Glad I moved over to Poly Trucking

To be honest, I was constantly worrying my first 6 mos, since I was playing loaner truck bingo every week...but if you're not keeping the average up, I am sure Tony would give you a jingle and go over where things can work better. But right out of the gate I don't think they are watching it too closely since they are such a unique company, it takes a while for some to catch on so they expect a period of adjustment. I was in the office several months ago, and there was a driver who had been here for over a year still confused by some of the proper ways to maximize miles. Thankfully I had some fellow Creten's come over here before me and found out what does and doesn't work...and were generous enough to pass their knowledge along to me.

 

if u get the right mom/pop run u can bump up ur miles by making the appts for as fast as u can get there, i dont prefer them but sometimes the right one can get u some quick miles.

 

and some of the pa runs are quick turns, almost always backhaul straight back to tx, but u do take the chance of pickin up in philly or nj.

 

Just thought I was through with ice for a while but nope. The US287 cut through from Wyoming down to Loveland was covered with a tremendous amount of hail. Was still coming down when I rolled through with some pretty huge pieces coming down. Luckily only 10 miles or so of slick road but had one big truck and a couple of cars off the side of the road. Managed to knock my 3 drops around SLC off in quick fashion and picked up what I thought I would be getting up in Green River. Taking the old Soda ash down to Alexandria, LA which will be a new stop for me.

That Sherwin WIlliams Effingham load is a good one. Did it back to back a couple of weeks ago and they knocked out the unload in about 30 minutes. Good parking late at the Petro instead of dealing with that mess at the FJ and TA.

 

It seems like home time will work against the monthly miles average if I'm looking at it correctly

 

Im not entirely sure if you live in the dfw or not but either way my advice is not to worry about the avg unless your only getting 700 miles per week. In that case I would have to ask why are you otr. Mainly everyone comes for the money, flexibility, and independence.. like one said earlier if there's a problem Tony would call, might even give more insight on which loads are best and what days they normally dispatch. Especially the ones that run by your house. If you live in the dfw then im home almost every weekend with an occasional time I get stuck out.

 

The timing is going to be the toughest part. I deliver at Sam's in Bloomington, MN at 8 a.m. today, and Effingham at 8 a.m. tomorrow. And being Sam's, you can't show too early. Soooooo, a delicate balancing act of waiting to start the ole 14 hr clock against morning rush hour traffic. Then hustle to run 600 miles in 22 hours...hoping it doesn't take the shop long to push out my miles more so I can get out of UPN. Guess that's why we get paid the big bucks.

Where did they send you after Effingham...Indy for some Gatorade?

 

Not really if you run hard when you're out here. Because of my construction project at home that I am pushing to complete as fast as 1 person can do, I am sitting at 30 days off so far this year and it's only 1/2 way over. (my usual is 40 for the entire year) and I am still just under 10k/month. Still just slightly ahead of where I averaged with Crete(with only taking 20 days off by this time of year), and without the stress and hassles of working there. Now that my project is 75% complete (thanks to mother nature raining on my parade) it'll get to the point soon where my normal 4 days off per 6 weeks out will be enough to finish and my monthly average will climb.

 

Sitting here in Brownstown, MI waiting to get unloaded. Had a PM done over the weekend. Didn't take real long, and luckily they didn't find anything wrong with my truck. This must be a busy place for us. I'm the third poly truck here today.

 

Kinda odd that a Sherwin Williams store delivery is an appointment load. All the SW's I have had before were M&P's. This one is an 8 am set appointment