COVENANT -- From a wife's perspective

Latest update.

Been away for a few days at my mom's. Team Redcoat is still running. They had a run from Ohio down to Houston. Made that drop and then drove MT to Larado, picked up a load there headed to New York (Fish Kill?). Redcoat said they broke down again (8th time for this truck). This time it was something to do with a fuel leak some where and they lost a quarter tank of fuel before they could get to a TA to get it fixed.

So here's another story that is actually kind of funny because it is so stupid. When they discovered the fuel leak, apparently it was from a fitting somewhere. Redcoat tried tightening it up as best he could so they could get to the nearest place to get it fixed. They made it to a TA and pulled up to one of four doors (door number 3). The man came out, had a look and told them to pull the truck up to door number 1 instead. So Redcoat backed up the truck and spent another 10 minutes maneuvering it to get it in front of door number 1. He's thinking they need to pull it inside. But after he gets it all in place, another man comes out with a wrench (a "spanner" as Redcoat calls them), puts another half turn on the line that was leaking and that was that.

Now why couldn't they have just done that where he parked before????????????

I just busted out laughing when he told me.

THEN, after they picked up their load in Larado, their DM QC'd them wanting to know what the deal was why their fuel percentage was so bad. So Redcoat pulls the truck over to QC back and reminds his DM that....hello??.... they had a fuel leak??? Not in exactly those words. He was civil and gave him the obvious answer. Of course, he never heard any acknowledgement for his answer but that was to be expected.

It reminds me of a certain reporter I used to have to deal with when I worked in sports information at DelState. The sports information director would spend hours working on a press release for each basketball or football game and all the reporters would get a copy at each pre-game press conference. Without fail, this guy would call up and ask a question that the answer was right there in the press release in his hand. He was just too lazy to find it and found it easier to just pick up the phone and ask.

Probably the same deal here. Rather than having to think, I guess it's easier to just QC the driver and ask what's up.

I think Team Redcoat was going to make a pit stop in Hutchins last night to get more log books and to wash the truck and then be on their way.

He had a question for Rocks wanting to know if the miles have leveled off to roughly the same amount each week since she's been on the dedicated routes. He asks because his miles fluctuate so wildly from week to week we never know what kind of check he's going to get from one week to the next. It would be kind of nice to have paychecks that are within a hundred or so dollers of each other every week rather than $300-400 differences. Last week I was able to use $500 toward out finances. This week it was only $200. I understand that in this business that is going to happen but if a driver can get relatively the same amount of miles each week driving dedicated, then that would really help us out.

He also wants to know if there are any Covenant drivers reading this thread who have finished up their six months teaming in the last couple weeks who have gotten their $2500. We were going to call payroll but have decided that we'd like to hear it from somebody who has actually gotten the money since they changed the policy to $1000 for all the newbies.

Stay tuned.

 

I wish more dispatchers would chime in to tell their side of the story about what all goes on with their job. Like, how many drivers do they usually have under them and how does it work to get loads dispatched? Who is the one that asked the question about the fuel in the first place because Redcoat was thinking it shouldn't have been the fuel department because they are the ones who gave him the authorization to get more fuel after getting fixed.

Anyway, here's another funny....

Not to be dogging on the dispatchers but I have to tell this. This morning, Team Redcoat gets a dispatch on the QC that reads something along these lines...

You are dispatched to pick up a load of water from Nestle. Warning -- this load can freeze. Be sure to idle tractor at all times.

Now work that one out.....

Can somebody enlighten me as to how idling the tractor is going to prevent a load of water from freezing?????

Anyway, they are headed to Troy, IL. After that, Redcoat's teammate has put in for home time in Phoenix so maybe they'll head to Arizona after they drop off the load in Illinois.

Stay tuned.