Abilene Motor Express....A New Place To Call Home

Well, there IS a new sheriff in town...

Today I got the talk about PC... which ironically I wasn’t actually “moving” beyond the 30 minute limit... but, I did forget to change from PC or Off Duty while I sat on the shippers yard waiting to be loaded for three hours... lol

I did tried to change it when I caught it but one can’t change PC to anything but Driving or Yard Move... neither of which correctly represented that I was just sitting on the shippers yard... for three hours and not actually conveying anywhere.

so... be aware that calls are being made...

 

Also today... I got the call to take my first dollar general HP load and had to go sign the paperwork and acknowledge how important it is to be on time with these loads, etc... which all HP loads are important and must be on time... but learned a bit more why this one is so much more important... guess we have had a few Drivers drop the ball.

so I had 8 hours on my 14 with a 6 hour drive ahead of me... no problem... a good two hour cushion... no problem... right???

go to HP to pick it up... someone picked it up already... and either I didn’t check the yard before heading to HP or we crossed paths on the 7 mile trip between the Yard and HP...

So I head back to the yard to grab it and roll.

I drove around the yard looking for the trailer... nope... circle the yard again... nope... #### it I must be blind today... circle the yard a third time... still not seeing it... look on the docks... nothing... ran out front to see if it was out by the road... nope... parked... went inside to ask about it... they suggested to check the garage maybe it’s being worked on... so I take the opportunity to stretch my legs and walked down to the shop... nope... not there either.

so getting a bit frustrated I head back to the window to verify I’m looking for the right trailer... Yup, right number...

The guy at the window asks the local guy... he says “he’s on his way”... WHAT???

Soooo... local driver picks up the trailer before me... an hour to an hour and a half later he finally finds his way back to the Yard... again... 7 miles away...

Now I’m down to a 45 minute cushion... still doable... and said the load WILL be on site tonight... but they felt it was best to drop in Wytheville and let a local take it up in the morning. Works for me... I’ll get under another load sooner tomorrow.

Now I’m not going to tell another driver how to drive his truck... nor will I tell managers/dispatchers how to manage or dispatch... but dang it, if you are going to “grab lunch” (or whatever he was doing for 60-90 minutes) either do it bobtailed or under an empty... not under a trailer that someone else might be waiting on to roll.

{rant over}

 

Yeah, that is what I try to do but followed the GPS as it normally steers me good but today it tried to keep sending me down streets with 4 ton weight limits. I should have followed 78 all the way to the turnpike then north to 1-9 south to the shipper. Now I know where that place is. South Jersey I don't get lost as much unless customer is not well marked. North Jersey really confuses me though.

 

I95 south was shutdown in north VA tonight due to vehicle fire blocking all lanes somehow, wasted an hour and a half there. Made to the yard with 4 minutes left on my clock. Hopefully I get a long load west that delivers sat to get my miles up. I could have had 2,000 miles in by today if they had planned me proper after my reset was up Sunday....

 

I’m going to get lambasted.....but.....the locals are feeling a bit toasty right now. We’ve lost 7 drivers in the last 2 months. 2 went back OTR (that was always the plan for one of them), and 5 have quit. Why? You guessed it. The fact that OUR bonuses were taken away and we were ALL denied a raise for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile OTR gets all those lovely things and we have to sit back and get NOTHING. Oh yeah, a towel, a tire gauge, and a cheap key ring. All with the Abilene logo on it. One was even told that our bonus was that we get to sleep in our own beds at night by the top ranking person at our illustrious company. Yeah.

I suppose most feel our job isn’t integral to our operations, but just imagine y’all having to actually pick up at all those places and deliver all the freight y’all love to drop on the yard, thus saving your precious OTR clocks. Yeah.

I used to think just about the same way. Until I became one of those locals. Now I see the attitude towards us and it sucks. So next time you feel like we just goof off, think about the why. Now I’m going to enjoy my days off without thinking about this place and enjoy my beautiful granddaughters company. Peace out.

 

@RebelChick ... no one is attacking you or all locals... but one local got caught screwing around for well over an hour... they are a piece of the puzzle just like everyone else... and when they screw up it impacts others.

but please pass along to your fellow local drivers that if they want to screw around, fine... but do it while bobtailed or under an empty trailer not under a trailer that someone else is looking for... a trailer filled for what is a very important customer... and then the load had to be removed from OTR and placed on another local which wasn’t necessary and made more work for another local driver.

 

Why would you think that I think you are “attacking” me? Never even thought I came across that way. But, it’s all good, luv. Why would they take the load off OTR and put it on a local? Was it that short of a run? If so, why was OTR on it in the first place? Not defending the guy who sat under it for so long, either. I don’t think that should be done. But, some of them don’t think like me. If I’m on a load, I get it back as soon as I can. Now, do I speed or get excessive with getting it back? No. Do I take my break if I need to? Yes. Do I take hours to do so? No. Communication. It all comes back to that.

 

My miles tend to suck when I get brought back east. When Im out west running brokered loads and HP from San Bernardino they stay up. I hate coming back east. This week was totally wasted. Going to have to do another reset next week to straighten hours out from this week. When you got drivers like me than will run a little over 2,000 miles in 3 days when weather permits it, stays out 5 or more weeks, I know Im not the only one here like that, it is poor utilization to give productive ppl stupid short runs with too much time on them. Im only ranting because running hard helps my PTSD and related stuff.

 

Was a Richmond to an hour northwest of Wytheville... so one local was in Richmond and the other local was in Wytheville.

 

Ya, seeing a lot of less then a full day runs here too... which is fine if you can drop and get on the next load... but the next load isn’t coming until the next day... so ya, running every day but not full days... for now...

Thinking they have freight but are spreading it a bit until freight picks up again.