What's Next??

Don't feel bad. It's sorely lacking in upper management of most all large companies today, including mine (Crete).

 

Great reply, thank you. yeah I got so much else going on right now that I just don't need any more stress over stupid things. It's ironic, that yes, I too wondered and thought the same thing, it would be falsifying logs just to be on line 4, when its not necessary, just to meet some imaginary quota, or percentage.

Well the horn blowing and backing up came about when a mentor actually backed up and pinned a trainee between the truck and trl. My safety guy explained it was a new OSHA rule put into effect. And its not just Swift, I see lots of companies now either with a warning back up beeper or even sometimes honking. But i get so pissed off at the newbies that use the air horn like some 10 yr old kid when in a yd when so many drivers may be trying to sleep.

Parking at shprs or cons can be a tricky situation. I find that sometimes I google the place and use the satellite imagines to see if they have parking, I don't do it alot, but it can help.

I found a really great website called. www.findfuelstops.com I had to find a place to park before I had to deliver north of Seattle, and this web site listed all the truck stops on the route you tell it, and even has some info about each one. I was able to park less than a mile a way from the place i had to deliver to the next day. I think knowing which places you may or may not park overnight at, just takes some experience that comes with time. However, I never just assume that a place will let me park there, in fact I assume that almost 90% places where we pick up or del to won't let us stay for an extended period of time.

Great reply, thank you

don b

 

I found a really great website called. www.findfuelstops.com

Hey thanks for the Link Truckbuddha. Great Website!

 

Yeah I had a safety type try to tell me the honking horn/backing up thing was a 'stay alive' agreement Swift signed with OSHA otherwise OSHA was going to shut Swift down. *rolls eyes*

 

your welcome, yeah it is really good I know. the only drawback for some might be not having easy access to an internet connection. I went and got a Verizon Jet Pac 4 G, for $50/mo. its ok really. so far I have at the very least been able to get online in some middle of nowhere places. I used to pay the money each month at pilot/flying j for their internet, which actually was pretty good for the most part. I don't anymore, paying at the trk stops is good if your into a lot of youtube or netflix stuff.

There are more and more places with free wifi, some of the mom and pops trk stps have it, most do I think. If you park close enough to the Dennys rest. you might be able to get their free wifi, or else go into a mac's.

Its funny, but lately I have been avoiding the big name brand trk stps and stopping at the smaller mom and pops places, and its proving to be easier to find parking.

yeah, actually I am finding out that having my laptop is becoming more and more of a useful tool to have with me in the trk. I have had one for yrs, but only used it mostly for entertainment, like most I guess.

 

it seems like these goverment agences are getting a god complex of sorts, like the dot. I joke to myself that this same gov that is all around the world sticking its' nose where it doesn't belong, killing whom ever it wants killed, is the same gov that is regulating and trying to control us.

what makes me laugh is, the image of the dot they all have guns, to use against a fat old trk driver who can barely get out of his truck in the fuel island and walk to the counter in the store, without almost having a heart attack. lol

how sad.

 

oh and p.s.

I have come to the conclusion that my term and DM are the 'test case' or 'pilot' project for this new concept of logging 10% on 'on duty' time. since no one else out there has even heard of it yet, then something else must be going on.

just my 2 cents worth.

 

I log 15 minutes on duty delivery/pickup when I arrive at the shipper/receiver, then switch to sleeper, regardless of my appointment time or when I get unloaded. Sometimes less than 15 minutes if drop and hook. I've never had an issue with log violations, detention pay, etc. Until I get paid an hourly wage for sitting doing nothing, I'm not changing a thing. I'm not going to eat 8 hours of loading/unloading time on a 200 mile trip, when you get a jacked up brokered load.