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“Louis” is one of his many nicknames Lu-Tucky Lu-Ass Lu-Shit Lu-Dog His actual name is Lucius Clay, I named him after that Charlie Daniel’s Band song “Woolley Swamp”. I’m a pretty big country music fan🤠 Being an owner operator is by far the best thing I’ve ever done for money. I’ve always loved to drive and after 30 years in retail, really don’t like the “public”. Getting to do what I want to everyday is really priceless. 👊🏻🍻

Man, we must have just missed one another, I was down there too getting some end of year stuff done on the truck. I appreciate the kind words for my dad, I am so grateful I was able to be next to him for his great “send off”. I’m taking the last couple weeks of December off to spend time with family over the holidays and am gonna get back after it in 2025. Merry Christmas 🎄🎁 🎅🏻

Yep

I’m glad you liked it. I got my first drone around the same time I got the truck, I’m always trying to get better at both😉 👊🏻🍻

Of course, I hope you found it helpful. Unfortunately, I don’t have any first hand experience with Schneider, nor have I heard any pros/cons of doing business with them. I remember when I was looking for a truck, checking them out and my reasoning at the time for not doing business was them was their limited selection. I believe this to be more of a factor of when I chose to get into trucking as opposed to them being a bad company. When I got into this, everyone virtually had no selection of trucks because everyone was buying them up and demand was very high. All new tires would be great and would represent a potential savings of $3K-$6K depending on brand and if they were genuinely virgin rubber or retreads. If you plan on running in California, I personally think age might be more important than mileage because currently, trucks made before 2012 are not allowed here. If you do plan on running here, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the CARB rules: ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/truck-and-bus-regulation Since it was my first truck purchase, I got most of my info from @diysemi He has a few videos of what he looks for when purchasing a truck, I took notes🤓 👊🏻🍻

Thank you for such a thoughtful comment, I really appreciate it. I’m definitely sad, always gonna miss him, but also know I am better off and grateful for the time we had together. I appreciate your comment a lot 👊🏻🍻❤️

I’m so happy you like it and appreciate you taking the time to write such a thoughtful comment to me, thank you. To this day, I still feel like a dork when I make these videos, social media was/is not part of my “skill-set”. While I’m getting more comfortable at it, it still feels strange talking to a camera when other people are around, not sure if that ever goes away🤷🏻‍♂️ Pharmacy made me feel so dead inside, I was pretty much just phoning it in for the last ten years I did that kind of work. I was willing to take a pay cut to exit that environment and took a pretty big leap of faith on chasing this wild childhood dream of mine I call trucking. The thing I never saw coming and what would turn out to be blessing in disguise is that I’m capable of making much more today than I ever was going to make as a pharmacist. I agree with you 100% that money is not everything, which is why I actually work a lot less than I used to as a pharmacist. If you give me two days in my truck, I can make my pharmacist week, then the question becomes, do I want to take five days off and live like I’ve been living for the last 20 years or do I want to work a little extra. Basically, trucking has provided me with time, that’s probably my biggest flex. Time to do stuff with my kids, time to go on trips that can’t be denied because someone else requested them, time to basically do whatever I want. This line of work shattered everything I thought about society. After 20 years of pharmacy, I probably saved a couple people’s lives, high stress environment, understaffed, had to look a certain way, society says that’s worth $400-$500/day. Today, I drive a truck, don’t interact with the public, zero schedule, am only responsible for me, look like I crawled out from under a rock at Woodstock and society says that worth $1K-$2K/day…Sign me up, I never cared about the suits and the ties and the image, it was all just a costume. I’m not embarrassed I became a pharmacist, but I am embarrassed I stayed one for so long. 👊🏻🍻

I appreciate it, definitely a difficult time for me but I know he’d want to persevere and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. 👊🏻🍻

Thank you, I really appreciate it. 👊🏻🍻

I appreciate it, thank you for thinking of me. I miss him so much but we really had a great run together and I’m grateful for what time we had. He’ll always inspire me. 👊🏻🍻

I too come from a retail background and making this change is absolutely the best possible decision I’ve ever made. I got tired of living my life according to a sign on the time clock (No vacation approvals from 12/1-1/15 will be approved). I had come to terms with “this was the business I had chosen”, but now three years removed from it I could NEVER go back. I’m typing this to you currently on a 2 week break I gave myself so I can be with family over the holidays. I don’t say this to brag but hopefully inspire. Trucking obviously has its hard points and there is a learning curve (which I feel like I’ll forever be in), but if done successfully, the freedom of picking your own schedule is something I could not put value on. I would sum it up like this, trucking made me feel like an adult for the first time in my life (I’m 47). When I was a clerk, I didn’t have money or time. When I was a pharmacist, I had money but I didn’t have time. As a trucker, I have both time and money. I hope something here inspires you, definitely not my intention to gloat. 👊🏻🍻

Usually, it’s not until a year or two after the fact that I look back on something and realize “that was a chapter of my life”. I think the loss of someone close is one of the rare instances where you literally are watching the chapter close out before your very eyes. It’s almost as if the two years worth of emotions (from a “normal” chapter) are brought to the surface in an instant and anyone is going to struggle with that. I’m not too proud to say I’m struggling with it, if I weren’t, something would be wrong with me. I appreciate with you checking in with me, not in the misery loves company sense, but in the sense of our own growth and development through these excruciatingly painful events. As my dad would say “if we’re not moving forward we are doing something wrong” 👊🏻🍻

@@STATTrucking yup - if sharks stop moving they die. MUCH love

I’ve never heard that before but I like that

Trust me, there’s people I grew up with who run into me and are like “what the f🤬ck happened to you”. I only stayed “clean cut” to adhere to a dress code. This is me acting out😂

I appreciate your comment and really am grateful for you thinking of me. We lost a good one🥲 👊🏻🍻

I appreciate your kind words during this difficult time. Thank you for your comment, it means a lot to me. 👊🏻🍻

6000🤣 I hate to use the word NEVER, but it has never happened and I doubt it ever will for me. It’s a very insidious setup to me being that most/all of my disputes I win, meaning that it was an erroneous accusation when Amazon leveled it against me. That being said, how ridiculous of them to say in essence “we’ll fix our mistakes faster for you but only if you reach some unobtainable goal” I would say, don’t make the false accusation in the first place, but if you do and then drag your feet in correcting it because I’m not on “that level”, well, that’s just 💩 👊🏻🍻

I really do believe trip completion status is their new low hanging fruit. I’ve NEVER had it be an issue but have had three loads in the last two weeks that have magically reappeared as “in transit” after I have successfully completed them. This feels a lot like app usage around six months ago. 👊🏻🍻

I appreciate your kind words and they do inspire me. Thank you for taking the time to leave me this comment, I really do appreciate it. 👊🏻🍻

Definitely lost a good one, if I can live up to half of what he was and what he stood for, I will die a happy man. 👊🏻🍻

Thank you for your kinda words, they really do mean a lot to me during this difficult time. I’m already missing my morning check-in’s with him. He’d always call me first thing in the morning and ask me how I did over the previous night. Those calls were special. 👊🏻🍻

@STATTrucking 🖤

@STATTrucking and I completely understand just pray and keep helping people out like you do. God bless you and your family. 😌

It’s an event that truly never has good timing. I really appreciate your kind words and taking the time to leave me this comment, it means a lot to me. 👊🏻🍻

Jack, He was a great man, I’ve never been more proud to call him my dad. The swings of cancer are fucking insidious. I have a video of him three weeks before he passed getting to ring the bell at the cancer center, signifying he was cancer free. He called me, we cried, he was absolutely so full of life on that day. Thank God none of us knew three weeks later that would be it. His “take the bull by the horns” outlook was present in almost every decision he made and I’m grateful that a little of that rubbed off on me. Being raised by someone like that is what lead me to give trucking a try because as he’d say “Even if you fall flat on your face, you’re still moving forward”. I appreciate you and the time you spent sending me this happy note, it means a lot to me. 🥰

I’m glad you like the content and appreciate you for letting me know, thank you. A third party site is about the only place you have to worry about getting a physical BOL signed. If you are staying within the Amazon system (no 3P sites), an electronic BOL will appear on screen that you can screenshot for your records. If you were to accidentally bypass the BOL screen, you can always retrieve it from your trips tab under “history”. I’ve been doing Amazon for almost three years and this was maybe the 4-5th hard copy BOL I’ve dealt with, they’re exceptionally rare. I’m excited for you!! Be sure and start on a Sunday and screenshot everything, better to have it and not need it than the other way. 👊🏻🍻

@@STATTruckingHey again bro i got approved to run 💪 i have another question how often do you have to deal with trailer seals and whats the protocol on that with amazon?

Congrats 🎉🍾🎊 Trailer seals are only used in two scenarios: 1. If the trailer has inventory (merchandise) or non-inventory (empty carts) inside of it. 2. If an empty trailer is being taken over state lines (I believe this is a DOT requirement) Empty trailers being taken from location to location in the same state do not require seals. Typically, any loaded trailer you’re picking up from a dock door will have a sealed either taped to the inside wall of the trailer or sitting on the floor. They’re usually pretty easy to find. A loaded trailer from a parking slip should always be sealed, but if it’s not, open the doors and 9/10 times the seal is either taped to the wall or on the floor. Rarely, will there not be a seal anywhere to be found and in that scenario, just stop by the guard shack at the exit and ask for one. In the handful of times that has happened to me, they always give me one because they won’t let you leave without it. Empties are a piece of cake, just shut the doors and go. 👊🏻🍻

Thank you, he was a wild man back in the day. 👊🏻🍻

Thank you, he was a great man who taught me many valuable life lessons. I feel very fortunate to have had him as a dad and am blessed to have had him in my life for as long as I did. 👊🏻🍻

@STATTrucking yeah just keep pushing forward as best you can is all you can do

I appreciate your kind words and for thinking of me during this difficult time. He meant the world to me and I feel like he’s been prepping me for right now my entire life. I can’t tell you how many of his talks started out with “now I’m not always gonna be around…….” I’m absolutely a work-in-progress right now and am figuring it out as I go. Thanking for taking the time to leave me this comment, it means a lot to me. 👊🏻🍻

I’m glad you liked it, thank you for letting me know. I do a series on here called Relay Rates and in the most recent installment, I show exactly which filters I believe to be the most important (8:35 of this video): th-cam.com/video/WYiOeclXVcg/w-d-xo.htmlsi=t15XTj5Fu771zW7Y After you get a feel for your area, you’ll want to dial down that search radius to fit your exact needs. I also believe the web-based platform is more efficient at doing this as opposed to using the load board on the Relay app. My justification on this: th-cam.com/users/shortsQaTGWr7YtPc?si=5VJLVPDejtzkiTJm Those search filters are your friends. Things like trip duration, max stops, max miles can all make your life much easier. I don’t have a specific video on it but I appreciate you giving me the idea, it’s actually a great video idea, thank you. 👊🏻🍻

I haven’t gotten stuck again (yet🤣). I’ve always been a “car guy”, had no idea how easy it was to get one of these things stuck. I would have thought I could’ve taken this thing off road and into the swamp, yet one more thing I was wrong about🤣

Let me know if that works, I keep hearing from a lot of people going through this and I’d love to know a solution to pass along. 👊🏻🍻

Mines doing the same thing saying unreadable it’s like my 8th time trying to

Back in March of 2023, Amazon started requiring authority to be 180 days old th-cam.com/users/shortsQlm_d80pfOo?si=fe51p9oQvKEAs--_ 👊🏻🍻

Back in March 2023, Amazon started requiring authority to be 180 days old th-cam.com/users/shortsQlm_d80pfOo?si=fe51p9oQvKEAs--_ 👊🏻🍻

I’m going to let the guys whose do box trucks answer this. I do a series on here called Relay Rates where I like look at both 53 and 26’ equipment. That’s probably the best so sight I can offer you because I do not own/operate a box truck. Relay Rates playlist: th-cam.com/play/PLBasM-CJo7qJwKYniWg_CdJsNc48qkWFB.html&si=BKSEr-yof2dar360 👊🏻🍻

If you’re using acetone, probably 3 of the 6oz bottles. If you’re using the non-acetone formula, I’d say 5-6 of them. When I made this video, I didn’t realize the trailer would not be adversely affected by acetone and that’s why I went the route I did. If I had to repeat it again today, I would only use acetone, it didn’t affect the finish at all and made quicker work out of it. If you think you’ll need more of it, any hardware store sells a quart of it (acetone) for around $10. 👊🏻🍻

First and foremost, I like where your head is at. You’re already thinking about preventing things that could be problems down the road. This thought process is 💯 The easiest fix for this is to use a separate email for Amazon when you are dealing with them directly than the one you are currently using with your current company. You probably will get an email from Amazon saying something to the effect of “your current CDL is associated with this other account, which account would you like to keep active as you’re only allowed to have one”. This prevents your current company from assigning work to you which might conflict with work you are booking on your own. I tried to describe this exact same scenario at 12:24 of this video: th-cam.com/video/Doy8hKwBv_8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=4HJxkUiOxzgY1Tzd The last thing you’d want to have happen is someone at the current company assign you a load (maybe just as a “placeholder”) and have that load conflict with something you just booked for yourself and have that count against your performance score. I’ve seen it happen and it’s infuriating, separate email accounts is the best solution IMO. 👊🏻🍻

@ thank you I appreciate the response was just hopping to do both while I do the transition but skikda mike there’s more room for error thank you again

th-cam.com/users/shortsBaJOVYOeI-w?si=KnMDr-J5xCfrlNCL 👊🏻🍻

Just added it to the list 👊🏻🍻

I don’t, sorry. I’ve heard this from several people however I have never had this be an issue for me. When I look online, the same generic things come up (blurry picture, name/address mismatch, expired license). About the only way I could come up with in trying to fix this is to open a case with them through the support center.

Thank you, it feels like I’m living someone else’s life when I get to go to things like this.

Every Friday morning

It is weekly. For me, any work I complete during the Amazon week (Sunday 0:00-Saturday 23:59) I receive an invoice via email on Tuesday and the money is in my account on Wednesday. 👊🏻🍻

@ Appreciate the info!! Keep up the great content! Stay safe out there! Keep the rubber on the road!

You as well, I love meeting people who have the same interests as me and this whole TH-cam thing is quite the endeavor. When they have the next one, I’ll definitely be there. 👊🏻🍻

I’m really not sure. I know AFP’s around here get somewhere between $25-$29/hr. I personally don’t hire drivers but if I did, I would probably pay quite low as a baseline but then reward the person for doing things that ultimately would help the business (I.e. keep the grade high). For example: $20/hr Arrive early $10 bonus Get a screenshot of arrival successfully detected $5 bonus Use app entire shift $30 bonus If I were to set it up for my company, I would be paying exceptionally well for exemplary service and if I had someone show up who just wanted to do the minimum, their pay would reflect that. I’ve heard of guys letting others lease on with their own trucks for a 10-15% cut, but again this is something I don’t do. 👊🏻🍻

I appreciate your kind words, thank you 🙏🏻 👊🏻🍻

th-cam.com/users/shortsosAZaVJC3iw?si=c-R-FYG3MVLT64vm 👊🏻🍻

This life is a trip! If you came to me four years ago and said I’d be invited to this event based on my YT channel, I would have looked at you quite confused and said “What happened to me? What YT channel?” My little pharmacist brain probably would have exploded😂 Glad the truck is back and is working like it should. The worst feeling I’ve experienced during all of this is when something happens and I feel like I can’t be confident in my own equipment. A light comes on, an error message, anything that makes me feel like that truck isn’t bulletproof really takes the wind out of my sails. I too am knocking on wood (for the both of us) 👊🏻🍻