Abilene Motor Express....A New Place To Call Home

The winds sure have been crappy across I-40 this year so far.....

 

Sorry to hear it,they need to start making driver's accountable,you would think everybody would have a little pride.

Home till Tuesday.

 

It is getting to be a problem at any company. The chain of command is basically made up of those who do not want to be "bothered", because when a problem pops up, this calls for a little thinking and thinking for some is hard work. Those in management do not like problems because problems represent a challenge and for god's sake, please do not bring up a challenge.

Welcome to the world today that is run by those who are ate up with the "Peter's Principle">

 

"Pride" is a forgotten virtue. We now wear PJs and flip-flops.

 

Dropped my Reno this morning and got a brokered load to Nashville that loads at a mining facility. Planner booked the load before asking if I don't mind downloading a tracking app....he waited until after booking to ask me....supposed to drop in WM since Ill be out of hours when I get there and a short haul gotta get it the rest of the way. This dock at the mining facility is at an extremely weird angle but got in it though. Fork driver had a heavy African accent and I couldn't understand him very well when he tried to guide me in, I had to ignore him and get myself in using a telephone pole for reference.

 

I have been working here for almost (but not quite) six years.

In that six years' time, I have occasionally run across trailers parked at some company's warehouse that have been in lesser or greater need of repair. Trailers that I am not responsible for, because I didn't bring the trailer in, and I'm certainly not going to take the trailer out if I don't have to. Example: Last month I was told to grab an empty dry van off the lot at the Indy Gatorade plant on Orly Dr. I bobtailed over and there were several options for me to choose from. I picked one that was recently inspected and had no visible defects that would require repair before the trailer would pass a DOT inspection. And I don't think I'm unique in this behavior.

BUT.

Right next to the trailer I picked up was another empty trailer. Trailer 7410. Trailer 7410 had a door hanging on by literally one hinge. The other four hinges were broken. It also had an inspection sticker that expired November 2020. So I, being a good little soldier, wanted to make someone at HQ aware of this situation. Because obviously this trailer had been sitting there at that Gatorade lot for at least a year and a half. And you know that everybody else sent there to grab an empty was doing the same thing I did: Grabbing some other empty and leaving that one alone.

Maybe other drivers have called in like I did to try and get someone out there to fix it. Maybe I'm the first one to do so. I have no way of knowing.

Every time I've had this happen (not often, but often enough), I've called in to HQ to report it. Over the years I have tried reporting it to dispatch, to my DM, to safety, and to the shop. And every time I have made this phone call, I have gotten the distinct impression that the person on the other end of the phone isn't sure why I'm calling them about it. Usually they start off with "Have you called breakdown?" Like I'm some kind of moron who doesn't know how to get my own stuff fixed. Our breakdown line doesn't know how to handle the situation where they're sending someone to fix an unattended trailer. If I call breakdown, they're going to send someone out who expects me to be with the trailer. Me telling breakdown that they need to fix an unattended trailer isn't accounted for in their company-approved script and it causes them all sorts of anguish.

Despite the clear evidence to the contrary, I keep thinking that there must be some kind of procedure in place to report these trailers we're not actually hauling ourselves. And I keep making these phone calls to HQ thinking that THIS will be the time I'll finally find the right person to talk to to report these unattended trailers in need of repair. And I keep being surprised that there doesn't seem to be such a person. Because it seems so obvious to me that a trucking company would have such a person or such a procedure in place that I can't really believe we don't have one.

 

I have a flip phone. I couldn't install some broker's app even if I wanted to. One of the best decisions I've made as a trucker.