Do you use company terminals?

I live in Rio Rancho, NM, adjacent to Albuquerque. Rio Rancho has a covenant in place, no semi parking on public streets, no semi parking visible to the public at private residence. I am allowed to build an 8' block wall around the perimeter of my corner lot, about 600lf, with a steel gate. Like, that's going to happen. So safe parking is a serious concern for me. I'm not about to park my darling money maker Freightliner at a local WalMart or truck stop for 5 or 6 days, believe me. We all have our own perspective, but parking is one of the issues all drivers have to manage, carefully. This is one reason I like terminal parking. Myself. Best.

 

Some of the terminals we had were terrible. Nashville comes to mind. Indy was another bad one.
If we got stuck at the headquarters one in Chattanooga you weren't getting out for several days. It was like breaking out of prison. l o l

 

Interesting thread, it would also be informative if we knew the companies whose terminals are being mentioned.

 

Only drivers I saw voluntarily staying at swift terminals have been very negative, whiny, needy, and victims to everything.

Either way, you might think terminals are great until you have that one ####ty conversation with dispatch. Then you'll understand why people tend to stay away if they can lol

 

I'm in general agreement, its just I was not speaking of safety critical things. I was speaking of things like PMs on the tractor and/or trailer. Terminals can sometimes be "sticky" like that. When I went on home time I always tried to get over to the shop and see if my tractor needed any scheduled work. They always did the scheduled stuff when I was on home time and then hopefully if I did visit another terminal I was OK.

As far as safety critical things hopefully you are doing a good pre-trip with both your ears and eyes. Air and fluid leaks can be seen and heard if you will just look and listen. USA Truck was having such a bad time with inspections they started posting mechanics at their terminals who did short inspections on this like lights permits and tires. I don't know if they are still doing this. The only thing I might differ with you is the "finding" part. In my years as a driver I have come to know scores of mechanics. Some of these guys were top notch and I trusted their work and judgement. However of late I have noticed the biggest majority of these guys are nothing but glorified wrench holders. Most just do yard checks and unless the problem is glaring its ignored. I remember once at one of my companies terminals a guy doing a yard check just ignored a reefer that was making a horrible noise. I asked him if they was planning to try to fix it, his reply was the reefer man aint here today. The next morning the load was gone. The driver that came and picked the load up that night just stood and cussed for 10 full minutes when he discovered the reefer was ailing. I know that somebody might say well if they have the vehicle in the shop doing a PM they most likely will find a safety critical item. Companies and terminals vary, but honestly most mechanics today do just the mimimum required to get the vehicle out of the shop. I have even seen mechanics do the PM then walk around looking at tires and just sign off the yearly inspection door sticker without doing a full inspection under the truck. I also seen a mechanic once sign off of a PM and inspection and the 5th wheel had a bad defect. I had to call the head man over the shops about that one. Thankfully most companies shops don't operate like this. But enough do to make it imperative that YOU the driver do a good pre-trip EVERY TIME you start out.

 

you might end up spending 10 hours just to get through the fuel & inspection station at phoenix swift terminal

 

Now, Magnum out of Fargo. I use to work for Poly.