System Transport, Spokane Washington

Week 2


Weeks 2 started like week 1 ended, waiting in Jessup, MD. Fortunately on Wednesday the yellow light of hope went off in the truck. Finally a load offer .... did you hear the screeching tires? Not so fast. Load cancelled faster then we could read it. Ugh! Wednesday came and went and so did most of Thursday and then the yellow light of hope went off again. What do ya know, we got the same load offer as the day before. I mean the exact same offer. So once again the wheels were turning and we were headed to Petersburg, VA to pick up a load of I-beams headed to Roxana, IL delivering on Monday for 838 miles.

Friday we are loaded by 10 am and on our way. My trainer has family that lives in WV so he asked if I would mind if we went that way and spent the weekend there. I said no so he called dispatch to clear it. I hung out in Birch River, WV while he was visiting. No big deal, it was nice to have sometime to myself.

Sunday came and we were once again headed towards IL. Got to Pontoon Beach, IL on Sunday night to make our delivery on Monday morning.

Monday morning we were up early and to the receiver by 7 am and in line with the other 6 trucks there to unload with us. It tool 5 hours to get unloaded. Between waiting for the second guy to show up to help the forklift driver to them running out of lumber to put between the beams. Five very painful hours. At 1 o'clock the empty call went in and 30 seconds later we had our next load offer, YES! Schaumberg, IL to Kent, WA for 2100 miles that delivered on Friday at 1 pm. We head to Schaumburg, IL for a 9:30 load. Fortunately the trailer was going to be pre-loaded so all we had to do is drop the trailer, secure and tarp the load.

We got our load and head on down the road. We want to get out of IL and get as far as we could into WI before shutting down for the night. We made it to a rest stop in WI and shut it down. On Wednesday we were traveling across ND and we got shut down because of blowing snow and ice on the road. We ended up loosing a half a day driving because of weather which was going to make things a little tight for our scheduled delivery. The plus side was I got to do some winter driving which was needed and good learning scenario.



For the week I had 2400 miles and some winter driving as well. Overall a good week despite the downtime we have had.

 

Week 3 02/11 thru 02/18

On Wednesday we were off again looking to make it to Spokane, WA for the night. If we made it that far we would be able to make our delivery on time. We rolled into Spokane at 11 pm and shut it down for the day.

Thursday morning we were on our way and made it to Spokane with 45 minutes to spare. Closer then my trainer likes but it works. We were unloaded and the empty call was in by 2 pm. We got a load offer almost immediately. We were dispatched to Tacoma to re-power another drivers load. It had 9 stops in the local area and the driver only made one of the drops. We had to make all the deliveries on Friday and be done by 4 pm when the last location closed.

Friday morning we were up and gone by 7 am and making out first delivery by 7:30. Needless to say we made all of the deliveries and were done by 1 o'clock. Empty call in and the waiting began. I had a feeling we were going to be waiting for a while because it was Friday and it was a Friday before a 3 day weekend. We found a parking place in Marysville, WA TS and waited. Within about an hour we got a load offer to pick up on Monday down in Ridgefield, OR. So we headed down to Jubitz TS in Portland for the weekend.

Monday morning came and what do you know, the yellow light went off and we had a message from dispatch. "Load cancelled, hang tight." EERRRR! Now we wait. At about 1 pm we got another load. Head up to Redman, WA and p/u a step deck. Loading at the Port of Tacoma on Tuesday morning heading to Covington, OH. 2300 miles. So head back north and get our trailer and park it in Tacoma for the night.

As it turns out there are 7 of us all loading at the same place and headed to the same final destination and unloading on the same day. We got there at 10 am per the dispatch and left at 3:30 pm. Longshore man get a 90 minute lunch and the hole port closes down for the 90 minutes. I mean nothing moves during the 90 minute break. At 3;30 we are off to Spokane. My trainer had a very close friend pass away last week and the funeral was scheduled to be held on Wednesday. So the plan was to put the truck in the shop for maintenance on Wednesday and hit the road on Thursday. The nice thing was I got to stay in a motel Wednesday night.

Two things you learn very quickly; when you are sent north to wait they will dispatch you to the south and vice versa. It is very interesting how it works out but it never fails. Secondly, things are slow. I had two 34 hour resets this week. Not good. Next week will hopefully be better.

I had 1318 miles for the week.

 

bMac how's it going out there? I'm hoping to be going to System soon.

 

BigR things are going well but I haven't had the time for an update in a while. I will get caught up on what has been going on out here soon. I am almost done with training. My trainer said I am ready to get cut loose when we get back to Spokane. Let me know if you get hired on and if you have any questions let me know.

 

bMac, I’ve been following your story here, with great interest. I’m on the list to get hired with System, and waiting for the call. Can you tell me what orientation consisted of? Drive test, physical, physical agility test, etc. Did your miles pick up? Any tips for someone who knows nothing about flatbeds. Thanks for all your help.
Regards,
Question411

 

Well i drive for systems. Yes you do a small drive test.They have you do a drug test in house first thing. The physical agility test is just to make sure you can lift the tarps and can do the job. no the miles have not piked up yet and i am hoping the do soon. spokane and seattle are the black hole for frieght right know.

 

bMac, i talked to Curtis today if all goes well i'll be in oriantation on 3-30, he has to make sure there will be a trainer available, any chance you'll be done training by then, maybee i could have your trainer lol!

 

bMac how's it going? have'nt seen an update in a while. Do you have your own truck now? I have been hired by System and am in week 2 with my trainer right now. Let me know how the training went for you, thanks, drive safe.

 

Hey, Just curious what does the physical agility test consist of ? Is it a series of tests to weed out the really Overweight Drivers or what? I would think the DOT Physical would be good enough to know weather or not the driver was fit for the job.



Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.
Jimi Hendrix

 

I Just graduated from a state certified CDL School. I have my Enhanced Commercial Driver License Class A with P1TXS endorsements and Air Brake Certification with no Restrictions. I called System Transport today to see if they were hiring student drivers. I was told by the recruiter that because I did not go through their School and they have not hired anyone from this school I went to (Both schools are in the same town in Wa) they said because I went to this other school they could not put me on! I think that’s a pretty Chicken $(&^% deal !!!

Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.
Jimi Hendrix