Snackbar is chillin'....at Shaffer

Discussion in 'Discuss Your Favorite Trucking Company Here' started by supersnackbar, Oct 26, 2020.

  1. supersnackbar

    supersnackbar Road Train Member

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    Aug 19, 2007
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    This was one of those loads I would like to forget. 1st the miscommunication with the shipper about live load or drop/hook. Then I get to the delivery, and when I check in, the guard asks if this is a drop. I tell her yes, and I will be pulling out an empty. She calls the delivery customer (I'm delivering to the caves in Carthage again)...when she is talking to them, she doesn't say 'a drop load for Shaffer', she tells them it's an 18:00 appointment. Then says to back in a spot on the wall (inbound staging area next to a carved out section of the hill) and wait for a phone call. 2.5 hrs later, I get a call from the customer asking if this was a drop...and to come in and drop it...and now comes the easter egg hunt for another trailer. My A/M says we have loads on the books out of there, but haven't gotten the customer to schedule a time/date to pick them up.

    I mentioned to him that I would be open to marrying a good trailer to my truck and doing all live load/unloads if we could make our system work that way...he agreed that it probably would be better than all this wasted time and fuel looking for empties...plus would make planning my day and pta's much easier...
     
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  3. supersnackbar

    supersnackbar Road Train Member

    16,903
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    Aug 19, 2007
    Your Town, USA
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    I swear, the operations department at this company would screw up a wet dream. I managed to make it to within 3 hours of my delivery customer yesterday before I stopped. I specifically asked my A/M if I was picking anything up out of here today. My departure time out of the truckstop was flexible, I could leave there and deliver any time between 0100 and the 0600 end time on the delivery window. When he mentioned 18:00 for another load, I planned on getting here, dropping and park with enough time to get in a break before that 18:00 time he mentioned. Now, they offer me a load that picks up at 15:00...which is the end of my 14, and not enough time for a split. And I still don't have an empty trailer.

    Update- they changed the pickup time on the preplan to between 9 and 15:00...but the load delivers in Memphis at 0100 tomorrow...and they still haven't found an empty, and they wonder why I can't make it. Hmmm, let's see Einstein, it's now 9:15 (when they resent the pplan with the new times), I am 20 min away, with no empty trailer, and my day ends at 15:00. It's 6.5 hours to Memphis, and I have to find an empty, possibly get it washed out, get to the shipper, get loaded and drive 6.5 hrs...and squeeze in a 10, all by 0100...I think safety needs to hold mandatory classes for all operations team members teaching them what the HOS regulations are. My A/M said he would hate to see what I would be like if something really bad happened. Told him that he DOESN'T want to see me mad because it usually requires law enforcement. Told him that I am only mildly annoyed at this professional freight hauling company because they couldn't plan a trip to the John without making a mess. I then said I am done for the day, changed my PTA to tomorrow morning and asked if he wanted me to hunt an empty before calling it a day. He told me to do what I want...I told him fine by me, I'll deal with weekend Op's to find an empty since it's such a difficult task for the regular Op's team to accomplish in a reasonable amount of time. I still don't understand how this place keeps customers and stays in business...every time I picture what it looks like in that office the image of the Keystone Cops doing a Chinese fire drill in a 3 stooges movie comes to mind.
     
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2021
  4. Winnyf1

    Winnyf1 Road Train Member

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    Lol dirt cheap rates for customers and lots of empty trailers go a long way towards keeping mega type customers. They’re likely just as messed up lol.
     
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  5. supersnackbar

    supersnackbar Road Train Member

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    Aug 19, 2007
    Your Town, USA
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    And, almost on cue, as my 14 expired. A location to find an empty appeared. They also sent me a preplan, but I wasn't in the truck at the time (I wish we could access the canned messages like load accept, fuel solution, load/empty messages, etc. from the app). Once I got back in the truck from doing laundry, I accepted the load and told him I will pick up an empty in the morning.

    Saw this weeks propaganda message, and I still don't get why they have to keep pushing the recruiting stuff...WE GET IT!!!! I mean, if we were as forgetful as they make it sound, we wouldn't be able to tie our shoes without guidance from High Command (they remind us to do everything but breathe every chance they get). We don't need to hear about the recruiting bonus 2 or 3 times a week.
     
  6. O.Henry

    O.Henry Road Train Member

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    Call your AM and have them accept it.
    That’s what I do when I’m away from truck.
     
  7. supersnackbar

    supersnackbar Road Train Member

    16,903
    38,010
    Aug 19, 2007
    Your Town, USA
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    I could message him from the app....but right now, the less contact I have with Lincoln, the better, especially my A/M. I can only see this working relationship between him and I getting worse as time goes on. I have never been a lock-step company 'yes' man, and he just doesn't get my independent frame of mind and my opinion about the overall lack of ability from the operations personel. I mean, this weeks propaganda message was talking about the new A/M team the drivers are assigned to. Honestly, I have been getting better results from after hours and weekend Ops than I have from my primary A/M...maybe he should be benched or demoted to fill in/holiday staff and give an after hours person a shot at the main job.
     
    JoeyJunk, Lonesome and O.Henry Thank this.
  8. supersnackbar

    supersnackbar Road Train Member

    16,903
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    Aug 19, 2007
    Your Town, USA
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    I'm running around in circles again today looking for an empty. Been to 3 places with no luck. I am still wondering why, if they're getting trailers slower than expected because of the supply chain and labor shortages, why the flying fornication they're pulling the 837's off the road like they are...but what does management care, they're home on the couch with their feet propped up on the weekend watching the Nebraska Cornholer's lose another game...or playing pasture pool. Obviously we need less drivers, not more like they keep saying, that way there is ample equipment for the rest that stay because they actually believe that this company's management give a ####.
     
  9. mdmgolfin

    mdmgolfin Road Train Member

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    That’s part of the risk with drop and hooks. If you find a empty and what shape did the previous driver leave it in. Another driver at my company told me his trailer he hooked up to at coke in Wright city MO had practically no brakes. I mean come the #### on.
     
    JoeyJunk and Jarhed1964 Thank this.
  10. xlsdraw

    xlsdraw Road Train Member

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    Winter Haven, Florida
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    I don't miss the Mega Carrier rat race one bit. SSB's posts remind me of just how incompatible I was with them.
     
  11. BM 58

    BM 58 Heavy Load Member

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    Jun 25, 2019
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    Yes, and when you try and work through the weekend like he does all you are going to deal with are idiots in the office that could care less about whether he finds a trailer or not.
     
    Jarhed1964 and dwells40 Thank this.
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