The start of my first year with Swift.

My first load into Canada did not go nearly as well as I'd hoped. I got in ok and found the place but it went down hill from there.

The dock is a block of concrete on the side of the building. Poured as an afterthought judging by the location. I couldn't drive around the building and back into it like it was designed. There was garbage truck in the way and they weren't about to move it. I had to block the street on a blind corner and jack knife the trailer over a small concrete ditch while trying to push the tail end up a nice slope. I got it down without to much fuss and waited to be loaded. Three and a half hours later I was on my way! The young guy loading me had never done it on his own before. He put 27 bales of compressed cardboard on me. As soon as I tried to pull away I figured I was heavy. We went down the street to a scale and weighed it. My steers came out to 11990lbs. I knew then things were really wacked out. I was heavy on the tandems by 4k pounds. Back we go and this time I told them I wasn't going to break the axle trying to push the trailer up the side hill with all the weight on it. They moved the truck and took three bales off. We wen back and scaled it and according to the scale I was good.

I have the gal in the office fax off my ACE paperwork and when I got the fax confirmation I headed for the boarder. It took me a bit over an hour to get there. When I pulled up to the entry I was asked for my entry number. I didn't have one. No one said anything to me about needing a number. The Boarder Patrol guy explained it all to me and then sent me back into Canada to call Swift and get the number.

In Eastport Idaho there is no cell service and the qualcomm does not work. I had to walk down to the pay phone and call. I was put on ignore. I couldn't get a soul. I went back to my truck and fired off another angry msg to Swift and walked back to the phone. Still nothing. I called the broker and a woman answered the phone. She told me the guy who enters the info wasn't there. I tried to stay calm and told her my situation. She punched in my info and low and behold I was in the system. I asked her for my UPS number and she wouldn't give it to me. She told me to drive through the crossing again. I told her there was a fine and she laughed and assured me they would not fine me. At that point I asked for her name. She hesitated but gave it. I then asked her if she knew anyone at the Sheriff's office. She sounded nervous and said she did. I then asked her if she knew a certain detective and she got really nervous and said she did. I told her that I had trained him and that if I got a fine for attempting to go through the crossing without my UPS number, I would find her and she would be paying the fine. She happily gave me the number.

I made it across the boarder after only a two hour delay. I made my way to Coeur D alene for the night. I called the customer at final to find out if I could be there early. Not only could I not be there early, there was no appointment for me at all. I could show up and they would unload me when they could get to me. I later found out this was a mistake on their part. On my way there and before crossing the WA port of entry, I stopped and scaled my load. I was overweight on my drives. I made the adjustment and off I went. Note to self. Don't trust the scales in Canada.

 

To all of you who got something out of my Canada post, thanks. I know it sounds like I handled ok. I know I did get a funny look from a guy who heard me cussing at the pay phone when I was put on ignore. I really wanted to drive my truck to Swift and run it right through the front window and hand them the keys. Cooler minds prevailed.

I ended up getting a load out of Usk, WA to Tcall in Salt Lake. Of course the time they gave me was unrealistic. I made it there ok and here I sit. I have to do a 34hr reset as I don't have any time coming back to me.

This is the best week I've had so far. 2850 miles and $1030 gross. There was extra stop pay and one border crossing bump in there. My pay was bumped to .30cpm on this check. I'm now on the dedicated Canadian fleet and according to my DM the miles are a lot steadier then the rest of the company.

 

6 Months.

On another note, my wife checked my bank statement and the three calls to Swift from the border cost me $61.50. I'm trying to get reimbursed for it.