Drivers...doing the 'Same Route?'

I see the same Nebraska cops on a regular basis, sometimes I say hi, sometimes I say "thank You", I always try to wave with all fingers.

 

When you run a dedicated route, you get to know the dock people and the gals at the front desk who check you in. It pays to be friendly with those you see regularly because it generally gets you in and out faster. Heck I even bring doughnuts regularly and cookies at Christmas just to stay in their good graces. Time is money.

 

When I was doing city p&d, I knew most of the guys that ran in my area because we all went into the same places. I'd give a guy a heads up if he was going to a place I'd already been and I knew there was a problem. We'd help each other out like that. I'm still friends with a couple.

 

From what I've seen a lot of drivers out here are socially awkward and weird in general.

I've made the mistake a handful of times already befriending drivers who seemed decent. They always had some nonsense going on and just couldn't get right.

Now days I keep it short with most of em.

 

You get to know the customers, and it's good to have that rapport with them, especially if they trust you to get the job done. Personally, I like going new places all the time and new regions and seeing new things, so I don't often get that. But I have a few places where the customers know me.

 

I don't see the same places every day, but I see them enough to know most of those people I encounter, and have become good friends with a few of them. And then there's some I'd rather not see.

Loading at the same four cement Mills, I do see many of the same drivers though. But, running three loads a nigtn doesn't leave much time for small talk. There are a few of us that will do kind of a conference call, which can be fun with the right people, and no more than once a week. Anything more it becomes boring.

When I ran OTR, my interaction with people was kept to a minimum, for two reasons. 1: I was out there to make money, as much as I could muster. There was little time for small talk. And 2: the few I did speak to were either supertruckers, or total derelicts. I have no time for either.

 

I would have the same ### hole in the same pickup almost cause an accident at the same traffic light 3-4 times per week. Yeah you recognize some of the same people eventually. If you are on a regular route, you generally have less time per day for anything extra at work than if you are doing a 1,000 mile trip from A to B in different states. Hourly work versus CPM often means the hamster wheel spins faster, not slower.

 

Tap tap pull.

I only talk to drivers I work with really and the one dude who smashed up my truck with his street sweeper a few weeks ago... small world he’s always filling his water truck at the fire hydrant outside my house so I saw what’s up. Cool dude #### happens and it’s not my truck so whatever.

 

You should see them going down Vail, pretty sure the brakes have all been disconnected.