Hopper, Dump O/O's & Drivers

wheathauler · Mar 4, 2010

Big John said: ↑

HwyPilot, man you must have a lot of patience because I would have done told that dispatcher I was coming to Nebraska to beat some cense into him. I used to deal with a livestock broker in Nebraska that was a con and a crook and when he spoke he was lying. He worked out of his house and all the paperwork went to a P.O. Box so nobody could ever find him. Well good luck but I would be looking for something new and get away from that outfit before it is to late. Life is to short to put up with all that bs.

Maybe we can all go lease on to Wheathauler and he can retire to the house and become a full time dispatcher and find us all those high payin loads with no deadhead and home everynight. How bout it my neighbor to the north.
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Get right on it , no deadheading, good paying, home at night...truckers dream come true. Local work used to be like that around here until the bottom feeders appeared.

Talked to friend today and he said rates were bad on about anything he hauled. He goes OTR mostly but said fertlizer rates were bad ...around dollar a mile. He hauls grain, DDG just about anything in a hopper. He has his own authority and equipment and contacts.

Luis · Mar 4, 2010

I just remembered found the old school dr peeper at the walmart monday. Made from imperial sugar and in glass bottles could it be? I was going to snag a six all for me maybe sometime this weekend.

crop jocky · Mar 4, 2010

Kansas said: ↑

Yeah, thats about going rate been there done that. I was paying $1250 a month "off harvest", and its bumps to $1400 during harvest. Thanks God thats over! I have seen lease trailers on truckpaper for $1000 monthly, out of Chicago I believe.

If your buddy has a few grand to put down on a trailer have him look into Heiman Leasing in Wichita, they don't care about credit for the most part. They are one of few like that, long as you have a down payment, and let them know in advance if you're going to be late with your payment they will work with ya. They have a storage yard behind Ireland Trucks Sales on N. Broadway. Going through them would cut his monthly payment just about in half...

http://www.heimanco.net/Trailers.htm
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Thanks for that info kansas, Is your week going good havent seen ya sense monday morning. I been hauling alot out of cereal foods wow what a cluster this week. There only taking wheat from 7am to 2pm and in that time john told me they were dumping close to 60 trucks a day. And only have room for half that lol. Im sick of the cluster of construction around 13th and mosely. crop jockey

kajidono · Mar 4, 2010

Luis said: ↑

I just remembered found the old school dr peeper at the walmart monday. Made from imperial sugar and in glass bottles could it be? I was going to snag a six all for me maybe sometime this weekend.
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Yeah, they started making that again in cans and bottles a couple months ago.

Luis · Mar 4, 2010

kajidono said: ↑

Yeah, they started making that again in cans and bottles a couple months ago.
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Im late lmao. Now I need to go buy some but in moderation before, I get hooked.

Kansas · Mar 4, 2010

crop jocky said: ↑

Thanks for that info kansas, Is your week going good havent seen ya sense monday morning. I been hauling alot out of cereal foods wow what a cluster this week. There only taking wheat from 7am to 2pm and in that time john told me they were dumping close to 60 trucks a day. And only have room for half that lol. Im sick of the cluster of construction around 13th and mosely. crop jockey
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Have actually had a decent week, only Friday left to mess it all up lol. Yeah, 13th is becoming a real pain. I watched a truck turn west off of mosley onto 13th, pinned a 4 wheeler into the orange barrels. I have never seen anybody clinch a steering wheel as tightly as that woman had a hold of hers. It was a 10 minute stand-off. The 4 wheeler couldn't move, the truck couldn't back up, traffic building up every where 5pm traffic and all, it was awesome. Finally the gal got out of her car and started moving orange barrels, and throwing sand bags. I think she was trying to tell that driver he was number 1. She was highly pizzed at that big truck, and rightly so LMAOOOOOOOOOO. Oddly enough nobody honked at her, I think everybody knew she was on the edge...

wheathauler · Mar 4, 2010

crop jocky said: ↑

taking wheat from 7am to 2pm and in that time john told me they were dumping close to 60 trucks a day. And only have room for half that lol.
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Were they actually unloading the trucks if they didn't have the space? I believe they were closed a week, because of lack of space, a while back.

highside · Mar 4, 2010

Big John said: ↑

I always thought sitting and waiting was part of the job. I did it hauling grain, feed, cattle, freight and in the oil field and never got paid. We never ever thought someone was going to pay us to sit while we were used for storage, well we might have dreamed about it. I always liked going to Camp Acco (Cargill) in OKC, Purina in OKC, Edmond, Ft. Worth and other mills in Commanche, Hereford, Lubbock, Amarillo, Guymon and Liberal because I new I was going to be their for awhile, lol. Sitting to unload for several hours and never got a dime for it, I guess I should have asked. lol. But I just sit in the truck (Cabover to) and waited no TV, no cell phones, no computer, no fridge, had to walk somewhere to eat so you could stay in line, go to the pay phone to call the office or call home. Those were the days. I wished I could go back in time. lol. Fuel was less then a dollar a gallon, rates were better, no mexican trucks, it didn't cost twenty grand to rebuild your engine, it was fun. You new just about everyone that pulled a hopper in your area or that went to the places you did and everyone helped everyone. Those were the days and they are missed. I forgot two things, no freakin EPA and no CARB.
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It sounds like you know how it actually works, big john...maybe you've got a future in hoppers yet!

highside · Mar 4, 2010

HwyPilot said: ↑

Paid deadhead miles - heck, I'd be having a great week with that one. Unfortunately for the wallet - I am not. Think I'll run this scenario past you guys - I'm sure you already know who I'm contracted to - without naming names.

I wanted to start on Tuesday this week - and I get a pickup appt made for Monday night at 11pm at Cargill (wheat mids of all things - in a 42x96x78 - all of 21 Tons looking like a big girl in a twin bed with the tarp rolled). Now this is a 110 mile deadhead from the house, washout required, for the princely sum of $18 a ton going 226 miles. It was all I could do not to throw that one back and hope it was bait for a bigger fish. That load took me away from the house, made no money, and actually cost me money after paying for the washout.

So I run the load, thinking it's got to get better - and here we go on the magical mystery tour.

Second load out is sand clay with another 160 mile deadhead. This runs going 355 miles to AR from MS. I think - hmmm - well I've hauled sand and silica sand before - this is a new one. So I camp out overnight about 15 miles from the place, and head over in the morning. The owner walks out of the office amused when I pull up, and says I know what you're here for - and you don't want to load it..... Turns out it's basically ballfield clay, and if I loaded it into the hopper - I'd have to turn the trailer upside down to get it out - or blast it out with dynamite! I call the agent, and he calls and talks to the guy - turns out they'd had to refuse about 7 trucks already. I get absolutely nothing for driving there to find that out - maybe someone should have called and confirmed the load? Next time it will be me calling, although I'm wondering why I pay 10% of these pre-determined rates to someone to give me this lousy info.....

Okay - we'll just step up the next load a day early - I would've had to deadhead 170 miles back to it from the endpoint of the sand clay load.... Turns out the place is another 160 miles in front of me at this point. So off I go, and I'm told they can load me in the afternoon, sometime around 3pm. I get to the outskirts of town at 12 noon and park. I have lunch, chat on the phone for awhile, and then call about 2pm - to get no answer on the number. I search the internet, find another number and call it - no answer. My wife calls and I tell her what's going on and she goes to work on it. About 5 minutes later she calls me back to give me a number that's being answered. I call the number and it's someone's voicemail at the company - hit 0 for operator - and ask them for help. Next thing I know I'm talking to the plant supervisor, and he tells me that he's gotten about 6 calls for directions, but there's only enough product for about 3 loads. No trucks have shown up yet, and here's the kicker - their loading hours are 5am to 1:30p so there's no wonder why no one answered the phone! I'd been sitting around and could've been there at 12:15!!

So I go tearing across town, while relaying the info to the agent who should be telling me all this stuff. I'm figuring on camping out at the gates to get 1 of the 3 loads out the next morning. Nope! Not happening!! About 10 minutes into the drive, I get a call from the agent - who's telling me the load has been put on hold - the receiver has no room for it until Monday! This is load#2 for the day being closed out, and now 330 miles of deadhead from where I started after the loser load of mids.

Now the next load is white rice, and I just hauled mids, so I need to clean or washout the trailer (again). It's another 220 miles deadhead away from me....... Am I lucky, or what?! I'm given a company name, and a phone number to go by, and the phone number given has been disconnected. My wife finds another number, and gets to the switchboard, but can't get a human being on the phone. So I have no clue of the address, and we had to dig for a working phone number on our own. Not bad for 10% of gross?

So I get about 140 miles into the deadhead, and realize it's getting dark and cold. I still need to stop somewhere and sweep out the trailer. I find an excellent spot - a small fuel stop with a good sized parking lot and tall lighting. I back in, open up the trailer and start working it over. Come to find out the 1999 Wilson that I'm being fleeced for 10% of gross actually leaks a little at the seams - besides dog trotting down the road. Not a big suprise, but I'm having to scrub mid paste out of the trailer. I wind up tired, cold, dirty, and I now have a kink in my neck - I finally threw in the towel and put up here for the night.

It was all I could do to contain myself when dealing with this crap - I almost asked for freight headed back to NE so I can drop the trailer off and be done with the whole thing. If anyone's thinking about going this route - DON'T BOTHER - it'll save you a ton of aggravation and expenses. Although I've found no better way myself - there has to be one - how could it be worse?

So before I go too much farther on this load - I'd really like to talk to a human being on the shippers end of this equation. If I deadhead too much more, I might meet Jerry Garcia himself! Now the agents telling me he can try to get some money out of load#2 that got stalled..... how about just paying me my 90 cents a mile to at least cover my costs (making no money at that point - but not spending mine). He says no - but we'll bill it forward and see what happens..... mmm hmmmm slim and none - but it sounded good on the phone.

So all in all - this place is great if you like deadheading all over creation, and spending money you don't have. It would also help immensely if you didn't eat, or have anything pesky in your life, like bills for example! This wasn't really a rant session at first, I just wanted to inform you all of what's going on. It's really hit the limit, and I'm having a hard time finding motivation to bother with the next load. Wonder how much this one will end up costing me.....

Best to all of you, and hope you're having a good week!
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I think this situation prompts a man to start thinking about how satisfying it would be to dump that broker's load right in the driveway of the receiver...letting the broker worry about getting it cleaned up. I get to daydreaming about that sometimes, and honestly, it gets me through the day sometimes.

LBZ · Mar 5, 2010

Those guys sound like clowns Hwy, who is H&M out of NE.? I was looking at a truck this winter & when I called the previous owner, he said he was pulling a hopper for those guys. Seemed to like it & seemed plenty busy, but know nothing else about them.

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