Any flatbed o/ops

Welcome aboard Brit64...

 

I would have parked at that gate until I got somebody on the phone or until they reopened for business.

Also, I don't agree with this idea that too many so called manager's have about only being available during normal office hours. If you are a manager, you should, or your assistant, should be available 24/7 no matter what. This is what defines responsible management. There is no excuse for not having somebody answer the phone. For that, I believe the driver needs an apology and compensation for his time that they chose to waste by being irresponsible in management.

The load was lost due to management not being there; that driver was there, and on his dime as an o/o to boot!

 

Sheesh, me and my attitude....rofl
Must be why I have people asking for ME to come pick a load up vs anyone else, my attitude.
If someone is a new member here, is it not for THEM to learn the way things go in a certain section, and not for the section to change how they act?
Hopefully not another part of this excellent forum that will go downhill fast.....

Martin

 

Exactly what I was thinking. Improvise Adapt and Overcome!!

 

Look, don't come in here and start poking the hornets nest. Go find another forum to post in with your attitude and bickering, because it is not welcomed in here.

 

A letter to the Cool Kids

I like to think that this forum and the heavy haul forum are actually helpful to drivers with questions. The most popular thread of course is the "Where is everyone." I don't normally give out my location (big company with a high percentage of dime droppers, and my truck doesn't look like theirs), but I do share a fondness for good food, cute waitresses and beer (man fuel) with members here.

I did a thread in the heavy haul section about professionalism in the OSOW end of the industry because some of the loads we pull have years worth of R&D, and are valued at over $100,000,000 or more. Engineers, rigging crews, operation VPs are who we will rub elbows with. If you're going to pick up a load that will pay you for a weeks investment of time what you would ordinarily make in a month, how should you behave? What do you wear?

Now the reason why I wrote that thread was not to brag, but to help you flatbed guys who are new to the OSOW game. In the flatbed world, you go go go! In our section, you work smarter, not harder. You grab as much money as you can with as few miles as possible. A flatbed driver will book an oversized for the same rate as a flatbed load and will raise holy hell when he has to sit because of a shipper or receiver. For us, it's another day at the office. But then again, a lot of times, we get paid to sit and be patient. But sometimes...we too are SOL.

OP had a Sunday load. I've never loaded steel at a steel mill on a Sunday. Never loaded lumber. In the OSOW world, the east coast is shut down on Sunday. You can't even drive. From my experience, weekend runs can be troublesome. Any issues, you're stuck til Monday. Doesn't matter if your company, lease or owner OP. Kenworth and Pete normally shut down noon on Saturday. TA and Petro service shops will be booked til Monday. Trailer repair shops are closed. State permit offices are closed. Is everyone getting the picture now? If you're picking up a preloaded trailer, there's a good chance you're going to have an issue. AND WITH WEEKEND ISSUES, THERES A GOOD CHANCE YOU WILL BE SITTING TIL MONDAY.

You can't go home and make a claim for detention pay. It doesn't work. The only chance you have is by sitting there and waiting. How can you raise hell if you went back to the house, sat in the lazy chair, ate dinner and chased mama around the bedroom? Say your company agreed to compensate you for the run up there, $1 a mile. That's $95 they owe you. You've spent more at the strip club. That won't get you a full cart of groceries at walmart.

Ol Lefty is a good driver. Real solid. Dependable. Look at his posts, he's always working and he pulls big loads. In the OSOW world, if you're a screwup, you won't be around for long, at least not around specialized freight. Whenever a driver is constantly pulling big loads, take notice. You know how when you pulled your first oversized, and you were nervous, because you 1.cant see your trailer 2.are pulling into every scale with flags and flashing lights, pulling around back to go have a chat with the state boys 3.fourwheelers seem mesmerized by the load on your wagon and are matching speed, and every doorslammer there is is riding the zipper...well it seems that way 4. The freakin routes, curfews, permits and provision sheets...do something wrong and you're paying tickets that cost more than your wife's car. This stuff is our bread and butter...it's what we do. Anyways Lefty didn't make a post to be a buster, he's just letting OP know that he needs to make changes if he wants to stay in this section of the industry and IF he wants to ever be a successful owner operator.

Look ok at these guys that are pulling those loads. Think trucking is stressful? Go into the mountains at 150000 lbs. Go through a major metro area at 12 ft wide (your factory mirrors are nearly blocked, and you're not wide enough for a pilot car. Go down a two lane at 190 ft. Go through a state taking the high route because of how tall your load is. Go pull a load that's so valuable that you had to put your firstborn son and your left nut up for collateral. You have some very good drivers on this forum. They do a tough job.

 

Was a company driver, emptied out in Montana on a Friday. Dispatch gets me a Saturday load, picking a container in Fr Bridger,Wy to Freeport,Tx. I call dispatch to confirm about Saturday. He gives me the shippers number. I call the shipper and confirmed. I hammer out of Montana. Saturday morning, 30 minutes out (drove all night) I call the shipper again. He tells me that the crane operator just decided to go home. "Dude, I am 30 miles out. Tell him I will give him a hundred dollar bill!"

No go.

I called weekend dispatch, but what could they do? I went across the road and sat at the TA til Monday.

 

I originally wrote this message yesterday but it didn't post and Im' retyping it

But


I'm just a lowly company driver and I can't echo how important it is what Martin said. When I first typed up this message, I was sitting and waiting. Sometimes I sit and wait for free. You know why, because sometimes you have to see the forest for the trees. My wife gets mad at me when I don't come home straight after work but there is one thing this forum taught me and this is what triple six talked about in the post above, customer service and standing out above the crowd.

That is what I learnt from this forum. Anyone can drive a truck, but there is a way in the business to make more money than the rest, the trick is to stand out from the rest, be the cream that rises to the top. I started off as someone that doesn't know #### about maintenance, I was green but I made a name for myself because I took every load I could, I never said no, I paid attention, when I wasn't working, I watched other drivers work on their trucks so I could learn how to maintain my truck.

I could have gone home at 4 oclock everyday but I didn't, I stayed till 6 and hung around the office so I could learn from other drivers, what they did to their trucks.

I was hired 9 months ago, I had no hh experience, but I was honest and I started out making $600 week but now I make $1300-1500 a week and i'm one of the highest gross in the company week in and week out because I do whatever it takes. I don't drive a RGN but I probably average more than a RGN driver does. Why ... because I do everything I can to stand out, when everybody is gone home on new years eve, I sit and wait instead of dead heading home, instead of heading close to the call, I wait to make sure its confirmed instead of burning 30 miles of fuel.

Sometimes you lose money by sitting and waiting, but sometimes you serve the customer and make a name for yourself. It doesn't matter if you are a o/o or a company driver in my books, because I will find a way to make more money by being smarter.

So keep walking away from those Sunday jobs and dead heading home and I will camp out 10 miles from home if it means providing better service. At the end of the day, I bet my family will see more of me than yours sees you and my company will be happier because its all about service and reputation.

That is what the flatbed forum taught me. I sleep in my bed 6 nights a week and I don't have your headaches. I'll take 75 grand a year as a company driver sleeping in my bed nightly over being away every night making whatever you make.

 

Very well written driver...You definitely do not fit into my definition of a Steering Wheel Holder.

 

Nicely stated brother...very nice indeed... Maybe I can graduate to the "Kool Kids" one day, I will just keep on pushing harder and harder until I get there...