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

Welp, here it is, 1:00pm, and after spending the morning doing my due diligence trying to get the issues on this load resolved, I finally got the word:

"Go ahead and bobtail to the shipper."

Which I could've done 22 hours ago.

Told 'em I was gonna put in for layover. They said they'd approve it.

 

After sitting around all day finally get a dh move to HP in San Bernardino. They finally emptied a dry van so I had to drop the reefer and grab the dry van. Guess the planner is having issues finding loads out of Reno. 14 is shot so back to Fernley it is. Of course they complained I started my clock at 0400 this morning. Well, I didn’t think it was going to be an issue getting loaded. The other two drivers there got loads early this morning. Also thought they would have had most of the trailers emptied too.

 

So I finally arrived bobtail at the shipper today.

The Knight-side load planners who put this load together didn't actually know if the shipper would let me bobtail in, you see. So they shrugged and figured "what the hell, let's roll the dice." And told the Abilene-side load planner that I was good to drive to the shipper without an empty.

And as it turns out, the shipper has a strict "no bobtail pickups for pre-loaded trailers" policy. If you're picking up a loaded trailer, you have to bring in an empty. Otherwise they won't let you pick up the loaded trailer. So I was turned away at the gate.

I made a phone call shortly thereafter. Which resulted in (A) me getting taken off that load and put on another load instead, one that actually stands a reasonable chance of being a straightforward drop-and-hook; and (B) an apology over the Qualcomm from the Abilene-side load planner. Add that to the layover pay, and I am suitably mollified.

 

And they always tell drivers that you need to communicate…they might want to follow their own advice..

 

and then the transformation?

 

I was referring more about knight.. frome experience they are a bit dysfunctional when it comes to that mess..