lack of empty trailers

it dont come back on me, cause i would never have accepted that load without getting the 'okay' from someone over the QC that it will be okay to be 'late'. I'll decline the load, then in 30 sec. they'll send it back saying its hot, nobody else to power it, blah blah blah, then ill decline it again saying i've got an hour to go find an MT and then get to the shipper (who is probably a good 30-45 min drive away) and i want the okay i can be late to pick up, but will be on time to deliver. Usually i get the okay....if not....they unplan me.

i'll throw my own JJ Keller seal on it, my enforcer lock and call it good. I dont pull MTs into yards anymore without my stuff on the trailer unless i know i'm going there to pick up a t-call.

 

Bah, I am willing to bet after black sunday, trailers will be easy to find again.

Some of yall know why empties are hard to find, But I am not sure It should be posted.

 

Sure Dick.................



You guys are spoiled......so am I now.......too many modern communication devices.



They're nice.......but if they quit working.........what now.



Try that WITHOUT a Qualcom...........or a cell phone.



It don't work that way at all.

 

i've done that before. But i'll usually smack the side before i look at the trailer doors. I'll think, "gee, this sounds MT". Then go to the back, get my hopes up cause i dont see a seal on the door (maybe you've already pulled it off? i dunno...hahaah) then open the door, only to see there are 4-6 wind-breakers for trucks the shop is using the trailer for storage. Or there are 4 rolls of paper or something else. I pulled a 6k load and a 4k load 1000 mi this past week, and they both had seals. They both "sound" empty when you swat them on the side.

Instead of jeopardizing the load by breaking a seal, i would send a message over the qualcomm asking if this trl is loaded or MT. its pretty easy. or i'd walk to the driver window and ask them to pull up the trailer.

company driver or not, i catch you screwin' with my truck or trailer or seal.......you're entering a world of pain. MARK IT ZERO !!!

 

yeah...but some of the trailers they have in circulation just need thrown into the ocean and used as man-made coral. anything with "MS Carriers" on the side, or of a trailer is a "T" trailer, i wont pull it. too much of a headache, and there is probably something wrong iwth it, that will get you a nice ticket, and put OOS till you get it fixed. i'll only pull 110s, 111 and 08 trailers. ........yeah right, just kidding. =)

 

I gave up a perfect empty trailer the other day. Got a preplan to drop empty at this terminal and take a preloaded t-called trailer to the consignee (paid 1 mile to go get it and 1 mile to deliver it with a promise of a 'nice back up if I do this favor'). The back up was only 343 miles lol and sat for 34 hours bobtailed (once again had to go find an empty -- wasting away 70). OH and looking at my checkstub for the up coming pay period, I will be paid a whole $0.30 cents for that little 'favor' for that 1 mile pick up and delivery that was actually 22 miles to go get it and 27 miles to deliver it and 5.5 hours of my 70 used up. No more favors!

 

Scottie, you should also get $50 for the drop. Chek with your DM. If he or she won't get it for you, you have a POS DM.

Regarding "hoarding." Contracts have been cancelled and drivers fired over this. If I see a trailer that appears to have been hoarded, I write the number down, the seal number and go to the dispatch window to check it. Normally, I will have a list of about three. One of them will be an empty. I've picked up an empty that had the enforcer kit on it. Shop removed to locks for me. But I don't break seals.

Sometimes, the staff in the window won't tell the truth about that trailer being empty. I will call my DM and ask when he's there. He's really good about attaching a trailer to me even after the knothead in the window just said it's loaded. Then I'll break the seal and sweep it out. I don't care how p/o'ed that sriver gets watching his trailer leave the yard as he's getting in his car for home time.

Lancaster checks the trailer number on your way in. They know if you've just unloaded. Watched a guy clean his truck out fifteen minutes after coming on the yard when he lied about the trailer being empty, trying to hoard it.

 

scottie, never saw a 'policy' in the driver manual. i know it happens, and if i have to do that to keep an MT to save me time, and maybe force another driver to go look for an MT, the shoe has been on the other foot plenty of times.....so i'll keep doing it.

Injun.....depends on the plan. If he was already hooked to an MT from a previous load, then the PP was a normal 'pick up a pre-loaded trl' to take a mile down the road, he wont get jack for stop pay. Usually when you have to take an MT to a shipper, then go to another location to pick up a preloaded and pull that to the final, you will be booked on two seperate loads...and again....wont get 'stop pay'.