Abilene Motor Express....A New Place To Call Home

Yeah, there is something about that devil you know thing. Especially in trucking.

 

Got sent to the Port of Tampa today with a special message: Make sure the trailer is clean and odor free.

Okay, must be hauling food or something. I know that FarBest foods is particular about the smell of the trailer and not wanting their chicken to come away smelling like whatever it was you last had in the trailer. So I made sure it was clean and gave it the sniff test. Smelled like trailer.

Arrive at the port, make my way to the shipper: Amelie Oil. I thought it was "oil" as in stuff you cook with, hence the desire for an odor-free trailer. But nope, this is automotive stuff. Going to an Advance Auto Parts warehouse in Kutztown.

Well that's odd. Why does anybody care what their car parts smell like?

As I'm backing into the dock, a yard jockey comes flying up to me in the jockeymobile. "Did you wash out that trailer?" he asks very urgently.

"No, but I checked it. It's clean and odor-free."

"Well let me check it out, because if it smells you can't dock."

So he goes back to check it out, and I get the thumbs up, because it smells like trailer and nothing else.

And come to find out, the last few trailers we've sent them were trailers that had been used to haul trash to a landfill at some point in the very recent past. I've hauled two of those loads myself. Big, huge bales of garbage, dripping garbage juice everywhere, maggots, the whole bit. And they do indeed smell like a dumpster. A particularly ripe and full dumpster.

And after they've spent a day or two baking in the hot Florida sun? Hoo boy.

So the problem wasn't that they were worried about their car parts or automotive oil smelling bad. The problem was that the trailers they got from us stank so bad the lumpers wouldn't load 'em.

 

Years ago, I hauled a load of peppermint oil. After unloading, the next shipper rejected the trailer because of the heavy smell of peppermint. And I thought it smelled fine!

 

Speaking of manufacturer design flaw.
I just got my truck back from Volvo and found out 3 things....
Hope this help any of our drivers with a 2019 Volvo.
1- Check engine light.
If your Volvo truck gives you a check engine light it could just be a computer error. (But don’t take a chance)
Mine was just a “Glitch”. They just had to erase and re-program.
2- They will check your “Air tanks straps “ they didn’t tell me why but it’s
Obvious.
3- Sleeper window recall.
The bolts that hold the windows open somehow cracks the plastic frame and the windows dangle. They fix that really nice!

 

My is a “VNL 760”

 

Every time I eat in Wytheville, I am shocked by their 12.25% tax on food served at restaurants... absolutely disgusting!!!

 

Ya, that’s what the Body Shop guy said... and never drive with the rear windows open as they might fly off... LOL