Diary of a current Swifty

I actually came back on Tuesday, not Monday. Truck had a B-service and was ready to go. I picked up a load in Fremont, OH going to Elkridge, MD (pd miles 465). They refused to give me an empty trailer at the New Boston terminal. They had me go to Maumee, OH to pick up an empty from UPS. By the time I had hooked up and got to Fremont, I was 20 minutes late, but they didn't care. Trailer was preloaded, I swapped and hit the road. Got to Elkridge early (beat the Baltimore traffic) and had a live unload there.

Then it was a quickie load from Havre de Grace, MD to Jamesburg, NJ (pd miles- 159) That load delivered today, which is where I am now. They won't give me an empty (lot of that going around lately) and so I'm waiting for the planners to tell me where to go get one. I'm preplanned on another quickie, Cranbury to North Bergen. We'll see what happens.

 

I waited 5 hours for them to get me directions to an empty. The customer in Cranbury where I was supposed to pick up was calling Swift trying to figure out where I was at. Finally someone at customer service (CSR) called me to ask why I hadn't picked up. When I told them I had no empty, they finally got on the ball and found me one. So then my evening was rushed. The Cranbury load was a live load. Then at the final, they had no empties available (big surprise!!!) so I had to wait for one. I ended up sleeping on the street outside their gate.

Next morning, I had a load from North Brunswick to Front Royal, VA (pd miles 307). I got out of the truck to do my walk around and when I got back to the door, it had locked. No idea what happened. I know I didn't lock it. I just had that handle replaced at New Boston. It must be loose enough to have locked when I slammed the door shut. So I'm now locked out, no key, no phone, nothing. It's all in the truck. And to top it off, the truck is running.

Parked right behind me is another Swifty with an International. I know sometimes they key the locks the same, so I figured I'd give it a try, even though I sure hate to wake up another driver. He was cool about it, and showed me how to break in with a coat hanger (you gotta go in from the front under the hood). Problem solved.

I dropped in Front Royal, and I actually got an empty. Amazing, huh? From there, I picked up in Winchester, VA and I'm T-calling in Memphis (pd miles 839).

And now every time I do a walk around, I roll my window down first