CTI Relay Driver out of Amarillo, TX

Discussion in 'LTL and Local Delivery Trucking Forum' started by bentstrider83, Jan 25, 2019.

  1. USMC 3531

    USMC 3531 Heavy Load Member

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    Oh yeah sorry about that haha, AQE is Saia's terminal code for Albuquerque , each terminal has a three letter abbreviation for the city there in, examples ODS Odessa, PHX Phoenix, LVS Las Vegas ect, if you ever come aboard you will learn them, most LTLs do the same thing also as far as terminal codes. Yeah that's right, that whole stretch from Portales up through Clovis/Texico is milk country man, always saw alot of milk haulers and cattle haulers on that stretch of road.
     
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  3. bentstrider83

    bentstrider83 Road Train Member

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    I was thinking that, but just wanted to be sure. I thought it was like a subcomponent, or something to that effect.
    Yeah, I got burned out on milk barn loading after Ruan out here. 6-8 loads a night and always running well past legal hours(20 hour nights weren't uncommon with this Ruan terminal). Indian River was alright when I started here after getting fired from Ruan(for "sleeping on the job") in 2015.

    I was loading a 16-hour make time barn and getting paid mileage. About $250/night for loading one dairy in Perryton and bringing it back to the yard. Pretty much set my own hours on that run. It was like being an indie without the headaches. But then that barn got cut and I decided to pick shagging trailers over multiple barn loading each night. Retain some control over my night.

    Now they've switched things up again out here. More work, less money., etc After three years, it's time to dip/bounce/disappear.
     
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  4. USMC 3531

    USMC 3531 Heavy Load Member

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    Ok IRT Indian River now I know who you are talking about, yep remember always seeing that terminal on my way up to Amarillo, and Ruan is there anything they don't haul? I have seen those guys hauling milk, copper concentrate for mines, and even garbage to landfills, even remember seeing their hiring billboard up there also, the 1930s looking photo with the management looking guy talking to the driver in the truck lol.
     
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  5. bentstrider83

    bentstrider83 Road Train Member

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    Yep. That billboard between Portales and Clovis. They upgrade it every so often. They take on all these dairies out here, but no one ever has enough drivers to do it. Thing with all the milk haulers up here is that they more or less burned through all the people with CDL's with tanker and milk loading experience. Word gets around and everyone stays clear.

    I mean, people want to work. But they're also not robots and prefer not to be pushed 14-18 hours each night/day. Evidently, trucking company scheduling and dairy farm/dairy co-op policies conflict with each other and it all goes down hill from there. In the tanker subforum, I've heard people tell me about other milk hauling operations doing 2-3 loads a night/day and that was it. Here, as I mentioned, it's easily 4-10 loads due to consistent short-staffing.

    As far as Ruan goes, yeah they got the Freeport McMoran Copper thing in Phoenix and then a whole host of grocery operations, chemical tankers, and even steel hauling on flatbeds. I've thought about getting on with Ruan again in one of their other operations. But they'll probably want me to start back out again here before they allow me to make a transfer, especially after a rehiring with my given circumstance. So that's a no-go.
     
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  6. USMC 3531

    USMC 3531 Heavy Load Member

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    So you can make some money in milk hauling but you have to put in a insane amount of hours and load count to do it right, kind of like the oil field racket? Yeah up in Reno if they still have it, Ruan had a contract hauling garbage from Sacramento to a WM landfill east of Reno.
     
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  7. bentstrider83

    bentstrider83 Road Train Member

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    At least down here, yes. Not to mention these large barns have silos coming off every 3-5 hours, so your start times each night or day if you're on loading is insane. Start one night at 4pm, end it at 6-8am, and then get back to the yard between 2pm and 6pm or it's your behind.

    At least with the trailer shuttling and unloading at the plants, it's usually a 10-12 hour night and the same amount of money as loading 5-7 barns.
     
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  8. USMC 3531

    USMC 3531 Heavy Load Member

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    And now that you mention it, there was one day I was getting loaded at CFI in Woodard Ok, an ammonia plant, anyway another ammonia driver in there was telling me he was running under so called ag regs because his loads were going to farms.
     
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  9. USMC 3531

    USMC 3531 Heavy Load Member

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    Oh man, yeah I would want out too, and I can't believe I am saying this but I think I like DOT regulations haha, that ag stuff sounds like to much with those crazy schedules and load counts.
     
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  10. bentstrider83

    bentstrider83 Road Train Member

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    I used to get mad when these TM's would threaten to fire for not going fast enough or making those numbers. But now I just nonchalantly go, "Mmm-Hmm, you got it, buddy."
    Soft insubordination leading to a firing is better than one brought on by a sleep related crash. I know that one all too well.
     
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