EPES TRANSPORT-Greensboro, NC

yep I got 2hrs city labor pay for it.....and given the time it took to do the moves, even in the ice vs the pay I came out ahead so I can't complain. but it isn't quite that black and white.

to my knowledge there's only one customer we are expected to do those kinds of trailer moves for. the cork place in Spartanburg that does the p&g loads. there is an agreement in place that if they need something moved and we have a driver there they will move it. the shipping supervisor will give you a move sheet with the trailers you moved on it and you scan it in with your bills on that load and they pay the city pay based on the number of moves you made. only had to do it once and the shipping supervisor explained the deal to me when she handed me the move sheet.......that was the only supplemental item I have ever had to follow up on to make sure it paid. I'm guessing because we only rarely do that kind of thing.

as to the place in Montoursville we have a daycab and driver positioned there to do those moves.....but when I got there this time I noticed the daycab wasn't there. it's always parked in the same spot so it can be plugged in for the heater. this is a good customer that gives us steady work so when they asked I just looked at it as good customer service for a good customer and we do provide that service for them but the equipment obviously wasn't there. I didn't see it to be that big a deal other than the ice sheet as far as the eye could see. figured I'd follow up with my dm later and I did.

I only found out today that there have been some issues with the driver there. 2 broken crankshafts in 2 months. the first one the company wrote off as due to age since it's an ancient international. the second time a month later somebody at the customer told on him. Let's just say he wasn't being real kind to the equipment lol

so, we provide the service to the customer, the equipment wasn't available, so yes, I had to make the moves. good customer service for a good customer that provides a lot of loads.

I followed up with my dm today and he paid it although this is another one of those deals where it's all in how you approach it and having a good relationship with your dm and being someone who handles business instead of whining over nothing helps as well. you don't just call up and 'demand' to be paid for something like that. put it to him as I did above, from the cutomer service angle, how it wouldn't have been such a big deal if it had been ordinary conditions and the extra time burned on my clock due to the ice made it an issue worth discussing, and I got paid for the work even though it doesn't fall within my normal job description.

like I said before, you have to know when and how to speak up and assert yourself, and when to let some things go and keep your mouth shut. pick only the battles you know you can win lol fortunately, there aren't many of those occasions to weigh the difference with this company.

and that rock they put down helps, but with a solid inch of ice on top of it, it just makes for a pretty picture lol

 

Was doing really well today, till we turned off I77 on to I74 towards Mount Airy. Road had not been touched as 13:30 this afternoon. And was not bad except couple of SND trucks jack knifed. Sat in middle of the road for 7 1/2 hours. Traffic had packed the snow into ice. So plowing was not going to help . But no pretreatment , salt , or sand . This on a interstate? Be at yard in few mins. Leave in afternoon for a event south of Wilmington nc sat morning.

 

the world must be coming to an end.....picked up 2 store loads in the last 10 days, one out of Valdosta and the other from Statesville that weighed even within 500 front to back....they weren't loaded with all the weight in the rear.....and noticed they're starting to load shrinkwrapped pallets on the tail instead of floor loading it so not only have there been no weight/length issues with them but I haven't had to worry about everything spilling out onto the ramp as I back down to the door......

these truly must be the end times lol

back out on recap again and of course i'm getting long trips that are making it really hard to manage......esoecially since I didn't carry over as many this week as I have previous weeks on recap.......going to be real close running out of time before I get in end of week.....but nice to see some good miles

 

Be safe. Spring is near so I'm sure miles will pick up for you.

 

one thing is for sure....even as a newbie fresh off your trainers truck you can't be timid or unsure of your abilities with this company lol some of these places will test your nerve and your skill for sure


what a day. snow and ice the whole way. Scranton to east Hartford up to Pawtucket. burned 10 hrs for 316 miles.

84 from the pa line to the newburgh toll was terrible. from the cash box to the ct line was great then 20 miles out from Hartford thru east Hartford and back out onto 2 was absolutely intolerable. I guess Hartford has zero left in their snow removal budget because they removed zero snow from 84/91/291 or any of the side roads.

I thought the directions were questionable looking at them vs the google map......bad enough they said stop in the road and go in and check in and get someone from the warehouse to spot for you backing in.....but they also brought me in to set up a blindside in off the street through the gate. looking at the map, coming in the other direction looked better and the gps said got hat way but there was a 135 degree left back onto the road the cons was on. figured directions said come in the other way for a reason. get there and NO way there was going to be a blindside off that street into that gate with 6ft of snow piled up on either side of the road where they'd earlier in the week plowed. guy inside told me go out to the main road, go down 2 intersections and there's enough room to hook a U and come back at it in the other direction. get out to the main road and should have listened to myself and the gps. the hard left was wide and would have been easy. go up the 2 lights and of course there's a wreck and cops in the intersection so no U there. go down 3 more intersections and get enough room to hook it around and do but slowly and all up against the snow drifts. back by the cops and down the street to the cons. get almost to the cons and here comes a cop lights on up the road behind me. #### I think lol figure he's going to nail me for the U to get back into position but he rolls up behind me then on around and down the street. still was tight getting in the sight side it wasn't quite 2 lanes on a good day but then with all the snow piled up I just kinda had to plow through the snow drifts to get into the lot.

get unloaded there then up to Pawtucket. slow going getting back out of Hartford but once I got out of the city limits 10 or so miles roads were clear. sitting waiting to get unloaded in hartford checked out the next place in Pawtucket. one way street, docks off the street and looked even tighter than the first one. it was. got lucky at that one traffic was nowhere to be seen so I was able to take my time getting in off the street but it was tight and slick. load assignment said no parking and nothing around for miles as options and I've got a short clock. luckily the guy there said he was running behind and it might take awhile to get loaded. told him I was on a short clock so asked if I was the last truck. he said I was so I told him if he'd let me park there then I was in no hurry to get loaded. deal. works for him works for me. then he tells me he's not the loader just filling in how do I wanted it loaded. lol just one of those days. mixed load of steel and plastic parts in bins. hopefully I got it right it's about 40 miles to the closest scale from here and I won't be there until tomorrow. not really wanting to come back up here tomorrow for a reload lol

I'm sure glad to be getting south and out of here in the morning.

 

Castings for Stanley ? Been in there a few times . Traffic usually fly around that curve ! Fairly nice people there.

 

Yep that's the one. Would be tight on a good day but you should try it with 4ft snow banks piled up beside and into that little street lol it was a pretty tight hook around the snow piles and that tree into the dock.

Got the pallet layout right too and glad of it. Only 6 holes back to make the turns and with a frozen iced up slide, frozen dock, streets and parking lot at the closest scale, there just wasn't going to be any sliding the tandems. It's tail heavy but legal.

 

Sounds like you had an interesting time in the north. I have so much to look forward to with EPES. Hopefully you end up going south. It's shorts a flip-flop weather now.

 

well any load assignment with the word Pawtucket in it is always going to be interesting lol especially this time of year.

 

What happened to Dan in safety? went to ask him a question and he's no longer with EPES.