Swift - Starting the New Year training with Swift 1/7/13 - A long read...

It happened all the time. No recourse. Sometimes they just get out and don't say anything. Sometimes they do it to set you up for a robbery. Sometimes if you know they are going to run you can try to reverse as they jump out and try to catch then with their open door. Most of the time you just do nothing. I used to get a lot of "oh my money is in the house". Then you sit out there for 10 minutes waiting to realize you just got beat out of the fare.

I didn't lease my cab. My company did what they call a 60/40 split. So I still had to pay the company for the fare whether I got paid by the customer or not. Same with getting robbed. Still had to pay.

 

I know exactly what you mean. When we still used a cb system other drivers would hear the dispatch and would try to steal your fare. I mostly made money from "flags" - people that flagged me on the street. And airport runs. And a steady gig from the local house of prostitutes I would run to the motels. Tough business.

 

That would help. At least you know you are getting paid.

The company I worked for was required to use the meter in city and anything outside the city was a flat rate determine by the dispatcher.

 

haha the barter system is better than cash sometimes!

 

I think last time I posted I was in Sumner? I'm not even sure. It's getting to be about that time that I need some legitimate time off, like out of the truck time off. I haven't slept outside my truck in over 3 months at this point. So days are blending together and weeks are doing the same.

I'm at the Laredo terminal again and I'm cranky. I'm waiting on a load to get me to my "real" hometime out in Virginia scheduled for this Friday, 4/3. The Richmond terminal is a hair under 1700 miles and so at this point I have committed it to myself that I won't be there on Friday. I actually need to be there by Sunday (sneaky) but I wanted to give myself a couple of days wiggle room. It would have still been nice to be out there on Friday so I can have the weekend plus a weekday or two. I like to get back on the road usually earlier in the work week so I can keep running on loads and not stall on the weekend.

I guess I worked my way from Sumner down here to Laredo. Recently I had a load going from this terminal over to Olive Branch, MS. Then they backed me with another load coming back here. At that time I told them I had a hometime scheduled out in Virginia for 4/3 but the planner I was talking to here at the Laredo terminal felt it was a safe bet to send me on a load out to Mississippi and back here to the terminal. But now they have nothing to get me up to Virginia.

On that cranky note, I won't be delivering again to today's consignee. Not only did they forget about me out in the parking lot, and not only did I wait there for over 7 hours just to get a dock but that place is a hot, Laredo mess. Actually, in a general sense, I don't like Laredo. I like the weather and the sometimes taco truck that parks across the street from the terminal but that is it. The truck traffic, and the traffic in general, here is terrible. I'm constantly waiting for someone to smash into my truck. At least it makes me feel that way. So this consignee was terrible and Laredo is starting to wear on my last nerve.

At least they have a whole lot of working washers and dryers here.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll get that load taking me home.