An old man's career goes flat, Snackbar moves to open deck

A truck driver's moto is just like the Army's ad moto from years ago....we do more by 9 am than most people do all day. I got empty, all securement put away, all paperwork scanned in & a truck wash before my dispatcher clocked in.

 

It's that or my subconscious is telling me to go back to reefer hauling

 

Today's SNAFU...(I knew things were going too good)...my little engine shaped nightlight is on, the code points to my regen injector or it's controller. I get to my shipper, the load isn't scheduled to load until tomorrow, so I ask if I should check in today or wait until morning. They said check in 1st thing in the morning. A little while later a dude on a forklift came out and took my pu number and said that if it isn't a big load, they'll load it today (he got my hopes up). Another while later, another guy came out and asked me to give him the pu number to verify. He originally checked the 1st guys number and it shows shipped already. So I gave him the number again and he disappeared into the building. After an hour, they closed the gate. 30 more minutes I messaged dispatch. 5 minutes after I sent the message, the 2nd guy comes out and says "nevermind, your load is still here, the other guy either wrote down the wrong number or looked at the wrong number on the schedule, just check in 1st thing tomorrow like the lady in the office said.". I swear, I can't go one whole tour of duty without some sort of confusion, chaos or drama...but my engine light is still on, so the drama isn't over

 

Got this weeks pay stub. When our VP 1st called me back in November about the per mile pay that they were forcing us on to, he swore that I would be making more on it than on the daily rate plan that I was on. I told him that my calculations showed that I was gonna make $3-5000 less. Well guess what...he was wrong and I was right. As of this check, to date, I have made just over $2300 less so far this year and we're not even half way thru the year. It looks like I underestimated how much less I was gonna gross on this new plan. If you compare what I make here to what I made hauling refrigerated, that's more than a $10,000/yr drop in gross pay...and I work way harder now than I did as a door slamming seat warmer.

 

For the moment, we are weathering the freight storm better than a lot of companies, so I have to bite my tongue and be patient...but my long term future doesn't include SPD or any other open deck company.

 

And no matter how much of an ####### I want to be, I would never be this kind...there are 2 trucks parked here waiting to load in the staging area. Me and another dry van, then this "RICHARD" just pulls up and blocks the gate



When I got to my unload yesterday there were 2 other coil drivers and 1 plate driver waiting to deliver. The plate driver was just untarping his load, the other coil drivers still had their cab curtains closed. I walked over to the plate driver and asked if he had checked in yet (they spent the night there and I didn't know if they checked in before going to bed), he said "no, but thanks for asking. Most drivers would have just tried to beat everyone sitting there in the gate". I basically told him that I piss enough people off by accident, I try not to do it on purpose. So, I politely waited until all of the other drivers who were there before me were checked in and moving to their unload door before I checked in. I was still empty and out of there in under an hour.