The journey begins - purchased a truck.

Tinted windows.

I tinted the windows last year, at whatever the Missouri legal level was. With a cousin dead from Melanoma, a family history of it, and several chunks of cancerous flesh cut out of me lately, I have an interest in avoiding UV rays wherever possible. The tint level is fairly light - you can see in the cab just fine, as I can wave (with all my fingers) and get a response. The difference is huge. I can feel - immediately - when sunlight is hitting my skin, and it only takes rolling the windows down for exposure to feel it.

I may have to find a place that has UV blocking tint, at a fairly high light transmission, because . . .

A buddy has been running tinted windows for the last 2 years with LS. He recently got DOT'ed in Missouri AND Iowa, a mere 15 hours apart. Missouri gave him a warning for the tint - said it only had 26% light transmission, and they wanted 70%. Iowa gave him a warning too, I think. Anyways - he had to send the DOT paperwork in to LS. They promptly sent him an 'agreement' to sign stating that he would not tint his windows, and if he did, and was cited - LS would cancel his lease.

It's a bit stupid if you ask me - not that anybody does. The alternative that I regularly see is pulling the sleeper curtain around, or baby screens, and I think tints are a safer alternative for vision than either. The MO DOT spotted him from the opposing direction, flipped and followed him for 10 miles before pulling him over. (Like he couldn't find anything better to do that day?)

Cut and Paste agents, and 'customer service'.

Well - I needed to get to MI to pick up the Honda V-twin for the pressure washer. So, the only one I saw headed in the right direction involved a 240 mile deadhead, but put me on the guys doorstep. Problem - the agent who had it was a notoriously cheap one out of Jacksonville, air miles, many folks in the office . . . I wouldn't normally bother with them. It didn't pay that well, and when you ran the actual miles, and threw the dead head in . . . nothing to be excited about.

So - I get to deadheading there, and decide I'll ring the shipper to see if it can load early. Who's a good boy? Me. That's right.

"Ummm - we're EXPECTING freight from Michigan, but we're not SHIPPING anything there"

So I call the agent. Tell her I think there's been a mistake. Yes - apparently so. CH Robinson messed up and reversed shipper and consignee.

What a hero ! LS driver alerts CHR to error, saving a customer, in advance - Hooray for LS driver! Who's a good boy? Me ! That's right.

So - agent has some more cheap cruddy tarped freight going to Michigan, from the same city (not same shipper) to 170 miles away from where I wanted to be in Michigan. Funny that when the LS board is chirping crickets on a lane, that a cut and paste agent can magically find one through CHR. They must provide excellent service, that CHR crowd. So - I don't have a lot of other choices, so I agree to it. Basically the same miles. She tells me she'll keep the rate the same (I had to contain my bubbling excitement - what a deal!) - and proceeds to use the same freight bill number for the new load - don't let them do this.

So - I ask for the TONU on the first load. lots of run around and humm and harrr, and "we're working on that" - about 5 emails and 3 phone calls later - yeah - not happening. CHR says

"Well - the load cancelled 24 hours out, so, no TONU"

I say "Had I not done my due diligence as a driver and called about the shipping details, then you wouldn't have been aware of YOUR error and you'd have been standing, Johnson in hand, looking like fools with an angry customer in Michigan! Issue TONU and hire better help!"

So - I get 'dog after bone' on these ones, and it usually involves the principle. So I call 'customer service'. Explain the whole deal to the kid. I get "No freight bill number - no can help". He adds in there that "Well, you got another load so - no big deal - right?" . . . my BP gets to rising.

WHAT??!

I at least get him to agree that MAYBE the agent shouldn't have used the same FB#, but nope - I don't have a leg to stand on. I get heated. Tell him I rarely ring for anything, and what 'service' am I getting for the $40k I gave them last year in % of revenue? He starts getting belligerent too, so I ask for supervisors name, and end the call.

Up the chain we go. Try Rockford. They listen and understand and agree, but see the problem with the FB#. Good, at least I'm not going nuts thinking I'm way out of line on this one. VP of operations number is found, and he looks into it. Couple of days go by.

"Well, I've reviewed everything, your safety, revenue etc - see that you don't call in a lot - so in THIS case, and we don't ALWAYS do this, and normally I'd give you the "That's trucking, son" speech, but here's $100 on your fuel card to at least cover the miles and deadhead". I know it's not coming out of CHR's pocket, that would be a long drawn out pointless battle.

I told him that's cool, appreciate it. Then he managed to thank me for my services to LS, in a way that sounded genuine and sincere, not just the generic "We appreciate the dryyyyyyyyyvers" corporate slogan we get around that time of year. And it felt good. Because I do feel like I put in an honest effort, and every now and then it's nice to get a ray of sunshine blasted in your rear end from the corporate masters. I don't need it, but just every now and then - it makes me feel a little less cynical.

So lesson learned. I knew what I was in for with that agency, it just irritated me that these agents will do anything to shift freight that isn't 'theirs', lie to you, then sweep any problems that arise under the rug. And I think LS needs to be aware of it, and I agree with many others - I think they need to sweep the trash out of the agent barrel - instead of allowing them to continue to bumfuzzle new drivers. Because, that's what the "learning curve", the "learning the system" is - that you get told when you start. It's navigating your way around a minefield of pyjama wearing, cut and paste agents that will waste a bunch of your time and leave you holding the bag.

 

Post #1497 - - - - - You'll see I kicked the Honda to the kerb in favor of the cheapie chinese 3500/4000 W jobbie.

 

Class - please pay attention. No - LAST year, I used the Honda suitcase with the tower ac unit. Problem was fuel capacity , and the extended run fuel tank and . . . well the whole thing was a bit of a hassle.

This year, we went with the permanently mounted 3500/4000 W generator (pictured), and the same tower unit - except this time I've mounted extension cords from generator to cab so I don't have cords hanging out the window to roll up each day, and I modified the breezeway screen for the hot air exhaust from the tower unit to be more efficient than my previous attempt.