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

Got loaded in Hazleton Thursday after having an issue with the trailer I had. Seems there was a hole in the roof and the shipper refused the trailer. I called dispatch and told them what was going on. They told me to run over to mountain top and get another one and to red tag the one with the hole in it. The shipper said I needed to be back by 2:30 or they wouldn't load me until the next morning. It was a 40 mike round trip. I left at 1pm, got my new trailer and was back at 2:20. I was loaded and headed to Wytheville in an hour. I got to the yard at 11:30 that night in the pouring rain. I woke up yesterday, grabbed an empty and went back to the richmond yard. I was given a load that delivers Monday by the house. I have hometime set for next Sunday and Monday so this is what's called a drive by. Not a shooting, but a stop off at the house under a load. I'll be coming right back out Monday. Just finished my mandated half hour break, 4 hours from the house, time to hit the road now that I'm fully rested.

 

" mandated half hour break " 1 of my drivers said it makes him feel like a UNION member with COFFEE breaks

 

I'm home. Got here about 3pm yesterday. Not doing a thing this weekend except floating round on my favorite raft in the pool. That will take me the rest of the weekend. I will have a fresh 70 when I leave in the morning to deliver so I'm going to call in in the morning and cancel my home time I have for next week. I've seen how easy it is to get home so I'm just going to work through this next pay period.

 

Well... don't forget, that violation will be there for any DOT to see for at least 7 days, if you are unlucky enough to have an inspection...

 

Well I almost forgot, my 90 probationary period is up effective today, and what a great place to write about it, from the house. For those that have followed me while I was at Calex, to coming on board over hear at Abilene, you all know I tell it the only way that I can, right from the heart, good or bad. So, I figured that when I was told in orientation that I would be on a 3 month probation, I figured it would be just as beneficial for me to put the company on one also. So here goes.

I am not going to compare Abilene to Calex, even though at times it might come across that way, my only reason to write a report card is to let everyone know how it is to work here. I despise change, it has been said that change is good. My thought about that is, why? If I am comfortable at something, then why change. I found out why when I asked for a raise, solely based on my job performance, not expecting to be thrown in with everyone else's performance, and was denied. So, the change came into effect.

It took me a while to get accustomed to the way dispatch operates. I have to thank Jason,(runningman0661) for all his answers when I first started that where not covered in orientation. My take on that was that orientation needed to be 3 days, not 2, then thrown out to the wolves. I'm old school, my job is to pick up, deliver and do it safely. Period. with the advent of E-Logs, Qualcomm, and satellite tracking, the brain trust out there is trying to make this trucking for dummies. At the end of the day, experienced drivers with a spot free record are in demand, I just wish they would be paid more.

I've gotten use to how dispatch operates. my only gripe is I wish there was more preplanning, in fact, for me I wish there was any form of preplanning. Payroll is another top issue with me. We are paid off the computer, period. Whatever is in the computer is under my name is how I get paid. I've had one mistake in 3 months that was corrected immediately and without question. I was shorted 370 miles because a wrong city was put in for my starting point on a trip. It was entered wrong on the dispatch end, but I should have read the screen better and caught it myself. All I would have had to do was call into dispatch, have them correct it and end of story. No biggie, it was handled with one phone call.

Operations, and various personnel are a pleasure to deal with, I turn nothing down, I do favors when asked, I go to Brooklyn without so much as a peep. We are paid every 2 weeks, our pay period ends at midnight Saturday night. I was curious to see how this would work out. It's been a pleasure. I don't live paycheck to paycheck, so this allows me to take home time when I need to, or run by the house under a load, which I do then as long as I have at least 10 days to run then I'm averaging my 6100 miles per pay period.

We get paid for everything we do. We don't handle freight. We drive. Detention? it's happened once and I got paid for it. Everything that has been told to me about how Abilene operates is spot on. I knew going in after my orientation what to expect from the company. It's been there, I do my job and no complaints from me. After 3 months I will give the company an A and myself an A. I think we are a good fit for each other.

Here's my only thing I got on my wish list, some longer runs. They have them, I just have to wait my time. They had 10 loads going to Polson MT two weeks ago and I asked for one and was told no. Not a problem, after 3 months here I don't need a 2400 mile run to make my average, it would just be a nice deal to close the trailer door and ride for 4 days without bumping docks. But, like anything else, I have to earn it, the unfortunate thing about that they might give me a Polson MT up near Kalispell in the middle of January.

In closing I will say this, I was a nervous wreck when I decided to change jobs, like I said, I hate change, but so far this one has turned out to be a good one. Abilene from what I have seen compared to Calex is a much better run company. It's bigger, 385 trucks compare to 170, but it's nice to drive newer well maintained equipment and to not have to worry about being stranded in some podunk town waiting for a load. I have not once waited over night for a load. I might have emptied today and loaded the next day, but that was because I had to deadhead a few hundred miles to reload. Hope this was helpful.

I just want to add one more thing, a big thanks to runningman and scooterdawg, their help and insight has been a tremendous asset to me.

 

Great report, John!

 

I'm with you, JohnBoy. Good company. I hit my 90 days at the end of June. I don't have the years of driving experience you have, but I am treated fairly and with <gasp> respect. I can't say it enough, I am thankful that Abilene decided to take a chance on me. Pay has been spot on and any issues (like with my first truck) have been taken care of quickly.

 

Thanks for a great report JohnBoy been following you since Calex so I was looking forward to this.

 

hey John, u have a lot better preplanning there than I do where I am. I think the only loads that are preplanned are the local flour runs. Its been 4 months gone from Calex for me and not going back any time soon.