Trucking 101

Tonight's show is all about having a plan.  Ask yourself, do I want to have this year fly by like all the others having accomplished nothing or do you want to make a plan and have a successful year accomplishing or moving closer to your goals.  Even just coming into the industry as a brand new driver  it is important to have a plan.  You can put yourself on the fast track in your career if you do.  Plan your career, your money, and your personal life.  Set goals, listen to audiobooks and take online courses.

Tonight we will be talking to Dale Howard all about cargo securement. Everything you ever wanted to know about cargo securement.  Dale will go over this topic in detail. Call in to listen and ask your questions

Tonight's show is all about team driving.  We'll go over the benefits of team driving. We'll also talk about strategies to make your team driving experience successful.  We'll also cover what not to do and traps to avoid.  Russ and Becky Morgan will be guest hosting with Melissa Grim tonight

Tonights episode will be all about personal safety, especially women.  We will be giving advice and tips on ensuring your personal safety.  We will be talking about best practices for personal safety at truck stops and rest areas.  We will cover tools we recommend to maintain your safety including guns if your company allows them.  Some examples and personal stories

You could call tonight's show live on location!  Becky Morgan and Melissa Grim are volunteering at the Iron Man in AZ otherwise known as IMAZ!  The goal is volunteer at this years IMAZ so we can participate in next year's IMAZ!  For those of you that don't know what an Iron Man is, it is the ultimate triathlon!  2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile swim!  Since we are here focused on our training we wanted to talk about staying in shape on the road.  We'll cover tips and tricks on how to stay active and talk about training for those that are interested.  Our special guest tonight will be Kim Cockerham a Lake Placid Iron Man Finisher!

This is our first of a monthly compliance show with special guest host Dale Howard! Everyone's favourite DOT officer Dale Howard will be guest hosting the show tonight and will be covering the importance and details of the daily pre-trip.  He will be answering questions as well.  Call in with your compliance and HOS questions.  You can also call in about any other topic and we'll do our best to answer your questions.

Tonight's show is all about choosing a carrier.  We have some excellent guests to help you find your dream job!  Matthew Morrison has come up with a great process for choosing a carrier that he is willing to share with you.  The major theme of this episode is ask questions and Ask Why to the anwer.  When you are looking for a job in the trucking industry the first step is to design your dream job.  Sit down in a quiet place with some uniterrupted time and ask yourself these questions before you start looking for a carrier. Do you like different routes or familiar routes? Why? Do you enjoy problem solving? Why? How much money do you want to make? How much do you want to work? When and where do you want drive? What type of trailer do you want to pull? What type of freight do you want to work with? What type of schedule do you prefer? The list goes on and on, another good idea is to list your strengths and weaknesses, buy the book "Standout"; it comes with a code to take a strength assessment test. Now take all

When we first considered becoming truck drivers we only considered pulling vans.  The reason that is all we considered is because that is all we knew.  We want to give those considering being a truck driver some information on your choices.  We will be talking about vans, reefers, logging, dry bulk, and intermodal.  We will also cover open deck which includes flat bed, step deck, double drop, and oversize.  A couple other segments are heavy haul, curtainside trailers, and conestogas. There is also LTL and day drivers.   We have some great guests who are experts in their segment of the industry.  Hopefully after the show you will be able to make an informed decision about which segment you want to work in.

Tonight's show is all about training.  We'll have Edward Prince, William Helper, and Becky Morgan on the show to give you some tips, tricks, and advice on how to survive training.  We'll talk about what to bring, what to expect and what you should expect to learn.  We'll also talk about what to do if you are not getting everything you think you should get from your trainer.  Edward and Becky are former trainers and William is currently a trainer.

Tonight's episode is all about training.  We are going in depth with being a trainer and potentially becoming a trainer, and the responsibilities  involved in both  Here are some things you need to know before you decide to become a trainer: Proper communication skills, can you be clear, concise, and direct.  Proper tact, correcting without hurting.  Ask yourself, do I have the ability to read people and decide if they have what it takes or more importantly if they absolutely do not have what it takes.  Don't be afraid to trust your instincts and get a bad driver off your truck.  We'll be sharing some personal stories on this front. Don't just look at training in terms of money.  Somone is trying to learn from you.  You are responsible for your trainee.  If they get off your truck and haven't learned what they need and fail, that is on you.  Trainees are on your truck for a short period of time and you need to pass on a lot of info in that time.  You have one job:  Prepare them to go out on their own and succ

Tonight we are going back to basics.  We are going to expand on some basic concepts; beginning with truck stops.  If you want more on this topic go to letstruck.com/audioroad and listen to Trucking as a lifestyle: Tips and Suggestions Parts one and two.  We are covering the same topic tonight in more detail.  Truck stops are a driver's whole world when we're out on the road.  We park, fuel, shower and sometimes eat at truck stops.  The first thing I learned about as a trainee was loyalty cards and now most truckstops have apps linked to their loyalty cards.  We'll also be talking about the weigh my truck app that CAT has and a few good "Don't be that guy" stories.  Be ready for a story about a goat as well!

Tonight is all about winter driving!  Our special guest is everyone's favorite DOT officer Dale Howard!  He will educate us on everything we ever wanted to know about surviving winter and making it to spring unscathed.  We'll talk about chaining up.  How to decide when and when not to drive.  How to keep your fuel from gelling and your airlines from freezing, and much more. We'll also be taking your questions on this topic or anything else you want to talk about.

Tonight Melissa and I will welcome a special guest host, Becky Morgan.  She has a lot of great tips and tricks for living on and organizing your truck.  If you follow her advice you will be able to make your truck your home away from home.  A preview of some of her advice: Use a jewlry organizer to hold and protect your fuses and light bulbs, Get in a routine to make it easy like a habit, a messy truck is a red flag to the DOT (Dash or door window).  If you cut corners if your truck your cutting corners in your job.  Think of washing your company truck like cleaning the apartment that you are renting.  Lastly give yourself a chance to to adjust to life on the truck.  The best comparison to trucking over the road is camping; if you like camping you'll love trucking.  As always we'll be taking your questions, tips, and suggestions.

Since safety is a major emphasis of this podcast, tonight's episode will focus on Load Securement in a van trailer. Dale Howard will again join us for his unique perspective as a Transport Officer.  We will examine a real-life scenario that happened this week to Rick and Melissa. We will explain what went wrong and how to ensure that the likelihood of recurrence is minimized.  We will also share tips and tricks for various types of loads, including vans, flatbeds, step decks, and other unique loads.

Trucking 101 on Audio Road with Rick and Melissa Grim - Guest host Jason Derksen. Tonight we will talk to Dale Howard about Brake Safety Week 2016 - What it is and what we need to know. We will discuss tips and ideas about the small things that we can do to help make us safer on the road.  We will talk about Passing trucks, what to do with vehicles on the shoulder, and other great tips on how to stay safe.  Will take questions, provide answers, and listen to your tips of things you do on a daily basis to stay safe.  We will discuss how to make these safety practices become habits in your daily driving.

Tonight we answer a question about split breaks.  Dale Howard will be helping us out on that one.  We will also be talking about bad driving habits.  Following to closley, speeding, speeding in a construction zone, weaving back and forth, distracted driving, chronic and aggressive lane changing, not getting over of slowing down for vehicles on the side of the road, not paying attention in a rest area especially a small one.  We will also talk about the best time to become a trainer.  We will give you some things to think about before you make the decision.  Some resources from tonight's show are the book Traffic, you can find that on audible.com.  Also check out Mythbusters season 16 episode 6 on HULU.

Tonight we will be finishing up with trip planning. Seth Jackson is coming on to give everyone some tips on trip planning as a solo driver. We'll also talk about some useful apps you can use to plan where you want to park.  Trucker's path is a great app that tells you where all the good truck parking areas are and how much parking is available.  It requires participation to work well so if you are going to use it, make sure you contribute.  TA/Petro app tells you the parking situation at all those truck stops.  It is the only truck stop app that tracks how many parking spaces are available.  There is also the MyPilot app and the Loves app.    The main topic tonight is the fun side of trucking.  There are a lot of perks and opportunities for fun when you are driving a truck around the country.  Our target audience is brand new drivers in the industry. We also hope to be able to reach people who are considering truck driving as a career.  This part of the show is for them.  Becky will talk about riding roller c

Trip Planning important things to do:  Look up your pickup and destination on Google.  Make sure you get a streetview if you can.  If your company doesn't provide directions, call the shipper and receiver and ask. Trip Planning Questions to Answer: How many hours do you have? How much time do you have to deliver? Did you map your route? Did you check the weather on your route? Where are you parking tonight?  (Remember the days are getting shorter.  Parking availability will fill up sooner) Do you have a backup? Check to see if you can park at the shipper/receiver Can you reserve a space if you need to? We will be talking about planning for problems without relying on technology Other things to check when picking up and dropping off your load Make sure the delivery address on your papework matches the info on your qualcomm Write down all the trip info in case of a electrical qulich.  Also your customer will need the info when you check in. Would be a good idea to have a notebook that you keep your trip info in

Tonight is our first live show! We will be talking about our mission our previous and episodes and the other members of our group will chime in as well.  Our mission:  To find and pass along knowledge to new drivers that will make them the safest drivers on the road; and provide a firm stepping stone into a successful career.  Our target audience is new drivers, specifically drivers that are within their first year of driving a truck.  Think of this as military boot camp.  We are looking for new people that know almost nothing about the trucking industry and are willing to learn.  If you are listening to this podcast and you are an experienced driver or owner/operator, "Fantastic".  We would like you to steer new drivers looking for help our way.  Tell them about this podcast, about the Facebook page, Trucking 101 on Audio Road, and tell them about lets truck.  There is now a Let's Truck group available and eager to help new drivers.  We know very well that "you can't fix stupid".  We are not looking to reign

On today's show we will talk about making a plan for the future.  In order to achieve anything significant in life or in your career you need to set a goal to do so.  There is a specific structure to follow in order to successfully achieve a goal.  S.M.A.R.T.  which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time bound.  One of the most important aspects to goal setting is having a strong why.  If you are not emotionallly connected to your goal you reduce your chances of achieving it.  About 90% of all plans fail because they are not properly executed.  Our guest tonight will be Rebecca Suzanne, Seth Jackson, Russ Morgan, and Becky Morgan.  They will be sharing some things they achieved through proper goal setting.  If you learn nothing else from this podcast, learn that in order to achieve anything you must at the very least write it down.