Central Refrigeration Service, Inc. - West Valley, Ut.

Actually, my friend, my comments about my disagreement on trucks was kind of a joke, because I usually read your posts and think, "Chrome said exactly what I was thinking, but he made it more clear than I could have."

I'm sorry we are losing a good driver like you, but I'm glad that you are moving on to better things.

 

Your right lastkid he can explain something very clearly so even someone like me having a Blonde week can understand it. But he says he is going to stay in contact with us all.

 

I may have stayed if they let me be a trainer, and do it my way LOL.
I do not even know if things will work out with this company. I am trying it because my wife has been depressed, and lonely at home alone this long.
If it works then great. If not, I am doing everything in my power to leave Central in a positive manner.
My fleet manager understands, he was a driver for 11 years. He was in the same possition with his wife. I will give it a shot for her sake. My fleet manager said he will take me back anytime. We will be working out my scedule on Monday or Tuesday, to figure out when my last day will be.
I told him that I must be on home time the 23,24, if I am still with Central then, but that I can stay a little past that if needed. I told the new company that I would be available before the end of the month, and they are great with that. I don't think any company wants you if you do not give proper notice to your last company. I know I would not.

On my writing.
I do not consider myself to be much of a writer, and I use the spell check constantly. I do try and think about what I want to say before I say it though. And always think about it again before I hit the post key.

I know what questions I had, and when I see a question I try to answer it, and answer the questions that the answer I give will raise. Just saves the writing later.

A lawyer would hate me. I can never follow the K.I.S.S. version of an answer they like.

 

Well, hubby passed his tests yesterday. Only missed 2 on the main test. 2 people failed and was retaking today. If they don't pass, they go home. He is supposed to call me later and tell me how his day went today. He has been worried about us, but we will be leaving to Laughlin either tomorrow or Saturday. I am hoping tomorrow. I am so stressed out here it is killing me. Hope you got a trainer Dragon. Keep us posted.

 

I am sure your hubby will be fine wolfden.
It is all about mind set and determination. The first 6 months will be bad. Especially his first few solo. It takes a while to learn how to properly plan your days, and to know which loads to take.

As a company driver we cannot actually turn down loads. But in a way we can.
Before he accepts any load he must be 100% sure he can do it. That means looking at several things.

1. His location when he finishes last load.

2. Where he will pick up the load.

3. Figure out how much deadhead is involved, and how long it will take to drive it. We must allow for 2 hours unload at the receiver (unless we know it is a drop, or we know they always take longer).

4. If he can make it to pickup on time, will he have the hours to move the load at all that day?. Must allow 2 hours for load time, even if it is a drop and hook, many that say they are, are not. This can mess up your delivery times bad.

5. How many miles / hours are needed to drive the route?. I always average at 50-55 mph. Never faster, for accepting a load I prefer 50 mph. Add in 20 min for each fuel stop.

6. Add up all the hours he will need for that load each day. Then check log book to see if the hours will be available. Making sure that the hours he gets back the last day of the load will all be available to be used by the appt time if needed. I have seen several drivers make this mistake. They look at the 3 days they have, add the numbers, then not realize till on the road that they will not have the hours in the available time frame to deliver on time. They may need 6 hours driving on Tuesday, they are getting back 8. So by basic math this is good. But the load delivers at 0600 in Bethlehem PA. This is Eastern Time Zone. He is running his log on Mountain. Thus he really only has 4 hours to run that day before delivery time. He will be 2 hours late.

7. Always add at least a 1 hour buffer to your max needed times. One a 3+ day run make sure more is available. Or 1 traffic backup will make the load late. If going thru a city, make sure to add more, if it will be at a poor time of day. IE: 0700-0900, 1600-1830

8. If all these things add up then he can accept the load. If they do not he needs to explain clearly to dispatch where the issues are, and when he can get too each location. Many times they will tell you to take it anyway. But always do this. It is not your fault if you communicate well and they tell you to take a load you say may or will be late. Especially if you explain this before you accept it.
If anything happens to mess up your times while in route, send a message to dispatch ASAP.

I have followed these rules for my full time at Central. I have 100% on time delivery's, accept for a few that were known when I accepted the load. I was never dinged for it. Also, I was never shorted miles by dispatch for doing it this way. They learned to trust me 100%. If I said I would take a load they knew that unless there was an act of god, I would deliver that load on time. This has gotten me many really good loads over time.

I am sorry this got so long. It is something I have been trying to explain to drivers at terminals and on the road for a long time, when they kept getting service failures. Maybe someone will get something out of it.

It looks like allot to do. At first it is. But it gets easer over time. Now it takes me just a few min to figure out if I can take a load or not.
This is one of those things that trainers should all train drivers to do, and most don't.

 

I will print this out for him so he can take it with him. I'm sure he will appreciate it. He is looking forward to driving so that is a plus. He knows they don't get many loads down towards Laughlin so we will try to figure out where we will live after he is done. We miss him a lot but this has to be done. With the mess here at my daughters, it has been stressful on us and him. Maybe once i am at his parents, he won't worry so much. At least i hope not.

 

He is going to worry about his family while he is away!! But it sounds like he has his head screwed on right and will do what he has to do.

JJ and I live on I-84 and we have never had trouble getting a load back this way for home time. JJ is going back out by himself for a few weeks while I get some things organised at the house, this will be the first time we have been separated since he finished his training. I will be on here a lot lol. I get bored at home

 

If that long post will help one person then it was worth writing.
I spend allot of time trying to talk to drivers that have been with the company a while how to do this, and they don't get it.

My fleet (Kraft) has a 1 strike you are out policy. Every week we loose at least 1 driver from the fleet for making a mistake, and delivering late. Most of the time they know it will be late well before they tell anyone, and by then there is noting that can be done to save the load.
These drivers have all been at Central for 6 months++. They are still making these mistakes. It is a habit that must be formed as soon as possible.

There had been another driver running my route. Avon NY->Independence MO->Granite City IL-> Avon NY.
Rinse and repeat.
This is a 3000 mile a week run at Kraft dedicated pay .38 cpm base, always get the .01 cpm bonus for productivity. Thru home 1-2 times a week. I can only usually make it 1, but he lived close to Avon, may have made it 2. He left home too late one day to pick up, and was late delivering. Now off the fleet. He now has to do about 3500 miles a week to make the same money, and is not home as much.

Easy run, 1000+ a week take home.

I did not want to loose this, that is why I do not stop at home on the mid week run. I know that it will be tight on delivery, so I do not even try and stop. I get within 30 miles of the house, and drive on by.

My point is, these runs do exist. Most drivers that get on them are careful and do not loose them, or leave the company. They are hard loops to get on, but with patience, and on time service as a primary goal, it is possible for all of us to get them with time.

 

Well he is fired up about driving. My only problem is, my ex. He will not let us leave state with the kids so i have to find some sort of place here. It really bugs me but don't have the money to fight in court. We will figure something out. He just wants to do a good job and make a decent living for us. Thanks to everyone who has been talking me through this. It does get lonely and we miss him. At least this way, i get to talk to some who do work there and knows what it is like.

 

Hey...I grew up in jtown!!! back in the day when 2001 top hat club, Marshal Dillon's, Rusty Nail were still alive and the Cherry Lounge was the Green Door. Also, b4 Lucille Ball was painted all over town. She actually was born in Celeron (not Jamestown) and lived next door to my aunt until she was 3 or 4. Small world...

I was following your threads from CFI to CR- was thinking of them for the first year. I cant do the CFI 3 plus week-on thing, too many other commitments.

quick qn - are you saying you do this run twice in a 5 or 6 day week?
.. Avon NY->Independence MO->Granite City IL-> Avon NY..

A lot of the statements I find on these forums I can see right through and well, you know...grain of salt. But your stuff is genuine and well appreciated. Could you elaborate since you are good at detailing, and if you could include how you handle split breaks. I dont get how you could have a 11/14/10 and also have a split break that breaks the rules. Makes no sense to me as a commercial pilot with easy to follow regs when it comes to service time. Not that I dont get it but that it seems to contradict itself. Typical Fed Regs

I am stuck deciding between a premier flatbedder and one of the mega trainers. I really need the weekends and maybe once through the house during the week. So I have hesitated with this career change and I am waiting for the industry to get better lol.

Kind of like the computer industry I was in years ago when the demand got so high the salaries skyrocketed and the perks were amazing. My guess is it will be a long wait if and when that happens to the trucking industry. Simply because there are too many takers and not enough negotiators. Regards..