Help with creative logging ^.-

Actually loading a lumber load at a huge mill can take up to 6 hours....Especially when there's several loads on the ground....
Most mills that have a tarp station, typically can get two trucks in at a time...
If the wind is blowing or it's raining add more time....

Again...as far as DOT is concerned....It "takes" an hour to load or unload....

 

True Working Class. Shippers kinda suck for flatbed. Most are live load. Have had to sit for several hours to get loaded.

 

I'm sure many of you will know of where I speak. Up in Gary, In. there is a steel mill that I have spent 8 hours from the time I arrived until I finally got back out the gate. The line was almost a 1/4 mile long inside the gate of the industrial park when I arrived. When I left, it still was. They had an indoor securement and tarping area that was good since it was a monsoon outside. I also would show that after I arrived I loaded and had a nice long break. Keep from burning hours as much as possible.

 

Will please stop talking about me?......

 

White out or loose leaf logs. That way you can fix your "mistake" that you started out at 0600 and it took 4 hours to load. What really happened was you started at 0900 and it took a half hour/no tarp, full hour/with tarp. This is why I try to sleep at the shipper or destination. If I get jerked around getting loaded/unloaded I don't have to start my 14.

 

Read what Allow Me said in his last post. It's a fact of life. If you log it 100% as you live it, you'll run out of hours sometime late Thursday and be shut down. When you arrive at a shipper/ consignee, you have to make a decision. Do you want to stay at a truckstop etc. or do you want to make time work for you? What I would do is catch me a shower etc. and then move on to the shipper/loader. That way you don't have to start your 14 until you are completely ready to roll. Then start your log an hour or two prior to that to show PT, load/unload, etc. If it's a really bad part of town and I'm not comfortable spending the night there call the shipper/consignee to find out if they have a fence secure lot and if you can spend the night there. Otherwise I bite the bullet and just accept I'm going to have to start my 14 early for the luxury of staying alive, keeping my rig off concrete blocks etc.

 

Went to a union joint on 55 south of Jackson,Miss. I was 10th in line. 0930. Gutwagon was rolling by slowly and the driver was smiling, "Last call for food. Will be back for lunch."

Hmmm, he sure did look smug. Whats up with that?

I dozed off and woke up, dozed off and woke up, dozed off and woke up AND WE FINALLY MOVE UP 1 SPOT!!!! Theres 20 rigs behind me now.

Gutwagon returns and we crowd him and stock up on groceries. I call dispatch and yell at him. He tells me to keep track of my hours and he will pay detention. Fine.

I wake up several hours later and we move up 1 spot. I walk inside to see whats taking so long. This union worker closes the door behind the truck that just pulled in. He goes into the breakroom, watches videos and whatnot for a half hour. He brings the overhead crane to the coils. Music videos. He lowers the crane. Music videos. He hooks a coil. Music videos. He lifts the coil. Music videos. He brings the coil over to the truck. Music videos. He lowers the coil. Music videos. Shift change. New guy comes in and watches TV. He releases the coil and the driver pulls out. TV. He opens the doors and lets a new truck in. TV.

Got there at 0930. Left there 1230 the next day. Dispatch had a cow when they had to pay me by the hour for nearly 30 hours. Never went there again.

When I hear about plants shutting down and union workers losing their jobs and houses, my heart bleeds. I feel their pain and they have my deepest simpathies. Idiots.

 

And they wonder why all the factories are closing and new ones are built over seas! How will their precious union protect them when their jobs are gone? when will the workers learn "you reap what you sow"? All I've ever seen unions accomplish in the last 15-20 years is to destroy the work ethic of it's members and eventually the economy of this nation as more and more jobs flee the country in search of cheaper labor that is actually willing to work!

 

I delivered a load wayyyyyy up in Canada, 1500 miles. Got there Sunday # 1000. There was another truck from my company already there. Checked in Monday morn and got unloaded socialist style. There were 10 other trucks from my company there. Went to a truckstop Monday afternoon # 1600, stocked up on diesel and cholesterol. Dispatch tells everyone to come home.

The guy that was there before me was bringing in his laundry.

Six: Arent you coming back to HQ with the rest of us?

Driver 1: No. Just started my 34 restart.

Driver 2: Whaaaaaat????? You cant be serious?

Six: Dude, when did you fuel up?

Driver 1: 0800 Sunday here.

Six: Youre good then. You can roll.

Driver 2: Yea, close enough for government work.

Driver 1: Well, ummm...I really dont like driving at night.

Adios!

Well, he did his restart and that went through Wednesday at 0200. 1500 mile bounce with his being afraid of the dark put him back at HQ on Saturday morn to sit all weekend.

To put a time perspective on something like that, say he picked that load up on Friday the 5th. He arrives at receiver on the 7th, unloads on the 8th, does a 34, bounces on the 10th. Does not get another load until the 14th!

A fleetload of drivers like that and a trucking company will go bellyup faster than a goldfish in dirty water.