EPES TRANSPORT-Greensboro, NC

Will have to see why the system lumped every thing to one paragraph ? Wrote it as 3 paragraphs.

 

I'd say they're having one of their dysfunctional weeks for sure.

 

Glad everything went well and you're back! Well, I woke up to rain this morning in Lodi so I decided to head on to Marcy, NY. The heavy rain turned into heavy snow before I got into Erie, Pa. so I decided to shut her down at the TA just past Erie after a few cars decided to put on a synchronized spinning exhibit in front of me!

 

What score did you give the US spinning car team? Be safe up there !

 

A 7 since they got a little to close for comfort! lol

 

well I had a sorry end to what was a similar week.

if at all possible if you need service, don't get it done in charlotte. after my lights and bells and whistles runaway def issue Tuesday.....I'm sitting in front of the shop there Wednesday at 0700 when they rolled the door up. got me right in. should have figured what was up since they put me in the very back bay in the corner. sat there till 1500 until work was done. watched all day as they pulled in and serviced the 'resident' trucks assigned to charlotte, rolled them out and going and got to me in between and bits and pieces at a time. all it ended up being was a clogged def injector. only took him 30 minutes to get it done once he finally got around to it.


before the def issues, i had been planned on 215 out of charlotte. then after repairs get 200 that delivers at 2300. then get that cancelled and get 225 that delivers at 2300. run that and then sit behind the sam's club till morning waiting on something else and get 140 to Danville. then wait 3hrs after I drop that and get a whopping 43 to the yard to drop. total for the week.....1240 miles and over 40hrs sitting doing nothing. service issues (which took about 8hrs too long to complete) notwithstanding, it suited me fine to go on to the house Thursday. while I don't mind my share of short ones and do whatever I'm given and don't complain......200 or less a day, every day, just isn't worth turning a key for. I know good and #### well 200 mile trips aren't all that we had and i had enough hours banked and enough coming back each day after sitting 1200 Tuesday to 1500 Wednesday in charlotte I could have gotten some miles in and then to the house by Friday. that's why I don't like staying out on recap. just never seem to get anything accomplished into the second week......I'd not be so critical of it if I didn't advise them every day hours available the next 2 days in advance but they don't seem to be putting much thought or planning into utilizing hours/equipment in the most productive manner. I'm on recap so keep it short miles and then we can make sure he doesn't run out of time. it's about time for that 4-5 month cycle of a few weeks of not having a clue what's going on. by the end of the month things will be back on track and running like a smooth machine. you can almost set your watch by it.

I guess one thing that is never going to change is that after 20 years being the senior manager and the one calling the shots and responsible for success/failure of my operations, i'll never do as well being the employee as being the one in charge lol.....

spent my whole time off cutting up trees that fell in the yard. the ice didn't get them but the wind last week afterward did. had a nice line of tall old-growth cedars along my back fence line and 3 of them came down. at least they fell in to the yard and didn't fall on my building or my fence. took 2 whole days to get them all cut up and hauled to the street....not to mention having 3 huge holes in my treeline. that's just going to annoy the #### out of me lol

heading out tonight at 0000 with.....you guessed it....250 for a 0500 live unload that usually takes 3-4hrs and then wait an hour after unloaded for the paperwork. blow a whole day again for another 250. they had 3 days to plan me out on something better with a full clock for the week and I get another 200 mile trip. picking up the student tonight as well. he wasn't hired for otr but has to do 2 weeks before he gets turned loose on his home every night gig......let's just say he isn't too thrilled about it. it started out being 4 weeks but he got it cut back to 2. doesn't matter to me he's going to get 2 weeks of otr training. should be a fun 2 weeks.

 

while getting the truck serviced is fresh on my mind......those of you who haven't gotten the 2014 model yet.......

when you get a new one, at your first service, have the wiper blades replaced. the 14's come with 24" blades. the previous versions have 22" blades. several of us who have the 14's have figured out the additional 2" of wiper blade is why we've had sooooo much of an issue with quick and massive icing on the blades as soon as you get into freezing/moisture conditions. it's terrible. the blades ice up on the last 2" on the right side and it accumulates quickly into a huge ice ball and then down the blade to where it's unusable and you have to stop every 15-20 miles and beat the ice off just to be able to see anything. that extra 2" of blade on the right side doesn't fit the curve of the window at all and gets worse with a couple months use to where the last inch or so sticks out straight and doesn't even curve to fit the window except at the very top of the stroke. annoying in the rain, downright dangerous in freezing conditions because the last 1-2 inches of the blade doesn't wipe the window but just sticks out there and accumulates ice at a rapid pace.....which in turn starts to lift the blade off the window as the ice ball rapidly grows and then the blade doesn't contact the window at all. happens very quickly if it's freezing rain.......not as quick but still faster than it should if it's just picking up snow off the window.

not much help at the end of the season I know, but by next winter many of you will have transitioned into a new one. those of us who got the 14's before this winter found out the hard way quickly about the design flaw. at your first service interval, specify the 22" blades. shop is aware of the issue and will do it for you if you ask. you'll be glad you did the performance of them is way better than the longer blades on the new trucks.

 

Short trips that is what the no button is for. If you just keep putting no on pre plan they will get the point. I spent two days at a dealership just to get the def screen cleaned. I really wish that they would clean it as part of pm service.

 

lol yeah I know but I just can't bring myself to be the guy that turns down loads just because I don't like what they are. I know a few like that and they sit more than they run and then whine at the end of the month because they aren't running. it's really annoying when they come back to back to back like that and sometimes there seems to be no real clear planning or thought put into hours available vs utilization but at the end of the month it all averages out. at least I can complain about it here before the wife gets to hear it lol

this week starting out a little better after the 254 sunday night. got 500 out of Atlanta delivering Tuesday evening so we'll get there and get a break in and then guess we're just stuck on a night schedule this week. picked up at the airport in Atlanta this morning at delta cargo. what a pain that was. directions were completely wrong. wrong exit. wrong direction. wrong road. good thing I always check my satmap before I go in somewhere I haven't been before.....and with my previous airport experience know full well you don't go into one of those places without a clear plan and knowing where you're going. too many places on an airport you can't take a big truck and could end up in trouble real quick. finally pulled over on the way and called the shipper to get their exact location on the airport and figured it out based on that and the map. sent in updated directions with the correct exit, street and turn by turn so hopefully they got it put in. can't believe we haven't had issues there based on those terrible directions I got on the qc.

trainee ends up being 4 weeks after all. didn't have his driver code straight and qc wouldn't accept it last night so I drove last night and he takes over tonight from here on. loads of fun editing and reconstructing his log for his on duty time yesterday once we got his code right today. I'd done a few edits here and there for students as part of the trining process but never had to reconstruct a whole day like that. took a little while but got it done. good training for him he'll probably never use going to browns summit to do local stuff lol I'm still putting him through the program anyway just as though he were to be doing otr once he's done with me.

just got the hell knocked out of us by the guy backing in to the spot behind us. almost knocked me off the bunk. i'll give him about 5 minutes to walk back here and at a minimum apologize for being a moron and not getting out and looking how close he was before I walk back there and beat on his door and question his character and integrity if he doesn't.

morons. get your lazy ### out and look if you don't know how close you are. at least he just banged the back of the trailer and not my hood and fenders

 

I had a guy the other night parked about 6 feet over the line. I went and asked him if he could move up due that is was sticking way out . He looked at me and moved up about a foot. I got back in my truck and i'am sure I knock him out of his bunk lol.