Avoiding Port freight???

It is a shame to think that you need to pay someone under the table to do their job.

 

Welcome to the world of unions......

 

Yea, and some people wonder why unions have such a lousy reputation.

 

I guess we all do what we feel we must to keep the wheels rolling. When dealing with the ports is getting in that takes the time. There are usually lines and they don't get in a hurry. Once I get in it usually doesn't take too long to get loaded or unloaded. But I am usually picking up or delivering equipment or a container. It is all the BS to get in that takes so much time.

 

Maybe with Detroit going bankrupt, they'll see that unions are useless and no good for economy.

 

There are a lot of really big loads that come from the ports. Huge. Some are cheap, but some of them have stupid money on them. For stupid money, I am the most patient person in the world. A word to the wise...if you have to go into a port and pick up a load with stupid money on there, do not tell anyone until after you're done.

Why is that, Six? What about telling a friend?

Okay, this might sound unfair, but critical loads, they're not going to allow just anyone to pull those loads. Extremely valuable loads or certain overheight loads 2 ft taller than legal or more will not be seen by most drivers. For the most part, it's first empty, first loaded, but for these loads it goes to those drivers who made a name for themselves of never dropping the ball on even the most challenging loads.

EXAMPLE

Took a load to Griffin GA. Had someone that I thought was a friend go to Athens,GA. He got emptied, and I was waiting to empty. My dispatcher was off, and his dispatcher called me on the phone about going to the Atlanta airport to pick up a $60 mil load. I told my friend, and he went back to his dispatcher pissed because he didn't get the load offer and he was the same class as me. He called one of the VPs and the VP tried to explain that I had pulled bigger, and more valuable loads than he had and 3 members of management had to agree on the driver. And they all agreed on me. Then management calls me on the phone pissed. I apologized and never made that mistake again. When I saw my "friend", I offered to give him his dime back.

It's one of the reasons why I always tell drivers to take the big loads whenever offered. It's not the money on that load that you look at, it's the money on the future loads. Over 12 ft wide? Take it. Over height? Take it. Stretch Rgn? Take it. They do keep track in the office. When you're starting out, it does seem unfair. I lost quite a few loads myself until I padded the resume.

 

I would always show myself empty as soon as the first driver started to get unloaded. It pissed drivers off, but I always got out of the place first. I only did this when they had like 6 trucks in the same location.