EPES TRANSPORT-Greensboro, NC

Discussion in 'Motor Carrier Questions - The Inside Scoop' started by Gazoo, Aug 6, 2007.

  1. dinkytruckerdoo

    dinkytruckerdoo Medium Load Member

    553
    42
    Dec 31, 2011
    Greensboro, NC
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    Well this week just ROYALLY SUCKED BALLS! lol I start out Monday morning at the fuel island, fueling/pre-trip(start the clock!) and then my truck won't turn over at all! GREAT! I wait for about 2 hours before they get my truck a rolling start into the shop, guess what...it'll start every time now, haha, my luck! So I just roll with it, not to mention, I had it written up yesterday for a new starter, which should be installed today so I should, SHOULD be ready to roll in the morning. Was way behind on my 14 every freakin' day ran down to 1 min. left on my 14 3 outta 5 and a half days out...I picked up a trailer at F/L in Sailsbury(54551) that was impossible to back. I've NEVER had an issue backing a trailer but this thing gave me a run for my ####### money! Went for a pick up in Gastonia and couldn't get that thing in the dock. There was nothing to go off of and after 30 mins of trying another driver came over and helped me. The guy loading me just sat down and enjoyed the show! haha After finishing loading me, came out and asked if it was the first time I ever backed a trailer...I just said...from the looks of it, it surely seems like my first time. I couldn't back that trailer AT ALL....and I had it for a good day and a half. After I dropped it, I could back all the other trailers I had. I've heard that there are certain trailers that are just hard as hell to back compaired to others...I can see that now. Well, besides all the other problems I've had this week...glad it's over...got home yesterday afternoon...now just chillin' and getting ready to grill in a few hours...hoping things go better this coming up week compaired to last week! LET'S JUST HOPE! haha Btw, I love my job and LOVE THIS COMPANY! Made more this past week than I have ever made in the stone industry...which is a blessing to my, the wife, and little dude! Thank you EPES for all that you have offered and followed through on your promises!
     
    sdaniel Thanks this.
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  3. leftdoorclosed

    leftdoorclosed Light Load Member

    51
    2
    Jan 16, 2012
    Dover,De
    0
    Another great week for me. spill politicking for that Volvo 780. Lets sere if I get one
     
  4. flyingmusician

    flyingmusician Road Train Member

    4,288
    10,905
    Feb 25, 2011
    Jamestown, NC
    0
    well D.......things could have been worse lol.....you could have had the week this guy did......i put some pics below of the brokeback trailer i saw outside buffalo.....wasn't there when i parked the day before......would have loved to hear the story behind that and if he actually drove it in there like that......

    beer run home.....what a pita load this one was......they always are but this one tried my patience royally.....

    got in and got the trailer no problem......43,843lbs and got on the scale and n problem with the weight.....32,550/31,990....legal along the route good to go.....not quite....the guard says the 'variance' doesnt look good he can't let me leave with it like that.....wtf? says it's nothing to do with me or being legal but something they look at as far as loading and if the variance falls outside a certain range i have to be sent back to the dock for them to check the load.....it's already saturday afternoon, i'm already a day late getting home and just far enough away i'm going to have to take another 10 before i get there, the load scales legal and i'm not really up for hearing this ####....no, can't allow you to leave, door 21f go in and see the supervisor....

    go in and finally see why we have so much trouble scaling out loads here.......not one single live person loading the trucks.....the place is full of automated robot forklifts running around the place loading the trucks.....not a person in sight except the chick in the office. her solution to this 'problem' they had with my load was to move the two rear pallets back a pallet length and then put two MORE pallets on the back. and had to wait 30 minutes to find a live person on a real forklift who could come over from the main plant to do this......

    buttoned up back to the scale. best weight on the tandems 36,800 and 200lbs short of being over on the drives. and have to run the full length of Pa and most of Va. "can you run with that?" no #######, i've already got the tandems back as far as i can legally put them. "well can't you slide them back some more? guys do it all the time" no #######. if you can't load me legal at 41' or less it doesn't go anywhere.

    back to door 21f, see the lady......

    told her i'm over on the rear and #### near over in the front.

    hurry up and wait this time sh has to call the live person on the forklift back down there to completely unload and reload. guess she missed the part about almost being over on the drives. or didn't give a ####. or never even heard it since she couldn't get the cellphone unglued from her ear.....over 3 hours i was there i don't think that phone left her ear once..... and i'm just sitting there with the clock running, watching these robots picking up pallets from the line and stacking them in the warehouse and picking up pallets from the line and loading them in trucks....secretly hoping the whole time i'd see some major malfunction and see them freak out and start running in circles and crashing into each other hahaha but it never happened.

    finally reloaded and back to the scale.....1/2 tanks and 33,880/33900 after several reweighs and moving it one hole at a time to find the one hole i know is going to be good.....been here enough to know there isn't a range on these loads it's one hole good and over either hole on the other side you just have to find the right hole......good to go for the route and this time the 'variance' is good so he lets me go. load assignment for this place says 'always go in with full tanks' but i've been here enough to know if i went in with full tanks i'd never get out of there.....

    run about 3 hours out of ny down into pa and stop for the night but my gut is gnawing at me the whole way about the weight.....43,843 turned into 47,450 and i've run this truck long enough to know that's right at the limit of what it can run legal, especially as heavy as it runs over the drives......so just to satisfy my gut i put it over the cat scale......go inside and get the ticket and get 34,200/33880 gross 79,800.......#### #### ####.......run 3 hours worth of fuel off and STILL not legal on the drives even after the shippers scale said legal......i'm sure i had steam coming out of my ears at this point.....moved it one hole up but already knew before the reweigh what it would say and sure enough one hole up puts it over on the trailer.....that i can't fix but at least i can burn off more fuel so moved it back where i had it before......

    just enough distance to burn off 200lbs before I get to va and not really worried about the Pa coops being open on sunday......sure enough red light on the prepass and in i go at the 305......and i sit there on the scale for what seems like forever before the finally give me the green light and let me go......and the fuel was already just brushing the red on the gauge.....

    go on to the 291 to fuel and not liking my options.....no approved fuel stop after the scale at the 150 and have to go by there. know how much fuel i need to get home and how much i need to weigh legal at that scale and the numbers are too close for comfort....

    splash in 35 gallons and put the gauge back where i know it's over on the drives again but should be legal when i get to the next scale.....get the green light on that one and squeak on by and the down the mountain goat path from roanoke to the yard keeping one eye on the fuel gauge the whole time.....i got to practice every single fuel conservation technique i have on this trip lol but rolled on the yard with 16 gallons left in the tanks. too close for comfort. whoever picked it up and ran it on the final will be good on wieght snce nc and sc limits are higher but i sure stressed on this one getting it down here.....

    and 0:13 left on the 70 when i shut down sunday afternoon.

    but, at least i get a weekday home this time.....works out okay because i really had some stuff that needed to be taken care of on a weekday so i'm in to do it.

    and only 34 this week and heading back out for NJ tonight.....
     

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  5. dinkytruckerdoo

    dinkytruckerdoo Medium Load Member

    553
    42
    Dec 31, 2011
    Greensboro, NC
    0
    hey flying...you should get your name put on the side of your truck....I'm really thinking of going with "dinky" for my handle....and have them put it on the side of my truck. Good news is, I have a referral for a buddy of mine from USA...Les was all about knowing USA so he could get referrals from their terminals...i.e. stop in with his truck and show of and win either the pick up or 5k! LMAO we used to joke about that alot...I told him that was my gold mine....but I'd share since he's a GREAT AWESOME GUY...I love that guy! He really is an amazing trainer....does things the way they are suppose to be and not make you feel like a freakin' 12 year old, like all these other guys do. We're ALL adults here and he treats you like one! I love the comment about the robots...that's funny...knowing me...I would've filmed those robots just because that does sound cool! But, I'd be rooting for them to "malfunction" as well just so I could get that #### on film! haha THEN, I'd post it up on here for everyone to get a great laugh at the "crazy dockside of life". Well, I had an 800 mile run that started yesterday from Wilson, NC down to Lakeland, Fl. Got it done within 9 hours(Dad used to live here, told me some new shortcuts to take;) ) DM was surprised I got here so quick...but consignee won't take me until tomorrow...so I'm just "soaking up the rays" like I told her on the q/c...even asked if she wanted to join me for margaritas.....she just lol'ed the message and said she needed to keep me...my wife now says she's my new girlfriend! I told my wife....well hell, she's the one helping to pay the bills...and she is attractive...maybe you could give into a good run for her money!? LOL She's quite jealous, as most hispanic women are, but they do take care of their men...so I'm not complaining! haha Well...gotta pre-plan from some produce company outta Plant City going to some little unknown town in SC....just wanna do the miles you're doing....I can do that now, know how to work it....just gotta be cool and show her I'm THE ####! lol Hopefully, Les put in a good word for me too, since we both have the same DM....but time will tell I guess....I finally found my calling and am truely thankful for all EPES has given me....just hope the miles will become more...this 3-4 hours left driving crap is for the birds! haha Not to mention, 2-3 hours left on my 14....need to be more on the edge like you...I LOVE that ####! lol Oh and, should've told that driver from the picture you either, were, or just got done, hauling a load like that! Or, if ya REALLY wanna piss 'em off, should've had him take a pic of you in front of the trailer! muahahahahaha
     
  6. wsyrob

    wsyrob Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

    5,769
    5,462
    Sep 14, 2007
    Winston Salem
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    This kind of crap is why I am glad I pull tanker. Tandems don't move. If they load you over about 78K they have to pump some off. Many times you are sitting on a scale when they load you.
     
  7. flyingmusician

    flyingmusician Road Train Member

    4,288
    10,905
    Feb 25, 2011
    Jamestown, NC
    0
    ugh......what a week.....5 days that felt more like 10.....

    P&G to start the week up to jersey....and another overweight on the tandems...had to get it reworked but at least it only took 3 hours.....uncharacteristically fast for them....and they got it pretty even on the rework.....as many trailers as places like this load every day you'd think they would have a pretty good handle on the product weight and get it right the first time.

    2 stop load back out of jersey.....another "no directions avaiable for the customer of this stop" for the first stop.....end of the street off of a cul-de-sac with three drives off of it....finally found it after walking around the complex for 30 minutes....the building number was hidden by trees and there was another business name on the building with the consignee's name on a tiny plate beside the door.....

    out of there and down to richmond to IP.......2hrs left on the clock and the customer requested no preload must be live loaded....get loaded with just enough time to get from there to chester and the computer system is screwed up....they can see the bol but can't print it.....2 hrs later the supervisor had to be called in from home to get it straight so i crept across the street to the abandoned warehouse again and spent the night there.....

    over to narrows, va to celanese for the d/h.....are we noticing that all of these trips (except for the ones to start the week) the last 2 weeks are in the 250 mile range?.....temp dm doesn't seem to think i can run more than 250 miles in a day i guess.....only good loads i've had in th elast 2 weeks were from the night or weekend guys......to say i'm in no way impressed is an understatement.....finally get the next load 2 hours later over to danville to pick up ikea going to just outside dc....oh goody....184 miles on that one.....and figured there'd be a problem on this one as it's ikea and we know how picky they are about the trailers....load assignment clearly says plate trailer only but i've got a 5 series...and holes in the walls as well....it was the only empty there...of course i get there and they reject the trailer.....send in the message and sitting half on half off the road in front of the shipper....no response....finally 30 minutes later i figure enough and call.....get a bs line about how 'oh the message is just coming through"....oh bs and surely they didn't think i believed that?......stand by......considering the track record so far i just go on ove rto the pilot and get lucky enough to get a spot and wait. and wait. and wait.

    2 hours later send in a message....time is getting short did we ever hear anything? message comes right back go over to swedewood and swap for an empty there, can you make it back to shipper from there? well yeah, but i'm almost out of time now. way to go letting me know what was up......have to wonder how long they actually knew that and just dropped the ball and once again i had to follow up and find out.....these delays and lack of responses never happen with my regular dm......

    get over there and of course it's another ikea supplier and they aren't going to take the trailer.....and temp dm should have known that as long as they've been around.....i hate being jerked around and treated like i don't know what the #### i'm doing.......of course, they have to inspect, and then reject the trailer.....i apologized for wasting the guy's time and that i can only go whereand do what they tell me to do and he said he understood and was cool about it.....

    send the message back in and then get the load cancelled.....and of course lost my spot at the pilot.....finally got parked at the flea market just up the road and wait some more.....get a preplan for p&g going to Ga for the next day......wow....300 miles on this one....best of the week so far....1:15 left and 1:13 to the yard......said screw it and went home and took the frustrations of the week out on momma in my own bed thursday night hehehehe at least she had a smile on her face lol......

    down to Ga next morning and get a message on the way.....my dm is back....thank god....sent him a message to say the same when i got to my fuel stop but before i even got there had a preplan home and stop pay that the temp dm never paid for early in the week......alot of guys don't have good things to say about him but i have to say i've had no problems with him and he's on his game with me.....i never wait for a response to messages, he's almost always got me preplanned and i never have to follow up on supplemental pay items....not to mention he runs me hard.....i missed him not being there....what a difference a day ( and a dm ) makes lol......i average 2800 a week with him and struggled to average 1500 a week when i was on the other board while he was gone.....

    saw 3 rollovers this week....i usually average seeing one every week to 10 days or so.....two off of 285 in atlanta and one on the ramp from 288 to 95 coming out of richmond.....that one looked like he tried to make his own ramp and split the difference between the ramp and the highway.....put it way up in the woods before putting it on it's side.....that one was bad....i sure hope he was okay.....from where i sit this seems like it would be one of the most avoidable of all the accidents we can get into short of a catastrophic mechanical issue or failure......just slow the #### down on these ramps......i understand about losing the sensation of speed after long stretches on the road but was taught to always check the speedometer leaving the highway to make sure you don't lose that sensation of your speed when slowing and exiting.....such a simple thing to do to avoid ending up on your side.....

    then got to do atlanta from the south side to 285 and out the east side up 85 on friday.....loads of fun.....but got out by 1630.....stacked up even then but from what i was hearing on the radio traffic reports leaving the northeast side on 85 i got out just in time because almost everything stopped moving on every road by 1730......

    so....home by early saturday morning and got a p&g delivery off the yard to browns summit out for monday morning......short miles on that one but always get those backed up with something good..... back to normal now so should get something long out of there after i drop monday morning......
     
    Last edited: May 13, 2012
  8. sdaniel

    sdaniel Road Train Member

    5,511
    4,416
    Sep 7, 2011
    Pelham N.C.
    0
    Spent last 2 days at N.C. truck drivers championships. Did not place , but huge honor to be asked to go !
     
  9. flyingmusician

    flyingmusician Road Train Member

    4,288
    10,905
    Feb 25, 2011
    Jamestown, NC
    0
    just thought i'd put this up for any company guys....or anyone following my posts for that matter.....as a warning to avoid the wilco on I-95 in st.george, sc.....as those of you who follow my posts will remember, i had 100 gallons of fuel stolen there about 3 months ago.....and i've seen some more posts on other threads about the same thing at the same place and just saw yet another one in a different thread that someone had 100 gallons stolen there last week.....

    STAY AWAY from this place unless just just absolutely have to park there.....the fact that it's such a large quantity at the time and more than one occasion and repeatedly over the last few months points to some kind of organized activity going on there......not to mention when i reported it to the wilco management they seemed unconcerned and in fact tried to talk me out of calling the cops to report it......that raises a few eyebrows from where i'm sitting,,,,,

    this dump doesn't derserve the business by tolerating and looking the other way at that kind of BS........
     
    Last edited: May 13, 2012
  10. dinkytruckerdoo

    dinkytruckerdoo Medium Load Member

    553
    42
    Dec 31, 2011
    Greensboro, NC
    0
    flying...I did it! 3024 miles in 67.5 hours this week on e-log!!! IN actual miles, because they go zip code to zip code was around 3250! And I had a 900 run from Spartanburg to Andover, MA...going through freakin' NYC...next time I'm takin' 81-84...save the headache...but you were right...who cares how much crap someone on here has talked about how much experience you lack......you were dead on! My DM is REALLY IMPRESSED with what I did...I asked her out on a date, lol....and said...I thought my wife would be the death of me! lol Thanks out to sdaniels for all that he's done and I haven't let him down...and will continue to not let us fellow EPES drivers down...run hard, run smooth, that's the way to roll!
     
    sdaniel and flyingmusician Thank this.
  11. flyingmusician

    flyingmusician Road Train Member

    4,288
    10,905
    Feb 25, 2011
    Jamestown, NC
    0
    thanks man.....i appreciate it.....

    all it takes is really good attention to detail and above average trip planning to make it work to maximize your hours....and having a good dm certainly helps as i found out the last 2 weeks when mine was out....

    but a good dm and making those trips hit each other back to back with no wasted time really makes the most of the hours...even if it means having to sit an extra hour or two before you roll just to have no wasted time between the trips.....

    as for the other guy you speak of....well, you have to consider the source lol.....some folks who underperform for whatever reason hate to see someone else do well.....especially if that person has less time in the seat than they do....but the way you approach things.....your attitude (or more accurately, LACK of attitude lol) and good management skills go a long way towards being successful

    did they get you to play yard dog when you were in spartanburg? last time i was there on that andover run i had to shift out 5 trailers for her and put 3 more in the doors before she would give me my bills and let me out of there

    keep it rolling man....you'll see more of those 3k+ weeks if you just manage that time well.....
     
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