Ashley Furniture? Good company?

Its at Arcadia, WS , 4 office days of some training, show you the factory and some history of the company , how the factory works.

When they show you the factory its a lot of walking, getting ID badges etc.

They talk about pay, show you around from the truck shop to the company hospital. You get to meet people face to face, and they take care of every thing, you most likely would be flown up, they will pick you up and put you up in a hotel-its all good.

You Have a 50/50 chance of having your truck assigned right there (picking it up), when the truck you have been assigned has been received, they will get you right home, unless you tell them other-wise.

If you do not receive the rig there, it will most likely be picked up at one of the factory shops, ECRU, MS>,ADVANCE, NC=etc.

 

Sounds cool, thanks!

 

Yeah bring your walking shoes lol that plant in Arcadia is massive and you get an all access backstage pass tour of the whole operation. it's 3 1/2 miles from one end to the other around the perimeter and don keeps a pretty brisk pace

 

He is not kidding I will tell ya! LOL


And when he tells ya to bring the walking shoes, he means it! LOL

 

Well started out frm the house Monday morning with an open window for the pu-deadhead 250 load up some osb at longboard in Quitman GA, they get u loaded fast 45 frm time in to scale out very nice, then to Ecru MS for a drop-483

Then already dispatched to Macon Ga, 400 miles for a cust unload for a extra 50 bucks while I sit and let them unload usually takes about 1.5 to 2 hrs

So in 2 days Mon and Tues this week we have done 1133 x 38.5=436.20, 1 drop and hook 30., and one cust live unload 50 =516.20

And the snake in the grass is what they are going to do to me frm there for a back-haul-

Thought I was going to be headed to Advance this week and work that market since they stopped shipping Florida loads out of Ecru and shifted them over to Advance, and thats were I get my home load, maybe they are telling me something--LOL WE-SHALL-SEE!

 

All I know to tell you is call back in 30 minutes lol for the 4th time now.

wtf? That's must be script #1 in the dispatch handbook. Really sucks to start the week out in a dead zone and have to get the broker load out. That's the only thing that really frustrates me. Planning could be a little better coming into somewhere they know is going to be harder to get out of. They should be working on it the day before instead if waiting till the next morning and playing catchup once I've got my hours back. Just seems like an inefficient use of truck and driver. I'm sure once I've been here longer it'll all make more sense but I'm just used to being preplanned 90% of the time and being able to roll and know what I'm going to be doing soon as I get my time back instead of playing phone tag. Rest of the week always ends up solid though. Puts me back on a night schedule I guess and on recap too

advance is running behind right now so if you get something out of there it will probably be hurry up and wait. Growing pains I'm guessing. They sure have ramped up. Between 2 weeks ago and yesterday they've put on enough people to completely fill a 2nd parking lot and overflowing into the grass on the sides.

 

Well the update, we are finding out that ECRU is out of trailers, the grape vine has it that Ashley has shifted some work off swift ( back to ASHLEY drivers at ECRU ), which would make sense to support the shift of work from ECRU to ADVANCE, but in the mean time because the company is ramping up ADVANCE and shifting some work back to the drivers in ECRU, they have shot them self's in the foot with not enough empty trailers, planing and communication-I know they have been begging the back haul people to bring in the empty's but seem to have hit some road blocks with them.

On the shift of work to ADVANCE, well it hasn't all happened yet, the only thing that has shifted was just the BRANDON warehouse loads, that's it, the, the relay loads are still coming out of ECRU.

Well got my back haul for today, yesterday before I was at my delivery, 400 mile back to Wal-mart in Albany MS, about 16 miles from ECRU, just have to travel about 18 miles for it, not bad. 420x38.5+30.= 192. not counting anything I might be-able to squeeze at the end of this day. Reports are that at ECRU they are loaded with loaded trailers that need to be delivered so it looks like a productive week out of ECRU, it my be a long week this week, which is fine by me=more money. LOL

So glad I haven't had the; please call back in 30 mins issue in a while-it does suck-----LOL (Some of us refer to this as being BARBED-there a story behind that one-LOL)

What I have heard that some drivers help avoid this from happening as much or to cut down on it, as soon as u get to a delivery, put in your empty call, it seems to speed up the process, so while you wait to get unloaded for a live unload, they getting flagged to get a load assigned to you, it seems to help.

On the night shift driving, well the latest that I drive is about 1000pm, and that's about how they are staffed to. If you get a load that you are working with that has shifted you to over-night type driving and it has no set delivery time, you know what to do, to shift it back to day-time driving, it may take a couple days to get it fully shifted back to day time driving, and at the end of the week there seem's to be no difference in pay. Its how you can effectively manage the problem at hand-

One of my motto's is -MANAGE THEM BEFORE THEY MANAGE YOU- LOL

And on ADVANCE running behind I have heard from other drivers there, that there has been at the worst time 30 plus drivers waiting for dispatch, but haven't heard that for a while.

 

yeah that's the hardest part of learning a new way of doing things is to learn how to work it to your advantage and the nuances of when to do what to maximize your day. I've always been very leery of sending in that empty call before I'm actually empty. gotten bit a few times doing that in the past.

finally got my backhaul at 1100. cement out of Sellersville, in going to Jonesboro, ar. had to back down between those poles/rails in the pic to get to the dock. there's another one on the other side just as close. rubbed the doors going in and had to be real careful not to rip them off coming out. you gotta wonder how badly or how many times they had their dock torn up to have to put up a contraption like that, not to mention just barely having enough room to swing it around to get lined up in the right direction to back it in. it'll take days to get all the dust out of my truck from that place. one of those very top heavy uncomfortable loads that you gotta baby the whole way. 46,300 single row all the way to within 1 pallet of the back. knew that wasn't going to work soon as I saw it.....but also knew I'd have to go through the motions and get it weighed then bring it back. loves and J 5 miles away. of course, neither one had access to the scale. the loves had that side of the lot roped off repaving. at the J they had it torn apart doing work to it. ####. some weeks just start that way and just don't change. 45 miles to the next closest scale. get there and get the ticket and 41ft = 35120. ####. pull it 4 more holes get it under 34k and just roll with it. 40 miles from the shipper and already having a bad week just was too far to go back. snuck it on across and got it to the final this morning.

next load was a biggie too. 87 empty 15 loaded lol picked up off the drop yard in Memphis going to pepsi in Collierville. sitting here now playing hurry up and wait while they unload. guess they're in there counting every bottle. I hoping they're going to run me down to ecru from here and finally get something decent for the week now that it's half over and I haven't even made 1000 miles yet. jjust seems like some weeks go that way.

the empty situation isn't any better in advance. last time I needed one I got the last one there. very slim pickings.

don't ever park at the walmart in union city, tn on 51. you can park at the strip mall beside it, but don't even look at the walmart. 9 of us were very rudely awaken at 430 this morning after we'd been there #### near all night by a young punk cop who said he didn't care about our clock and what the manager said, the manager didn't wear the badge.

 

Well thats right, I use to park there UNION CITY, Wal-mart until they started booting the tractors about a year ago it cost 450, for them to take it off, and we did have at least one person that got the boot.

The local drivers did turn it into a dump.

I park across the street, behind Big lots, there is a gated Ashley warehouse with real security and gated, just drive up to the gate, let them know you are just staying the night and they will let u in, bathrooms to use in the morning not to bad, nice and quiet---.

On the photo! I hate it when its that tight LOL!

Well did my back haul to Albany MS, and now I am going back again to Atlanta, heartland yard drop, I have a feeling it will be a Gator aid back-haul to Wal-mart again, if that holds true, will have my get home load ready for pu I hope!

How it will work out this week 28+303+303+729+18+406+392+250+483=2912x38.5=1150.24+210=1360 and maybe home again on fri night, going back out on Monday morning. About where it should be for this time of year.

And the yard at ECRU, is packed up with loaded trailers, the most I have seen, since busy season--

Right now parked at the Jacks and Mickey D's in Birmingham, just off 78.

Another thing has changed this year, they use to have a cook-out for the drivers everyday during this week or at least a few days, and as u can see nothing, that's kinda sad.

My brother at Wal-mart says he gains weight during drivers appreciation week LOL

 

That's good to know about union city. Had stayed there several times in the past, always went in and cleared it with the mgr, but admittedly it's been awhile since I'd been through there. Things certainly have changed around there. Sure wasn't expecting that out of hours knock on the door lol. I had to start a new secret spot notebook I can't roll into any of the old Epes hideaways anymore lol

as has been the pattern start the week slow and run with my hair on fire the rest of the week. Ecru was packed for sure. I got ecru to Arcadia to advance. Should be in by late Saturday afternoon and just break 3000. Not bad for a recap week. One thing I've always been good at is managing that recap. I should slide in Saturday with hours to spare.

we must have just missed each other in ecru. I'm about the same distance away just going in the other direction lol