Declined Loads

Today I was sent a load over the qualcomm and immediately said to myself "oh **** hell!" Its 638 miles to a shipper that I have been to before with a very bad experience. Last time I was there, it was the day after Memorial Day and I had to sit there for 27 hours before they finally got around to unloading it. I almost completed a reset and maxed out the detention pay. It is an extremely bad neighbordhood (they even warn you of this with your load) that has people coming up to your truck at all hours every 10 minutes begging for money or selling things. The shipper won't even allow you to sit outside of the facility when it gets dark outside. They have you pull your truck into their heavily gated and locked facility during nighttime hours. Apparently the workers there decide if they want to come in after a holiday or not and can come in whenever they feel like it. So there were at least 30 trucks sitting there that had loads due ON Memorial Day that never got unloaded. Tuesday they finally show up around noon to start playing "catch up" with all of the trucks that were due the previous day. So our load that was due Tuesday didn't get unloaded until Wednesday afternoon.

Now this load I got over the qualcomm today was going back to this same shipper again.. the day after Fourth Of July! Now I am being told that I will be dropping my current trailer (that needs repaired btw-roadside told me to just "monitor it") and pick up a preloaded trailer. Take the preloaded trailer and drop it at the reciever. I was there for 2 days last time and clearly saw that they do NOT do dropped trailers. They also informed us with this load that it will require a washout and precool or else I will be heavily fined. Precool to -10 or else get fined $50. Ok fine.. it also says that the trailer requires a washout because if i show up with a dirty trailer I was get "signifcantly fined". Right after that they put "No wash outs available in the area". REALLY?! I am sitting 11 miles away from the shipper when I get this msg. The closest place I can go to get this trailer washed out is over 60 miles away. I only have 1 hour to go and pick it up on time in the first place. So yeah.. it was a "**** NO" kind of load. So I declined it. DM sends a msg immediately asking why I was declining the load. I explained to him the multiple reasons why there was no way I was going to take the load. He replies with "Well there is not going to be another load available for you to take until Friday. Do you really want to sit that long?" So now I feel like I am being strong-armed into this ONE AND ONLY load I have ever declined. What do you do? Take the load, pay the hefty fines for an unclean trailer or drive 60+ miles out of your way to get it clean and be late to pick up, risk them not taking the trl that needs repaired in the first place? All to make the DM happy? Or make the DM unhappy and say "fine.. guess i'll be sitting" and risk not getting good miles anymore. I sent him a msg telling him that I didn't appreciate being strong armed into a load that is the first and only one I have ever declined and that he needed to find me a new DM. But the thing is all of these DMs work together in the same office. Have I just now given myself a bad reputation for declining their load? We are due to sign a new lease in 2 wks with the company and I don't want to get stuck in a year lease if they are going to essentially starve me out of my job now all because I declined a load. I'm what they call "independent". I am supposed to have the option to decline loads. That was part of the whole you-have-more-freedoms-leasing-a-truck bull they feed you at the beginning. But at what costs?

I don't know.. tell me your thoughts. Because now i'm worried what this will all mean for us and our future. Or if you know of a company that will take you with only 6 months experience and won't throw me back into training that would be greatly appreciated too! lol

 

the current trailer we have is empty and it required to be washed out before we pick up the preloaded trailer. As far as the DM.. we just got him last week. Our old DM we have had for the past 5 months quit and went to a different job and we were given this new guy that has been nothing but an *** since we got him.

 

sorry i meant reciever.. it's a 638 mile trip

 

England pay for something?? That's funny. In reality I doubt the shipper will accept the trailer anyways. It's a reefer trailer and the fuel gage is well.. gone. And the reefer has two warnings on it about "low fuel" (which it's full) and a fuel sensor warning. I've contacted roadside about the issue and they said to just "monitor it" instead of directing me to a place to get it fixed. I sent them another one saying that the trl needs dropped at a shipper and they won't accept it until it's fixed and they have failed to respond as of yet