Have to start somewhere

kj that hurts I miss th warm az sun bad as it is.Snugs stay warm up there.I am waiting to get a load did the swap and my trailer light was out it was working fine this morning oh well I try to take good care if my equipment.I am sitting here empty with an even older beat up trailer waiting for a load what do you want to bet they send me to ill.This company is kind of crazy.I was wrong they gave me a load to gadsen al due tue at 1230 got to go more later,

 

So here you go a typical day in the life of a flatbed driver.I wakeup at 0630 in Oklahoma city I drive three hours to Ft smith Ark.I get in around 0930 qualcom my fleet-manager to tell him I am there(they don't want you to call them) they want me to swap trailers I sit around till 2 pm then this guy bangs on my door to swap trailer we do the swap and I sit around till 430 pm waiting to get new load for my now empty trailer.

I get load at Ft Smith after listening to loader complain because he has to tag this load (he is breaking my heart all I want to do is go home)now I am only truck in yard it takes them two hours to load my trailer now it is 630 pm and I have a two and a half hour drive too north little rock I head to north little rock after tarping load in now empty yard except for one angry driver who is getting hung out on his birthday I feel bad for him so I listen to his sad tale of woe.

I get twenty minutes from the yard in north little rock and I40 east comes to a halt and hour and a half later (almost midnight)we are rolling I get to the yard and it is like the truck-stops at sundown not a parking place in sight.I make a spot by the service bays finish up my log gather my dirty clothes together make sure I have my keys phone badge and wallet take out my trash and I go in and write up my truck so they will fix windshield wiper a bad taillight and I now have a screw in my steer tire.

The mechanic don't even acknowledge your presence so you don't waste any time talking to them.While I am standing there being invisible I notice this big sheet with the driver name, hire date ,year of his truck and his fuel mileage.Out of 1500 drivers I am now ***after just five month I have moved up ***places on the seniority list of the 40 or so drivers that where hired the same day as me there is just 6 or 7 of us left that boggles my mind.

Why would so many guys leave a good 18 hour a day job( I drove 388 miles today at .35 cents a mile but even that isn't correct because they pay mover mile and not actual miles) makes you think don't it.Listen I am not trying to discourage you I was where you are right now.I thought the same thing you are thinking I don't mind a little hard work I am not lazy trust me once you are out here it is a whole different ballgame.

Your whole life is consumed by this truck. On your days off you are stocking up your truck doing paperwork cleaning it she is a cruel demanding mistress.Your loved ones pay the biggest price your always gone and when you are home you are wore out.I have had great weeks where I made 800 bucks and I have had just as many bad weeks where I only make 350 or 400 right now I need too get out of debt so I will stick this out for one year after that I have got to get my life back I am not sure how I will do that.

I do love driving the big truck it is all the other crap that goes with it that makes me crazy the driving is the easy part.As for the turnover the company just looks at it as the cost of doing business they are more willing to absorb the cost of replacing you then to fix the problems of this industry.I am sure there will be some of you that will read this and say he is just burned out nothing is further from the truth I love my job. It is just the conditions that are imposed upon me that I despise.

 

Wow ollietoo you did a great job in your blog and your attention to detail is commendable. I highly recommend reading that to anyone considering the specialized side of maverick.You are absolutely correct in your assessment of the role of the fleet-manager.Thanks for the info.

 

So here I sit in Lubbock Tx waiting to get a load it is never a good sign when they tell you to park and wait til tommorow.I am at the flying J.I got a letter from maverick telling me I was awarded a letter of commendation for being best in out of route miles I am pretty sure they must of made a mistake.Kj this job is such a roller coster I wish they would fire my fleetmanager he is kind of a putz.I guess that is his job it reminds me of a pimp and hooker realationship guess which one I am.Driving through west texas makes me homesick I sure do miss the desert.The weather here is just beutiful.This is the most up and down job I have ever had.You realy need a good sense of balance and patience to survive all this will post more later