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

Trucking, yes. Abilene, no. Didn’t even call them because of all the dysfunction I’ve been reading on here. Figured I have enough to deal with and wasn’t going to add that into the mix.

 

Just think how profitable Abilene could be if they knew how to run an efficient operation, instead of sending drivers on 500+ mile wild goose chases for empties. It’s mind boggling to think about the money the waste on fuel on a daily basis with these shenanigans.

 

If i was the head of a company and found out this kind of stuff was happening, some folks might be looking for a job depending on their history with the company..that’s absurd sending someone on 1100mi chase for an mt.

 

I remember months before leaving Abilene that I was told to grab an empty trailer from the Richmond yard…I spend more than an hour going around! I was exhausted! No empty trailers! Got into the truck and Bobtail down the road to the shipper and got a call from the office… The person on the phone said (demanding a reason) Why didn’t you take an empty trailer!
My answer … Really!!!
Because you don’t have none!!! And you don’t know we’re your empty trailers are!

 

Drop and hook companies are appealing till you read about the ‘trailer hunts’….

 

This is, of course, the reason why I never bother looking for empty trailers on the yard if I know it's going to a drop-and-hook place like Boar's Head or Hill-Phoenix. When that load assignment says "Hook Empty Trailer and take it to Hill-Phoenix," I know that's just wishful thinking on the part of the load planner. They have no actual idea if we have any empties on the yard or not. But they're gonna tell me to hook one anyways just in case, because it's not a waste of their time to have me look for something that may not even be there.

The local drivers who get paid by the hour can earn themselves $10 walking the yard for 30 minutes looking for an empty. No reason for me to do it for free.

 

Amen! Yep!

 

Pretty sure that's been a problem at SFI for over 20 years. I was there in 2009/10. Same problem.