Indian River

I’m not sure. I think it varies from customer to customer, but that’s above my pay grade. I just do my best to honor the times on the load assignment and let dispatch know if something slows me down along the way.

 

I’m not.

 

Some of those dairy facilities are funky like that, and it can be frustrating when a receiving department employee knocks on the door to have you pull forward one truck length when you just fell asleep a few hours beforehand. It takes some time to learn the system and make your rounds to the different customers. Once you do, you can manage your sleep and arrival times better.

I know we all operate differently, but when I show up at armpit facilities like that, I talk to the receiving department when I show up about what my desires are. If I’m already rested up and wanting to get in and out asap, I will stage in line and play the get out of bed to move the truck forward every few hours game. On the other hand, if I’m exhausted and had to drive 650 miles to get there, I will voice my sleeping needs to the receiver and see if there’s a way it can be worked out where I’m not disturbed. Sometimes it’s solved by a simple “You can park off to the side between those box vans and go to bed, then get in line when you’re ready for us to offload you.”

Other times, they’ll give me the option to wait for the next plant shift to come on duty if I’m not in a big rush and need the rest. If you find yourself wondering why the appointment times on dairy loads seem to be scheduled tight, it’s because of the risk of it being rejected for being on the trailer too long. Once you’re on-sight and get it worked out with the receiver, you’re safe to park off to the side and go to bed if needed. You’re there, on their property, and the delivery time has been honored at that point.

Most of us hauled a lot of dairy loads in the beginning. I spent my first month running a lot of loads from Michigan to Wisconsin, and I did the Indiana thing as well. I don’t know what you hired on to be as far as regional, OTR, etc. but if you hired on as OTR rest assured, you’ll eventually get bounced out of that region and onto some different products.