Stevens Transport aviary

Stuck with a live unload in Columbus OH tonight. BLEH
Weather has been better, that's for sure. Cold but no snow/sleet. Got a call from Stevens earlier. They wanted to know why I sat in Indy the other day. It says right on my log "Indianapolis - weather", but I guess that wasn't enough. They also are holding the pay for that load and the next for 'variance'.
I clearly explained I was sent to Indiana to drop my empty, then sat for my reset, then off to Columbus OH for an empty then my shipper in OH for load. We can't go into that shipper without an empty, and they needed my previous empty at the other shipper. That run was supposed to be 400 something miles and ended up 755. I also had to bypass some scales, as the shipper always loads us too heavy to get scaled. I once weighed 14,110 on my drives! And yes, my 5th wheel was all the way back. They sometimes put 44,000+ on the trailer. Geeze. So I had to go around two open scales, one of which doesn't have prepass and no scale bypass lane. If you drive there and its open, you have to go over a scale. And that load surely put me over gross.
If they give me any long delay on pay or such, I guess I will have to call safety and compliance and do some explaining about what we have to do sometimes so that Stevens can keep that customer. Wonder what kind of hornets' nest that would stir up in Dallas? lol
No way in hell I'm going to take a variance fine because of the shipper not being willing to remove product to keep me under weights and having to go around scales.
Or being told what to do, doing it, then getting a variance fine. Nuh-uh.
Some birthday present, lol.
Yup, 45 today. UGH!!!

 

And the plot thickens!
Get a QC this afternoon. Toddster wants to know why my miles have been so low.
LMAO
So, I park in a nice comfy spot and type in a nice long message explaining the weather, the strange things I'm asked to do between dispatches, and the mid-week resets followed by weekend resets.
Then I explain that so far in the last seven days, I have 2100+ miles, two resets and a weather shutdown, plus what I've driven today so far, about 400 miles. So that is over the minimum 2,300 miles 'expected of your fleet', AND it includes two resets and a weather shutdown for over 12 hours.
Grrrrrr.
Then compliance QCs, wanting five 'missing logs'.
I find the logs, in the trip packets, and QC back the dates I sent the trip packs with those logs. Except one day I find still in my log book (don't ask, I have no idea. lol)
They still want me to resend those logs. So I have them sitting on my jump seat for when I get a chance to stop at a place with TransFlo.
So I get to the rail yard and drop, send in my dropped load call, and head to the drop yard in Lemont where my DM working for my regular DM who's on vacation this week tells me to go to get an mt trailer. I get here, and the guard is like "I can't let you have one, we're low." So I get on the phone, and the DM didn't forward his extension. So I have to go in the long way. Finally get hold of someone, and they say I'm not on the dedicated fleet and my DM is some guy I've never heard of. Finally he says he's got the wrong truck pulled up, pulls me up, finally t-calls the rail load off me, and says he sent a message to give me an mt trailer, and to mention to my DM that they need to track mt trailers better out here because now it might cost several hundred dollars tomorrow to pay these guys to look for empty trailers to pick up loads locally.
I'm thinking, hmmm, maybe I should get my own truck and do local runs for Stevens here. LOL
Anyway, now I've burned off too much time and can't make Aurora anyway and have to break here in the drop yard. sigh
I can't leave when my ten hours is up because I'd arrive before my shipper even opens and there is no place to park to wait there. They have no parking spots and the gates won't even be open until 9am.
SIGH and GRRR and BLEH
So I suppose tomorrow I'll bet a QC asking me why I was parked for so long.
lmmfaoaraitb

Anyway, hope you are all having better days!
I think I'm being given another of those little psych tests they seem to like to do from time to time. You know, stress the driver with seemingly terrible things and see how he handles it.
"Your variance it too high, no pay for you until Frank clears it. Oh, he's on vacation until next week by the way."
As if I didn't know my DM was on vacation. Geeze.
"Oh, your miles are too low, says Toddster."
If you don't know who Toddster is, you've not been with Stevens very long yet, and I'm not going to say who that is on a public forum. Just not.
"Oh yeah, and you have missing logs we need right away."
They're not missing, well, one is, but the others were all sent in trip packets. Most were two or three days on the same log for resets over weekends.
"Oh, hey, he called in? Make him think he's not on dedicated anymore for a while and see how he reacts. *snicker*"
Yeah, I smell psych test.
It's my 13 month, so about time for one too.