CRETE - A Year in Review

..welcome to the forum Web, don't jump ship just yet, hopefully miles will pick up for ya soon & with the economy the way it is it might be harder finding a good company to hire on at; like where will all of those experienced drivers go to drive when freight is slow everywhere?

..and if you can keep us posted on how it's going for u this year, it would be nice to hear how the women drivers are doing out there too!

 

You know what, thats so true ever, it is so true. Bad thing is, hardly anyone stops to consider that before they go off on a tangent.

 

Can't say I have. I was only on SE Regional a month or so before I went General Mills dedicated. I'm at a friend's house near the Covington, GA plant now. My load should be ready in the morning, going to Kentwood, MI. After spending a week and a half without getting south of I-70 (or much south of I-80 for that matter). I need some more time in the South to thaw out!

 

Been thawing out at home since Thursday am. It's a sunny 71 degrees today. My truck is in the shop to repair the Bambi damage. Should be ready to roll again Tuesday am.

 

They didn't say which company was in that bad of shape...that's why I think it might have been a driver rumor floating around during break time.

I have had a up-n-down time lately. Picked up a load at the water plant in Dallas headed to Robert, LA. The load wasn't suppose to drop until Tuesday, but since it was a drop at Wally, I took it in Monday to get my name closer to the top of the freight list. It didn't do much good. Sat all day Tuesday, and most of the day Wednesday at the Peelot in Hammond. This was the 2nd 34hr restart on this weeks miles. Then pick up a load Wednesday night in Mobile to McDonough, GA. And again, a drop...Suppose to drop Friday, but after they finally got my drop trailer loaded, I got it there Thursday. Nothing moving again. Late Thursday, I was offered a load out of Covington, GA that picks up Friday back to Robert, LA... Suppose to drop Saturday....But again-again, I dropped Friday. Considering I had 2 34hr restarts in 1 week, I am not complaining about the 2298 mi. I managed to run. I figured I was camping out in Hammond for the weekend, but Saturday offered 1 load, pick up any time out of MS to Lebanon, TN... But delivers Monday night at 22:00...which sucks. I can squeeze a in 34, but leaving a parking space that late to deliver and then probably not have anything to haul, and no place to park, will suck. And only 600 miles by Tuesday morning sucks too!

Did talk to a driver in Wilmer last weekend... A trainer with an APU truck,or at least he had an APU truck. When his last student was ready, they routed him to Lincoln, then gave the student his APU truck, and put the trainer in a new 'non-apu' truck. A new Cornbinder. He said it has a bunk heater, but no APU. They had finally decided to get him through Omaha and were going to put a Carrier unit on it because his next student needed a CPAP machine. And putting an APU on was needed instead of an inverter because it was on a trainer truck.

I haven't been in too positive of a mood lately, so I'll leave it there and go back to watching the AZ Cards beat up the Philly Beagles.

CYA'll

 

im try'n to learn how to use this board. hope i get it right to reply to yall's message.
yes, love those 2k runs. got me a run from los angeles to kansas city. had asked dispatch for home time until i saw the offering. so its best for me to run it as it'll pay the bills. the only problem i have with this run is that it doesn't del for another 5 days. i could tcall it and get stuck with shags again. i'll stick with it for now.

best to get me some dinner and cat nap to run tonight. yall have a good evening.

 

That funny you mention the CPAP machine, One guy I was in orientation with was sent home on the last day because he mentioned that he had a mild case of sleep apnia (excuse the spelling)

 

Any drivers on the General Mills account let me know what ya think about it..

 

I've been on that account since mid-August or thereabouts. It's the best thing since sliced bread. There are only 2 things about it that are less-than-perfect, at least to me.

1. It pays $0.02/mile less than the national fleet
2. I get to see the lovely beautiful I-294 Tri-State Tollway (the Chicago "bypass") on a regular basis. There are General Mills, Inc. facilities in West Chicago, IL; Montgomery, IL; Woodridge, IL; Geneva, IL; Belvidere, IL and Milwaukee, WI.

I live right next to Chattanooga, so I get to spend the night at home sometimes even when I'm not on official home time (such as tonight). This is because many of the loads on this account are going to or from the GMI facility in Chattanooga or one of the 3 or 4 places around Atlanta.

I've only been to the GMI places in Buffalo and its environs about 3 or 4 times, and to Brampton, ON once. I've also been to California once on this account. I am almost always preplanned, and I'd guess that about 90-95% of my pickups and deliveries are drop/hook with pickup and delivery windows anywhere from 6 to 24 hours long.

Several of the facilities on this account have overnight parking either on-site or at an adjacent property (or, as in the case of West Chicago and Brampton among others, you can park on the street out front), so many times I don't have to worry about making a pickup or delivery one hour before my 14 runs out, then trying to find a place to park.

About half to two-thirds of my loads are under 30k pounds, so I'm not spending a lot of time and money at the CAT Scales. There are a few places with heavy products like Progresso Soup or Bisquik that they'll load up to 44k or so, but they're more the exception than the rule.

I deal with 2 dispatchers. One dispatches loads that originate in the east coast area, the other dispatches loads that originate elsewhere. That means I'm not dealing with potluck for dispatch on every load. As with any two people on the planet, I would rather deal with one than the other. I will not say which one is my favorite, but neither one is really all that hard to get along with, just one is easier to deal with than the other. The only irritation when dealing with my less-favorite one is that the loads tend to be scheduled pretty tight, with no wiggle room for traffic jams, weather delays, etc. etc. (actually, the customers on those loads have frequently told me that those loads weren't really due until the next day, but since it's a drop/hook delivery, they really don't care if I show up earlier than what they show for the unload time).

The miles are steady, plentiful and consistent. Once, when all GMI plants closed down for about 5 days ending January 4, I delivered a load in Kennesaw, GA on January 1 (a Thursday) and was sent home until the following Monday because there was no GMI freight - at least they sent me home rather than having me hang out at the Marietta terminal or a truckstop waiting for freight. One other time, I delivered in Palmyra, PA and there was no GMI freight in PA so they put me on a national board load from Chester, PA to Sterling, IL to get me into an area where there was GMI freight.

I now know how to get to most of the General Mills places in the US, and hardly ever have to consult directions, though I occasionally use the GPS Navigator function on my cell phone to see how much farther I have to go so I can figure out where I'll spend the night. I definitely do NOT get lost looking for the customers' facilities. I started to type in the directions to 3 of the plants off the top of my head to illustrate the point, but that'd be a waste of space

Anything else you want to know about the GMI dedicated account, just ask and I'll answer to the best of my ability.