ATS/school

Yes you remember correctly, I am company. I realize that L/O's don't have these restrictions. I have looked at the lease very closely. Right now its not right for me. Some of these changes in co direction just give me more pause for concern. I still think its a dcent co, but just can't give a blanket endorsement anymore. It will still be a good fit for some.

 

Well this past Friday was the breaking point for me. I ran a load from Manitowoc, WI down to Houston. Couldnt del till Monday. Not a geat thing because we had almost 50 trucks in Houston from this crane. I guess we've been running parts down for almost a month, something like 200 trucks for this crane. I get told to go to a drop yard in Houston when empty, I had brought down a stretch flat from Gary. I sat in the drop yard all day with 3 other trucks. I finally get told to grab a flat and head to a truck stop for the nite. Problem was it was 5pm in Houston! Finally found a spot up in Huntsville for the night. Next day I get a load, but cant pick up till Wed. for a Friday delivery. Ok.... but i'm supposed to be HOME by Friday! Long and short, couldnt deliver till Friday am, in St.Louis. Im not very happy but this is trucking and stuff does happen. I was told Thurs that I would get a load of trailers to bring to Cloud. Then while im waiting for the riggers to unload me, I get told that im supposed to run down to Sparta, drop my trailer, bobtail over to Anna, grab a trailer, bring it back to Sparta, drop IT and bobtail back to Anna to get the stacked trailers! Keep in mind I had requested this hometime over a month ago, this was not last minute! So now instead of at least heading home on Friday ill be spending my day shagging trailers! This cowboy is NOT happy! To add insult to injury, when I get back with the first trailer from Anna, ther is a driver getting the trailer I dropped first, and a guy waiting for the one I just got. And they BOTH had been sitting all day with nothing to do! It gets better. I head back to Anna, which by the way is 80 miles one way, back up to the stacked trailers and set the breaks to get out and figure out where im gonna put the straps etc. Its then that I notice theres a kingpin lock on the trailer! And not some cheap aluminum one, a nice thick steel one. So I call in to nite dispatch(ya its past 5, everyone in the OFFICE has gone home for the weekend) to ask now what. They say they'll call road service and have them send out someone to cut the lock off. Oh, and yes, I did call the shipper and left all my info at 1pm. Well the roadservice guy shows up an drealizes that I dont have any actual paperwork, just load info off the Qualcom. Ya,I forgot to mention that, hadnt gotten that far yet. So he, wanting to cover his ###, calls someone he knows who knows someone at the plant. And is informed that we ARE supposed to have a key and paperwork an dthat he wouldnt cut it off if it where him. Well, he wants to help so he calls a friend at the police dept., and they agree to call all 5 of their emergency contact numbers. Well 4 are disconnected, the 5th doesnt answer. It is here that I find out that the reason I couldnt get a real person on the phone is that the plant has been SHUT DOWN! There IS no one to call! So the police send out an officer to check things out. He says that he cant give any kind of auth. to cut a lock and that he wouldnt do it if it were him. So the roadservice guy understandibly says he cant do it. Ok, I call back in and ask now what. The smart azzed young college pr**k says nothing I can do youll have to wait till monday , bye, click. I call BACK IN and ask for diapatch and proceed to fill them in the whole affair( roadservice didnt find it nec. to inform them what was going on) and HE says ill have to wait till Monday. I inform him, as calmly as I can(honestly, I knew it wasnt his fault) that there was NO WAY IN HELL, I was spending Easter away from home in a truck stop! Not after giving AMPLE notice! Im told to wait, an hour later I get the go ahead to go home. But its now 1030! Im out of hours even if not tired. I got home late Saturday afternoon. I cleaned out my truck today, and they will get it back on Monday. Im going to work for an O/O hauling reefer adn dryvan. It will definetly be a change. For the record, the fact that I had to deliver on Friday, when I was supposed to be home was not the final straw. As I said I understand things happen. But there was NO reason for me to be runnung 300 miles for trailers when there were 2 other guys in the area. And the way I was treated and expected to wait till Monday, sorry thats wrong. Dispatch should have made sure that there was someone AT the shipper, they knew the place was closed, thats why we were getting our trailers! Im very disappointed in the changes at this company in the last 6 months, and especially the last 6 weeks. I hope things turn around and soon. Right now this company is headed the way of JB Hunt et al.

 

Jyhm that was how it felt to me as well. What made no sense was when I told my FM I had had enough she was stunned. Even tried to get me to stay. But I have already made a commitment to the other O/O and even though he doesn't need ME in the truck I won't back out and put him in that spot, just not me. I really wasn't happy about how things ended, I would have preferred to give notice. But frankly I wasn't confident I'd get home to start the new job. KH, ill see what I can do. Still find it hard to believe that people want to hear about my misadventures!LOL but give the people what they want!