Another Watkins Shepard Thread

haha, there have been many monday morning where other driver and myself have gone to work to find a dead batt.
im not sure why this always happens here, but it seems pretty common. the mech. said that the trucks all need new batts, i check, re check and re re check to make sure that nothing is left on in the truck while i leave it for the weekend. i hope you didnt leave anything pluged in.. fridge, sat radio, tv, chargers etc?
you should be able to jump it with you truck, hook the cables up and let em sit for at leave 30 mins, then give it a shot. we have used a little chevy s-10 to jump a truck or two in the past up here.
yeah the north east could be a nightmare at times, and i sure did get my fair share of self training when it comes to backing up. im sure that when i go out OTR ill have zero problems when it comes to backing up.
i enjoy the company a lot, but frankly im fed up with the NE, and i want/need/demand a change in what i do.
i started right outa school doing the short haul/line outa sayreville, usually running anywhere between va, nj, pa, del, ny, upstate ny, mass, ct, ri, nh,vt. VT is the worse unless im pulling a trailer smaller then a 53.
they sent me on my way, going to little mom-n-pop shops when in fact someone with my lack of experience should never have gotten in volvled in, all other companies require at least 1 year OTR expr. doing these types of run.
im thankful for this position, and im glad i have the oppertunity to do such work for this company and the fact that they had enough trust in me to do this, and i could not have gotten this type of training anyplace els, and i may get mad and ticked off with it at times, but the plus side is im still driving this huge truck on tiny residential neighborhoods, delivering to place just should not be going to, go down miles and miles of " no trucks " streets, and i enjoy all of it, iv always enjoyed a decent challenge, but im looking forword to going OTR with the company, im 22, and OTR is what i have always wanted to do my whole life, im glad watkins shepard is around, i could have ended up at other scary companies.

 

harley, i showed up last nigt at sayreville to head out on of my regular sortline weeks to find a letter in my mail box saying that do to a slow down in freight that as of monday 11/10 i wil be assigned to OTR operations, so it looks like ill be heading OTR a lil sooner then expected, im not complaining at all about, other then the way i had to find out. anyway, maybe ill see you out on the rd someplace.
good luck with the truck.

 

It seems like it's the norm for Watkins and Shepard to send drivers out making local deliveries in a sleeper tractor with a 53 foot trailer. I've only been driving for three weeks, but in my first week I had a load from Santa Fe Springs, CA to Denver with 10 drops at furniture stores in between. Some of the places were so tight I didn't even have room to maneuver into the dock. At least twice I had to park and just unload in the street in front of the place. The good thing is that they pay for unloading or helping to unload, and they pay for each stop.

Overall I get a good feeling from the company so far. Lots of good people, and everyone seems helpful and willing to answer questions. Dispatch has been keeping me moving almost non-stop. I usually have a new load within minutes of getting unloaded or dropping a trailer, so I have no complaints. I hope things stay this good.

 

You ain't seen #### yet !

Just wait until you get a load out of Myrtle with 10 stops. The Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee locations we hit, will make those look like football fields.

I've delivered to a few, that required having the customer come to me....2 blocks over from the store.

Or, there's one of our regulars in Newnan, GA. Blindside from the street, over a blind rise in the road...always fun.

Or another, that sits on the corner of a 5 way intersection (use your imagination)...no dock...no parking lot, not even a sidewalk. No where to turn around, and your only option is to continue through the nice $500K + housing developement with NO TRUCK signs every 50 feet.

OH!! And if you came in from the east, instead of the west. Be prepared to drive into oncoming traffic through the single lane feeder AND the intersection....with no signal to stop traffic on your blind sides.

Yes...life is wonderful, for Furniture drops.

 

It puts hair on your chest. You either get it or you dont and you move on to a simpler driving job. Personally that self learning of how to deal with those MANY situations helped me out pretty good with my current LTL gig I've been doing for 3 years. If it weren't for W/S, I wouldn't be the residential pro I am with a 53'er.

 

I dunno about the hair, but my time at W/S is totally responsible for the driver I am today. I got a lot of secondary highway miles and that is something you can't fake. I am grateful I got through that learning curve early in my career. I also drove on a frozen surface for the first time in my life in one of their trucks. Yeah, they covered that, too....

 

There is no doubt you will quickly learn the limitations of your overall length and driving skills.

Or you're going to be tearing a lot of #### up LOL.

I've done furniture for about 8 or 9 years total. You learn real quick how to judge a driveway, or an intersection.

If I have any doubt. I'm on the ground looking.

 

well i guess i can post to this now. as i posted earlier in the week iv recently been bumbped to OTR,. i was very disapointed to how i found out, however i wouldnt have expected much more from them.
im learning how to do all the OTR from a driver that i was in training with all over the phone. if it were not for him, id prob still be sitting in my truck at the termin wondering what to do. even tho he has only been driving for about 8 months, he still knows more about the OTR then what i do, as far as using the qc, keeping track of milage, what messages have to be sent and when to send them, i never learned how to do this.
even tho it has been just a week since im OTR, my stress level has dropped a good 90%. running shortline out of NJ, and running in the wonderful NE part of the country has gave me some outstanding self training that i prob. would not have been able to get anywhere els. i had a blast doing what i did, but on the same hand had a stress level through the roof dealing with all the things we had to deal with.
OTR is something that iv always wanted to do, and im looking forword to this brand new experience. in a way its like starting at a new company, but again with out the proper training, i think iv got the hang of things, and im always asking you other drivers what to do and what NOT to do.
i cant wait to go out west. even if i get stuck in the western loop that i hear of, im all for it. i really dont care where i go, as long as i can stay away from the eastern part of this country.
i will never ever do shortline again for 2 reasons, 1 of them being that its not woth the amount of stress you under. thats the main reason. the other reason i should prob not say here, cause clearly people in this company read this board, drivers and non-drivers.
i look forword to meeting you along the way.
ill get on as often as i can and update how things are going.

 

My favorite is the Pier 1 dock in Helena, MT.
It's so tight, if you open the doors before backing in, they will get ripped off.

I drove by it the first time, I thought it was a stairwell!