Good Night From II

Stuck in Edwardsville planner hell.

 

BFE Indiana at a loves. Got a Pplan to head from the Gary Term to Cedar Springs Mi and then head down to Shepardsville KY. Live both ends. So I got up a little early, and started my trailer search at the terminal for a MT. I went to the T-Call window, asked if they assigned them and he said to check row b. Then he said "Let me see if they have any left over from what they hold for local, hmm 150... No we'll prob use that. We don't have any empties."

I bob tailed to the first 150 series trlr I saw, verified it was empty and was rolling in 10 minutes, that may be a record for me when it comes to slim pickings for empties at terminals.

I deliver tomorrow, then head to Louisville for a DH that delivers 130 miles north in Lebanon IN. Short mile loads this weekend, but it beats sitting.

 

yeah..i wont leave my truck at any shop without me being in the area. was .5 hour in line when guy came over and got the truck. said should take about an hour. 1.5 hrs later i went to window to see any update. guy said there a recall that waiting to be done and a flat tire. wasnt flat when i did pretrip this morning. mustve p/u a nail at ross again. i've had more flat tires on this truck since i been doing ross since december,than all of past 2 yrs

 

A week ago I got a call from the driver development manager in Albuquerque as I was driving toward there to make a live unload Sunday morning. He had a trainee with only 35 hours left to get his 200. I accepted having him come aboard and picked him up.

I was his third trainer. Neither of the first two seemed to be able to teach him how to shift without grinding the gears and he had a real problem with downshifting. His backing skills weren't there, either as both previous trainers micro managed his backing instead of teaching the fundamentals and eventually #### and watch.

First day we delivered in Alb., then picked up a heavy load for delivery in Mesa that ran through over many mountain passes: I-40 west, south on AZ-377, west on AZ-260, and south on AZ-87. With a long discussion about how LITTLE you have to move your foot to move the rpm's between 1100 and 1500 with some practice at idle, together with working on soft hand movements on the stick, he was prepared for the journey. I stayed up with him the entire drive through the hard stuff once we got off I-40, a beautiful drive. By the second mountain pass he was nailing his shifts.

Another concept that didn't seem to get taught was using the jake brake. Again, during the live unload I discussed how the jake works, where it is strongest in rpm's, how to initiate using it in low setting, etc. He had never used it before in his 165 hours behind the wheel.

Wow. Just wow. WHAT were they teaching?

Beyond that his paperwork was massively incomplete, no BTW hours logged after the first trainer (and THAT was improperly done), no practice paper logs at all, and no 100 hour or 150 hour evaluation.

I got him caught up on the paperwork as best I could, and by the time we left Mesa and journeyed to Virginia and back to Edwardsville he had improved greatly with his backing and overall relaxation and confidence behind the wheel. I took his written test today and will take his drive test Monday. I know he'll pass.

He certainly passed the test in the wee hours this morning on I-57. I woke up to what sounded like a drive or steer tire blowing out. "Come to a safe stop on the shoulder! Sounds like we blew a tire!"

"Naw, it was just a deer."

(... just a deer?)

He nailed it like a professional. No panic, just maintained a nice straight line in his lane without any sudden braking. The deer tried to cross from the median and broke our driver's side headlight cover (light continued to work) and cracked the faring over the battery cover. Left behind some hair and greenish brown stains. We called it in to and sent the Mac, took pictures and did the report. He was worried it would have bad repercussions, but I explained he did everything the way he should have, no swerving or sudden braking. The DEER ran into US. Bambicide.

The Edwardsville shop replaced the headlight and bolted down the faring (it would take a week to order the replacement faring). Ready to roll in the wee hours tomorrow, have a Springfield and back to t-call, then pick up a load headed to York, PA.

 

Wait, lepton is parked next to me at terminals?

 

... uh oh...

... maybe so. You might have seen me making my coffee, heating the water in the microwave this afternoon and using the coffee press.

I'm down for the count in the back 40.

Had to play mother-may-I to find an empty and got lucky.

 

oh, I'm up front nearer the facilities love listening to somebody wreck country tunes on the cb.

 

At the TA just west of Columbus. On our way to Nogales from Buffalo. Winds west of Buffalo were amazing. I wasn't heavy, just under 12,000 lbs, but glad I wasn't mt. Saw a USA Truck nearly loose it as he was hit by one really nasty gust. All the tires on the pax side of his trailer tandems lifted off the roadway for three or four full seconds. He must have been mt, but as he was pulling into a pickle park I passed by, he looked unconcerned or likely completely oblivious. Gotta check those mirrors friends.

Unfortunately, while I picked up on time, I'm probably going to be a bit late. Try as I might I think the planners are never going to understand that their wonderful plus one fails to take terrain, weather, weight and several other standard or given factors into account. It seems like their plus one calculates everything as if the weather is perfect and the terrain is all like flattest Nebraska. But then what do I know. I just hold the wheel, right?

 

The Plus One system is a computer generated target. Talking with my DM about it one day he let me know that the +1 thing is very frustrating for DM's and planners as well. For that reason I always call when I get a load offer that looks iffy on the times to find out the pick up and delivery windows before accepting a load. Use the Mac-22 and Mac-34 to adjust your ETA and PTA on the fly as you zero in closer to delivery, especially on multi-day runs. Communication is the key to helping the planners stack loads on you, helps the CSR, the customer, etc.

 

Planners don't set plus 1 times ... it's calculated by the computer.

Once you really get the swing of managing your hours, you'll learn the real truth of plus 1 ... you'll find you can beat it almost every time, but the system won't allow you to get your next load until plus 1 says you will be completed, not when you say you are ... it becomes extremely inefficient.