You know you're in trouble when...

Capstone story: Got to a delivery on Friday night and of course my dispatch was not answering. Turns out it is a lumper offload and, dun da da dun- it's capstone lumpers. The warehouse clerk tells me that the cost for the lumpers is around $300. They only accept cash or a com check. No debit/credit cards. After trying to reach dispatch a couple of times, with no luck, I tell them what are my options. Clerk informs me that after the current shift, they're closing the warehouse until Monday. The shift ends in like 3 hours. I also have the option to offload the truck myself. So, I head to my truck to get my boots, vest, safety glasses and lumbar support. When I come back dressed to offload, capstone is like: "whoa, what are you doing?" I said: "I'm going to offload my truck". Of course the load was a FTL and loaded on the floor. They say: "No way you're finishing in 3 hours and we're working on our last trucks and should be finished in an hour or so, then we're leaving." Long story long- I ended up getting the bright idea to contact the broker's 800 number I found online. After some negotiation, rep from the broker's office agrees to pay the lumper fee. Much cheaper than paying my layover for 2 days, I guess.

Now that I think of it- that happened a few hundred miles away from home in west Texas and I was fixing to head home for a well-deserved break.

It's always the last load on the way home when things go sideways, either with the load or the truck...

 

I got no problem getting myself down the road faster and saving the company a few dollars BUT-

I don't turn wrenches for free unless it's my own vehicle/equipment. And it's been difficult at times getting owners to cough up any change whatsoever for my time under a truck or hood. A service call is a minimum of a few hundred dollars, especially on weekends or overnight. If I can get the truck rolling and make it to a garage, then I'm expecting at least a $50-sized bone to chew at the very least, offer to buy me lunch/dinner.

Most owners are ok with paying $50 a few times, but when you have a truck that breaks down often- due to no fault of your own- then most owners stop feeling generous at all and even opt to pay a service call every now and then instead of paying you your going rate.

That's nonsense and just erodes my good-will at that point. I stop offering to fix trucks at that point and risking my neck crawling under a truck on the side of a road.