Climate Express

But, I do appreciate you doing inspections and none of this was directed at you. It's directed at companies valuing retention of lazy drivers when they could cut their fleet size by 20% and make the same money if they focused on keeping professionals on board. I'd argue I'm not a professional lol, but you get my drift.

 

Momma always use to fuss at me about seeming to be the lone ranger always stuck with maintenance issues an takin the time to get things fixed. I used to tell her basically the same thing. I'd always tell her well that's trucking. I would follow it up with the question well at the end of the day we're not sitting out back of the scale house out of service now are we? And that was always my main goal I'm going to make sure that I'm not going to get put out of service behind a scale and if need be I'll go around to scale till I can get whatever fixed fixed. Going around scales has become normal for me and the type of work I do but not so much with this new truck cuz it's easier to load than the older trucks were. But in my last two trucks I was going around scales all the time cuz I couldn't ever get the loads right. But that's what it amounts to for me I just want to make sure that I'm not sitting out back of a scale house killing time that could have been avoided.

 

I learned the scale house lesson the hard way. It wasn't equipment, but I trusted another driver's scale ticket. Showed up to the Moline scale house on 280 2500 pounds overweight. It was 3am and I relayed in Ottawa. I know you've ran that enough to know it's not driver error from hard cornering or braking. It's an easy ride. But, I was complacent and didn't scale it myself and lost 900 something dollars that night for an overweight fine and sat at the scale for 12 hours waiting on approval to break the seal and rework a load of honey barrels with the help of a crew. I lost a safety bonus for the crew cost, so I was really out like 1600 for that one. I haven't played around with equipment or weights since that one.

 

The problem lies in the fact that most companies just take it on the chin and let those drivers keep doing it. As I've said in previous posts before when I mentioned some way of hey you need to take care of the drivers that are dropping the crap like that I was told oh well we don't want to do anything drastic like fine them or anything like that we we want to keep drivers we wouldn't keep drivers if we did that.

 

And to finish my previous posts since I hit the post button too soon. And yes I think that drivers that are busted leaving s*** like that blowed airbags obvious bald tires lights hanging out busted whatever that's just completely obvious well I think they should be fine the down time that it cost the next driver to get the stuff fixed. I actually worked for a company once that did that and it worked out pretty well people stopped dropping stuff without it being fixed.

 

Not sure how everyone came to the conclusion I'm out here requesting road service lol. So far, it's been requested once... for a blown steer tire. The trailer 'tire' from last week was me simply letting them know what was wrong and that I wouldn't be pulling it. Every shop visit has been under the direction of maintenance.

Besides that though, if running OOS equipment down the road to help save them a dollar and save time is what works for you, more power to you . You've been out here a lot longer than me and it's worked for you so far. I don't mean this sarcastically -- its commendable you're willing to put your own record on the line to help save a company money that you don't owe them. I hope you were compensated directly or indirectly through raises for it. Techs get paid for every call they answer after hours, according to Chris, but we don't get paid a dime when our 14 hour day turns into a 17 hour day.

It's their money at the end of the day. It's our time and driving record at the end of the day as well. I don't feel my time and record are worth zero dollars. I was willing to suck it up and value mine at zero dollars because I was under the impression that equipment issues wouldn't be multiple times a week and I enjoy other aspects here. Whether it's bad luck or a poor maintenance program, my tolerance for it is almost gone. This hasn't been an issue at every other carrier except one. And that one wasn't this severe. I will say I do think it's partly bad luck because I have zero idea how the OOS percentage is only 20%. I'm batting .500 at the moment.

 

It really is luck of the draw. An seriously this is just part of trucking cuz we all rely on the other guy doing his or her job up to our standards an in all reality there are just lots of other drivers out there that don't care at all about what they leave for the next guy to deal with. An seriously your mvr an record ain't in any more risk than any body else's that climbs behind this wheel every day. Simply just get things fixed as ya can an stay away from scales when in doubt about stuff till you're comfortable that you aren't worried about a dot inspection. Before CSA nobody worried about this stuff at all. We just took our fix it tickets from dot an carried on. Again not trying to come off as rude, simply just giving ya the best answers i have as this is how I've always witnessed trucking to work. It is nice tho I will admit that now I pull the same trailer all the time an don't experience the negligence of the drop an hook world anymore.

 

None of this has anything to do with what my original post was a couple days ago lol. It was simply that if no one is held accountable and I'm not compensated, then there's an issue. When that issue presents itself a few times a week, that's a dealbreaker for me. 5 months isn't a long time, but it's a pretty fair sample size to make that judgment. It's not like I'm refusing to drive over a missing mudflap on day 2 and abandoning a truck. It's all preference, just like we all discussed on that K&B thread. Being asked to run overnighters might be a dealbreaker for someone, but it's not for me. Constantly dealing with trailers in rough, sometimes unsafe, conditions might not be a dealbreaker for someone, but it is for me. There are people that won't work for quality companies simply because they can't stand driving an automatic. I feel like out of the list of reasons a driver might not want to work somewhere, dealing with rough, sometimes unsafe equipment for free is a pretty legitimate reason.

That doesn't mean that Climate is a bad carrier or people can't find it to be a good fit. It's just not a good fit for me. And just like my opinion on that K&B video, I'll tough it out and hope it gets better or I'll find another opportunity that's better. I'm not going to abandon their truck or call roadside for a marker light. I signed up for it, so I'll get the job done like I've been doing until things improve or I find a better fit for me. I feel like that's a pretty fair approach. My experience has shown that there are much better maintained carriers. Your all's experienced has shown this is normal. I don't really know what else to say lol. No one's going to be convinced their experience isn't true.

Wasn't trying to start a riot in here and I don't have anything else to add.

 

And because I feel like I've posted my good and bad experiences in here for others to use if they stumble across this thread, I'll list the experience today, which has been positive. Same way I'll probably be on here with pictures again in the next week or two lol.

Delivered in Statesboro, GA this morning. Claxton Cold Storage to be exact, and they have overnight parking if you all have a delivery there. Seemed to basically operate on a FCFS basis as well, so feel free to arrive early. Empty in 45 minutes. Just deadheaded up to Greenville to pick up a pre loaded trailer at Sauer and it's heading to New Century. Trailer is in perfect condition -- not even as much as a seeping hub, air leak, or anything. Tires are all basically brand new. This will put me at 3600 miles when this week gets paid out next Friday with my Loveland load rolling over. Not bad at all, considering I had to detour a bit for a replacement ID.