My Time With Swift

Well, last week I had a load that t-called in Columbus. My dm asked that while I was there, to come in and talk to him about the Sears dedicated account. I got there late that day, so the next morning I went in to talk to him. Figures, he wasn't there that day, so first I talked to the fleet manager and he had me talk with the Sears planner. She explained to me all the requirements of the account and what is expected. I was fine with all of that and told her like I told my dm, I need to get to two places out west, then I will jump on the account. I wanted to get to Boise, ID so I could visit with my dad. His health is not very good and I have no other way of getting out there to see him. I also want to get to Phoenix to take the Road Ready course that they offer there. While I'm there I would also like to visit with my sister-in-law and my nephew.

So the planner sat down at her desk to see what she had available. Bingo, a 2035 mile load going to Portland, OR with two stops, will take me right thru Boise with plenty of time. COOL! Actually, I started with a quick load that picked up in northern Ohio and delivered in western Illinios. Then I picked up the load in Iowa that went to Oregon. It had a pick up window of 4 am to 23:59. Got there about 1300....and the load wasn't ready. Wonderful. I'm glad I wasn't there at 4 am! About an hour later, I was loaded and ready to roll and made it to my first planned stop in Des Moines.

Time is a relative thing. Sure, since I picked up the load on thursday and the first drop was on monday, theoretically, I've got plenty of time to get there. But when you start thinking you only have so many hours to drive in a day and you aren't starting with a full 70, all of a sudden, you don't have much time. And when I started figuring my drive times and planning my stops, I started wondering if I was gonna have enough hours. I actually thought I was gonna be a few hours short. But by not driving a full 11 hours every day and conserving my clock, I managed to be able to spend a full afternoon with my dad yesterday, make my first stop early this afternoon, and have just enough time to get to my fuel stop and call it a night with enough time for a 10 hour break and make my next stop early tomorrow morning. So everything has worked out well so far. Im hoping that my next load will be getting me in the direction of Phoenix. My hometime was actually set for this coming saturday, but even if they sent me home now, there is no way I could make it. I'm pretty sure my dm knows that I'm out here to get to Phx. Maybe I should call him tomorrow and make sure we are on the same page.

To answer some quick questions and comments, I like the Columbus terminal. It is somewhat well organized as far as parking goes, it's clean, and the people are all very nice.

I've only been to the New Boston terminal a couple times so I really couldn't tell you a lot about them. If I remember right, I think you need a court order to get a trailer out of there.

Nicnat, good luck to you, and to you as well Redbeard. Oh, I do have a 440 to drop in my truck. I just don't have the time or the money for the few remaining small parts I need.

Until next time...be safe. Got a couple messages over the QC this weekend that we have had 4 rollovers, including one just yesterday.

 

Next update. As I had mentioned before, I was worried about making my first stop in Oregon last week on time, with the possibility of running out of hours. Everything with the first stop turned out fine, made it with plenty of time to get unloaded and make it to my fuel stop where I stopped for the night. That's where I ran into problems. Since I had the load for so long, I didn't look at my load information to confirm delivery times. I thought the delivery time for the second stop first thing that morning was at 07:00 am. Turned out it was actually due at 06:00. I ended up being 45 minutes late, partially because I couldn't find the dang place. Got my first service failure. Lesson learned and shared here: Get yourself a stack of Post-It Notes and post your delivery time on your dash in front of your face. That way there is never any doubt.

After making my final delivery, my next load picked up at the Troutdale, OR terminal and delivered in Midlothian, TX, 1985 loaded miles. Cool, but is that going to get me to Phoenix? With a quick call to my DM, he explained that he had a better chance of getting me to Phx from DFW than from Portland, so I said ok. My one concern was once again the hours available. I'm well into running on my roll-over hours and I've had a few short days. So far it has worked out well. This load had a delivery window of 08/06 21:30 to 08/07 09:30. Made it this morning, 08/07 at 06:30, so I had plenty of time. Problem is, it's now 10:30 and I still don't have a load. Instead of sitting in the customers lot all this time, I called and got permission to deadhead over to the Lancaster terminal where I could at least be confortable while I'm waiting. My concern is whether they will get me a load heading towards Phx or towards Columbus for my hometime, which was supposed to be this weekend. I really hate dealing with the weekend crew. IF they can get me a load going into Phx within the next 4 days, I will have over 3000 miles for the week. That should make for a pretty nice check!
Got my fingers crossed!

Be safe

 

An observation: Many times, when we don't understand something, we tend to bash it. In reading the various threads on this forum, I've seen many times different drivers calling their driver managers stupid idiots and so on. The truth is that, unless you have actually done that job, you really have no idea what is involved in doing it and it can be much more complicated than we think.

This brings me to my current situation. As I have mentioned previously, I'm currently trying to get to the Phoenix terminal to take their Road Ready class. This class essentially teaches you how to do the simple maintianance on your truck, such as changing bulbs and stuff. Now before you all start bashing me for not knowing how to change a bulb, let me assure you that that is not a problem. After being an automotive mechanic for 20 years, I'm well aware of how to change a bulb. Another benefit of this class is that they give you a handy little kit in which to keep all the various assortments of bulbs and wires they give you. Now I've been told by a couple different drivers that they just went into the parts department at whatever terminal they were at and they gave them whatever they needed. OK, that may be an option. But I also have ulterior motives. My sister-in-law and my autistic nephew live in Phoenix and it has been foreever since I've seen them, so I'm also going to take the opportunity to visit with them.

My current problem involves actually trying to get there, which brings me back to my first observation. It would be way too easy for me to sit here crying about how freakin stupid the planners are because they can't do a simple job such as moving me west instead of east. I mean that really sounds simple doesn't it? But, no. I'm currently sitting at the Lancaster terminal (Dallas, TX for the outsiders). I've gotten 3 pre-plans today, two of them going to Missouri, the last one going to Oklahoma City. When I've declined these loads (which I don't like doing, but they are going in the wrong direction), I've left a comment each time stating that I need to get to Phoenix. It really does seem like a simple task doesn't it? But what do I know.

When I've called to talk to someone about this, it was explained to me that part of the problem is my hometime. When I first left out this trip, I initially set my hometime for this weekeknd in Columbus. But that was before discussing the Sears account and getting my two stops done before I jump on that account. Since discussing that, they have sent me to Oregon, which allowed me my first stop, getting to Boise, ID to visit with my Dad. I knew then that I wouldn't be home this weekend and I was fine with that. Just get me to Phoenix, then send me home.

Well, the problem right now is that when the planner brings up my info, the first thing they see is a flashing red "hometime" warning, so they are trying to send me home. There is a notation on that page about getting me to Phx, and I've left comments for them, but they see that flashing red banner and try to send me home. Understanding what the issue is still doesn't make it any better. How freakin stupid.......I'm sorry, I shouldn't say that.

Another issue with that last load to OK City was Hours Of Service. They want us to do a MAC10 at least every morning to update them on our available hours. I did mine this morning, so by theory, they should know how many hours I have available. This particular load picked up 3 hours past when my clock ran out. I guess in all actuallity, the MAC10 doesn't tell them when I started my day, so they don't actually know when I'm done for the day.

In all reality, I'm just frustrated. I KNEW this was going to be a problem this weekend so I tried to all my DM yesterday to see if he could get me a load out of here and I wouldn't have to deal with the weekend crew. Unfortunately, I was unable to get thru to him, so here I sit. Because of the hometime issue, I will probably be here until monday when I can talk to my DM and get a load west. I needed a 34, I just didn't want to do it now. I wanted to do it in Phoenix. This is just wasted time for me right now. Ah, such is life.