AlexxInNY:
Now, I used to run Canada almost exclusively (spent more time in Ontario and Quebec than at home-kept Canuck change in one pocket, US in the other), and let me tell you, most Yanke units are dirty, banged up, and several years older than the one pictured.
Very, very true… Several of the Yanke trucks I saw while I was over there looked ready for scrapping.
For those thinking of driving north America, remember-the distances are long, the towns are further apart, and the winters are long and cold. Sometimes teams can be on the road for weeks at a time, subsisting on lousy truckstop food, and toiling often on the docks. Many recievers feel that the load isn’t delivered until it’s on the dock. Try handballing a 45,000 lb load of coffee stacked knee-high after driving 560 miles that day. This is typical of US trucking.
But it’s not all like that. There are DOZENS of companies offering jobs for drivers with the promise of 100% no-touch.
And I’ve eaten truckstop food in the UK, and in the US. Trust me, US truckstop fare isn’t all that bad. Besides, in the US, there are literally dozens of fast food joints who have lots big enough for a dozen rigs in there as well as the 4 wheelers. Pick your place. Remember pulling your 45 in a dirty layby with all sorts of interesting people around who had clothing malfuctions? The smell of ■■■■ when you parked up? Being treated like dirt? Just so long as you don’t think that trucking in the US/Canada will help you escape all that, you should do ok.
Also, if you drive Canada, remember, 1/3 of Canadians speak French as their primary language, and in Quebec, all signage is in French.
True, however, everywhere that still likes the idea of being Canadian rather than part of the first reactionary republic of Quebecistan speaks English just fine, and signs are also in English as well as french.
There are 4 steps to getting a job in Canada.
1: Convince an employer to give you a job offer, and do their side of the paperwork.
2: Pay a lawyer to put the paperwork together with the stuff you filled in.
3: Pay Canadian Immegration their fees, and Collect your visa.
4: Pack up and fly
Hopefully if you pay an agent to assist you, they will locate a company capable of organising drinkies in a brewery who won’t try to rip everyone off left, right and centre. That’s where I screwed up. Once the ■■■■ hit the fan, the company stabbed me in the back. I ended up back in blighty with a polite request not to re-enter Canada for 12 months, and to possibly pay CIC $2,000 for the return trip they bought me.
I AM going back to Canada to drive. Probably in 3 or 4 years time. This time it will be done right, and for a decent company who won’t treat me like complete dirt.
BIG TIP:
If things go ■■■■ up, then for gods’ sakes, co-operate with immegration. If you try and pull a fast one on them, you’ll be deported and banned from re-entry forever. I co-operated, and it didn’t go too badly, I can go back.
Alexx is right about many things though.
The US is HUGE, and Canada is the second biggest country in the world. Towns can be dozens of miles apart., Interstate exits can be up to 70 or 80 miles apart. In the midwest, you can drive for an hour or more before you spot a place you can park up and get some food. Planning is increadibly important, as well as the book to show you where you can get fuel.
In big cities, expect just as many bad drivers as you find here.
Out in the wilds, expect to see almost no-one for hours on end.
Lanes on the interstates are narrower than here.
Trailers are longer (53’ are common)
EVERY state/province has different laws for wieght distribution, axle positions etc. Expect to pull over 3 or 4 times a day to shuffle your trailer axles and 5th wheel slide around to get legal.
US long-nose tractors don’t turn on a dime, they turn on the national debt of mexico. They look very cool indeed, and ride lovely on the highway, but in a city, you WILL get all homesick for that knackered Iveco you once swore at.
They almost all have constant mesh crash boxes. Do NOT expect to master them in a hurry unless you are a fan of the twinsplitter.
Don’t expect a quiet night of sleep. EVER. Even if you did fork out for a spot with Idleaire, or have a nice quiet nightheater in your truck, half the rest of the parking lot will be filled with big trucks running at a fast idle all night to power their heating/aircon.
Expect law enforcement everywhere to have a gun, and probably point it at you now and again. It’s the land of the gun, live with it.
Don’t expect companies to pay you much when you’re not rolling. Pay is usually by the mile. A good company will pay out for detentions at unruly RDCs and border delays. Crap ones will not. Good companies will cover your costs if you get a lumper to help out on a handball job. Bad ones will expect you to pay for it.
US/Canadian laws work on the logbook. There are many fiddles, but the cops know most of them.
Trucking over there is no nirvana. Drivers there whinge just as much as us, and for many of the same reasons. Just pop along to TNet US or Tnet Canada and find out.
And anyone trying to emigrate to Canada or the USA would be better listening to him.
