KLLM; Back Where I Started

Yes , you read the title correctly. After 2 failed attempts to find greener pastures, I'm back with KLLM. Say what you want, believe what you hear from the streets and from current or even former drivers (like myself), they are not what everyone says. With 4.25 years with them before, I'll see what happens this time. (Do a search under KLLM on this site and read what I have posted to get a better picture of the past).

Now for the recap of this return:

1. 3-day Orientation
2. Put in Co. Van with 3 other drivers to go get our Trucks at other Terminals.
3. First trip is a 966 mile Deadhead from Dallas to Nogalas, AZ. (Leave Fri afternoon to be in AZ on Mon morning).
4. Get Loaded part of trip for 2 stops in GA (Both due Fri morning).
5. Get back to Jackson, MS home terminal for fuel stop on Wed afternoon.
Tell local dispatch I'll keep load. I get load taken away for a new load from Greenville, MS to Fresno, CA due the following Mon morning.
6. Get Fresno done early and deadhead for 2 Pick-ups in Bakersfield for final in Chicago on Fri evening. Get there Fri morning for Drop/Hook.
7. Bobtail out and go to Geneva, IL for empty trailer (paid deadhead) and take new trailer to Niles, IL (also paid deadhead) to new load.
8. Go from Niles with load to final in Buffalo, NY for Sun nite.
9. Mon morning leave Buffalo for new load in Campbell, NY going to Norcross, GA for Drop/Hook on Wed afternoon but get their early Wed morning.
10. Go for new load in South Atlanta for Thurs morning Delivery in Knoxville, TN.
11. Outing ends for timeoff @ 12noon Thurs @ home.

All the above done in 2 weeks 6 days from leaving Dallas. Mileage on Truck came in at 8235 miles.

I averaged 426 miles a day.
I got paid every cent due me from the Orientation Pay, to riding in van to get my Truck, to getting Pre Plans (even when I didn't ask for them). All reimbursements were paid, even for new Load Locks.
I got a white Century (which is what I wanted). I don't care for the brown colored Columbias at all.
And yes, Trucks are still set for 65mph max but had no problems with that.

I'll see what "down" things happen in the future; if any, but the return was more than I expected. Even got told I have a new dispatcher cause there was no reason to keep me in the "new hire" dispatchers fleet for the full 2 months. No problem, happened when I 1st joined up in Fall 2001. I hardly communicated with him anyway cause I knew what to do already.

This was an extraordinary outing with little "bad" things happening. I know this isn't the norm anywhere in the industry. But my thinking is "you have to take the "bad" with the "good". And if Murphey's Law comes into play (which it usually does), there will be more "bad" than "good". This outing was not the "norm" but very well welcomed.

 

Believe me, you want a white Century. Yes, they are the oldest of the fleet but they are much better than the Columbias or 9400's. I have a white Century and after only bein back for 4 weeks, my FM said to go to TX yard and get a gold Columbia. I said no, I'll keep what I have. FM said, "I don't blame ya." I hope to have it at least another year. Then I'll have to turn it in cause of mileage.

I returned on March 23rd and have averaged 3300 miles a week. 95% coast to coast. I'm usually out 3.5 weeks and home for 3.5 days. I have a feelin that soon it will be lower miles cause since I'm a re-hire at a high per mile rate, they'll do the normal industry thing and give the high mile loads to the lower pay drivers. We'll see.

The 9400's are mostly for the Dry division cause they are too heavy for the reefer division. A few are in the reefer division though.

The TX yard is for both OTR and Super Texas Regional Drivers. One thing though, if you live within 100 miles of any of their Terminals, you have to leave the Truck at the Terminal and use other transportation to get home. This is for Dallas, Jackson, Atlanta, Fontana, and Portage, IN Terminals only.

All trucks are governed at 65. But the white and gold Century's can go 68 if you have high "mpg" and low "idle percentage". Mine just went back to 68 yesterday after Atlanta yard did the PM on it. They reset the history on the engine computer. The other trucks will only do 65 cause they have APU's so no need for the idle program to be used. They disabled it on all Trucks with APU's.

Will update my 2nd outing with them in a few days before I hit the road again.

 

Here is the recap for the 2nd outing

1. Leave home and Deadhead to SC for load to Garland, TX.

2. Go from Garland to Kilgore, TX for new load (Haz-Mat) to Grand Junction, CO. (Since KLLM doesn't want loaded trucks; Haz-Mat or not, on I-70 west of Denver I got routed and paid 250 miles extra to go I-40 to Gallop, NM and then head north to Grand Junction). I also got Haz-Mat pay.

3. Deadhead to Ft. Collins, CO for load to Santa Rosa, CA. (Since I was empty, I went I-70 east to I-25 North. KLLM will let you do that since you are empty and no snow on roads and no chain law in effect). It was pretty drive with clear blue skies.

4. Did a swap with Western Regional driver in WY and took his load to Everitt, MA.

5. Got new load in Marlborough, MA (2-stopper) for Denver and Co Springs, CO.

6. Deadhead back to Ft Collins, CO to get load going to Watsonville, CA. (This I got to keep and it was interesting. Got east of Reno and Hwy sign said, "Snowing over Summitt, Carry Chains". No stopping in Reno this time so on I went. Was 63 in Reno and 33 at the Summitt. Road was wet and spray going all over. Got up and over the Summitt and down the other side. Light snow on eastside of Summitt but HEAVY Snow on the Westside. At exit 129 EB, all vehicles exiting and Hwy crews checking for chains. If you had them, on you went. If not, you parked at the Fairgrounds and wait it out. Right before the rest area WB east of Sac, Driver going EB announced "Chain Law in effect". I looked on my calender several times and it did say May 2nd. Local news said this was unusual for Donner to get this much snow late in the season. Anyway, the Truck and Trailer got somewhat "washed").

7. Delivered in Watsonville and Deadhead to Salinas.

8. Finally got load from Salinas (got $50 Layover pay, without asking) going to Southern Atlanta, GA. This is a Drop/Hook load.

9. Go to yard for PM and $50 Shop Pay.

10. New load pick-up in Anniston, AL for Martinsburg, WV delivery. Haz-Mat load so another $50 Haz-Mat pay. (I'm due home in 1 day but short of Trucks in area so I deliver to WV).

11. WV delivery done. Wait 30 mins and I get told to "Roll home for T/O."

I got home on day I requested but 6.5 hrs later than I like. No big deal though. Since March 23rd through May 10th, been out 46 days with 3.5 days off and averaging 3300 miles a week. We'll see in future how long this goes. Maybe when I leave Monday it will be more to the norm but right now I'm not complaining.

Communication is nil cause there have been no problems. The 65mph speed has not been an issue so far. Other drivers have not kept me in the "hammer lane" unneccessarily. And the idle program has been working to give me the 68mph cause in 46 days my idle percentage is 8.8%.

Will submit outing 3 when I return.

 

Skull, only have 10 Auto-shifts in the fleet, all on gold Century's. They were bought about 2 years ago. As far as the gold Columbia's, all I have heard from Drivers who have them is they breakdown a lot. They won't go into detail. Also they are saying that they are smaller on the inside in the sleeper area than the Century's. That I can't comment on cause I have never been in or driven a Columbia. I won't rule out getting a Columbia in the future (Which I know will come soon) but I hope the one I get will not be one they breaks down a lot. I think it all boils down to how the Driver takes care of the Truck. I know in the past I have gotten "wrong" Trucks but I have never had a breakdown in them after I have been issued it.

 

Here is the recap for the 3rd outing

1. Leave home for Charlotte, NC for mattress load for Austin, TX. (Mattresses loaded on floor and it is a Driver Unload at receiver. Hmmm, not this Driver.)
As luck would have it, I get to Jackson and Truck goes in shop and I get taken off load with no input from me.

2. Truck out of shop and I get HazMat load to Richmond, VA. (Receiver at same exit as my former employer Abilene Motor Express). No, I didn't stop by and say Hello but I did call a Driver and she is no longer there either nor is the Recruiting Manager that hired me nor his assistant. Hmm, guess US Expess is making the presence felt more.

3. From Richmond, VA to Tar Heel, NC for a Smithfield Ham load to San Antonio and Beaumont, TX. This is a C H Robinson load and Smithfield is hard to deal with. I did get Detention pay and yes, I had to go to San Antonio first, then back to Beaumont to finish the load. Got the right miles paid also.

4. Reload in Beaumont with HazMat going to Pasco, WA. I got the routing for up to Dallas then to Ok City to Salina, KS. Then west to Denver. I said no, change to going to Ft Worth, Amarillo, Limon, to Denver. Dispatch changed it. Saved them 135 miles. Get up near Ft Collins, CO and I get a swap in Ogden, UT for Driver to get home in WA state. Made the swap after waiting 15+ hrs for Driver to arrive.

5. Now were're going to Burlington, NJ over Memorial Day weekend. No problem, I stop in South Bend, IN to see relatives and 2 new 3rd cousins. Finish visit and get to Bordentown, NJ for a 34 hr re-start. Get load done and the one of many loads I didn't want comes through........

6. New load is from Camden, NJ to Washington Courthouse, OH for WalMart D.C. Get to shipper and finally get loaded (Got Detention Pay again). But now I can't make delivery on time and you know how WalMart hates that. Well it turns out that WalMart knows how this shipper is and I have a 4 hr window from the appointment time (Appt time is 3:15AM so I have until 7:15AM to get it there). I arrive at 5:00 AM and get taken right in. Yes, it was an overnighter with no sleep. Have been up for over 24 hrs.

7. New load comes in and I get to drive up to Toledo, OH and load goes to Darlington, SC (Another HazMat load). But I do get to sleep cause Toledo is Drop/Hook. I slept some, did the books, and get to Toledo to find out it is a live load. No problem, they are 24/7 on loading. Been to this place before but had forgotten about that. Get down to Darlington, SC and get unloaded.

8. New load is from Lumberton, NC to Racine, WI. It is a cold reefer load and the reefer won't get cold. Luckily, there is a repair place nearby and $559 later, reefer can get cold. Go back to Shipper, get loaded and off we go. Get to Corbin, KY and Truck goes into shop cause AC died. $1,209 later, back on road again. Make delivery in Racine, WI on time.

9. New load is from Rockford, IL to Duluth, GA. No biggy here. Light load and no excitement. Get unloaded a day early and go do things at Petro in West Atlanta. Due home soon so I told Dispatch I can wait until next day for load. Did they listen; somewhat.

10. New load is for pick-up at 11:00PM that night and going to Rochester, NY 4 days later. No problem, after all info came, a swap came also. And it appears that I get home a day early and that means an extra day home at Co. Convienence. I get to shipper 2 hrs early and glad I did. No one knows where I am to go. After 1.5 hrs, I find where I need to be. And now the waiting game begins. Finally after all this, I leave with load at 5:30AM and I get Detention Pay. Make it to swap locale in Knoxville, TN about 8:45AM. Other Driver had been there since 5:00PM day before. We swap and 10 mins later I'm heading home.

All in all not a bad time out. Miles are still around 3300 miles per week. I got paid correctly on all Detention Pay and even corrected routing pay. There was one hiccup on a trip for whatever reason and I did get paid finally and it was correct. No problems with communication when it was needed (still though communication was nil like it has been since returning which is fine with me).

If you are considering KLLM and have been driving a while and know the ropes, shouldn't have any problems. If you need your hand held while working, might be a problem. They don't mind that at first until you get use to the procedures but you better learn within 3 months or so.

We'll see how things are this next time out and I'll report it when I return. Hope you have enjoyed this Post so far, I'm being truthful and accurate so you can get the whole picture. KLLM is a decent and honest company and I should have never left in the first place. Oh well, gotten search and learn sometimes.