of locations in
the world and on the internet where you can find really honest and truthful information that will greatly
help you. Like here, TruckingAnswers.com is one of these few locations that provides you with an array
of real information.
This is where, anyone looking to get into truck driving should begin. Begin with resources to help you
better understand what exactly is trucking like. Research how to get started in trucking, how to, to all
the questions you have as someone that has never been a truck driver.
This holds especially true if you know absolutely no one that is a truck driver right now in this moment.
This industry changes so often, so quickly and at times for those that are even within it, it can be hard
for them to keep up with the times of changing regulations, laws, rules, and a wide range of things.
The first place anyone should look before wanting to become a truck driver. Is to figure out if you want
to sign a contract to learn how to drive a semi-truck and be held accountable and bound by a contract to
work for a motor carrier for a specific amount of time. Or understand if you have enough available funds
to support yourself while paying for your training in advance.
Trucking school of one type or another is where everyone starts. Regardless of if its company based or
an outside party that is providing the training. Many times, these are called CDL School’s (Commercial
Driving License School’s). Many of the outside party truck driving schools are paid by super-sized
trucking companies to allow them to come into their schools and attempt to recruit those attending the
school. Those like yourself.
What we have to keep in mind here, is that the best to these schools, are the ones willing to pay the
fees to come into the school and attempt to recruit you. As a writer, what the public doesn’t see, is that
we the creators can manipulate what is considered the top list, or the best. It’s based off our own
individual research and the directions we choose to go with it.
No different when it comes to being told as an inexperienced driver, “We’re having the best trucking
companies come in and talk with everyone.” Why are they the best? Are they only the best because
they paid the fee to come in on the school’s time? These and similar questions are things everyone
needs to start asking to help the industry revert to something very positive. The dollar weighs
significantly more these days that honesty.
On the opposing side to this spectrum we have trucking companies or motor carriers as they are legally
called. That also offer truck driver training. These you normally do not need a loan for, or have to come
out of pocket to pay for.
Instead, you will go through an interview process similar to applying for a new job. Essentially, you are
applying for a job in the future. With this, so long as you pass the training, get through all of the
additional steps and remain a truck driver, driving for this company for a required amount of time. Your
training is free.
Though if at any time you quite early, maybe even possibly fired early, do not make it through truck
driving school that they have in house. You may be liable for the full cost of the training, plus room and
board, plus other things based on this comes as a cost of you signing a contract for a specified amount of
time.

Yeah, We Passed CDL Training!
After passing the training within the trucking school or the Trucking Carrier Training Facility. Usually, you
will go with another trainer on a handful of trips across the United States of America. (Basing this
information off of being here in the USA.) Regardless of which method you took for truck driver training.
This is the next stage.
During this stage you will most likely be driving the semi-truck for half of the time. The other half of the
time, your trainer will be driving. In today’s era of time, lots of things have changed that I am not to fond
of. I’ll get into those in a moment.
Who can and not become your trainer is up to you. No one can force you to do anything that makes you
feel unsafe or extremely uncomfortable with this. KEEP THIS IN MIND AT ALL TIMES!
The reasons I’ve stated what I just have is because not every person in the world we live in has good
intentions. You need to be aware of this now.
In my opinion, you need to also ask questions about your trainer, to your trainer and to the company
you are being employed with. Some will tell you to ask questions about your trainer’s experience,
because some companies let truck drivers with as little as 6mo of driving experience be a trainer.
Maybe you would like to ask questions about if your trainer has ever committed a crime and served
prison or jail time. Now if the trainer was caught stealing a piece of candy back ages ago, well we can
rest assure that candy store received more than candy to feel better about the situation. Though, what
if your trainer raped someone, was in prison for a felony or something worse? How will you ever know if
you don’t ask anyone anything?
Another good question to ask, “Is my trainer and I going to run like team drivers, or is my trainer going
to spectate me driving the entire time?” More often than not, the real-life situation is, you and your
trainer meet, one of you hop in the driver seat, the other goes to bed.
To me, this is dangerous. The new truck driver is nervous, hesitant, lacks confidence, needs guidance
and reassuring. The new truck driver needs to be advised of any safety precautions and at times walked
through these choices to ensure we are training new truck drivers in a manner that promotes safety and
not pushing miles down the road to make someone money.
There are many more questions I’m sure you could think of to include to this. Though I find these to be
the top of the list’s way more often then not when asking someone that just completed this stage what
they wish they would of done, or stated. These are the questions many wished they would have asked.
During this stage, like stated you’ll travel with your trainer, do a lot of the things you were taught in
truck driver school. After somewhere around a month to many months later. You’ll complete this stage.

They Want To Give Me A Truck!
After the previous stage, comes this. You have officially completed all of the stages for the most part to
get started in trucking. You know all of the basics and hopefully you continue to utilize safe driving. Once
you get back with your trainer and have your total number of hours needed, have gotten your real CDL
and all of this fun stuff.
What could happen to you next is this: “Hey new truck driver, your trainer told us you did an amazing
job. We don’t offer this to everyone because they’re not usually as good as you are at truck driving. How
would you like to be an owner operator? You’ll make $1.00 per mile instead of the $0.30 per mile as a
company driver.”
I’m sorry if what I’m about to say hurts your feelings. The truth of the matter is they offer this to almost
everyone. It’s a gimmick to be honest. It’s in place to get someone else to start paying on one of their
trucks so that they do not have to spend the money on one of their trucks.
When this type of opportunity presents itself this is exactly what you should consider: Do you know
which lanes to run? Do you know how much it costs to drive that truck down the road based off a per
mile basis? Do you understand how much insurance costs, highway road tax, and any additional fees?
Do you know what everything is that I just mentioned?
If you have no idea what I was just asking, it’s okay. Many new truck drivers had no idea either and then
they failed at being a lease owner operator. They were partially to accepting the blame of failing.
Though they also failed because the company took advantage of the new truck driver and the new truck
driver’s lack of knowledge and experience.
Keep in mind, the list of things I just asked about is only a very small portion of what it takes to be a
successful anything within the trucking industry.
If you are unaware of the costs, unaware of the things to be successful, because you just passed
everything to not be required to have a trainer with you while driving a semi-truck down the road. How
successful do you think you really will be right off the get go?
A better piece of advice to you is this. Getting your own truck can be fun and a amazing moment in ones
life. Take some time and learn the roads, learn how to be safe. Learn how to anticipate traffic and other
peoples driving habits. Learn how to back safely from every direction possible.
Learning all of this while paying attention to your freight bills, get an idea of what types of freight comes
out of what places and how often.
You do these things for the next couple of years, while saving as much of your money as you can. After
that first couple of yours. If you wanted, you could buy your own truck, and your monthly payments
could be significantly less.
When you buy your first truck, the brand-new semi-truck looks amazing doesn’t it? I know it does, but
that brand-new truck could come with a few thousand-dollars monthly payment. Sometimes, we should
wait, allow ourselves time to find a good used semi-truck.
Don’t agree to purchase anything unless you are 100% comfortable with it. Look it over, as many times
as you need. You know how to do a Pre-Trip Inspection. Use that knowledge and look over everything.
Maybe you would rather be a company driver for the duration of your career in trucking and that is
perfectly fine too. There are many more truck drivers these days that go this route rather than the
previous.
Be smart with your choices out here, be safe and my friends, I’ll catch you on the flip flop.

Written by: Michael Semi Truck Driver
WEBSITE     YOUTUBE CHANNEL

​See you on the road!