Interstate Distributor Co. - Tacoma, Wa.

HELP ! Just got my old man involved in this company, he is a 30 yr vet, out here. He will go solo, and need the miles. Is this a bad choice. We are sick of the no miles, and the lies. Please tell me it was not a bad choice. Look all the companys out here are a bunch of blah blah blah. Got to make the most of it to feed the family.

 

Oh he will be Regional as well.

 

We do occasionally unload freight, but that is mostly done on dedicated runs. We have hand unloaded only about 4 times in the past year. Office Depot (mostly dedicated) is all on pallets and they provide a pallet jack if you get on of those runs, but that is a cinch. I unload the freight faster then they would LOL.

 

Here are some ideas/tips to help him get the most miles:

-Regoinal is not always best.. national gives you more opporunities.
-DONT refuse runs. Take what ever needs to be hauled but dont be afraid to let your FM know if your not getting enough miles. They do have some latitude.
-Having your Hazmat Certification will get you more miles and put you ahead of other Solo's without hazmat.
-Keep your Mac 45's up to date and make sure your ETAs and PTAs are accurate. The planners go off those times and get upset when they are wrong. Make sure your available hours are accurate. It is often better to set your PTA out for a 10 hour break than to show yourself avaialbe with only a couple of hours available.
-Use the 34 hr restart option only when really needed. Too many drivers use 34's to take a couple of days a week off when they really do have hours available. You dont make money hanging around terminals.
-Keep your truck in good condition and use down times and those unavoidable 34's to get maintenance done on your truck. Putting off needed repairs often leads to even more down time.
-Communicate with your FM but do it respectfully. If your hav ing a bad week (ie: its THU and you only have 1200 miles) let your FM know. They can message the planner and ask for help getting you moving.
-When you go into the shop, make sure your truck is reasonably clean. The mechanics respect drivers who keep their trucks clean and work harder to kep the little stuff fixed. If they open the door and the truck is trashed or there are Bottles laying around they wont do anything they dont have to.
-Keep some spare lights, butt conectors and such on the truck to do minor light repairs and stuff. It sucks to loose 2-3 hours at a truck stop to get a light or two fixed when it would have taken you 15 minutes to do it. The shops will give you the supplies including spare headlight bulbs and such.

The economy still sucks and freight is up and down, but its funny how you see alot of the same faces in the terminals no matter when you get there and most of the time they are complaining aout no miles. These same guys refused a load for one reason or another, then put out their PTA until the next day, etc. or had a truck down and refused a Freightliner loaner because they only want to drive a Volvo...... You only make money when you are running and refusing a run will put back at the bottom of the list and they wont be in a hurry to get you moving again... Hope this helps.

 

one sorry company. can't get any miles. my last 2 checks barely paid electric bill. dispatcher is lazy. planner couldnt plan a trip to the bathroom. owners apparently dont care about the company making money. poor equipment maint and repair schedulr.
stupid macro 45---------eta\pta if it doesnt change why waste the time and effort to update twice a day. very stupid. dispatcher says do your job and send updated eta\pta twice a day, do your job,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,well there is no sense in a driver sitting 10 20 30 hours because he has no load. #### it ,,,do you job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Wow... that just doesnt sound right.. On a bad week I turn in 2700 mi...Just turned in 3400 miles for the past week. K & J are dead on RIGHT in their post about how to stay running. I'm not perfect with my mac 45's and don't have my hazmat, but I still do ok. Basically you get out of it what you put into it. I don't care much for one of my fleet managers but I still try to be respectful to him.. the other one is awesome and we have an excellent relationship. I keep moving.. thats what matters to me. I also take any load they give to me regardless of how crappy it seems to me. Anyways.. hope things get better!

 

I am on my way up there in the morning and will post after I am there for a couple of months at least

 

good luck to anyone who goes to work at interstate ive been trying to get a load for 3 days turned in 1300 miles last week 1200 week before i figure couple more weeks of this i will qualify for welfare most dispatchers here are flat out idiots they wont and cant make any decisions on there own that is if you can get them to respond they are just like any other big company out for the money and thats all if you have a problem they ignore u road call for breakdowns even a bigger joke

 

I hired on in January. For the most part they have been running my behind off, averaging 3000+ miles a week. That is, until their new computer system went on line two weeks ago. Last week I got a whopping 1540 miles.

I sat in Chicago after delivering Thursday morning last week, was empty at 0900. Didn't get another load until 1600 Sunday. 18 miles to pick it up at our Chicago yard and 28 miles to deliver it local on Monday morning. Delivered at 0800, was empty by 0900. Got another load, a 3 stopper that don't pick up until 1030 the next morning. I get to the first stop..... "Interstate WAS supposed to take this load, but it was taken away and given to ABF" I was told. Sure enough, we lost the first two stops. I delivered that load in Hebron, KY this morning and once again, I've been empty for 4.5 hours now and no load. And there are 4 other Interstates sitting at this TA alone!

1540 miles last week. Since Thursday of last week (today is Wednesday) I have 414 miles. Something has gone terribly wrong here out of nowhere. Either they fix it quick or I'm outta here. I have a family to support. I am a solo, run out of Lebanon and yes, I stay on top of my Mac45's.

 

ChuckK70 - I read your post and and I want to help. There's always issues in a computer system conversion - but our huge investment in this new system with its auto dispatch gives our drivers the power to keep themselves moving. Let's fix what's keeping you from moving. Call Tacoma and ask for me or Nick.

Renee
SVP Human Resources
Interstate Distributor Co.