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

I'm empty, actually all I had to do was drop the trailer I had at the Publix store and bobtail out. After getting to the store, finding out where in the parking lot it was to be dropped, then watching 10 employees move their cars out of the way. I was able to drop the trailer. The store manager signed for it then I bobtailed to Deerfield Beach to pick up an empty reefer that was at some trailer repair yard. Come to find out, this place is repainting and repairing our oldest trailers that the company is sellng off to make room for our new ones we have coming in. For those that work here and know our numbering system, this trailer I picked up was number 5015, it has new side panels, newly painted, no decals on it at all, just the trailer number, it does look pretty good though. I'm coming back out on Thursday. Time to chase the dogs around and pet the wife.

 

Well it finally happened, a full year in here at Abilene. Now for a report card. This will be my overall experience here for the year, not for a particular load or particular person.

When I first got here I wasn't concerned or worried about switching jobs or starting a new job. This isn't rocket science, it's delivering and picking up freight safely and on time. I've been doing this a long time, I've seen a lot and experienced a lot. Going in to Abilene I had the mindset of doing just that, picking up and delivering on time and safely. I realized after my first load just how dispatch/load planners work, they watch your hours to make sure you can do a particular load legally, or have you do something with whatever time you have available to switch loads with another driver. I only had one load in a year that had to be repowered because I didn't have enough hours. I am very good at watching my hours, my biggest thing is to have enough time to get back home after running around the country for a couple of weeks. The E-logs have not been an issue for me here at Abilene or at Calex.

My first dispatcher here was not one I felt comfortable with or worked well with, it didn't become apparent until I was assigned to Tim, who takes care of the trainers and trainees. I've had Tim for 6 months now, and as far as I'm concerned he's the best dispatcher I've ever had. I use to say that about my first dispatcher I had when I first started driving back in 1980, but Tim is the man. He's approachable, proactive, listens, communicates and solves problems.

The load planners are the ones that hand out the loads to the Driver Managers to give to the drivers. I have spoken to a few over this past year, mainly when they have a fire to put out. That's fine with me, I know them, and I'm sure they know me, if not by sight, surely by job performance. One thing that impresses me to no end, is this, I have not sat anywhere in this country this past year under the term of "layover" I haven't, period. I had a few instances of getting an extra day at the house if freight was a little slow or they had to move another driver around me to get that driver moving for his/her hometime, but hey I'm home and like most of you know, I'll stay home as long as you'll allow me to.

I have had to the opportunity to speak to every one in every department here, if just to poke my head in to say hello. This isn't the perfect job, but again, I did my due diligence when I decided to make the change from Calex to Abilene, just like I did when I went to Calex. It turned out to be the right move for me then, and it's turned out to be the right move here at Abilene.

The first six months here where a complete learning curve, one that had me in a funk almost every day, It seemed everything I was involved in was something that was new to me, or at least different in the way Abilene functions. From putting in for home time, to fueling to strictly communicating with the Qualcomm, it was all mind boggling to me. That's where Runningman0661 (Jason) played a big role in my getting use to the Abilene way. He's not here anymore, but I'll say this, it's because of him taking my phone calls and text messages all hours of the day and night that I was able to figure this all out. Thanks buddy, I know you'll read this, and I couldn't write this without giving you a shoutout.

I train now, have been since right before Thanksgiving, and because of that I get to run the west coast and northwest, and because of that I deal with 3 people on a regular, consistent basis. They are Tim, my DM, Jonathan my Richmond outbound load planner, and Chris, my west coast team load planner. I have a pretty good idea of what they go through, just like they have a good idea about what I bring to the table, it works, and I think it works very well. If something isn't right about a load, weather delays or truck/trailer issues, they know I won't hesitate one minute in keeping them in the loop via the Qualcomm.

The equipment that I drive here is second to none. I have had maybe two truck issues since I've been here, and they were taken care of immediately. I blew out my first trailer tire two weeks ago 80 miles from the terminal while on my way in to drop and hook to go home, it was a Friday night in the pouring rain and I lost 3 hours. That's it. Abilene has the freight, has the equipment and keeps us running. I have averaged 3125 miles per week as a solo driver and 6,000 miles a week as a trainer.

We have an excellent customer base, but like anything else it has it's issues in the form of micro-management. I'm not going to name the customers, but I get it, it's probably the best freight I have ever hauled, even with the micro-managing. The only thing that irritates me to no end is the dealing with the broker freight we haul coming back to Richmond, but I get that too, it's a necessary evil.

Payroll is a nonissue here, and for this driver that's a big concern. I came from a company that couldn't hit the ocean standing on the beach with handful of rice, every week was a big mistake that took weeks to correct. here, I've had 3 issues that took one phone call and it was corrected. One thing that I thought would be an issue was getting paid every two weeks, when in actuality has been a blessing in disguise. If you go home and take an extra day or two to chase the dogs or wife around like I do, then when you come back out you have time to make it up before the cutoff.

I haven't had any dealings with safety, which if you think about it is a good thing right? Don't get me wrong, I have had 2 log violations this past year, then last week had to have my physical done, then also fill out the yearly DMV form, but that's it. I do deal with Sally in recruiting, she handles us trainers with the trainees, a thankless job at best.

So here is my company report card, a B+, an A or better tends to have people rest on their laurels, a B+ means people will strive to do things to better themselves or the company. Right now from what I see my company is doing those things and working to improve their position.

One last thing, if anyone would ask me if I would make the same decision to come to work here I would emphatically say yes, it has turned out to be a great move on my part, as a lot of you know, I gave up a dedicated run at my last job that had me home every 5 days for this, I don't ever look back and say it was a wrong move, in anything I do in life, I won't start now, but this was a good move for me. Hope you all enjoy the read.