I've been keeping and eye on your thread. Thank you for taking the time to keep it updated.

I've been contemplating the O/O thing for some time now, but couldn't make a move until we were able to close on the house. Banks like to see job stability and becoming a newly self employed individual in this economy doesn't do much for loan approvals. I'm on my way back to Phoenix to close on the house next week and can now move forward if I choose to do so.

I'm not looking to do anything immediately. I will be picking up another 2 weeks vacation time in two months and don't want to throw away $2500.

I can now get health insurance through the wife's job at a very reasonable rate, so that won't be an issue.

I don't see any major advantages to leasing on as an O/O, but there are a number of smaller issues, some of which you just listed, that I feel would make life a little more bearable out here.

Truck maintenance is becoming an issue for me. I just can't understand how something that takes less than an hour at any truck shop takes 6hrs in one of our shops. And that's if you can actually get it into the shop to start with.

As a matter of fact, I was in Columbus last weekend putting in one of those unneeded resets and tried to get the truck in for a B service. (Granted, it was the 4th of July weekend)

The first question I was asked was, "how far are you past due?". (I was less than 1000 miles over). Now, the last time I got a B service it was in this very same shop and at that time I had been told it was a good thing I stopped when I did because the company was coming down on drivers running past their service intervals. As a matter of fact, he made it a point to tell me that they were going to start pulling in these drivers and taking their loads away from them and making them sit at a terminal and wait for the service to be completed irregardless (that one is for jd) of how long it took them to get into the shop,(I have never talked to a driver that has experienced this) but had no reason to doubt him and made it a point to make it into a shop when my time came up.

With that said, this very same tech was now telling me that he wouldn't even concider doing a B service at this time unless I was at least 5000 miles over. I'm so confussed!

"OK", I say, "Then I don't suppose there is any chance that you will service my trailer either, it's past due also.

"Not unless it is in need of immidiate repair", I'm told.

"Nope, not the trailer, but my truck need some work other than the B service"

I have a cluth fan that will not shut off. This makes for a very noisy ride and less than optimal performance and fuel mileage.

"Well, that's a different story, we can get it in the shop sometime tonight or tomorrow morning".

That was fine with me because I had enough downtime on this load to make that work. I didn't even have to wait all that long to get the truck in the shop. I had thrown in a couple of loads into the washer by the time it went through the dryer my truck was in the shop. But then, as we Crete drivers know, being in the shop and actually getting work done on it are two different things.

No matter, I walked over to the Movie theater an spent the afternoon over there. When I returned the truck was still in the shop but it was pleasant outside and there were plenty of drivers to chat with to pass time. When my truck was finally released I was told there was nothing they could do with it and I would have to take it to a Freightliner Dealer. Not a problem, I would just drop it off next week at the dealer in Phoenix when I take home time.

What really got my goat. That truck was in the shop for 6-7hrs and when I got it back I still need to get a B service.

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"I REJECT YOUR REALITY AND SUBSTITUTE MY OWN" Mythbusters

Here are the numbers through June, 2009.

The miles have been a little harder to come by this year, all things considered I can't complain too much. At this pace I'm still hoping to pull off a 130,000+ mile calender year.

Miles from my hire date anniversary for the year sat at 111,076 as of June 30th. That means that I need about 10,500 by 09/15/09 to meet the company requirement of 121,500 miles to secure my 1cpm pay raise. That certainly won't be a problem. As a matter of fact, I have run 3900 of those so far this month and just got my load offer of 1600mi to get me home. VACATION time!

2009 2nd Quarter Mileage Spreadsheet



Breakdown of above numbers.

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"I REJECT YOUR REALITY AND SUBSTITUTE MY OWN" Mythbusters

"irregardless (that one is for jd)"

You a funny man! Glad we can laugh about it.

I had a few other people ask about O/Oing at Crete about a month ago, so I called a recruiter to see if the O/O hiring freeze had been lifted. Was told it had not been, and that the talk was that they may not lift the hiring freeze till the first of next year. However, that may not apply to current company drivers.

Enjoy the vacation!

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Thank you Christ & Veterans for the blood you shed for my freedom! Hope is knowing that Christ will not let failure be your final resutl.

Hey ET(evertruckerr) that was some good reading up there. It sounds like a typical day huh? I don't have as much time as some of you, but I wish I had all that stuff runnin around in my head as far as seeing how the situation at hand is going to turn out over the next day or 2. I'm gettin there, but I spent the last year and a 1/2 doing local stuff. It's really all basic stuff, but only time will afford me the insight or foresight to be able to get the jump on stuff.
So keep posting stuff like that, and some tips if you can, and I'll add my own when I get back out there. I'm SURE I'll have some stupid and comical stuff to add.
later

Man that's some sucky home time. Hope it's worth it.

Well, let's see. I'm sitting in Clearfield, PA getting an unneeded reset. Got me a load offer to pick up tomorrow morning in Brookville going all the way to Baldwinsville, NY. Delivery time is anytime between 1530 tomorrow and 0330 Tuesday. Total of 337 miles.

I've already pulled 2 different reefers, and I'm finding that I'm now dreading drop/hooks because I'm finding more and more trailers with tandems that are impossible for one person to slide. I'd love to find out which mechanics at our shops are remedying broken tandem slider release springs by simply connecting the pull arm directly to the release lever. I have a crowbar I'd like to apply to his cranium a few times.

I'd also love it if dispatchers actually read messages that I sent in, such as "Hey guys, I need to get this truck in the shop for an air leak. Since I'm delivering less than 30 miles from Ottawa, would you mind routing me there and changing my PTA to sometime tomorrow morning? I'm hoping to have it fixed and ready to go by then." That one was roundly ignored - my empty call got me a load offer going to Chattanooga, over Monteagle - not a place I want to drive with a hole in my main air line coming out of the compressor. So I sent another message - "I'd love to take this load, but the trk has a big air leak making it unsafe to drive. Need to get n2 shop ASAP." Somebody named Toby replied, "I take it you want to put ur trk in the shop? If so u can go to Ottawa, I'll route u there." DUH!

So I get the truck fixed in Ottawa, set my PTA for 0500, get a load offer picking up off the Ottawa yard going to Plainfield, IN for 10am the next day and a message from Toby saying, "Can u dlv this ontime? If so, go ahead and I'll get you a preplan from there." I took it. No preplan. Again. I believed that lie the first time Toby told it to me. He needs new lies to add to his repertoire.

But, it's not all bad - it's just that the bad stuff tends to stick out in my mind more when I'm sitting at a truck stop in PA with plenty of hours and a load I can't pick up til tomorrow morning.

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When life hands you lemons, squirt the juice in the eyes of the people who are pissing you off today.

I've had mixed results with Toby. One time he helped me out big time on a preplan to the west coast, next time he turns around and pulls me off of a great load to go pick up a load I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Go figure.

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One
Big
A**
Mistake
America

Liberals: Brave enough to kill our unborn children, just not brave enough to kill our enemies

Well, I think I've figured out how I'm going to work this load to Baldwinsville. I could deliver it at 1600 tomorrow and be almost out of hours and looking for a place to park around Syracuse (and we all know how well that'll work out) or I could hold up at the Petro in Waterloo, and deliver around 0200-0300 and have plenty of hours to get outta there. I think I'm going with the latter.

When I get to Waterloo, I'll ask dispatch about a preplan out of there since we have a lot of beer loads coming out of the Budweiser plant there (that's where I'm delivering also). I don't much care which direction I go after I deliver, just that I get moving so I don't have the joyous experience of looking for a parking spot in the Syracuse area in the middle of the night. If nothing is forthcoming, I may go ahead and deliver in the afternoon and hope for the best on parking.

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When life hands you lemons, squirt the juice in the eyes of the people who are pissing you off today.

Has it been a while since you've been to Baldwinsville? The reason I ask is that the last time I was there dispatch told me that we don't load out of there anywhere near like we used to. Last three times to Syracuse netted me 0 beer loads.

__________________
One
Big
A**
Mistake
America

Liberals: Brave enough to kill our unborn children, just not brave enough to kill our enemies

Joy. Guess I'll just deliver the thing ASAP and hope for the best. If nothing else I might be able to park at that little hole in the wall truckstop in Syracuse or the one a little further north up 81.

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When life hands you lemons, squirt the juice in the eyes of the people who are pissing you off today.