My experience with Lester Coggins.

After taking the short haul to Winter Haven, FL and then sitting for 4-5 hours, I was finally dispatched on a load of juice out of Coca-cola in Auburndale, FL, delivering in Norfolk, VA # 18:00 hrs on April 5, 2010. It is a whopping 768 ld hhg miles, with a 5 miles hhg dh. It really can't get any worse than that.

 

Ok: I see I haven't posted in a few weeks, so here is the update:

The load of juice that was supposed to be a drop n' hook in Auburndale, FL # coca-cola was a live load and I didn't get out of there until 6am. I drove a couple of hours, took a nap, and then I took that load home and took Saturday evening and Sunday morning off. It was great to see my wife and dogs and we had a good time and cooked fajitas !!! The ######## at Nash-Finch in Norfolk wouldn't let me in the gate until 5:30 pm, since I had a 6pm appt., and I didn't get a door until 9pm, and I was empty until midnight. I was able to watch Duke win the NCAA National Championship on their big screen tv in the break room. I left there and when to Suffolk and said, "screw it."

The next day I deadheaded to Raeford, NC to p/u a load going to Swedesboro, NJ, and lo and behold, they put me straight to the door and loaded me with the swiftness. That will never happen again at their plant. I was supposed to deliver # 11:00 the next day, but I was empty # 8:00 am and they immediately put me on a load p/u in South Plainfield, NJ # a place called Micheal Foods and delivered on the 9th # MBM in LaGrange, GA(on a side note: South Plainfield has a ridiculous truck route, with about 10 turns, just to keep trucks from going thru town). I got LaGrange, GA off a couple of hours early and they sent me to Americold Logistics in Atlanta, GA, off of Fulton Industrial Road. The women in there represent everything that is wrong with this industry and remind me of the old days of trucking. I got loaded there for MBM in Orlando, FL the next day. LCT does not pay for any tolls in Florida, so it took me 2.5 hours to get from the Pilot in Belleview, FL to MBM in Orlando. The guy seemed nice and put me straight to the door, but I didn't get unloaded until after 1 pm. Next, I was sent to Coca-cola in Auburndale, FL for what I thought was a drop n' hook. No, it wasn't a drop n' hook, and in fact, I ended up sitting there until 4 am the next morning before I was loaded. What made me so mad, was not they they were so far behind in loading, but that they didn't tell me that my product wasn't ready. I didn't find that out until trucks that checked in later than me (including a "fellow" LCT driver) were getting loaded ahead of me. I went to the KFC and pigged out after I got that info. My delivery was # White Rose Dairy in Avenel, NJ for 9 am on April 12. Did Mr. Williams add insult to injury, and tell LCT to reschedule after he just sat for over 13 hours? No! He simply drove straight to NJ, took a small respite, and got to his delivery 1 hour early, and ahead of the other LCT driver (remember, the one that got loaded 4 hours ahead of me), who had a 7 am appt., and was summarily late. However, I was not rewarded for my efforts, and sat there 7 hours waiting to be unloaded and also lost my pre-plan out of NJ. The other driver couldn't figure out how I beat him up there. I simply told him that I am not paid by my log book, and until I start getting paid detention time, actual miles, layovers, etc., my incentive, under the pay-by-mile system, was to run as hard as I could. Anyways, my replacement load was picking up in Filthy-delphia, PA the next morning # Penn-Maid/Crowley Foods going to US Foodservice in Lexington, SC. I spent the night in Bordentown, NJ, whereupon the Petro was offering Brisket on that buffet and it was delicious. I hate that place, but that brisket was off the hook.

The next day in Philly was awful. They loaded two PO's on me and when I scaled, it was 79, 500 lbs, but only 11,000 on the steer (with the 5th wheel as forward as it would go), and no matter how I shifted it around, I couldn't get any weight on the steer. I was either 500 over on the drive or tandem, and I wasn't crossing any scale in MD or VA over on a tandem. I took the load back and asked them to load it heavy in the front. I went back and scaled it and moved it around and re-scaled it, but the result was the same. I took the load back and told them that they had to take a pallet off, which they did. Now, it was 4pm in Philly, but the lord was with me. I zoomed right thru Philly, and Wilmington, went straight to the pumps at the TA in Baltimore and got thru Baltimore, Washington, Fredericksburg, and Richmond without hitting the brakes. That will never happen again. I delivered the next day in Lexington as scheduled. I told my DM, Joe, that I had not asked for time off, but since they put me on a run delivering 29 miles from the house, that I would be silly not to go home, and he agreed. I suggested that I would be able to push back out on Saturday if they would put me on one of the meat loads out of FPL in Augusta, GA (drop n' hook). So, I basically took 72 hours off, filed my taxes, petting my dogs, ate steak twice, saw my wife, replaced the video card on my computer, washed my pickup truck, and done all sorts of useful things. I also watched the new James Bond movie, "Quantum of Solace," which absolutely sucks, and is a slap in the face to all of the other James Bond movies, for reasons that I won't get into now.

After a good time off, LCT took Mr. Williams' suggestion to leave Saturday, and dropped n' hooked # FPL in Augusta, GA. He had 3 stops in Chicago on Monday morning. I got to the first stop Sunday night, which I had been to before, surveyed the situation for a couple of hours, which seemed to be quiet, and went to bed. 30 minutes later a bum woke me up. Needless to say, I couldn't go back to sleep. I delivered that one # 3 am, and went a few blocks up the road to the next one and dove in the sleeper. 10 minutes later a bum woke me up. After that bum left, another one showed up 10 minutes later. I didn't get any sleep at all. I got that stop off # 7am and I finally got the last one off # 9:30 am CST. I had no sleep and dove into the Pilot in Burns Harbor, IN and went to bed for 4 hours. I got a bite to eat and headed to Sherwood Foods in Detroit-"Rock City"-MI, where they had secure overnight parking, and I didn't even turn over the whole night. However, they took 3 hours to unload 9 pallets, which boggles the mind. My next load picked up in Grand Rapids, MI, for Atlanta, GA for delivery on April 22 # 11 pm. I p/u and busted up on them the next night, and they let me deliver 30 hours early. I was rewarded with a drop n' hook # Sunny Delight, just 3 miles up the road, going to Wal-Mart in Auburn, IN for 6:30 pm tonight. I called Wal-mart and they let me deliver last night 23 hours early. I am now in Plainfield, IN picking up a load for Nestle in McDonough, GA for Saturday afternoon delivery. If all goes well, and I actually get delivered as scheduled, this will be my first week with LCT where I have obtained 3,000 miles. What is so bad about that, is that I have been available for over 2 months, except for the 72 respite that I took last week. And I still haven't crossed the Mississippi River .... ROFLMAO !!!!

I have to get away from LCT soon, before I go crazy, but, as bad as they are screwing me, somehow I have finally caught up on most of my bills. I just owe 1 truck payment, which will be made today, and property tax on my truck, and I think we're caught up. My brother is currently in truck driving school, so the idea of teaming with him could be a possibility, not that I want to bounce around in a truck for 24 hours a day, but I want to be with him to keep him from getting any tickets/accidents, etc., that will cause him to have to face all of the hardships and heartaches that I have had to face out here on the road, just like last night for example: I got here # 2am, industrial area in Plainfield, IN. All of the trucks parked on the shoulder of an industrial road, no houses around, not marked "no parking." Officer Stankus promptly shows up # 6:45 and starts shouting over the loudspeaker to move. At least I didn't get a ticket.

HHG miles suck. I am 45, 60, 75, sometimes 80 or more miles over ON EVERY TRIP. I cannot get anywhere near the paid mileage no matter what I do.

Ok, that is all for now. I know I rambled on in this post, and gave more opinion than I normally do, so I apologize for that. BTW, I have been here since 7am, when the doors, open, and they haven't even begun to load me ... LOL ... gotta love it.

 

I finally got loaded # Nestle' in Plainfield, IN about 2:30 pm, I guess it was, and got scaled out and trucked all the way to Calhoun, GA that night. I got up # 8:30 am and went to the Nestle' DC in McDonough, GA and they put me to the door, even though I wasn't scheduled until 3pm. I was there about 1.5 hours. Then the rain started and everyone started driving goofy. I went by the Streakin' Beacon by the old TA in Conley, GA for a trailer washout and went to Sunny Delight off of Fulton Industrial Road and did a drop and hook for Kroger in Shelbyville, IN for 2pm Monday, April 26, 2010. It was pouring rain during the drop and hook and I also had to scale it 3 times. I took a small respite in Calhoun, GA and then stopped at the scales in Franklin, KY that night and slept in until noon the next day. I hit the KFC buffet # the 29 on I-65 in Indiana the next day, before parking at the pilot in Shelbyville, IN that night and washing clothes and obtaining a shower. I was empty at 3:30 pm then next day.

My next load was a drop and hook at Nestle' in Anderson, IN going to West Palm Beach, FL for Thursday - open delivery between 6 am and 2 pm. I have received several propaganda alerts over the qualcomm telling us how busy LCT was during our Mothers Day flower rush the next two weeks and that we could make some killer money. I told my DM, Joe, that I would deliver early if I didn't have to sit in Miami all day waiting on flowers. He assured me that it was rush season and that I wouldn't be sitting. I could have gone by the house for a day with the load, but, as usual, I disrespected my wife, and doffed the load this morning in West Palm Beach a day early. They asked me if I had hours, and I told them that I told them yesterday that I had gotten a 34 hour restart in Indiana and that I would have 50 hours available, which is what I have. They told me to head to the Miami terminal.

I have been here since 10:30 am, and yes, I am smoking mad. I could have gone home, but I chose to deliver early, and again, LCT doesn't give a crap. Sometime this evening, the will give me a trailer to hook to and I will run it 261 miles up to the Okahumpka, FL terminal where a team is waiting to take it to its final destination(s). I am extremely upset. I have been available all week, and all I have is 1966 miles when I wake up in the morning, with only 2 days left in the work week. There is no way that I obtain 3000 miles this week, and will probably end up back in Atlanta or Charlotte where I will have to babysit another short load over the weekend. This company is and absolute effing joke, and I am sick of them. My brother is in truck driving school and I need to hold out, until he gets his CDL and chooses a company, so that I can go to that company and team with him, I think, so I can help him NOT make the same stupid mistakes that I have made. What makes me so mad is that I am available to work, but these #######es won't run me.