Good Night From II

At least that worked out well for you. With the pick up anyway. Always nice to be ahead of schedule.

I'm in York NE yet again. Got 850 miles left. Kinda balanced the recaps out. Nice now that the weather has been cooler and I just need a blanket for comfort, been popping the sleeper windows open alot more, I will miss those the most about this truck, those things let in a ton of air. Course now they've been being shut more since it hit the low 30s in the alleganhys in PA and mid 40s in Morris. Low 40s in York right now, lower tonight. Won't need the bunk heater till I decide to wake up and get out of bed I think.

 

My delivery went as planned, some what.
When I get there I have to park in a staging area, and there is a truck trying to park. He takes about 10 minutes before finally getting parked to let me through to park. It was pretty full so I just pulled up on the curb at the side and went in.

Then there is a note in the receivers office that states I must have the lumper paid before my delivery time or I will be considered late.
Well, no one told me that before I got here.
I was at the gate 20 minutes before my delivery time, got to the office a couple minutes past, and paid the lumper about 20 minutes past.
I was there a little over 3 hours total.

I got out of there at around 0630 and headed for my next pick up, which was scheduled for 1300.

I was lucky again. I got there at 0840 and was given a dock.
No mention of my scheduled pick up time at all.
Out by 1030.

After getting up at 0045 this morning to make my 0300 delivery I was pretty tired. I really hate those kind of hours.
And after 100 miles I was ready to pack it in for the day, so I stopped at the TA in Rogers, MN at around 1230.
I'm not leaving here until 0500 tomorrow so I can get back on a day shift. Sort of a reset after too many early morning loads.

 

I hate when I get somewhere that has rules no one knew about. LIke most reefer customers, as long as there is no blood and the trailer is swept they will load. But some absolutely require a washout ticket, and only a few of those has it been put in the preplan.

You are on a roll with those early load times.


Anyway. I deliver as soon as I get to SLC in the morning, I'm sitting in Laramie. Pick up at 1am in SLC on the 15th and deliver at 2300 on the 16th at the Tolleson Costco. And thus will be my last load with Swift Ref. Then I head over to the Phoenix term and start my FB training the next morning.

 

I love it when a plan comes together.

But I could never do refer.
I've done a few Walmart loads and I hated it.
Perhaps it was because I was just thrown into them with no training?
I would ask how to check and adjust the temps, and I would be told not to worry about it. Just drive it there and you will be OK.
And the hours sucked big time. I would get a pplan with a pick up time, and I would arrange my sleep time around that. Then someone would call me several hours earlier while I was sleeping to tell me that the load was ready and to pick it up ASAP.
I got a bit irate at that point.
And then I have to be present while unloading to place a sticker on each pallet as it comes out.
Way too much hassle for no more pay.
Needless to say, I don't accept those kinds of assignments anymore.

I seldom 'help out' anymore, because nearly every time I have been burned. OTR is what I do. It is what I like, and it is what I will do.

 

My last year with Swift I started refusing Walmart loads with stops. Why work hard for $20 a stop when I can sit around and watch for $35 a stop most anywhere else.

 

Well, there are plenty of new people to do that 'stuff'.

 

We'll pass each other. In Wendover heading east.

 

Wouldn't mind doing reefer. If I knew who to contact to switch over

 

Well, if you see a Blue T680 with company logos pulling a Central trailer, youll know who it is. I've only seen one or two others, so it'll probably be mine.

 

As for reefer division, they keep me rolling. And at least in the Expedited OTR reefer fleet (more JIT loads, it's nothing special really), it's virtually no touch no observe. Like 3 in the past year I even had to observe a load.

Most of my multi stops, are multi pickups, not multi deliveries. Never done anything with Wal-Mart other than deliver to the frozen or fresh section of thier DCs.

Only thing I've ever had to do as far as getting in the trailer and doing something cargo related is placing a temp recorder for some cargo. I do volunteer to load or unload when it's an option, but usually it's not allowed.

And I never got any reefer training either, learned everything from other drivers. Which everyone I've talked too never got the training either. Even for the ones that did, all they show you is how to set a temp, how to set it in continous. Pretty much worthless crap that you can figure out by hitting a few buttons.

I have an actual infrared thermometer to pulp, its a way to cover my rear. But never had a case where it was needed. Never had a rejection based on temperature.