Where's your car when you're driving your truck OTR?

YO, Brickman!

When that happens to me, I've been known to park in FRONT of those unattached trailers taking up space, blocking several of them.
I figure I can move if necessary. If the drivers claiming them are inconvenienced, oh well,.....................................
So was I.

Then again, I might not WANT to wake up and move.
All depends on their attitude.

 

Yeah, dropped trailers in the lot would easily make it into the top 5 on my pet peeves list. I pulled into the Pilot just south of Indy on I-65 a few weeks back for an overnight stop. I would guess that fully 1/3 of the lot was empties that had been dropped. I got there relatively early in the evening, about 5 pm, and saw what was going on. Local drivers in daycabs that lived in the area would come in, drop their trailers, and then go home for the night. I always felt that if I drove the truck, it was my responsibility to find parking, not the responsibility of the local truckstop.

At another Pilot just south of Hopkinsville Ky, I pulled in to fuel one afternoon before running over to our terminal in Hoptown. The lot must have had 15 sets of Conway doubles unhitched in the lot, and about 10 Conway bobtails parked in the bobtail parking area. As I fueled, I saw at least 3 of their trucks come in, drop the trailers, then hook up to another set and head out on the road. Seems to me if you are a big freight company, then you need to have a lot or terminal for your people to operate out of, rather than using the local truckstop to reduce your overhead costs.

And I am not opposed to occasional use of the local stop to drop a trailr. Where I live, in early spring I have to contend with frost laws and weight limits on the local roads, and if i bring a loadd trailer home with me, I have to drop it at the local truckstop. But I make arrangement ahead of time for a parking spot when I do. I don't just run in, drop the trailer, and assume that they have a duty to provide me with a parking spot.

 

I've read and agreed with everything you've said, however this part I snipped from you latest post prompted me to play devil's advocate here.

Who's to say that the guys who have dropped trailers at their local t/s haven't done the same thing you do when you drop yours? Granted, those LTL guys you mention is another issue. I have done what you described as well and have also secured permission from the management at the facility. We all know parking is a major pain in the rear, especially when you don't live near a terminal/drop yard. I'm sure there are those who just take it upon themselves to park/drop, but to assume that everyone does so in a rude fashion is wrong, man.

 

I would assume that if you are a manager of a truckstop, and are aware of how many spaces you have available for paying customers, that you would not voluntarily give permission for 1/4 to 1/3 of your lot to be taken up by empties. It's possible, but most managers know better than that. And, in most cases where I have dropped one con permiso, they have instructed me to drop it in the back of the lot or in one specific area.

It's always possible that a manager does differently, but I tend to doubt that. And in my case, it's not repetitive evey night, but only for that 2-3 weeks period whenthe roads are restricted. Other than that, I have a fine parking area off of my driveway that works fine for parking.

 

Truth be told, I doubt t/s managers are all that concerned about available parking spaces. That's not to say that they are in the right with this philosophy, just offering up another counter-point. I'm sure if one were to make mention to a manager of the lack of parking in their establishment, one would most likely be met with a devil-may-care and nonchalant attitude about the situation.

 

There are some places that will let you park or you can pay to park. One company I was gonna sign with was 100 miles from the house. The recruiter said I would bobtail home. No problem there. BUT right before I agreed to orientation the safety department said that I would take the entire tractor and trailer home. That was a problem because I live on a dead end street. So I said no problem there is a place here where you can drop a trailer for a fee and I would bobtail home. Well the company has a no drop policy. Meaning I can't leave the trailer anywhere. So I had just planned to find or pay a place where I can leave it and just have he wife take me to the truck. But I ended up going with a company who's terminal is just a few miles away and I either have my wife take there or I can drive there and leave my 4 wheeler and thei secure yard.
It all depends on your company's policies and how far you are from their terminal. and what works best for you.

 

my fiancee's best friend works at i-80... 14 miles from my truck door to my front door. win!

 

Hell! Havn't looked ! But I only live about 3 miles from the yard. so my girlfriend usually drops me off at work,then keeps the car. We are a one car outfit at present, as soon as another car is available I will leave it at the yard and the s/o won't have to come get me. or at times I will just bobtail the tractor home. Its whatever works at the time for right now.

 

i have been running searches on different questions i have, seeing im a newb.found this old post and decided to revive it. do most truck companys let you drive the truck home?, i.e. usa truck,allen,etc. reason i ask is the surveying company i worked for for 6 years supplied a company truck to me every year so i sold my old chevy stepside and was told by my company i could drive my truck anywhere. heck even drove to a braves game and they told me to use the gas card,but reimburse them on my paydays. but then got laid off. not getting into trucking just for transportation home,but it would be convienent to drive home. any input? thanks