Stevens Transport Aviary . . cont'

Condolences and best wishes Clegg, Sorry to hear of your loss bro

 

Well I went back to the yard this week, cleared out in less than 6 hrs but had to wait on good ol shop to scratch their heads on a couple things. Got to meet the writer of Emulsifications, finally great to put a face to the name . Took a load off the yard Saturday morning and arrived in wellston Ohio about 2 hours ago just to load out in the mroning at the same spot I delivered to. Headed off to Casa Grande AZ in the morning not sure if I can make it by Thursday. I m a stevens driver after all (JK) I sat with my DM for a bit on friday and listened to him and some of the surrounding DMs deal with the stupidity of some of our people. I always thought it was exaggerated but I am now a true believer. Sometimes I wonder how some of these consistently regular blunders I mean wonders of the same people got their license to begin with. Hats off to dispatch I would never be able to contain my sarcasm or thoughts LMAO.

 

Thanks for all the well wishes. It was a very nice service. Just a small group at my next oldest brothers house. Good music, good food and lots of stories.

Back on the road. 4 dropper around Dallas haha

 

I am completing a 10 day lap... I like variety, I hope I don't do a second. I started a week ago last Sunday in Granite City IL, then to Cheyenne, the of course Lexington, Ottawa, Syracuse, Bronx, Lancaster and tomorrow Edwardsville. I am feeling the need for some southwest desert sunshine.

Last year, I spent from August until January running what seemed like a regional gig, Midwest to Northeast with the occasional for foray to Atlanta or Dallas. Hoping I am not seeing the start of that again.

Oh well, I guess I will see what the planners have in store for me.

 

I also came as close to running out my 70 without actually doing it today. Finished my PTI with 1 minute left.

 

Came off home time today. The trailer I picked up in Belvidere, IL at the Green Giant plant had some serious damage done to it, apparently while there, of course they claimed to know nothing about it. I dropped it at the TK dealer Thursday morning on my way to HT. I called this morning to see if it was ready, big surprise, they have not heard back from RR yet. It looked like someone had backed into the TK unti, I couldn't get the doors open to pretrip it. The service guy told me it had damage to the condenser also which means it was probably fine when it was dropped there the other day. So I had to run down to the Kraft plant in Davenport to look for an empty, and I found one! Then I got a call from a DM asking if I could help out with a repower going to the Walmart DC in Cheyenne. Sure. No problem. 1 minute later I get another call, sorry I'm not allowed to use you, they have a load for you. S I get my load, going to the Wakmart DC in Cheyenne and head over to Millard Refrigerated in Geneva, IL. Oh the load was supposed to pick up on the 13th and deliver today. On the way over here they reset the appt in Cheyenne to the 21st and then again to the 22nd. I get here at 1500 and when I check in I'm told it will be 2330 or later. No wonder they pushed the appt. I wish they would have gotten me a firm appt here so I am not on standby. Coming off HT the last thing I want is to sit.

 

I was wondering if it was just me, sounds like it is not reading Fozzy's post, but it seems to me that coming off home time, it usually takes one to two loads to get back into the freight lanes.

 

Just so you know, when you're on hometime your screen is coded that way. Planners are not suppose to preplan you on a load until you are coded available and that can't happen until you are physically on the truck. We tell if you're on the truck by checking to see if the ignition has been turned on since you say you arrived.
Then we set your PTA as available and it shows up that way on the planners screen of available trucks.
Here's the problem..
Most loads are planned and sent out in the morning. If you are not 'made available' until late morning, you don't show up on the planner's screen and since it's mainly first come, first serve, the trucks that emptied out last night, yesterday or this morning will be dispatched ahead of you.
So you arrive to your truck at 0900 and you are now X amount of trucks back in the line.
Best thing you can do is reaffirm to your DM you will be on the truck at 0700 the next morning (or whatever time) so he can make that note on your front screen. Then when you arrive, call your DM (while turning on the ignition) and tell them you are there and ready to dispatch.
Ask your DM for a repower or better yet, call the repower department and ask them what they need, you are available.
In every case, an available truck cannot be used for a repower (during the daytime) without the planner's permission. In Fozzy's case, the repower was set up, but we are over booked for loads in the upper midwest right now so the planner took Fozzy back and planned him on a load. Unfortunately, that load was needing some tweaking and it doesn't become apparent until a dispatch is made.
You want to move? Call your buddies at night support and ask what's happening. If we have a repower we can use you on, be ready to get on the truck the night before so we can get you rolling.
(this message brought to you by the coallition of Worthless Night and Weekend Operations people )

 

Yup... starting a second lap..
Granite City to Cheyenne again.