Flatbed versus Refer

I'm in the same boat but not sure i could handle Flat-bed at my age. From older drivers, i hear its tough work and although i am willing, the body is not what it used to be.

 

Never you mind the sleep patterns, those disappear when you start 70 hours, sometimes by day, sometimes by night. Your hours availible to drive rotate. It's not the same get up awake time every day like most people.

Lepton1 slept properly, I bet you 10 to one becuase I do the same thing with flatbed. Go to bed and wake for that THUMP. Of the first componet coming on. get up, dressed and go to work preferably with your thermos in hand so you can wake the hell up and get ready to do work.

There is no gaming going on. It's literally dead time. If you wanna sit there in the drivers seat for 9 hours as they pull itout of the hole waiting on duty.. you are going to be so tired and messed up plus short or out of hours to drive to appointment time. Many get fired for being up all day sitting there in the drivers room and then turning down loads late in evening when dispatch has them on for a overnight run. They have been awake way too many hours to do it.

Ive gamed the paper logs in my day, sometimes three books, sometimes once or twice completely off them. But those days are gone. Ive gone the other way over the years. And protect my driving hours any way possible. Loading, chaining and covering a ravens wagon does not take too much, an hour maybe. Sometimes two. That's not work. It's attention to the load. Logged 15 minutes loading. Technically forklift put it all on in 9 but there is no uncle sam to stand there and watch. I protect my hours availible at all times.

When you are a team like we were in our later years, you have a ocean of time, those logs no longer matter. 24/7 roll em.

Ive said enough, half of what I said pretty much is obselete with today's current logging. but the lesson is same.


First Commandment Thee shalt get thy sleep. ALWAYS. No matter where you are. Even inside a workside crawling with workers.

 

My avatar is Elvis's ring. In diamonds it says, "TCB" aka "Take Care of Business". My brother and I are both leased on with the same outfit. If we call each other and say, "I'm TCB" it's understood that the conversation is FINISHED and we are getting back to sleep.

If I wake up in the morning after a good night's sleep with no dispatch, I get up, have a few sips of coffee, walk around and make sure my trailer is still there...

...then get back in the sleeper berth and TCB as soon as the God of Nod comes calling. If I wait all day for a 5:00 pm call for a 700 mile load that HAS to be delivered right quick, I'm good to go.

 

I don't think anyone has mentioned the other slight annoyances of reefer:

Waiting in line to get a washout. You can be sitting in line at a blue beacon for an hour if the trucks ahead of you want and full wash.

An extra fuel tank to monitor and fill up. It gets annoying and alot of time is spent wasted when you pick up a trailer with half fuel and the shipper/receiver wants 3/4 tank.

 

Washout waits are annoying but at most places they aren't required as long as the trailer is relatively clear of debris and chips. And if you plan right, you can usually pull in with no wait and they don't take long to get you on your way.

Most of the d/h meat plants wash them out for you.

And keeping a reefer topped of twice a week is hardly time consuming. I can pump 10 gallons long before you can get 1 strap rolled up.

 

There is one spot in Jersey for washouts near LaGuardia and it's particularly dirty in it's behaviors among the crew inside there. I warned the spouse once I realized that FFE routed us back to that ####hole after I vowed in my early 20's not to be back there. I'll have to do some looking, but then again I hope they are really out of that business of cleaning trailers because their morals do not exist.