Hopper, Dump O/O's & Drivers

I haul hoppers in Canada across the prairie provinces.. I'm an owner op. just bought my truck this year and I'm starting to think it was a bad idea. It's rained so much I have to go to BC to haul slag into Ab just to keep busy. Hauled hoppers for 6 years and this year is by far the slowest.

 

Been really slow,a lot of the farmers around here are cutting up corn and planting late beans in hopes of salvaging something.It's purty tough around here wheathauler,if it doesn't cool off some here next week,i may have to head to Ks. just to find something to haul. Got a spare room you want to rent out?


Glad your staying busy at least,fuel is still holding steady around here at around $3.29,except for the holiday gougeing. I just have not been running enough to capitalize on the lower prices . Dang it's been hot! I hauled some local corn into the mill the other day and there was an 'ol boy out of Ohio in there unloading fert. that had tore off a mudflap so i jack-knifed my hopper around the back off his trailer so we could work in the shade and he said the crops were bad in northern Ohio too. Looks like it's gona be slow for a while around here.


Welcome aboard Mench2985.


Has anyone talked to kajidono to see how he's liking pulling the dump?

 

I was talking to the customer service manager at one of the local elevators tonight, and he said they're expecting 1/4 of the normal volume of grain this fall. Going to be a tough year for a lot of the economy that depends on that grain on up the chain from the producers.

 

It's going pretty well. The trucks are a bit old and faded but they're tough as nails. The boss has his son working as a mechanic and he knows what he's doing. If a truck needs overhauled, he just pulls it in the shop and tears it down. Boss is pretty cool too. He keeps the trucks in close so we can get home every day but can send them out farther if work is scarce. He had them running down in Joplin after the twister hit and up north when it was flooding. I was looking around the shop today and noticed he seems to have a bar stool set up for drag racing. I'll have to get a picture of that.

I've managed to keep mine upright so far, though I did blow a tire out the other day. A driver for another local company turned his over yesterday, broke his collar bone. Ground gave out under his drive tires and there was nothing he could do. He'll be ok though and it was their newest truck so it had the best insurance coverage on it.

I do like being home every day, having a bunch of guys to go work with, and that even all the "rival" companies are included in that bunch. Haven't seen any bad blood yet, everyone gets along just fine. We all even run on the same CB channel so it's like, if we have 4 of our trucks on the job, and there's 15 trucks total from 5 or 6 different companies, we all run together and get the job done like all the guys (and at least one gal) are from the same company. I like that it's something different every day too.

 

Yep,i think folks are gona start seeing how much grain,or the lack thereof,effects the economy when there is a shortage.

 

Good deal,sounds like you've found a nice outfit. Hope it keeps working out good for ya. Keep 'er upright. How's the LTD?