I'm baaaaaack!!!!!!!!

Tractor done, just stopped for din din and back on road. 766 miles by tomorrow (going to Charlotte NC area). They're looking to get me out west but miles is miles.

@MNMover: just like chrome don't get you home, stories don't sell cars. I did do stand up for a (very) brief time a long time ago (where stories do make money) but that gig is REALLY tough. Long haul trucking ain't got nothing on the life of a comedian. I'll stick to trucking and be an on line raconteur.

I am Captain Zoom.
What the $#@!? is a raconteur?

 

(I know what it is; I just like the word)

 

Shut down for the night just west of Lexington KY. The load I picked up in the Louisville area was a Conagra joint. I was nervous about a long wait for a live load but it turned out to be preloaded with all of five pallets. Going to Harris Teeter in Indian Trail NC so I still have a shot at that fat fat detention pay. Gotta be there at 2100 and I'm 467 miles out, but I can't start til 1100. Gives me 10 hours, avg 47mph. When I have my druthers I like to plan on a 45mph average, especially with this 60mph slug. But the light load and (so far) cooperative weather mean I shouldn't have too much trouble. I have to fuel in Knoxville which can consume time. And I have to get through the Gorge which can consume even more.

I gotta get another goat.

 

Very typical Gordon dispatch--time to get there as long as you don't need to pee. And if you do stop to pee, the QC's going off and demanding ETA/PTA update or PrePlan. Make you late. I got to responding 'ETA/PTA unchanged. Will look at PrePlan ASAP' and then I'd book (after the important pee).

What you probably don't know yet, Zoomy, is that the 'window' for this load could be 24 hours or more additional. Ask--nay, demand to know the window. Your DM may tell you and you'll find you're just being jerked along like you had a ring in your nose and Dispatch has tied a leash to it and pulling.

Do Service Watch loads have a window? Yuppo.

Will Dispatch tell you? Maybe... maybe not.

Is it still a Service Failure if the window is 24 hours out? Dunno.

Never found out. It probably is and at Gordon, 1 minute late on a Service Watch load is Service Failure. But the delivery can probably be adjusted if need be. But ya gotta communicate if ya gotta problem.

This is a test, like many little tests ahead. Welcome to Gordon.

If you start to fall behind and can't make 2100, do let them know ASAP with the appropriate MACs (Service Alert, etc.) and a phone call so they can deal with it in case they've promised this hot load or there's an appointment to move around. Uh, yeah, welcome to Gordon!!

Did you factor in your mandatory 30 minute break after 8? Load might benefit from 8/2 Split, too, maybe allow you to leave at 0900, some breathing room.

 

Thanks Victor.

I was aware of the appointment time/window when I got the dispatch; I've always made a habit of having a good open communication line with my driver manager no matter where I work. They're really no different from Celadon or Dart or Schneider or any place else I've worked over my nine years as an otr driver. My dispatcher actually offered to remove this preplan because it could get tight but I asked to keep it. It is really no different from the thousands of JIT (Just In Time) loads I've pulled for other carriers; can't show up more than ten minutes early or late or you get smacked with a service failure, and many of those were shutdown loads (automotive or dairy production line loads where the trailer was part of the line). As far as pressure is concerned this load is actually pretty tame. Most loads are dispatched a little faster.

It may seem that the company is pressuring the driver with artificially short transit times, but the truth is a little less sinister -- they are covering their collective rears with the customers by taking into account the not inconsiderable ###hole quotient among truck drivers. In any population sample there is a subset I call the "###hole Quotient," or AQ for short. These are the guys who, through ignorance, indifference, or outright malice, seem to make it their life's mission to screw everything up for everybody else. I'm talking about the driver who sees he has all day to make delivery so he plays in the casino til the last second, then runs into traffic and causes the company to lose an account. Planners everywhere have gnashed their teeth, pulled out hair, torn clothes, and sacrificed legions of goats over these guys. Finally, after many hours of expensive therapy and menacing letters from angry PETA commandos, they agreed to hold any spare time in reserve and only tell the drivers an appointment that assumes their average planning speed and no delays. Then if something goes wrong there is (usually) time to deal with it without drama, fuss, or goat casualties.

The onus is upon the driver to always communicate with dispatch proactively about any concern, actual delays, weather/road conditions, etc. Then, to get to appointments forthwith (fifthwith, even) and live up to that communication. It has been my experience that making a lifestyle of keeping the signal lines open and always doing what you say builds sufficient trust with dispatch that you eventually end up being told about windows before you have to ask. This results in the dispatch saving time and headache, you getting more miles, and several goats saving money on expensive therapy bills.

The downside is that you will be called upon to do some tight loads as they now know you are not part of the AQ and can be trusted to get the job done. If you show a work ethic you gotta be ready to live up to it. But you'll end up getting miles that will mystify drivers who play at truck stops, and the goats will be so grateful they will form pickets to guard your truck from bums and lizards while you sleep.

Well, I gotta get some breakfast. Stay warm and be careful out there, and have a great d day!

I am Captain Zoom.
Friend to goats everywhere.

 

Funny, I ran good and fought like a demon to keep my appointment times...yet I never had a goat guard! I have defective goats, I guess.

I am BRSims.
I gotta get me some new goats.

 

My time with Gordon differed from Vic's and validated my original premise that they treat a driver like a professional who wants to do the job. Yes, the plans could be tight, but mine were always attainable if I drove like a pro. I didn't sit around the driver lounge griping or take breaks when I didn't need to; I kept moving and that was rewarded. When things happened, like weather or chaining over Donner (expected or not), communication with my DM always got the same response: Do what you have to do to drive safely. The schedule is less important than your safety.

I liked that.

PS. Speaking of goats, as a good Alaskan, I own a very warm beaver coat and very warm beaver hat; one could say I've got the whole family. One day, I strolled into the Bursar's office at my grad school to resolve something and learned, very quickly, that the man sitting behind the desk was a very, um, let's call it 'fervent' PETA follower. One look at my attire and I could see the guy looking for the can of red paint...

Finding a PETA follower in Alaska is very unusual, but needless to say, I didn't repeat that experience.

 

Depending on how you feel about JIT (Just In Time), we can hail or blame W. Edward Deming for making axles perishable because the factory that installs the axles has only so much floor space for them. Just enough. But when they run out of axles, as Zoomy points out, the line goes down and whether you're Ford, GM or Subaru the costs are monstrous.

So the penalities to the axle supplier are monstrous, too. Last job was automotive and if they broke a mold, which happens, would move heaven and earth--we ran empty parts racks to Honda in KY at night where the same part was made--to buy time while the mold was repaired and Honda's people came in off shutdown on a Saturday morning to make the parts!!

Have a good run, Zoomy!!


//Not many, if any, Gordon drivers hang around truck stops or casino lounges... sleep, fuel, grab a bite to eat in the truck and go!!

 

I call 'em PETA Commandos for a reason....

Got a chuckle imagining the moment of stillness when you walked in.

 

When the winds of change blow, some build walls. Others build windmills.

-- Monk Tze Chien