My 23 YO Son Just Lost His Mind

[pulltabfelix]

All I can add to the discussion is - Get a good bookeeper, stash money for taxes, and don't just stuff your recipts in a box - enevlope for each trip, and if you write the idem/cost on the outside, saves shuffling the paper inside.

My ex drove -

I will add to that! - keep all driving and traveling expenses anything related to your businesses on a separate charge card. Get one like Marriott rewards card and put all the business related expenses, repairs and yes fuel on it. Rack up some good points for him and his gal for some super nice vacations. All that on one card makes it easier for your bookkeeper. keep abreast of tax laws relating to his driving business. Lease payments are also deductable. Best get a good CPA that keeps the books for other truckers. Not knowing about taxes or having a good cpa WHO DOES KNOW ABOUT TRUCK DRIVING BUSINESSES is a must. Otherwise you will get screwed at tax time. The IRS is not in the business of advising people but rather collecting from from people and they are very, very good at doing that. This advice comes from a guy who has owned many small businesses and work in accounting and was a small business controller for 5 years. Do it right and taxes won't bite you in the butt. Don't spend the money YOU WILL owe in taxes. Stupid mistake number one, not having the money to pay Uncle Sam on April 15 or you will experience two April Fools days in one month with the latter one being no joke. Hope he has fun. A great career choice in my opinion if it is his in his nature to drive long hauls.

 

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[huntsman53]

Wish I was going somewhere with a load...it's cold here...lol

Well you can always go to the bathroom after putting a heater in it!

 

[BigWaveDave]

Thanks guys.... for those following...
He is locked in with Prime, his education paid for, if he sticks with them for a year. But now that he has leased, a year ain’t nothing, 3 year commitment. But he is now independent.... which means he isn’t locked in to their dispatch, but can be more expendable with other jobs that give more miles, and pays more per mile. Basically he can choose his destinations, avoiding winter weather, within reason.
Since he signed the lease, he has had steady loads, despite all the expenses, made a profit the first week. Also, has a CPA, saving receipts is part of his training.
The downside in leasing?.... Except for factory warranty repairs, he is on his own for fuel, oil changes, PM’s and tires. YIKES! Big money.
That concerns me, but not as much as..... wait for it..... $1064 payment on the truck. PER WEEK!
Little Wave Dave be making big boy decisions, and making big boy money.
But like I said earlier, I am so proud of him. All of you know the biggest decisions ever made in life are between the ages of 18 and 25..... I pray every night that he is safe and on his way to making his life incredible.

He texted me this morning, has a load of 45,000 pounds of Michelob Ultra. I reminded him of my address.

 

[Tahts-a-dats-ago]

A couple of random thoughts...

Prime likely has a fuel surcharge program for its I/O fleet. If he's not on that program, he should check it out (it will save him a bunch on fuel costs). Chances are that the program pays only on dispatched miles (which never equal the real miles) but any help with fuel costs is better than none.

If Prime has hazmat loads, he might want to check into that. Hazmat loads tend to pay a bit better. He'll need a hazmat endorsement and he'll have to pass the background check.

Have him check with Prime regarding a lumper policy. Some companies do offer a lumper policy for their I/O's - and some don't. He's a young buck so he might opt to do some of the lumping himself - and keeping the pay for himself. Have him ask someone who has been around the block for details on that and how it all works.

Tell him to make friends with his dispatcher. In time he'll get better loads because of it - and his take-home pay will go a lot further.

Tell him to stay away from truck stops as much as he can. Too many lot lizards, drug pushers, and thieves hang out there. If he doesn't have locking caps on his tanks, he should consider getting them (stealing fuel is fairly common).


The best food is generally in the small places where the locals hang out. Look for places with farm trucks and the like - the food is better and the prices are better too.


Local cops generally don't know squat about DOT regulations. You can usually buffalo them fairly easy. Don't try that with the State boys or the DOT - they do know what they're doing. The latter will hassle him at some point - just be polite and get through it with as little pain as possible.

Keep the truck/trailer clean and looking good. A clean, well cared, truck is much less likely to draw attention from the state boys or the DOT. Prime may have a program (for washing trucks/trailers) that helps offset the expense.

I wouldn't add extra lights to either that tractor or the trailer. More stuff = more stuff that can malfunction, and malfunctioning lights will get a ticket from the DOT.


Don't trust a gps unit for directions when deviating off the main route. They don't tell you about low bridges and the like. I have not tried out the gps units for truckers (they're pricey) - I always used trucker's maps.


Don't trust the CB completely either. Too many idiots - especially in larger cities - get a kick out of giving out false information. I always turned mine off when I was near a larger city - less headaches that way.


If possible - when hauling a heavy load - check the axle weights (as well as the overall weight) before leaving the shipper. I've gotten tickets for being over on the drivers, but within the legal gross. (My tractor did not have a sliding 5th wheel and propane tanks don't have a sliding rear axel). Tickets get costly fast - and he'll be responsible (not the shipper and not the company).

It's been awhile since I was driving; even longer since I was driving cross country (which I hated - it kept me away from my wife and kids). The money was very good (hauling propane) and I usually got to sleep in my own bed (for a couple of hours anyway).

Best of luck to your son. If he's determined and sticks with it; he can do very well for himself.

 

[holepuncher]

About the only thing I see that hasn't been mentioned is when in Ca. make sure he doesn't go over the bridge length (distance between the kingpin and the rear axel). they are sticklers about that.

 

[A2coins]

Awesome get a good sest that can hurt your back over the yesrs

 

[Hawks88]

I’m sure he’s going to love it. My father did it his whole life and loved every minute of it. You get to see the country and you are your own boss. Good luck to your son.

 

[BigWaveDave]

Thanks for the tips Tahts..... I’ll pass it along.
Primes education, and his trainer are the best in the business..... what he doesn’t already know, he will figure it out soon enough.

 

[sandchip]

I've lettered a heap of trucks in the past 37 years and I always try to move them to the top of the list, usually with very short notice. They can't make a dime with it sitting in my yard. God bless truckers, because I'd hate to know that I had to do that much driving. All the best to your son, Dave.

 

[ToddsPoint]

I started driving trucks in '76 for a big company. Company trucks, slip seat operation. Never drove the same tractor twice. They went under in '82 and I worked for another common carrier for 5 yrs. I then went to a company that made windows and doors and drove trucks for them until '92 delivering within 100 mi. of home. I got tired of dealing with cops and icy roads so hung it up. I got a job in a machine shop and worked there until I retired. Gary

 

[huntsman53]

I drove Tractor Trailers in the U.S. Army and for a short time for a Moving Company after I got out of the Service. After what happened when I was driving for the Moving Company and then because so many idiot punk kids got their parents to buy them Tractor Trucks in the 1980s and 1990s, thus filling the roads with more idiots but these with big Tractor Trucks with Trailers that can kill a lot of folks on the road, I swore to never get back into driving Tractor Trailer rigs. For more background info, when I drove for the Moving Company, I had not been out of the Service very long and the Boss unknown to me, was using me to screw his' commission Drivers as he was only paying me salary, food and lodging (if needed). To make matters worse, one of the Drivers owned all of the Tractor Trucks we drove, was leasing them back to the Company and since he was also getting screwed by me driving, he was trying to make life hard for me. He pulled the Tractor Truck I was driving off the road saying it needed to be painted and they switched me to a beat up piece of junk. Well, that burnt him because the Ball Joints were shot on the Tractor Truck and since I could put it in a shop to have repairs done, I put it in the shop before I even got out of Knoxville with a load and it cost him a bundle. We later sat down and talked and once we both knew what was really going on, we got along very well. However, it wasn't too much longer before I quit and came close to killing the Boss. Since the Boss was using me to screw his' commission Drivers, he kept me on the road all of the time. Well, my last trip was St. Louis to the Central Indiana (can't remember the locale) farm country, then to a plush area of Evanston, Illinois...then to Madison, Wisconsin...then back to Knoxville, Tennessee. My first daughter who was only 19 months old then, went into convulsions...had to be rushed to the Hospital and was in ICU for several days. Even though I was on the phone every single day with my Boss as he seemed to have to approve all of my fuel purchases and extra funds needed every singe day, not once did he tell me what happened to my' daughter and that my' wife (now ex-wife) had called him umpteen times to have me come home immediately. It wasn't until the second night that I was home (got home late one night and delivered household goods all of the next day and got home again late) that she told me what had happened. Needless to say I went ballistic and I unplugged my' telephone even though I had a New York to Miami run at 5 AM the next morning. Got up at 9 AM the next day, took a shower and drove to Knoxville (50 miles away) to quit my job and whip my Boss's a** all over the place. Well, he saw me coming and ran into his office and locked the door. At that point, I was ready to beat him to death because I was so mad. However, it was a good thing that he ran into his office, locked the door and did not open it for some 10 minutes because it allowed me to rethink my position, think of what would happen to my daughter and wife if I went to jail or worse prison and also to calm down some. My Boss tried to apologize over top of me yelling at him, he also offered to purchase a new Tractor Truck for me to drive and pay me commission but I told him that I would not work for a him that would do any of his employees that way, told him that I quit and that I wanted my' pay due to me right then. He said that I would have to wait until payday but I told him that I would wait right there until I got paid because I was never coming back. Well, I got my' pay check, left for home and swore that I would never drive a Tractor Trailer rig ever again and then the idiot punks got on the road and that put the nail deeper in that coffin.

 

[BigWaveDave]

Gadzooks! What a story.... Thanks Huntsman.

 

[chub]

Oh yea, he’s already broke it in, has a lass in Dallas.

And the other 45 states he's driven through...

Chub

 

[BLK HOLE]

That is a sweet ride, congrats I know you are very proud

 

[Joseph08]

Nice truck. Looks pretty unique.

 

[philknight]

2019 Freightliner Cascadia Evolution.
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[RGINN]

I think he made a good move and will come out all right. Tell him to come to the mountains. Companies that deliver to us are always needing drivers and they're constantly busy. We had to quit carryin one popular line of products because that company couldn't find anybody who wanted to drive a truck in the mountains in winter.

 

[jessiearies67]

2019 Freightliner Cascadia Evolution.
View attachment 1655439 View attachment 1655440

 

[Bum Luck]

Hopefully he has a good dispatcher.