Abilene Experience

Ha ha! Im sitting at the joyce kilmer after getting my hummus load 10 hrs late. Got to deliver at 5 am to Blue &White. Called them when I left Richmond this morning and they rescheduled it. Of course here comes more snow and ice tonight. Brett got my preplan though. Picking up mustard and running it to BH in Holland MI. Bad news for my trainee though. He was trying to get back on the truck Thursday. Im delivering that load Thurs night. I guess i will see him Saturday...poor fella. I really hope his teeth get fixed or Im going to pull them out. At this rate i will never get him graduated!

 

Well the delivery to Blue&White went horrible. Drove 40 mi in complete ice storm/mini blizzard to get there to have 10"of fresh snow and ice on their street. First attempt in dock truck was stuck. My set up was about a foot off and in process of rocking the truck to get unstuck I smacked the yellow pole across the street with the fender. Ouch see pic below. It caught traction suddenly and because it was revved up i couldnt stop it in time. Assessed damage and looped around and backed right in now i knew where the gutter was! Called safety and he thought i was calling with another ripped reefer tank from this place. I explained i did all that i could do to prevent it except to not have gone into Queens at all. Got stuck in the dock on LI for an hour and had to dig out and head to Holland MI. Load supposed to be 40k lb. when i scaled the truck at the TA right before PA on 80 I was 79960. Oh and 38000 on the trailer. 3 more scale tickets later i was legal but barely. I had to run 1/2 tanks to get here under gross. Sitting bobtailed at the Walmart waiting for next load. No word from trainee. 2 days of messages. Told Sally yesterday he needs to go with a Northeast trainer to learn. He can do the team stuff but he needs to learn how to run a regular Abilene solo route. Hitting 2 docks a day etc. so Sally will try to swap trainees. We will see.

 

Dispatch bobtailed me from Holland MI to Springfield OH and I hooked an empty figuring I was going to Genpak but they then deadheaded me to Wytheville to Gatorade. Had a long talk with Sally about the training program and where I felt it was strong and weak. I suggested leaving the trainer mileage pay alone and putting trainees on a salary not associated with the loadrevenue. It gives the trainee incentive to get out of the womb so to speak and the trainers reward comes when the truck can turn the extra miles. These guys need the reality of being a solo not team. They need to be able to drive 400-550 miles deliver and then get reloaded in the same day. They need the Northeast. Under the current trainer pay we can only make our money if the truck teams. So we drive our shift, teach, and try to sleep!
Anyway my trainee's tooth got fixed and I needed to get him to Wytheville so I called and talked to Allan and he could ride with him Saturday morning. So arrangements made I stopped in Circleville OH and went to bed. Got up and headed out. About 0730 trainee called and had a family emergency and is t coming to meet me. Well even he said it was going to cost him his job. What it did was mess me up. I had planned on him pulling the run to Indy and thats why I stopped short. Drama....I feel for the guy but Im wondering if hes jinxed!

 

Well i dropped my Gatorade load in Indy and went to the J to wait for a load. 8 hrs later a frantic call from dispatch. Rescue a load running to LaCrosse WI and then Minneapolis. Ran all night and got them done on time. Barely. I am seriously hurting on hours now. I got my reload for tomorrow to pickup up here and run to Frederick MD. No word from trainee.

 

Made it to my delivery this morning in Monrovia MD. Snow and ice from Somerset east. 70 in PA hadnt been touched. Solid foot of snow. Get to this Costco DC here and thought it was weird no trucks in docks. All the trucks were backing in to a plowed area. Got to the guard shack and bingo! They were closed for the weather. We were invited to stay or to leave and come back tomorrow. Im staying. No hours to waste and no way theres even a space anywhere up here to park.
Got word on my trainee-terminated. So I am solo until another one hires on. Another 3-6 inches of snow here tonight. Terry sent me pics of the Richmond yard. Its snowing again there big time!

 

I give high marks to this Costco DC! They are by far the best large scale operation I have experienced. Professional courteous and efficient!
sent in my empty call and end trip at 6am along with a free form about getting back to the yard. Of course nothing. So I am still sitting here twiddling my thumbs because before 8am nothing is decided. I am 160 miles from office with hometime starting today and a truck that is due for PM and Bill wanted to see if the body repair could be done today. Oh and I have to clean out ex-trainee's wffects and box them up.

 

Well made it back home after a 0930 call to Brett. Deadhead move. Got all the extrainee's stuff packed up and in Scott's office. Put the truck in to get PM'ed and let them patch the fender. Prob going to need a new hood. Previous team that had he truck broke the drivers side thanks to Bambi. Picking up George, Johnboy's trainee, to finish out his training. Should be good experience and smooth. We have mutual friends ironically. We will be off to Chicago with a Hill load.
Everyone be safe and smile!