Good Night From II

Sitting on a dirt patch next to a gas station/Wendy's restaraunt off I-81 several miles east of the I-40 split to Knoxville. Dropped my heavy load from NJ at a WM DC here and was out of hours.

After the usual struggle down I-81 pulling 44K with a gutless truck with relentless traffic and crappy road surfaces I was relieved to get here and be done with NJ again. As I left the DC to come here and park I get a ppln...go to Bush's and pull ANOTHER 45K load of beans BACK TO NJ!!! I swear some form of PTSD kicked in and I had to pull the truck over and get out and walk around and take some deep breaths. Felt like I had survived a war zone and was being told to get back in and fight another battle. NJ is like my Kryptonite!!

Sent a note to my DM to call me before I responded. While waiting some 45 mins later the load was removed by someone. Just as well because I was NOT going back up there. Company driver or not!!

Got on a mac30 as soon as I saw the load removed and up pops two diamonds. A 15K load from just down the street to western IA and a 6K load from NC to Ottawa IL. Boy oh Boy I thought and pounced on #2 in like 4 seconds...Load Cancelled..WTF!! Jumped on #1 and Load Cancelled..double WTF!!

Dang, those went fast!! Figured other trucks beat me to them. Kept fishing every now and then for a few hours before laying down and mac30 kept coming up mty. Screw it, went to bed expecting the worst from Memphis planners but still no ppln when I woke up thank goodness. I was still a free agent.

Looked at mac30 again and lo and behold the 6K load to IL from NC was up again!! I couldn't hit reply fast enough!! Got it this time. Have a 200 mile DH east on I-40 with my mty trailer to pick it up. Running the mountains will be fun and coming back across will be a breeze. So glad to be heading back to the Midwest.

 

I have to ask. Does the dry side not do many heavy loads or something? Here on the reefer side. 95% of the loads are 39-44k. It's a shocker when we get a load for 20k.

 

It's a mixed bag. We do a fair amount of heavy loads, up to 46K. For an O/O or L/O I can certainly see the advantage picking loads at 20K or less. For a company driver the only disadvantage to a heavy load is when pulling hills, it will slow you down quite a bit.

I-81 doesn't seem to me to be that much of an issue with the hills. Of course, I DO love the hills and relished the chance to take a heavy load through WV or over the Rockies on I-70. Best way to improve is to challenge yourself.

Now that I relocated to OKC running regional I'm starting to Jones for some mountains.

 

The issue for me Lepton is constantly becoming a rolling road block at 30-40mph because the truck is so turned down. I had to run north and south in the middle of the day because of the schedules thus putting me in dense traffic. Cars freightraining on my left with faster trucks getting jammed up behind me and not able to get around me. Pisses everybody off.

My skill factor is fine. I've run every mountain range in this country, heavy and light..several times. I just find it annoying to be forced to go so slow with a heavy company truck and be getting in everyone's way. Makes me a safety hazard to the other drivers.

 

Like Lepton stated, it's mixed. Much depends on which customer and what part of the country.

Say if you're given a Costco load out of Morris it's always heavy or Bush' out of Dandridge TN or ExxonMobil out of Beaumont Tx or MeadWestVaco Paper in Evadale Tx...all heavy.

It's a crapshoot. Many times I prefer to be heavy because of the weather. Several variables but I don't care to run I-81 at 79k in heavy traffic and I don't love going to NJ no matter what the weight.

The load I'm pulling now from NC to northern IL is only 6K so rolling through the Appalachians and Smokeys will be a breeze

 

My criteria for the loads I run is a combination of weight , terrain and distance . For example , I won't accept a beer load out of Golden going west through the Rockies but iI'll jump on the same load to Fort Worth . West I would get 5 mpg but going to Fort Worth I'll be close to 8 mpg . My average load month after month is 38k and my fuel average lately has been between 8 and 8.5mpg . My business profitability is strongly effected by fuel mileage .
Frank

 

Springfield, MO at Love's.

When I delivered to my first stop I finally got the correct paperwork for this trip. It was in the trailer.
A detailed list of every stop and what they get. 1 copy only, which I am keeping to myself and having each receiver sign off on.
Why they sealed it in the trailer without giving the driver a copy in the open is anyone's guess, but I let CSR know.
That CSR (Amy) that I am working with on this load is wonderful. She is helpful and accommodating in every way possible. She love's to just talk about very unrelated things. In our last conversation she said 'I love when a plan comes together' (after confirming delivery times for my next 2 stops), which started her out on the original A-Team show. That led to a couple other topics.
And yes, I am old enough to have seen each episode as they were aired way back when. It was a MUST see!

Some of the CSR people are really great.

And now we have direct access to the planners as well, when we call the 800 number for whichever terminal.
Let's see how that goes, but I think it is a very good step in the right direction.
I've often wanted that option.

 

Doing my 10 at a Wilco Hess TS on I-85 east of Spartanburg SC.

Got to shipper an hour early for my 14:00 appt and they were kind enough to take 6 hrs to load 1/2 a trailer. Thank you for pretty much shooting my day down.

Let my DM know a Mac22 will be forthcoming for delivery Friday morning in Ottawa IL.

 

Detention pay is nice, when we can get it.

And I agree. If the shipper delays me too long it will be made up for on the back end by the receiver.
The shipper and receiver can duke it out as to times involved, but I won't be the one caught in the middle to be sacrificing my own time for them.

"The shipper took 6 hours to load me, so I'll be 4 hours late for delivery" is a very valid Mac 22 reason.

 

The Wal-Mart in Great Bend, KS. Thought about getting to Dodge City until remembered that it is a Flying Hook and a large meat plant. Finding parking there around 9 tonight, probably not happen. It is okay. I needed to do some shopping anyway.

Did my good deed today at the receiver. Before walking into receiving there are big words on the door, Drivers, break seal and bring in with packing slip. So I walk back to the trailer and get this. Go inside and while waiting for the driver in front of me I hear the receiving lady ask him where the seal and packing slip. He gets all huffy with her and says in a loud voice why not told this at the guard shack. As he turns around, I had had enough and spoke up. Driver, are you blind and not able to read all that is written on the door before you walked in. I think that when you walk back in you owe this nice lady a apology. He went back outside and came back in and calmed down and said sorry. Next my turn at the window. She asks, Swift? Yes maam. You are scheduled for live load, hold on a minute. I have 2 mt trailers and one is yours if you want. Just drop yours. Yes Maam. No problem. She signs me off and then tells me thank you for what you did. I wanted do but could not.