Good Night From II

It's official.

Can't work today. Walmart just shut down the Cleburne, Texas DC due to the ice.

Time to kick back and watch a movie or three.

 

Last time I unloaded in Nogales I had to hound my DM in order to get something out of the drop yard. There is ALWAYS freight sitting there, no idea why it's so hard to get planned on it.

 

Completely shocked. Delivered the Disney on Ice load to Jessup MD. Even a newbie like me expected no mt at del. Did my mt call wrong being newish. Left both trailer fields blank so puter thinks I had a l/u. Called Greer and asked to get it corrected. No mt to head to the next load in PA. Sat 40 mins at customer then headed to a TA 7 miles away. Sat there another 30 then planner sent me back to same customer. Called Greer. Acting DM said go back to customer. Bit my tongue. Went back to customer. Can you IMAGINE, they didn't manufacture a trailer while I was gone. At this juncture I'd had about enough so I began the bobtail towards York. Got close stopped and called next customer, just on the slight chance they would release an mt. Newp. Called Jonestown terminal, guy said they showed two on yard but didn't trust they were physically present. He advised against driving the 40 additional miles to check. Sooooooooo all of that to say I'm shut down next to wally world somewhere in PA. Sent a final freeform pondering if they felt we should attempt to p/u and deliver my next load someone OTHER than me may want to locate an mt at some point manana. Not a happy camper tnite. As I started, I'm shocked Swift actually employs planners and dm's, who will gladly waste a driver's day and even go home for the night while a load is late p/u and late del due to not finding an mt.

 

Mt's are sometimes scarce.
And you expect planners and dm's to stay until everything is squared away? If that were the case, they would never be off duty.

The only mistake you made was heading towards the next shipper bobtail. You should have simply gone back to the TA since it was close.
Now you may need to retrace those miles for an mt.
Every mile you drive while not dispatched will likely not be paid for, unless they end up sending you in that direction.
Your mt miles are from where you last delivered.
Not to mention the time you may have wasted on your 70.

You were probably sent back to your last delivery point in the hope that the trailer you dropped had been unloaded.
You might check back there in the morning. A phone call would probably be best. No sense going on-duty if you don't have to.

At any rate, it is not your problem. It is the planners problem to find an mt or, if that fails, send you bobtail if you are preloaded at the shipper.
No service failure on your end, even though it can be aggravating.

That's the nature of trucking. Get used to it, and don't sweat it.

 

I'm in PA also. The J at Youngstown.
I was glad to get some laundry done.

I got a pplan that I certainly didn't like.
Picking up at Kingsford Clorox in Parsons, WV and delivering in NY state. 250 mt miles.
It takes a lot of time driving into and out of that place (although once there it is quick and easy), and there is no place to park anywhere close to the delivery. I would have been nearly out of hours when I delivered, at best.
At worst, I would have run out an hour or so before delivery.
Mac-9 to the rescue, with a delivery time that 'didn't meet the customers needs'.

From the message I got back, it seems I'm back to Platinum status.

 

Well finally got something on mac 30,bobtail 132 miles to Walmart DC in casa Grande, AZ. Got a nice brand new mt. They just had me getting mt so went to loves. Couple more checks on mac 30 only showed another 8 mile day long load. Set pta for the morning, showered and got ready to go to bed and decided to check 30 again, nice one day long 500 mile live load/unload so I get to keep my nice new trailer lol.

 

Next load is a live load. You made valid points. All of which I'm aware. I bobtailed here on purpose. One, figured I could locate an mt at the PA terminal.

I'm not sweating it and you are succinctly accurate its on the planner. You claim they'd never go home? I guess I'm old school then. I simply can't fathom Jerry Moyes calling it a day when a customer won't get a load picked up or delivered on time cuz we can't find an mt.

I have home time scheduled Friday. I'm just really tired of planners and dm's not having a clue about drivers who PLAN well. At this point I'm not sweating it at all, in fact I'm at the I don't give a sheet stage. [emoji39]

 

Not giving a sheet IS sweating it.

And Jerry not fathoming?
Yes, I can see the owner of the largest trucking company in the U.S. losing sleep over a single load because there is not an mt close enough to make an on time pickup or delivery.

The planners and dm's have a clue. Perhaps more than you do.
We ALL try to plan as best we can. Sometimes all we can do, is make due.

Never forget...
The best laid plans of mice and men...
Even the mice didn't foresee everything, after all. (Assuming you're even aware of the 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy'? Or that other thing, where the quote actually comes from.)

 

Not sure where you are, but the Target DC in Chambersburg (I-81 exit 10/14) has a ton of empties available. If none there, then the K-Mart DC down the road a couple miles will.

 

That Kingston plant was my usual "back from home time" load. Pulling 42K up over those mountain roads was a killer. I was running OTR for about 4 weeks and had an 8.1 average MPG for the entire time. Pulling that one load out of Parsons to the Target DC in Chambersburg dropped my cumulative average to 6.9 MPG. Nearly half a tank of fuel in 200 miles.