Back on the road again. Corsicana Bedding.

So for my first full week I had a full training day and 2 trips out and back. Moving thos mattresses definitely can be a lot of work and make for a long day but its going to keep me in reasonable shape for sure. Its definitely not a peaches and cream perfect job by any means and I am learning to hate the electronic logs pretty quickly but its not a bad job at all for getting back in the game again.If this were a normal OTR job and didnt involve so many multiple stop loads I dont think the E-Logs would be so bad but having to go through so many small towns and down so many secondary highways without always having options for places to stop and stay really leaves the potential to be stuck in a bad spot when that clock ticks down to the end. Thursday night I got behind schedule due to different issues and returns at a couple of different stops and ended up pulling my parking brake for the night with only 8 minutes total time left on the clock on the e-log. Luckily I had just pulled up and found my next customer for morning without any trouble. One wrong turn and I would have ran out of time right in the middle of a small town with no where to park or go. My trip planning skills are usually pretty on point but like i said with so many stops to make there is potential to lose lots of unexpected time with store returns or longer unloads that you really cant plan for. If it was all just point A to point B trips with plenty of time I dont think the e-logs would be to bad but it really puts the pressure on with trips like we run. I'll get used to it and figure it all out with time but Im not a big fan of the e-logs so far. One positive thing to them is that there is not really any way for dispatch or operations to push you past what you can or are allowed to do, its all right there in the computers stashed away for safe keeping. They cant argue with what the e-log says you have available to do. Keeps them a lot more honest.

 

I had to wait for my orientation pay until my first paycheck came the next week. As for advances and stuff I really dont know. They never mentioned them and i never asked. I try not to use them so it wasnt on my mind. I dont recall seeing it as an option on the screen when fueling but i might have missed it.

 

I have very mixed feelings on it so far mostly due to the truck i have been given to start out in. It has an embarrasing amount of problems that I have never encountered at any of the other companies i worked for many of which would probably result in an immediate out of service at an inspection. Planning on talking to them about it Monday.Not to crazy about the no stop pay either. They get a stunning amount of free work out of us. Thats why the CPM is above average.It still turns out to be a decent paycheck but you earn every last cent of it and really less than what we should be getting. The trip i just came in from was a little better than 1000 miles round trip with 10 stops and you tailgate most loads.There is potential to still take home good checks but like i said you work hard for every penny of it. Depending on what kind of training run they put you on it may not seem like much,my training run only consisted of a round tripper to memphis and back with 2 stops and a half full trailer so I didnt get a feel for how demanding it can be. I dont hate it but there is plenty of room for improvement.Depending on how long you are there monday i might see you in there.If you are there Ill stop in and say hey.

 

I started there at Star in 2005 and only stuck around for about 6 months due to averaging well under 2000 miles a week for that entire time. So how did it go today? What did you think?Did they give you any indication as to what kind of truck you would end up in? Didnt look like they even had any empty. I had to go in today to get mine put in the shop and they didnt have anything else available.

 

Good luck on the ride along. Where is your ride headed to? Im heading out for Indiana tomorrow afternoon if my truck is ready from the shop or they have something else for me to get in. As of right now I am still in truck #50, old Peterbilt 378 flat top so if you ever see me cruising around the yard holler at me. You are right about most of the people being easy to get along with,everyone is pretty decent and easy to work with. With Star I worked my way off of the new guy board pretty quickly. A lot faster than I thought i was supposed to actually. I took that to mean that he thought i was doing a good job to start with. After that I got moved to Ray's board, dont know if you knew him or met him but we didnt mesh very well right from the start and he just never ever threw me a bone on anything decent and was real bad about throwing me on those short runs and then just leaving me sitting.I was delivering on time and early and doing everything asked of me and i still dont remember hitting 2000 miles but maybe 1 time. Just didnt work out there for me.I made more consistent money with my trainer there. That was one thing that did go right for me there, I had a real cool trainer that had a nice dedicated run. Made decent money and got along with that guy real well.Anyway, good luck with getting started at Corsicana.It can be a lot of work but it is kind of nice getting that exercise everyday.I do appreciate them taking me on when no one else would mess due to the recent experience thing. Im sure you feel the same way. See you around the yard sometime. Let me know what truck number you end up in when the time gets here.