Good night from...

At the J in Beaver, UT. I figured out last night that I have anough time to take another break in Flagstaff before heading down the hill to make my 2 Costco deliveries Friday morning.

Was debating whether to take a 34 (at home) or not, decided not to worry about getting a load on Saturday (iffy at best...even in PHX) and take the 34. No such thing as too much time with the family.

 

After 4 days of nothing got PP from Mira Loma to Tucson. That should put us in a good spot for additional freight (i hope)

 

moose ... that is about the most objective assesment as to whether to lease or not that I've read on this board.

Essentially one man's chain can be another man's key to freedom.

The only statement I would take exception with is the choking of miles at lease end. It may happen at other companies. I just finished my lease and ran hard all the way to the end. Actually as far the seperation between IEL and Swift, no one at Swift was even cogzinant of the fact my lease was ending, much less to make a concious effort to restrict my miles.

 

Here at the Hampton accross the street from the KW dealer. Found out that that the yoke needs replacing and they are having problems as far as part numbers matching with what needs to be replaced. Now PACCAR has been brought into the solution. They do not know if fixed on Friday or Monday. If they have the part, then fixed on Friday, if shipped, well, you can figure. If not until Monday, rent a car tomorrow and go back home. There is a Motel 6 accross from here, but was talked out of it. When the cops have a nickname for the place, Motel 666, you get my drift. Figure this out, DOT hold yesterday, and was sent 3 pplans while on hold, even when refused by my DM and the reason, still sent one more

 

Gotta look at the postives, at least there is freight moving in your area!

 

Doin a 34 here in cali. Yesterday some ###### driver stole my spot when I was delivering to the customer. Crept up right behind me, playing deaf, dumb, and blind. While I was putting it in reverse. Dude had me fumming. Where has the professional courtesy gone? When a driver can't even bqck into his chosen spot in peace.

 

Yes, you could have, been if you saw the pplans, dh 160 to del 200 and then be in the Great Lakes Planning area, short loads and another weekend, or up in Savage, MN on a Friday and one pplan, received at 1145 and they wanted me to be 150 miles away at 1400, firm, and I was not even in the truck yet.

 

Otay Mesa, CA.

Got a sweet 2200 mile pplan this afternoon, but...
Actual miles were over 2300, and only 3.5 days until delivery.
That's just a little too tight for my liking, especially when I'm not feeling well.

 

Even as a company driver, one is paying for the total operating cost of the truck indirectly. The truck earns money when it rolls under load, let's say $3000 in a week. You created that revenue with your skills. The company gets that money, splits off what is necessary for the fuel and maintenance, payments, and trucker wages and maybe few bucks for themselves as well. Signing a lease, one is just carving out a larger piece of the pie for themselves.

QUOTE=MysticHZ;3012303]

The only statement I would take exception with is the choking of miles at lease end. It may happen at other companies. I just finished my lease and ran hard all the way to the end. Actually as far the seperation between IEL and Swift, no one at Swift was even cogzinant of the fact my lease was ending, much less to make a concious effort to restrict my miles.[/QUOTE]

I agree with this. They seem to have a a program that will assure each truck is offered a couple thousand miles a week. The only way they could mess with a lease operator would be to move their PTA out several months, but the savvy L/O can fix that when that planner goes home in a few hours. The computer seems to be the one blasting out preplans anyway, it cannot tell the difference between company and O/O trucks anyway.

This is why I'm looking around for a new place soon. This whole irregular route thing doesn't seem to be my cup of tea. I'm looking for a little more regularity and familiarity. A company I'm interested in has their loads posted online to be picked and chosen by the driver, mostly terminal to terminal live loads with the occasional irregular customer and even an option for the driver to grab an outside brokered load but has to give up a little more percentage. I would be leasing my own trailer which will be kept in top notch condition at all times not like the trailer I have now for a week which had burned out lights, took it to the terminal and 50 miles later had the same lights burned out again. Took it to Memphis to get it fixed right, but that made the load late, the planner scheduled the load with 2 more days on it so here we are 1100 mile run, 5 days. I'm getting real tired of all the little snafus and you can bet I wouldn't sit around all day and book myself a 500 overnight JIT load lol.
Columbus delivery tomorrow then a 3 day run to get to Kansas City-- see what I mean??

 

thats one thing that would worry me is what scottie is saying right there. the strange routes and things like that. i mean i know the trucks gotta run but if im leasing i wanna be able to do things my way