Central Refrigerated Truck Stop II

haHa!! I hear ya! Maybe swift bought central out as kinda like an in house driver tutor division. LoL maybe that 225 million was a small price to pay for some dang good driver trainers Or roll models to finish their training. LoL.
S ure
W ish
I d
F inished
T raining.

Sorry just had to go there.

 

GRAB YOUR POPCORN!!

So I have a load delivering 7 hrs away at 0900. Had it all planned out, for me to take a 2 hr break, to finish an 8/2 split to get more hours, then use that same 2 hr break to start my 2/8 split, that I would take a 8 hr sb tonight to get there in the morning. It all would work out, and I had about an hr or 2 to spare. So I go to get weighed, send in the mac 54 for the 10 bucks before i leave, because i know it takes awhile for some reason. Get to the scale, half hr later, no answer, send a message saying, anyone get that 54? no answer, wait another half hour, send a message saying, helllllooooo, anyone there?! At this point, I should of known better, and just paid the 10 in cash and send the receipt to get reimbursed (I use the trip pak scanner, so I keep the copy) Heck, usually I just pay cash. But I figured the 1/2 hour to the scale should of gave them time.

So I start to call WVC, because Rochelle dispatch leaves at 1700 CST. But then I realize, Night dispatch doesnt get in till 1830 CST. So I have no idea who to call, So I call just genearal, WVC dispatch, wait on hold for 15 mins, no answer. By now Im so pissed off that I cant get an answer, I hurt my self by not just paying the cash and leaving because precious time is ticking form my 14. So finally I go in, pay the scale, and take off. Well at this point my qualcomm shuts down (it has been doing this at random times, not when sitting, could be while driving, or after sending a message) So I call OTRM, and they say, lets do a hard reset on it. So I start driving finally, waiting for the qualcomm to come back on, never did. So I call safety to check on my 14 clock, they say, you have 6 hrs. I look at the GPS, 6.5 hrs remaining, oh crap. So I ask him to transfer me to someone, because I dont know who is dispatching me. He transferred me to the night manager (by now they are in) and I explained to him what happened at the scale and how Im going to end up being late now, because by the time I get done taking my 8 in the SB, and finish driving, ill be an hr or so late. He explains to me how noone could get to me because they were dealing with the conley people because of the tech issues there. Then grilled me on how I should of just paid the scale and went on my way (I agree now) and just said, do the best you can and get there asap.

So I start driving, get to where I have 4 hrs left on 14. and stop to do my 8 SB. send my mac 9 in, with my updated, late, ETA to my 99. I get a message from someone in night dispatch saying, why is it taking you so long to get there. I send a message back saying, I had some issues, will explain to my DM in the morning. Get a reply saying, (going to qoute this right out the qualcomm for emphasis "so why wasnt anything said earlier today? And why are you stopped?, you have 4 hours to work with." this got me livid, I mean I was hott, prepare your self for my reply.

"I am taking my 8 hr SB part of my 2/8 split so I can get more hours, yes I have 4 hours left on my 14 clock, but I have 4.5 hours to my 99, so clearly I cant get there tonight. If I do my 8 in sb to complete my 2/8 split, I will have 8 hrs of driving time. It does not matter where I take my SB part of my split, it all comes out to the same eta at 99 (ie. if I stopped 2 hours later at 0030, still had to take 8 in the sb, so started again at 0830, now 2.5 hours remaining, tah dah, still same eta.) also i did say something to the night dm manager in wvc, when i finally got someone to answer the phone. Couldnt message on the qualcomm because it was down for a hard reset because of me having problems with it. Came back up while driving, and i was not pulling over to send a msg when i had already talked to someone. so any other questions, or can i sleep now? please let me run my truck, i think i do pretty good myself. so when i have a hiccup once in a great while, ill let someone know asap (ie, when I called the night manager tonight). thanks, have a great night"

I wasnt trying to be rude, but it just got me all worked up again when he said, why are you sitting? Hopefully I didnt piss him off too much. I know I screwed up at the scale, now let me learn from my mistake, accept my first late delivery, and move on. I dont need someone, who clearly cant do math, telling me how to plan my hours. If it wasnt for the extra 2 hrs off duty at the scale, all would of worked out good. With me finally understanding these splits, its helped out a lot, and I feel more confident about planning, and getting places on time, that would normally be late with a 10 hr reset. Stuff happens, lets learn and move on. Hopefully I dont get #### for that message, but it needed to be said. Im not sure if company drivers are aloud to ignore night dispatch on non urgent messages (i know my trainer did a few times) so something had to be said. Hopefully I didnt screw up to bad. Im a worry wart, so Ill be wondering who he sends an email to, saying, "look how this driver talked to me" So anyway. Also learned, dont put a receipt on the dash, sun and heat makes it fade away. damnt. lol

 

Why would you put in a 54 for a scale? No one is going to look at a 54 if your dm is not in. You can pay for a scale on your tch or comdata, and if they don't take either the best thing to do is pay it out of pocket and send the receipt in with your trippak. I hate to say it, but you could've avoided this whole thing had you followed those procedures.

 

I was not aware you could use your com data or tch. Can you use it at most places? If you use it, are you still required to send the receipt in? My trainer told me to always send a Mac 54 in to get a check for scale. but usually I do just pay cash and send the receipt in. But everything had me so flustered. I wasn't thinking right. For now on its always cash. or com data. do need to know about receipt though if you do use com data or tch.

 

Yes, you send in the receipt. When you use the card it's a debit against your settlement, and the receipt is a credit.
Idk what your trainer was thinking. Getting a comcheck for a scale is a huge waste of time, and like I said, you may not get one after hours.

 

only wave with the middle finger on the left hand.

 

I no longer work for central I pull containers out of the port in savannah ga. I run a dedicated run from the port to the Cosco warehouse in Atlanta . I always see swift and central in there either unloading or waiting to be unloaded. Well this morning after I did my drop ii seen 2 swift tractors pulling central trailers. U happened to see one of the swift drivers get out of his truck so I went over and talked to him. He told me this whole buyout thing happened rather quickly he and the other swift guy do local Atlanta work and were dispatched to the central yard in Conley to pick up these refers to del. and after that del they had to go to Kraft in union city and do a drop and hook with some other central trailers and take them to the swift yard in Atlanta. So it's already started.

 

It makes sense to give all the work you can to swifties; they get paid .02/mi less than central drivers. Obviously locals are a different story, but I'm sure we'll see more of this.

 

Chris91, sucks your trainer didn't do a better job of explaining scale tickets, but you did let $10 cost you a good night's sleep, on time delivery, and a possibly great next load. Whoever you talked to probably didn't know how to explain, if you're crunched for time, always go as far as you can. Yes, it's the same ETA and if you're tired you're tired. But, now if something happens in those first 4 hours, you'll be even later. Good luck man and don't let it drive you crazy. We're all geniuses when it's not us slipping up!

 

i always use my tch card at scales.