The journey begins - purchased a truck.

Appreciate it guys. It's just frustrating.

May have shot myself in the foot - they'll probably just demand that the trucker supplies the "One size fits all securement solution"

LOAD MUST BE FULLY TARPED -

 

Mobile,AL to Stuart,FL. Another 71' fuel tank. 105' long, 10'10" wide.

Looked and looked for 3-4 days for a connecting flight from Joplin to Mobile. Crickets. Maybe some 1.75/mile stuff with full tarps that required a lot of detour. So deadheaded 750 miles to load. My choice. Left Wednesday midday to load Friday morning. Load at 8 am. Yeah - due to "the guys that can't get anything done", that's ready to go at 2pm.

Struggle to get contact with receiver, for 36 hours. Finally, after 3 contacts, somebody responds. Can park on site. Great. Escort all the way. Set amount in the load for escort. If it's over that, comes out of my pocket. If it's under that, it doesn't roll to me - it's the shippers savings.

Doesn't unload till Tuesday AM. 70 miles out from site, trailer tire blows. Was aired and sound in the morning, must have been road debris. Shredded tire by the time I wormed into Vero Beach,FL TA at 4.30pm. Park in front of shop and run inside. No trucks in the 5 bays, nothing going on. Figured it would be a slam dunk 30 minute job, and get to delivery before 30 after dark. Nice try, and - NO.

Driver ahead of me booked a PM. The only other second mechanic is about to clock out. I have a mounted on rim spare, I just need them to run it up on a 2 by 4, whip it off and replace. I offer the 2nd mechanic $100 to stay 20 minutes. Won't look me in the eye, boss says to him - "You can take the cash money I won't say nothing". Kid says "Nah, I'm going home".

Full service shop with 2 call out trucks - and nobody home till 5am. What a waste of a business. Shop manager calls on my behalf for another tire place to pull the wheel - they want $350. From 2 miles away. I said thanks for trying, but that's stupid high. I put in an order for either 5am or 9am at the TA, depending on their schedule, the pilot car wears another $100 overnight in an area that charges $150-$300 for motel rooms, Another $400 for the tire, whatever TA charges , and . . .

That's trucking folks. Wasn't a lot in it to begin with - juice wasn't worth the squeeze, could be worse, you could be in Wyoming - and - blah de blah.

Yes - send me your recommendations for a cordless impact that will run lug nuts off, and I'll have myself a very more prepared Christmas. Or just buy me one for Christmas . I would have bought one sooner, but the revenue has sucked so bad this past 2 years, I avoid buying anything I don't absolutely need. (Foundation repair to shut the CEO up has to be left out of this equation ).

You'd think after 10 years of this truck ownership stuff, I would have figured it out. But no. Other folks on here (that you haven't seen in a hot minute), pivoted and swiveled, and saw it coming. 2 years of a ###### market was something I didn't foresee. And 'specialized trailer' freight ground into the dust I didn't forsee either. Either way - my fault.

The FLTE has sat for a year. Hopefully the oil field folks get busy with other things, so I don't get the occasional call for 125' long pieces weighing 70,000 lbs for $5/mile - I could go on.

And on.

And on and on.

 

Copy the Milwaukee MI8 for the win.

 

And - you know, well I don't figure you do - because it exists in my head. But it bounces around.

@rollin coal , @staceydude , @exhausted379 , and many more - PLENYT more, some not here on TTR, and acquaintances. @Rideandrepair another.

Many got to the point where they made the decision to say "F it." Paid off equipment, either let it sit and wait for better times, or find a company gig.
"Earlier than I wanted for retirement, but it aint worth it."

I think I've reached a point where it's a love/hate with the industry. Like a tipping point. I can dress it up all I want, but if posting a picture of microwave food and a picture of a blown tire is all I have to offer - I dunno. Time to think about it all.

I just don't see things going magically back to 4-5 years ago, and don't want to be the guy just blaming random events for the downfall.