Hopper, Dump O/O's & Drivers

c'mon now let's not start that around here!

Looks like my idea for not filing d/h miles won't fly - if I ever got audited I'd be in a serious bind. What really gets me is the fact that running empty, I put almost no weight on the road (steers at about 5,000 pounds each, and then 20,000 pounds spread out on 16 more wheels). Whatever the case is, I was going to file it myself, and then got tangled up in problems with my state permits. When everything was filed, I ended up with 2 different FEIN accounts by mistake. 3 of the states have the wrong FEIN on the reports, and I'm going to leave it for the service to file this time. If there's a problem, they can deal with it, instead of me trying to take care of it from the road.

 

HwyPilot, keep a note pad with you to mark down when, where & how much fuel you put in & to note the mileage when you cross a state line. I did the mileage chase too on google maps after my first quarter running. Never again will I do that.

 

I just use these. Company sends them to me, not sure where they get them.

 

Hi All, Well aside from missing the kinds of people in the hopper line of trucking I am doing pretty well. 4 loads with a whopping total of 200+ - miles of DH. I hate bumping docks and dealing with 4 wheeler traffic in the cities but at least now I am making enough to pay me AND the truck.

 

WoW what a week, I have been busier than a one legged man at a butt kicking contest. Plenty of work, bunker to elevator, and then some 4-5 mile runs. I have 50 bills of lading from "dumped" loads sitting in my truck this week, and still have Friday to go. That stuff is really hard on the truck, and its starting to take its toll on me too lol. I never even made it home last night, just collapsed at the nearest truck stop 20 miles from the house. The best part; 50 loads dumped, and I have barely used half a tank of fuel this week.

Noticed the drivers side tire on my twin screw subaru (hush 5mouths lol) is wearing outside edge. Probably a Kingpin needing replaced. Ill jack it up this weekend and check play up and down. Those steer tires only have about 50K on them by now, im hoping I didnt ruin the one already. Haven't had time to get a new radiator put in yet, but (knock on wood) it hasn't gotten any worse just yet. Only losing about a gallon a week on the ground still. On the plus side, the new AC Condenser is working like a champ.

HwyPilot, when ya heading out again, or have ya thought about it yet?

Hope that deals works out for ya, sounds like they have the anti-deadhead thing figured out. We all want to hear about somebody getting ahead around here.

 

I had to take a load with our drop deck yesterday, and got back about 10 miles from the house today, and going through a stop sign, a guy got on the cb and said I have a chain hanging down. How could that be, I'm empty and they're all put away in the box? So I pulled over and the floor of the steel box on the trailer had rusted through on one side, and part of a chain had been dragging a while. The box is probably the same age as the trailer, 15 years, and I probably had way too much stuff crammed in it, its a 60"x24"x24". I guess I'm lucky it didn't completely fall apart last night in the dark and dump everything out, I'd have missed it, then really been screwed. So I'm going to take it off tomorrow and see if it can be fixed. I don't know, its rusted pretty bad, hope there is some decent metal left to weld to.

The day wasn't all bad, I found a few mushrooms tonight, little gray ones, maybe the yellow ones haven't come up yet. Actually, the only bad part of the day was the box falling apart, the rest of it was ok.

 

RW.,sounds like a good 59''x23'' piece of 3/4'' plywood is in order,plus,you won't have to weld it and it won't rust,just don't ask me why I know,I still look for a chain binder on the west-bound shoulder of the BlueGrass Parkway between Lexington and Harrodsburg every time I drive through there

 

Forgot to add that at the end of the quarter I take everything written down & plug it into Excel that way there is a permanent file created as long as the pc doesn't crash. It also totals everything miles, gallons & times fueled in what state. The way I write it all down is pretty much the same as the printed sheet above.

That first quarter a couple years ago, all I kept were the fuel receipts & BOL's & thought I was never going to finish that IFTA report.