Prime PSD Starting 7/21/2014

Hi everyone. It has been a while since I've written an update and thought I'd better do so if for no other reason than so you guys know I'm still here.

A lot has happened in the last couple weeks. A quick recap I went lease in November. My trainer came to work with me.

So everything was okay. Not perfect but I feel like I haven't been getting dispatched on good runs. Looking over my settlements the pay per mile is good but we sit a lot. For example. We are on a run that was multi pickup 01-04 with a 90 drop in NJ. We picked it up on the 17 and it doesn't drop til the 22nd. A lot of our runs are like this and when we try to get them to let us drop it at a yard or ask to have the appt reset if possible we are always forced to sit on it. The other night I had a load from Twin Falls with a 90 in Riverside, CA that came through and specifically asked me to take it to the new Ontario drop yard then night dispatch wanted to have me sit on it for 24 hours and del st the 90. I had to get hateful and I'm never hateful. Finally got it fixed but it was a waste of my time.

Anyways it's a journey. I finally went home for a visit. My pets didn't recognize me at first. My co-driver ran my truck solo while I was home. Should have been good but then a 4 wheeler in Hammond, IN took the on ramp too fast for conditions (it was icy and snowing). The car hit ice and flew into the front of my truck another truck and also 2 cars. It was a mess. Needless to say it wasn't in drivable condition. RA was not helpful at all. Pretty much refused to assist with a tow off the road. He was under a load on top of everything. Finally after fighting with them for hours he just drove it to the TA leaking fluids the whole way. The next day he got it to Truck City and they got permission to tear it down for repair estimated. They had the truck for a week the whole time were being told it was being repaired only to find out later they didn't like the estimate and now after a week in the hotel want him to drive it to Springmo. He has already told them several times it is leaking and not drivable. They finally agreed to have it towed. Truck City was not happy. They had to cut the hood off as the frame was damaged and it couldn't be opened at all. It took 4 hours for them to get it all back together and wired down. Anyways At this point the money I left Gil with for emergencies $500 was depleted. I wasn't getting any answers I considered acceptable as I was home so I hopped into my car and drove to Hammond on what I now call the rescue mission. My driver didn't have any transportation and only had the money I left. When I got there he had what must have been the worlds most crappy $60 a night hotel room and was conserving money by eating 3 cans a day...all of the Chef Boyardee and Franco American variety. I wasn't even close to humane. So I yell at him nicely and tell him I don't think it's acceptable. His room was gross. He didn't want to cause trouble or make waves. They hadn't cleaned his room, changed the trash, towels or bedding in over a week now. I let them have it. We had just checked out and was about to get a different hotel when we got the call about them towing the truck. We told them he had a ride and they set off. So did we. As it was kinda late when we left we spent the night at St. Louis. I got us a couple of rooms at the Crown Plaza there. Using an app on my phone I got 2 rooms for the price he was paying for the icky one. I didn't tell him how much I paid tho. He needed a treat. His room ended up being a suite that had a view of the Arch and had a 50 inch flat screen TV. Mine was the same. I wasn't expecting it to be that nice for what I paid. He needed it tho. He was in awe. I now have told him how much it was. I almost have him convinced he needs a smart phone to get deals like that. That is a whole other story.

The next day we get to the yard and then Success Leasing. We took our time but my truck still hadn't made it there. They didn't have any way to ping the location because it was all tore down. They finally found out it was going to be in the next day. Gil was all about getting a room at Campus. He got schooled again. Used Priceline since I had my car and we eded up with rooms at LaQuinta for $38 each. He is sold now. That is almost 20 less than campus charges and it was a million times nicer.

We ended up there 3 nights. We jumped through all of their hoops and finally they say it's gonna take a week and here is a loaner. So I'm already 2 weeks negative at this rate I figure it's gonna be good... It has been a slow process. We get a load only it isn't there yet and it was late and of course it was company spec the inverter and bunk heater didn't work which we put on the papers and didn't think was gonna be an issue because we are team and hopefully run. Well nope. They got us a run a week. Just enough to cover 25% of my negative and my current weeks bills. Lovely. NOT! Anyways we run with what they give us. We get a message at 2 weeks out that my truck is fixed. We go back into the yard hand off the best paying load I've had in two weeks to another team and then find out it isn't fixed. Isn't even close. Peterbilt still has it straightening the frame. So another 24 hours wasted and no loads out because of weather. We at least we're able to get assigned tho and left the minute they let trucks leave the yard. 3 days later we get the message my truck is fixed again. This time for real. We get back there and get it all traded over. We've been running since. Just slow. Really slow. I'm not sure what to do about the dispatch situation. I've talked to my FM til I'm blue but no help there. There are solo trucks with better revenue than I am getting. About the only good thing is since I've gotten my truck back my fuel milage has been running consistently in the 8.2 range at 62 where as before I was getting low to mid 7s. I guess they fixed something there.

I've been paying my driver from my cash I had put up for emergencies before I leased. It is almost gone and last weeks settlement was $300 after expenses. This week I got $1200. I sent the claims guy all my hotel bills and they are going after the cars insurance for downtime and lost revenue. It does help I think that the car driver admitted fault to the police and that the insurance company already claimed the fault. Who knows if I will ever see anything from it tho.

I'm pretty disenchanted with the system lately but I know it works because I see it working. I don't plan on going anywhere but I've learned a lot in this experience. Whatever may come in the future I know I've got a perfect service record here. Heck with all the time they give me on these loads I'd have to be dead to be late.

So that is my update. Hope everyone is having a good day. Sorry so long on the update. Be safe everyone.