swift dedicated port work? phx to la and back?

See here's the plot twist... it was all the planners fault. Smfh they don't have loads but once you threaten to quit they magically have one.... I think I'll have to start looking for a new job or account...

 

Rex012, I'll send you a PM.

 

I've been grossing around 900-1000 a week consistently for a couple of months. (after the holiday rush, maybe not so much.) Home every weekend if I want to, but I'm doing two weeks out, 2+ days home, filling the middle weekend with either a turn to NM or a Phx/LA turn or turn and a half that makes up the difference. I don't mind running 200 miles before a stop, it's basically a straight through run for all but Yuma and Phoenix.

Really, living halfway decently (at least as well or better than OTR) requires the ability to make coffee on the truck or snag it at the terminal/roach coach, and a little good planning for food. I don't eat truck stop food. I sleep nights most of the time, only occasionally in a place that truly sucks. I tend to park when possible where I can get free wifi for movies and not burning up gigabytes. Showers are easy enough to get if you don't mind the terminals, (which are pretty crappy) or waiting until you're empty or bobtailing to take one at a truck stop.

The ports....well, 1. It takes some planning, and it takes some luck. 2. You will occasionally sit for hours, for me, about one in 4 times I'm there more than an hour or so including waiting in the line at the gate (up to a couple of hours once in a while) , waiting to get loaded or empty, (don't go during lunch break EVER if you can help it, and a 5-7 appointment time means you get to catch up on your reading) and/or waiting to get out the gate, sometimes a half hour or so. Really, not a lot more than a lot of places OTR drivers deliver/pickup.

The actual work you do there is like 15 -30 minutes if you know what's going on, where to be, and get quick at it. The rest is off-duty time or you'll burn up your 70 in a hurry. With some thinking and planning, you can hit the gate before/after the rushes, sometimes not. Mostly, it goes pretty well for me. I've been getting into and out of terminals two or three times a day more frequently recently. I'm probably getting better at it, the port hasn't changed. Getting $25 per terminal is helpful to the check, adds up to the equivalent of about 70 miles. I average anywhere from 280 to 500 miles a day most of the time. Seldom sit if I plan to run the weekend and get the planner's attention. When I didn't, I got "forced resets" We don't do that any more.

There are places that you can do nothing but Phx/LA turns. I'm thinking that over. My opinion? Not for everyone.

 

When the port freight buys out expect to run as far north as Washington.. i got tired of the dm so i just quit in November. No point in stressing over the same situation. As far as the 25$ per terminal? You can wait 6 hrs for an empty at apl and not get a dime more. Sooo you're loosing in the end to be honest. My experience is just get your experience and move on. Nothing more

 

I don't wait for empties at APL much, and bringing them in, we're dropping them at Trapac when APL isn't taking them. Use the hotline to find out. They are planning a separate, shared 30 acre empty yard to get them out of the terminals....someday. Once in a while there's a line over by the water to get an empty. An hour, maybe. The guy running right now it is organized. At this point, finding chassis not stacked 3 deep in two rows on line 22 is the problem, and the chassis pit is full of stacked chassis you can't get. For a while, you couldn't buy one. What's up with that? I wait for the yard jockeys to drop one and grab it. I just ran a 2400 mile r/t PHX to Heber to Washington. I'll take that every week plus a couple of port jobs......INSTEAD. I grew up in the PNW.

PS: There's this new thing on the directed message macro. *CSR. I don't think anyone told the CSRs.
PPS: Trapac installed 2 robots with 6 bays. It's even slower than the normal fustercluck.

 

You have been in the ports the last week have you? I do them day in day out.. and i can tell you apl you will wait occasionally. It's a gamble but its one of the better terminals like trapac,cosco , c.u.t and a few more.

I don't think you're dropping the empties at trapac.. you're leaving them at shippers transport. Trapac is SMALL... plus all the times i been there I've seen like 3 swifts??? All loads in or out. The container division is very small for the trucks they run. That's why you run 2 day containers then otr loads the other days you work.

The guy running the show is adam. He's alright for planning. Hr gives out the loads no one in the whole otr fleet wants. Believe me theyre loads with too much time and no t call, tight deliveries and weird customer requests. No picks up the phone after 2 p.m. Arizona time. Another reason why i quit cold turkey.

And yes, i know about the automated bays in trapac.. the other day i watched a swifty struggle for 45 min trying to get it in but that's a different story.

 

LOL on the automated.. I hit it in one, no pullups until I noticed I was 2" outside the red box in the back... pulled up once and fixed it. lol Wasn't ME!

You're right about the empties, it only happened once, when they told me on the APL hotline to take it there. And I did, and it worked. I have been doing up to a couple containers a day out of or into Otay, and occasionally one into or out of Calexico, then back and forth to Phx....but those days seem over until after March.

Adam works well as a planner, Steph and Phil are better than most as DLs, and Steph stays with it for about 12 hours a day before she burns out and takes a sick day, she's a trooper and cares, so that's better than it maybe was, and Phil comes in when he doesn't have to or because no one else will, but they are victims of the Swift system. The evening / weekends? "Who are you?" "Why are you calling us?" "You want to what?" "I'm dropping your preplan." "I don't have anything for you." "Call your DL on Monday."

I think I'm done already too. It's not even the slowdown because of the business dropping off from Dec 20 through March.. that I could take if it weren't for having to deal with the rest of the company. 4 days to fix a QUALCOMM black box, half an hour on the road and it broke again, but only the HOS, so I was (pleasantly) on paper logs on a R/T Calexico to Washington State and back for good miles. So, I put it back in the shop, they did a B service 5000 miles early, then made me wait another 3 days. It still might break as soon as I get on the road again, if ever.... it already gave me the warning to go to paper logs (like before) while I was running through the "truck wash".... I know it's probably as bad anywhere else... but I've enjoyed all I can stand, I think. That didn't take long.

I think I'll be following you out the door, but not because of the port, or even the slowdown, that I could stand if they would simply G.A.S. about us when we need to work the weekends or nights. It's B.S., and they can hire some more new guys and 6 month L/O mentors to train them. I'm out. Too bad. I had high hopes. I was stupid.

 

Worked out well. Running ports for an o/o at another company. Consistent work, way better money.