Stay overnight at customer or truck stop?

Hey Red, haven't seen you in a minute. Where have you been?

 

It's definitely easier on your book if you're all checked in and ready to be unloaded the night before vs waking up at a truck stop an hour before delivery and schlepping the load over there with our 14 hours ticking away. Especially so if you end up waiting to be unloaded.

 

I always tell newer drivers that start pulling OSOW, "There are 2 safe places for a load: Shipper.Receiver. Most of your higher end customers that deal with big or high value loads will have parking, AND security. There are some places where I can't park overnight, but they will allow me to drop the trailer.

Sometimes I will show up a day in advance, and the receiver couldn't get a crane on site. Drop the trailer. Sometimes, the load isn't ready for days. Drop the trailer. Some times bad weather prevents you from moving. Drop the trailer.

Some times, you're just too freakin big to fit into the truckstop. Usually this happens in the bigger cities. I do it all the time. Load is safe. Trailer is safe. I can bobtail around to top off the fuel tanks. Go to the movies or the mall or the flea market, buy stuff, then go to UPS and have it shipped home. Or just leave the truck, jump in with a pilot car and go to a motel.

Years ago, we had a job in Hunter,Oklahoma. I ran the load out of Pensacola Saturday. Sunday afternoon, I pulled into the staging yard in Hunter. There were at last 50-60 trucks there. Monday morning, they separated all of us and lead us to our pads. So, I'm sitting there with the Schnaubles and nacells and blade Beyotches. Schnauble drivers and the nacell guys are cool, but blade Beyotches don't know how to talk to you unless they're beyotching, so you really don't want to talk to those kinds of people. Anyways, the site rep shows up, time marks my bills and tells me that "everyone wants to go home. See you tomorrow."

What?

Perfect day, not a cloud in the sky, and it's 10am. Oh well, they're paying me. I dropped my trailer. The multi axle guys started dropping theirs. The Beyotches stayed with their loads. We all bobtailed back to the nearest truckstop which was over 30 miles away. Had a DairyQueen dinner.

Tuesday morning, I bobtailed back to the pad. Didn't hook up. The heavyhaulers are back too. Thunder boomed. Site rep told us that it was a no go and to call him the next day.

Wednesday, heavy rain, thunder and lightning. Didn't even bother starting the truck. Thursday morning, the site rep calls me and tells me that they're going to unload. But there's lightning in the area. He tells me that it moved out of their area. That's fine...I was really tired of DairyQueen anyway. Made a grand a day. For that amount of money, I will even tolerate Dairy Queen.

Anyways, with the OSOW, I almost always go straight to the shipper and receiver. Usually, there are motels nearby and mom and pop restaurants and watering holes. The projects may last months at a time and you wind up making some really good friends in heavy haul. Different companies, but you will recognize the trucks, and that's always cool.
And that's one of the reasons why you bring your A-Game when you play in the OSOW game. You will stand out. Even as a company driver. Act like an arse, shippers, receivers, site reps, truck pushes, will all remember you. They will see you rolling up. Don't be that A Hole driver.

In our section of the industry, you don't normally see the garbage. I park atshipper and receivers all the time. There aren't the piss bottles and shart bags thrown around (well, there was this one time at the site in Odonnell,TX, with someone chunking their Depends, but that was a female pilot car, and pilot cars can be really nasty).

 

I think I've stayed overnight at a truckstop 1 time in the past year.

Awhile back I delivered to a job site in Nowhere Montana on a Friday. I asked the cute redhead survey crew boss if I could turn around in their camp & pull off the 2-track on the way out for the night. She said "heck yes nobody cares way out here. I'll come down & get you with the ATV, we're having a few beers around the fire after work"
Sunday AM I fire up the rig and mosey down the road....THAT's what I call staying overnight at a customer's!
I love my job!

 

I used to try and park at the shipper or reciever most of the times, but seeing how I have the wife with me, I spend more times at truckstops.. She hates the porta johns. lol
We have stayed a few times due to things just going south....

 

Well there are times like Triple6 stated, drop at the customer. Which we do if we can

 

I guess I wouldn't last otr then lol. If I'm not in my bed every night I'm finding a different job. Really commend you guys for being willing to rough it in a truck for weeks on end. I guess if I had a rolling apartment like some of the guys it wouldn't be so bad but no bathroom when you wake up sick or whatever?

 

That's what a five gallon bucket is for. lol

 

Being a boat hauler, I always try to sleep at the marina,