stupidest thing u have done or seen a rookie do?

I am in the midst of my all-time misjudgings as far as weights of loads go, and I'm as mad (not to mention disappointed) at myself as I ever have been in this industry.

Oh, but first, as I'm dropping a loaded trailer at a WM DC in Wisconsin, the WM yard jockey hooks to the trailer next to mine, pulls out, and proceeds to tail-whip my passenger-side west coast mirror. Duct taped for now.

Take an empty (following the accident reports and phone calls) to pick up this next load. BOL says 42k. No problem. Pull out. Feels like it. Route to Cedar Rapids is all back roads. Decide at CR to scale it out.

11000/31100/37500. Under gross, but not under anything else. Come to find out the second page of the bills was left out which of course detailed the other 4+k pounds! I complain there was no place to scale it prior to this point. But what it turns out I failed to do was read the entire dispatch carefully. There was a co-op two miles from the shipper...not a truck stop, but a co-op. I missed it because I was looking for trucks, not a co-op. Signs were also partially snow-covered, so I lacked care in taking any!

Great. It's going to CA. So in the morning, I have to try to get it reloaded. If I can get it legal, it'll be a six-fuel stop run between here and SoCal.

So, ladies and germs....read your dispatch info....ALL of it...even if it isn't traditionally 100% accurate. I am admittedly stressing over this to the nth degree. I make little errors pretty routinely, but this one has actually taken away my appetite (no small feat).

 

going to cali makes it a bit crappy--other than that you could try and get the weights forward enough--but you your bridge msment will be out

 

Well, we tried moving it earlier, though it was a rush job, and now there's too much on the drives. But that's OK...I'd rather have to stretch the load out than compress it. And my tandems are all the way up right now, so I've got a few holes to move back. And my fifth wheel slides.

...and I've got a few old clothes I could dump...and that expired atlas...and those CAT scale cards...and how many #### pairs of fingernail clippers do I need??

 

Just hit the scale running on fumes and pray for a set of pumps just on the other side.....

 

Actually, I've spent the last hour mapping out my fuel stops...max distance between any two is about 300 miles. I'm at 3/8 tank right now with room (depending on how things shape up) to put in about another 50 to 60 gallons, so I'm OK there.

(Hell, this is more planning on a load than I've done in years!)

 

48pack no worse than the Meat load I had going to Reno that finalled in South San Fran with a stop in Sacramento was right at 80,120 with half tnks. Trouble was I had to have the axles on a 53 footer at the rear of the trailer to get it LEGAL. Ran all the way to Utah before htye said ANYTHING to us. They go hey your a little long arent you. Move it up 3 holes. We did I was running team with my father at the time. Get out of Utah made it to nevada Filled up First Stop Reno got rid of 23K lbs there Second stop Sac dropped 15K there. Headed for the bay. Get there get to the customer he gopes how much did you have to leave we went 20 cases of Hams to heavy with them on. He went no biggie I did not need the things. He reqaquired that we tailgate the load. No biggie made an extra 150 bucks for that load 40 for the Stops and 110 in Unloading fees.

 

bit of a pain in the butt when you have to figure out your fuel burn before you hit the scales--then hope there are no portabel scales set up--but it generally works out ok in the end--just dont eat to much at the buffet--might put your steers over

 

Dumbest thing I've seen a rookie do was pull into a regular gas station to try and double back down the road after missing his turn. He wound up sideswiping a lightpole and running off.

 

Well, I figured I'd update my stupidity (er, the latest one, that is!):

Finally got the load right: 11940, 33740, 33720. Tandems in the first hole. About 3/8 tank of fuel. But the delivery moved to Monday, so they're going to try to find a driver with one of our older trucks (they're several hundred pounds lighter) who need to get to CA. But in a pinch, I can now run it.

And fuel a little here, a little there...here a teaspoon, there a teaspoon, everywhere a bleepin' teaspoon!

Glad I don't live in CA any more....I was just born there....

 

went to san diego last week. upon entering new mexico on 40 on the way back to tennessee, i run across the scales. about an inch of ice and snow compacted and no sand or salt was down. it was very slippery. so i go in, and i am just resting my foot on the clutch to come to a stop on the scale.

i do my thing, then take off and start upshifting. after i got out of the scale lane, i ease off the throttle to lean forward a second to adjust my lumbar and then it happened.

i had forgotten to turn off the jake brake. that tractor got ugly real fast. had it been on the road it could have been very dangerous, but at 7 miles an hour it was not that big of a deal. i got back on the fuel peddle a touch and straightened it out.

mental note, always turn those darn jakes off when you approach bad weather. my small slip could have been a disaster. i shook my head at myself for a few miles.