My lease adventure

I have been talking with local drivers in my area for awhile now and most seem happy. I live in an area where traffic is not a concern for several hundred miles. Most the companies in my area don't go far enough out for that to be a concern. My main motivation for going local is my family. I miss seeing my wife every day and going out on weekends to do things together. My son might come live with us this year too. I will definitely go local if he does.

 

Morning everyone,

So a little update. Things aren't going to well right now. I have had several repairs and maintenance expenses over the last three months that have put me $6847 in the red for the year. I have had to use credit to keep things a float. I had to replace 10 tires in the span of a month and a half and that killed me. I knew they were going to need to be replaced soon just hoped not at the same time. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Most of the really expensive maintenance is done now so hopefully I can get a break and get things back in the black for the year. There are always going to be tough and easy times. You just need to roll with the punches and do what you need to do to get through them. Wish me luck.

 

It is a hard time for most of us right now from everything I have heard. Keep your head up and get er done.

 

Well kinda a big update. I am switching companies. So now that I am no longer working with the company I will reveal who they are, Sprinter Trucking out of Winston, Or. I hung out as long as I could but things just were not looking like they were going to get back to the level we were doing earlier this year. It was becoming a regular thing to not have a reload once during the week out of the Sacramento, CA area. In the almost seven years I was with Sprinter this was never a problem until the last couple of months. I found out why from the owner my last day. Apparently we lost a big broker and several of their accounts. He told me they have some accounts back but not all of them. It was a rumor I heard a couple weeks ago and he confirmed it.

My contract required a 10-day notice but I gave13. Here is how my last 13 days went. I put in my notice on Friday the 15th. I delivered my load on Monday the 18th in Vancouver, WA. Got a reload out of Cottage Grove, OR almost 150 miles deadhead. This was a regular thing with them. Picked it up on the 18th and delivered it in Berkeley, CA on the 19th. Didn't have a reload yet so I headed for the closest area I knew there was parking American Canyon. Sat for a couple hours waiting for a reload but nothing. Sent a message to my dispatcher and there were no loads out of the area right now. I decided to deadhead up to Dunnigan, CA so I could be parked at a truck stop as my wife was with me. So Wednesday the 20th arrives, and we sit all day. I had some pre-arranged time off for the coming weekend and Monday for a doctor's appointment. Around 2pm I get a call from my dispatch saying there is a load picking up out of Woodland, CA in the morning he will send me the info when he gets it. About two hours later I get another call from dispatch saying there is a problem with the reload. It delivers on Monday morning, and he is aware I have scheduled time off for that day. I lost the load because I can't cancel this appointment. He tells me I can wait until the morning (Thursday) to see if there is a load, but he doubts there will be one. I knew they weren't going to be able to get me a load I can sit on until Tuesday, so I went home. I dead headed 379 miles home. I offered to return after my appointment on Monday and stay out till Friday morning rather then my original arrangement of returning Tuesday and Thursday being my last day. He said call me Monday and we will see.


Week two.

I call Monday the 25th around 1100 and waited for a load. I didn't really expect anything since it was a little late in the morning. No reload Monday. Tuesday comes and I wait until around 1pm before contacting my dispatch to see if there is a load for me. Nothing of course. Wednesday comes and I wait again. I messaged my dispatch around noon and nothing yet. Around 2pm I sent a message to him telling him there is no point in sending me a reload Thursday as I will not be able to get south to the bay area then back up to Portland, OR by Thursday night so I can deliver Friday morning. So in the 13 days I only ran 2 loads. It was complete BS. On my last day I returned the truck and shook everyone's hand. I got lucky and had a meeting with the owner and thanked him for the opportunity. I also had a discussion with him about my last two weeks. He was very understanding about my frustration, but no explanation or apology. I didn't expect anything from him but it would have been nice.

I start with the new company tommorow. They offer a little better program then Sprinter. They run the western 11 as well as the I-5 corridor. They offer both a lease and lease purchase option. The lease is 3700 a month for 48 months. The LP is 4400 a month for 60 months. I am going to do the strait lease program for now but I have the option to change it over if I want later. I got a new Freightliner Cascadia with 2700 miles on it. My plan is to try the program out for a couple of months and see how it goes. If it works out the great, if not then I am done and will go back to a company position. Wish me luck.