EPES TRANSPORT-Greensboro, NC

that 'appointment time' for the preload is when it is supposed to be loaded and ready any time after that. it may or may not be.

just another note about that place.....if you get an overweight and the bald guy at the back desk is there he's the traffic manager or supervisor or whatever he is......he's in some position of authority......he'll try to talk you into running it and give you a song and dance about how he was a driver and he doesn't understand why drivers now are such sissies and even will give you a route around the scales. stand firm and tell him no. he'll get snotty and tell you what a sissy you are and generally look down his nose at you and probably tell you that since second shift loaded it you have to wait until they come in to reload it. whatever. just send in the message and tell them it's over and you have to wait until the night shift comes in to fix it and they'll cancel it and give you something else. the guy is a real ........

 

Skirting the filter? Really? I didn't skirt anything I spelled it out. Skirting the filter is when you try to sneak in a word by masking it as something else. That I didn't do. But no matter I think it's pretty easy to figure out what I called him.

 

so ended up this week with a much better week. having a sit down with my dm was a good idea just to make sure we both were on the same page about what's going on. ended up with 2500 this week. not what I consider good based on how I like to run but more miles in 5 days than I did the whole 2 weeks out before that so at least moving back in the right direction.

had the wife with me this week since we'd hardly seen each other in the last 2 months so that was a nice change but #### she brings a lot of stuff lol adds another 500 to the gross weight i'm sure lol.

started out the week doing hurry up and wait. ran up to Martinsville and had to get into a place that was tight. not even a truck length to get in and lined up on the dock and a fence on the right side and a 20ft drop into a creek on the left. walked it right in there though with 3 pullups. wife was impressed even though she didn't say it.

hurry up and reload at the same place just the warehouse down the street. finally a 2hr live unload and then a 3 hr live load later we're going at 1500. decided to reserve a spot in Paulsboro because I knew there wouldn't be anything there that late. I really hate paying to park but those spots are golden when you really need one. got up there and the lot is full, even the reserve spots. go in and check in and the girl is just pulling her hair out. there are 3 trucks in the reserve spots that didn't pay and weren't supposed to be there. and they didn't want to do anything about it. I think she was scared of confronting anyone. I asked for the parking list because i'd have sure been getting someone up. I have to give her credit for trying to get creative and honor our reservations but the spots she came up with weren't really good either.... at any rate what she SHOULD have done was call local law enforcement and let them sort it out and get those guys out of the spots. there were 3 of us there all rolled in about the same time and 3 spots we paid for but couldn't get. prime she put out in the car parking lot, gave me a spot over by the shop and the o/o lucky enough to be on paper logs just threw a fit and rolled on. the other 2 of us didn't have that luxury. I had 18 minutes when I rolled in the parking lot and was already past out of time by the time she found a spot to put me.....I was #### well expecting that spot to be there.....and they always are that's the first time I've ever had an issue with it. the next day I sent an email to TA and registered a well-worded but clearly annoyed complaint and the next day was surprised when the GM of the Paulsboro location called me back to discuss the issue and resolved the issue to my satisfaction. she refunded my reserve price and offered a no cost reserved spot the next time i'm up there and gave me her personal cell number to call her and set it up next time i'm up there. I have to say I was impressed by the attention she showed to it and her resolution of the issue.

rest of the week was pretty uneventful and busy. wasted some time Tuesday on a load they gave me out of westampton that another driver had picked up the day before but was still showing open and available. then bounced down to Baltimore and picked up one off the OD drop lot there and down to Columbia. then over to augusta and up to Montoursville to the mud lake and had one coming out of there the next day. the drop in Montoursville showed midnight to midnight and we get there at 1700 and find out receiving leaves at 1500. finally got someone in charge to sign for the paperwork and told us which door to put it in and since we didn't pick up until the next day treated ourselves to a hotel and steakhouse. bobtailed 5 miles over and then back Friday morning and picked up the load out and ran down to the yard and called it a week. much better more consistent week and more miles than I've done in awhile even with the wasted time Monday and Tuesday.

now on vacation for a week. feels good to have some time off.

 

one thing that did come out of the conversation with my dm Monday and just to clarify some things for the rest who may not know.....

if you run texas, expect to be out 2 weeks or better. if we go out there once we're there we are under the tse dispatch and they are lacking in communication to put it mildly. they are concerned with getting their trips moved and couldn't give 2 ##### about getting us back home until they get us there. another issue with going out there is their freight base isn't as big as ours and there's going to be a bunch of short trips and waiting until you can get something to get you back on our side of the river and back under our dispatch. what we end up with is a bunch of loads going that way and not as many coming back and we get a bunch of us out there and no way to get us back until things shake out and we get back. so we end up doing their trips under their dispatch until we can get back.

the communication between rockwall and Greensboro with regard to their planners our dm's isn't good. they have some issues to be resolved with answering phones and/or emails and the concept that we're one big happy family now hasn't really gotten into their heads yet. my dm assured me that this was being addressed by our senior management in Greensboro and over time was going to resolve itself but the issues were known and being worked on by the people that matter. as with anything like this it's going to take some time to break their mindset and habits and get it into their head there is no them and us anymore we're all us.

it really will change the way I look at getting preplans out that way. if it comes as a straight up load assignment then that's one thing but if it comes as a preplan i'm going to be more inclined to turn it down now knowing what to expect once I get out there. over time i'm sure it will improve but I can tell you for sure after the last time I was out there I sat 4 days out of 7 and only got 1100 miles the whole week running their short trips with 2-3 days on them. that just won't work for me. but at least I was able to have a frank discussion about it with my dm and he said they are being somewhat understanding at this point if we turn those trips down going to texas until rockwall gets the message that we communicate and we need to get with the program and act as one company and not 2.

 

Whoever designed the Petro's parking lots, obviously has never backed a big rig!

 

WOW...I cant believe you said that!! They are designed better then any Loves or Pilot...........

 

Yeah I'd have to agree I don't have any problems getting in the spots but they are my last choice of place to park lol any specific petro in mind? The one at the 29 on I-80 in Pa is the only one I can think of that's really tight in the areas that we run......but there are some I haven't been to as well. They sure are better than the ta's that have blindside spots or the tight layouts in the pilots and loves. I cringe every time I see a new loves going up cause I know it's most likely going to be small and tight. Can't say I've seen a petro yet I couldn't get in and out of easily. My biggest complaint with petro is they have this nasty policy of charging to park in the only areas where parking is the scarcest. Truly gouging us and taking advantage of the situation knowing there aren't many places to park so let's charge $20.

 

Anybody tried turning a receipt in for parking? Just curious.

 

When I hired in, was told safe , legal parking was up to the driver. So have never tried to turn in a parking receipt . Would like to get the 9 hours detention time for yesterday.

 

I'll pick the Petro over Loves any day. You would would think though, that when the Petro were painting the lines for parking spaces they would've set them up for a drivers side back instead of blind backing! I was mainly griping about it the other day because of the way the day had started out! Got to Macy's in Secaucus NJ and they don't have any empties so I let night time dispatch know. She tells me California Cartage in Carteret has enough empties to just BT to shipper. I'm out of hrs and park at Lombardi travel plaza and head out the next morning to get there only to be told I have to have an empty! So they send me to Bensalem Pa. for an empty. I was not a happy camper since I'm on recap hours!