just rocked the boat

know what i'll tell ya? time to get a new DM. if you cant change boards....its time to change terminals.....sounds like too much BS being shoveled around....

 

This is making me nervous-- I've had the same DM since I went solo, kinda wondering if she's developmental fleet and I have not 'graduated' to full fledged truck driver status lol. It's kinda like having a bugger hanging out of your nose and no one tells you then you see yourself in the mirror.....

 

Wait wait wait... So if you guys back into a dock log 15 min on line 4 to get paperwork & walk back to the truck, and then go to line 2, or 1, do you have to then go back to line 4 to get the ok to leave/ your loaded, and then go to line 3 to then drive, and shut the trailers doors..?

 

Here is my typical day:

• Roll up to shipper or receiver
• Appropriate qualcomm message, update logbook to line 4
• Proceed thru gate get instructions for drop/hook or live load boom, go do it
• Either way above they are getting 15 minutes on line 4 now to line 1 or 2
• Heading out the gate loaded or empty, I might give 15 more minutes on line 4 before going to line 3 so I can be a good boy, otherwise if it's tight I preserve precious moments.

In other words I do similar to DickJones or Injun has described.

 

or maybe its just you? when i upgraded....i got a regular DM with 90 or so drivers on his board....no mamby-pamby DM to hold my hand till i could show i was a big boy truck driver....

 

I can't speak to how other terminals do it. In mine, there is no "starter" fleet. You are assigned randomly to a DM and if it doesn't seem to be working out, you can request a different board. Doesn't mean you'll get it, but you can make the request.

And I'm not crap talking BS. I call it as I see it. Sorry if it ruffled your feathers. I went back and re-read your initial post. It appears to me you went as far as the Hook and realized you could stop there for a meal, shower and coffee in the morning or you could run in to the shipper and take the chance of spending the night in a mud hole. And you said to yourself "bust it. I'm done. If I go in to the shipper, I'll be stuck in their mud hole for 10 hours and might have to water the tires rather than have running water and porcelain available." It wasn't a case of could you legally get to the shipper. You clearly stated it was a case of how to get a cool parking spot after you were loaded. That, sir, is the very definition of a case of ****its. Aw, don't worry. I've had them myself. Mine seem to hit in waves. There's no shame in it. We all get it from time to time. It's just a matter of trying to keep them under control until after you do what you agreed to do. That's all.

 

RobertSmith, do you have a GPS? Those things are invaluable. They can give you the arrival time calculated at the speed you are currently going as well as how much time to get to the place. With mine I can actively search out truck stops, stores, and rest stops. Last night I had 1.25 hours left on the 14 checked for the furthest out truck stop I thought I could get to, it was 64 miles, so took a gamble and headed for it. Made it perfectly on time. I needed to get as far as I could because I knew I had 625 miles to drive today. So I was able to knock it down to 561 which is more feasible. I would never have tried that without the GPS. And it would have cost me by being late (although I'm late anyway due to an SUV plowing into me today).