CRETE - A Year in Review

Not exactly correct, you could add a note to the existing status by hitting "Change" then adding the note and hitting "OK", without actually changing the status. But the new "Remarks" button is better.

 

Perfect example of how the current hours of service are both dangerous and inefficient. I got to Laredo late last night. My appointment isn't until 2pm so I call the shipper (around 10 am) to see if I can pickup early. They say "yes, come on in". The truck stop is 8 miles away so by the time I get there, a 7 min drive line has started and my 14 kicks off. I had taken all that into account but figured the risk would be worth it as long as they started loading within 3 hours.

As usual it turned into the worst case scenario. When I got there, I was the only truck and they told me to back into a door. But within 45 minutes, a frenzy of other trucks showed up. They finally started loading me after 3.5 hours but it is very slow. Looks like I will be done around the 5 hour mark. That means I will lose a big chunk of my driving hours unless I sit another 3.5 hrs (total of 8 sleeper and .5 loading) to recover my 14. All this in scorching heat in which I can't idle nor use my AC since it exhausted the batteries last night. So when I 'begin' my day (as required by the regs) I will already be fried.

 

Has anyone else's q/comm gotten extremely sluggish lately? Mine has gotten so bad that I wait almost an hour...all while sending random messages trying to connect. Today was a prime example...once empty I was offered a not so productive load that picked up late tonite and only went to San Antonio late tomorrow. I politely ask if that's the best they have, since it picks up late tonite. Now, it was Friday afternoon, the day after a holiday, so if they said that was the best available, then no biggie. I've been fairly busy, I don't want to be a freight hog all the time. So I waited, and waited, and waited. After 35-40 minutes(and several random msg's trying to clear the lag in the system) I just accepted it. Then a 'pplan cancelled' msg, then an 'invalid order number' message...which means, my unit is sending o.k., just lagging receiving. So I wait another 20-30 minutes(and again several random 'lag clearing' messages)...then send in a 'never mind looking, I'm headed for the truck stop since things seem to be slow in the freight department'. I wait 5 minutes, then roll...as soon as I am on the city streets and nowhere to stop, 2 messages come in rapid fire. At a red light I get to peek, 1, a preplan, 2, a message from my A/M saying 'check for a load in the morning, pta changed'..WTF??? The load is out of Roanoke, TX going to Social Circle. But I don't have enough time to accept before the light turns green. So, since I know where the shipper is, I head that direction and hope they don't pull it before I can find a safe place to stop and accept. I get to the shipper, send in my acceptance, and a quick message apologising for the delay. The acceptance went right thru, but the apology sat there...15 minutes with the little double arrow icon next to it, but not sending. I run the diagnostic on the system, all fine, but still no load info and the message still waiting to send...it finally went through, and I got my load info, but it took forever. And all this in a populated area with good cell coverage, and since it was 15 miles between customers, I'm sure it was a different cell tower at the shippers end of things. Maybe there's sunspots or the NSA is running behind on their data recording...who knows. I've cleared out most of my old messages, so it isn't a memory shortage issue...I've pulled out the plugs and reconnected them on the under-bunk unit, so they're making good connection.

 

SSB, try pulling the circuit breaker for 20 minutes. I was told that forces a hard re-boot *who knows*

Does anybody else send updates to their AM? I'm wondering if I just shouldn't be sending stuff. Like this last load, last night I had sent a canned 62 with PTA that was earlier than the appt time (it's to Wally World so I knew they would take it) and the system spat it back to me saying it was too early blah blah blah. So I sent a free form with my PTA about a day earlier than I had put on my loaded call. I got no response. So today I sent a message that I was 30 minutes from cons and only had 2 hours left for the day. As usual I get no response but it was my AM's lunch break so no biggie. Any way I get a near perfect load for my hours almost immediately after my MT call. I'm wondering if the system (when freight allows) is that good, I got lucky or if my messages do any good.


EDIT: Yes, I'm spending a lot of Tonn's nickles...or is it a quarter per letter?

 

Huge solar storms this past week, causing havoc with many communications. And since cell signals are very week, they are easily disrupted.

 

I finally got a miracle trip - Laredo to Hatford CT (2100 miles). Surprisingly, it doesn't have way too much time as usual. I can get there by 11am on Tue and the appointment is for 1800. I called the consignee immediately and got an earlier slot - 1400. I've been expecting them to tell me to tcal or pull into a terminal for another chewing out, but so far the black cloud is gone for the time being.

* UPDATE: Not surprisingly, I somehow screwed up in my calculation and will instead arrive on Monday. So I will be sitting quite a bit,but this time totally my fault.

 

Maybe we should trade q/comm's...then you'd get the message to t'call...but hours too late...and they'd have to let you keep it.

 

It could very well be, I've never been a fan of these cell based q/comm's. But I guess it's still better than the PeopleNet system some of our trucks have, so maybe I should hush my mouth...my truck will die, then they'll put me in a PeopleNet truck given my current status w/Karma.

 

I only update if I'm going to be later than I originally planned. But, if you've got an A/M like ralph's, I'd update often. In fact, if I had ralph's A/M...I would update so often, she'd never get anything else done but read my messages. It must not be as expensive now that these cell-based q/comm's run on the 1X data network...we get really long "weekly update b.s." messages, and "truck for sale by owner" messages.

 

My QC has been a little squirrely as well. When I was in radio, several times a year we'd have difficulties with certain feeds due to sunspots.

Well, my June ended up at 9150 miles, but I was also broken down in the shop (bunk AC) for about 5 days. Last few days have been interesting, and for a change not because of Crete, but because of a security guard not understanding the policy on handing out empties. Didn't really cost me any time, though, as I didn't have a lot that day to begin with. Otherwise, just the normal lack of clear, concise communication we've all come to expect from Crete Carrier Corporation.

Week of my breakdown, I submitted 258 miles. Last week, 2994. Got a two-day, 600-miler now...not great, but it also gives me a chance to pick some hours up...saddled last week with 12, 11, 5, 8, 10, 5....hate those type of runs of hours.

I'll add that the new ParkSmart unit is blowing ice-cold. Apparently these die a slow death, as my previous unit was OK, but nothing else. This one actually seems to drain the batteries less as well. They didn't change any out when they put the new PS in.