Abilene Motor Express....A New Place To Call Home

Our week thus far:

Left the house Monday morning to deliver a load i was sent home with to Fredericksburg. Arrived 2 hours early for the appointment, and they won't even let us on the property until 15 min before the appointment. No biggie, we find a place to park for a couple hours. go back for the appointment and get told that their docks are full, so we would have to wait fo least 4 more hours for them to make room. Contacted my dm, and was advised to file for detention pay. apparently, 4 hours wasn't long enough, so 15 minutes before that was up, i get a message to bring the load to the yard to drop. Done.

Following morning, my trainee tests for phase 2 and passes, congrats!

Get a load assignment, and have to read it twice. 1230 mile bobtail to pull an empty from a customer who was using it for storage. We arrive the following morning, hook the empty, and deadhead to Wisconsin to reload, going to Columbus, OH. Arrive the following morning. After a quick live unload, drop the empty at one of our regular customers in Columbus, then bobtail to Groveport to hook a preloaded trailer headed for Reno and Hayward, CA. Arrived at Sparks early this AM, and will finish a 34 at the same time we are being unloaded. Awesome stuff.

To those complaining of no miles, I say this:

Stop telling planners and DMs what you WON'T do, and start doing your job If you are sitting at the yard waiting for a load to come through on the qc, show a little initiative and go to the window and ask politely. You may just be handed a load a little quicker.

 

I found that funny about the driver who needed oil and a screw tightened he should of had a steel toe cap boot up his ### while flying towards the gate .

 

Man I gotta say...I'll never be a company driver again lord willin but if I do wind up back at company status there's only one company id consider it sounds like you cats have a good gig, at least the cats that get after it. Enjoyin the thread, keep it comin!

 

Amen Brother... Said Perfectly!!!

 

If you are willing to run and don't say no, it's not too bad a place to be for sure.

And I have no facts to back up this statement but I feel that if you don't say no to the crappy loads now and then when they need your help, you actually get fewer of those crappy loads...

Kind of like that saying about Actors and "small parts... "There are no small parts, just small actors"...

Truckers Version: There are no crappy loads; just crappy drivers!!!

 

Hey Midwest, where did you end up parking after getting unloaded in NYC.Have orientation set for the 11th,haven't been up that way in awhile thanks.

 

The visual of this, gives me pause when considering the notion of training with you.

Just sayin'.

Still haven't heard from you BTW - know yer busy and all though.

Rick

 

Unbelievable...no wait, totally believable...lol

Those issues were nothing more than a simple fix with two things you should ALWAYS have on your truck with you. A spare gallon of oil and a basic tool kit. I'd have added the oil and turned the screw and been rolling.

Now, I'm not super mechanically inclined, either, but I can fix my own minor issues a lot of the time.

For example, the other day when I was doing my post-trip I noticed my right headlight was burned out. I told my dispatcher (I'm a local driver) that I needed one. Before I could get it out that I'd pick one up the following morning on my way out of town, she said go take it to the shop 2 miles away. I looked at her and asked, why? Bottom line, I fixed it myself and saved the company some money, and was able to go home instead of sitting for an hour or more at the shop.

Another time, my turbo hose fell off. Instead of calling for road service, I got out the tool kit, put it back on and re-clamped it, and was rolling in about 10 minutes.

Sometimes drivers are their own worst enemies...

 

The truth in this line is staggering.