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

Sucks that the company changed for the worse, so close to retirement.My last gig was the same way, slowly going downhill. Went from a great place to work, to a good place, to an OK place, to a friggin' job.They started getting rid of people who actually gave a darn, and did their jobs well. Replacing them with people who would follow orders from the top, couldn't think on their own, didn't take care of their people, etc.

When it became no more than a job, is when I bailed.

Good luck with your new endeavor!

 

And then you needed to go and get it repaired and not get paid for it if they can get it fixed in 23 hours or less (if Abileine is like a lot of other OTR companies where they won't pay breakdown unless it takes 24 hours or more to repair).

Yep. That was one great thing about LTL P&D. The stress about breakdowns was basically non existent. I was going to get paid every single second I waited for a tow truck or waited for roadside. If the truck was broke down for more than 24 hours, I was still going to get home for the night. I would've called an Uber if I had to since we only went about 60 miles from the terminal.

That is definetely one thing that needs to change about OTR. Breakdown, just like detention, needs to start being paid (even if it's just minimum wage) the very second the breakdown gets called in. I'm sure some of the better OTR companies do do that.

 

They had a section of the new 35 north shut down at a certain point today and was routing everyone down one of the tiny side roads to the old two lane 35 to 817 and back to 35 that way. I pulled over to the shoulder at first cuz I was skeptical at first that the road was ok for big trucks. But it checked out ok, call me paranoid but sometimes I like to walk a detour if I can to make sure it is ok so I don't get stuck or tear stuff up. Had to go all the way to the left to make the hard right turn though. Watched a western express driver almost end up over the hillside being he didn't go out left to make the turn with his trailer. Also watched a bunch of cars drive around the roadblock too as if they thought it was optional and the two wvdot workers kept getting out of their pickup to try and stop ppl unsuccessfully from going around them. Detour wasn't too bad except there was a 33 ton weight limit on one of the bridges on 817 though, guess the wvdot overlooked that one.

 

If you drive a crossed fast enough it will be fine… physics if your friend.

 

LoL! Yeah it is your friend to a certain degree, my degrees are in applied physics and geophysics....

 

Had a driver knock incessantly on my door last night until I got up. He wanted me to park in front of another bobtail which would have blocked it in so he could have my spot....I said no and he stomped off angrily.