KLLM; Back Where I Started

Texas terminal is in Seagoville, TX (Dallas area). Hwy 175 east; 7 miles SE of junction of I-635 and I-20.

 

Here is the recap for outing #4 (not a good one as you will see after reading it):

1. Leave home for North Cove, NC to get load going to San Antonio, TX. Trip has me going to Main Terminal in Jackson, MS which is good cause alignment needs to be checked.

In Jackson, MS, shop corrects alignment and after getting it back on road , it is correct. Also got 2 new steer tires but they do find fuel in the antifreeze so off to the dealer to repair. (Shop also replaces the coolant resevoir cause of a crack). Dealer replaces the Fuel Injector Cups to correct problem of fuel and antifreese mixing together.

After 2 3/4 days with 2 nites in motel (free of course), Truck is ready. (Did get $200 for Layover.)

2. Get load off of yard for Houston, TX for next morning. No big deal here.

3. Reload in Houston with HazMat for South Chicago, IL for Monday AM. No biggy here either and I did receive the HazMat pay correctly.

4. Reload 10 miles away for Dallas, TX for Wed. Nothing to it.

5. Deliver in Dallas and reload in Dallas with HazMat for Houston, TX. Pay all correct. Now here comes the goof........

6. Reload in Channelview, TX going to Lakeland, FL (another Haz Mat Load) but when I get to the Shipper, they have no record of load. I call my Dispatcher and 45 mins later get told to go to Freeport, TX to get the Load. Someone along the way booking this load put the wrong City but correct Shipper name. Get to Freeport and get loaded and off to Lakeland, FL.

6a. This load to Lakeland was loaded on a Thursday and deliver on Monday. I wasn't going to sit on it and as luck would have it, Delivery was changed to Saturday and a reload was waiting there. I get there Saturday and unload and reload in 30 mins. This place is Drop/Hook for us but they were short "Human" power on Friday so for the reason of Live Unload/ Re-load.

7. Reload goes to; you guessed it, Houston, TX but for Tuesday delivery. But;alas, I get there Monday AM along with several other KLLM drivers and do get unloaded but at 4:00PM. Not a problem, least I'm empty.

8. Next day get to reload in South Houston for Colorado Springs, CO and Fort Carson Military Base due Thursday. I called to deliver Wednesday but no go. I get there Thursday and what a joke. Once cleared by Military at gate, a person can go wherever and do whatever cause when you leave thru the same gate as entered, you use the bypass lane to exit, no searches done. The reason why I'm surprised is I delivered to a Federal Woman's Prison in WVA where I think Martha Stewart went and it was tighter security than this. I was watched like a hawk with an armed guard by my side the whole time. And it was a Minimum Security Facility. Any way .............

9. Drive down to Monte Vista, CO for new load going to Faison, NC. This is a Potato load on the floor. I've had this before from a place in Idaho and it was a disaster. Once at Shipper I told them what I didn't want. Before you load these Taters, they better be "pre-chilled" to your temp and they better be washed. Low and behold; they already were. I get loaded and weigh. Have to go back and get some off. Go back and re-weigh and it is fine. Off to NC. Only excitement on this Trip was the downpours in OK City, OK and eastward. There was boredom and that was on US64, 412, and 270 from Raton, NM to I-40 in OK. If you want to be alone in a flat area, live along US64 in the OK Panhandle, East or West of Boise City, OK.

10. Make delivery in Faison, NC and go to SE Fayetteville, NC for load going to Dallas, TX on afternoon I'm to be home for Timeoff. Here is where I sometimes put on multiple hats to stay close to home. I did just that and it worked. A swap was setup in Tuscaloosa, AL to take a load to Allentown, PA. I made swap and headed to another swap location to swap this trailer to get an empty. The new swap for Allentown is Charlotte, NC. I got there and the Driver was expecting the Dallas load and was upset it was Allentown. He was tired of NC and VA and was looking forward to going to Dallas. And he was same Driver I swapped with the last time to get home for Timeoff. Anyway I got his empty and 5 mins later got msg to head for the house; and a day early also.

Only ran about 2900 miles a week so that is down from previous outings. I did get some payroll stuff corrected cause I was paid twice for a trip and once for a whole trip and a drop when I actually dropped a load on the Jackson yd. Turned out on these, someones fingers were faster than their brain. Yeah; I hear ya now, I should have not said anything about it but I'd rather have it corrected and have a small check than face the consequences later.

And I did make the Quarterly Bonus. For the Quarter I ran 34,813 Trip miles. If you run 30,000 miles or more in a Quarter, the solo Driver gets $0.03 for every mile. So that is another $1,044.39 minus Fed taxes , Medicare, and S. S. taxes in the bank.

This next time out should be interesting seeing that due to a family function I want to attend, I will be out 7 weeks so as to have enough timeoff to attend. And as always, I hope this "Journal" is helping someone in someway as to what it is truthfully like out on the road with a carrier as a company driver. I enjoy writing it and hope most if not all enjoy reading it. See ya next time (Late August).

 

Powell-Peralta; The answer to your questions:

1. 90% on my loads deliver between 6AM and 9AM. The other 10% deliver after those hours with most between 1AM and 5AM. I do deliver 1 or 2 days earlier if I can and I have the hours in that day to do it. I also pick-up early whenever I can.
Most of the customers I go to are nice and friendly. There are some bad ones but you just deal with them or ignore them. There are 3 I have gone to once and I will never go there again if I get those loads again.

2. The reefers are a lot quieter than they use to be because the company has updated their equipment. It took me a week to get use to them and now I have no problems sleeping at night.

3. Miles have been down these last 7 weeks but it is for all types of freight. I still did average above my minimum of 2500 miles per week though.

 

the punisher;

Very little drop 'n' hook but the company does have it. Of what I have pulled in almost 5 yrs with company, maybe 3% drop 'n' hook. I have had the same trailer for as long as 2.5 weeks before.

 

knight;

The 23% is for Southeast Region Drivers. In that region, those Drivers get paid on percentage only, not by the mile. All deadhead (empty trailer and going to pick up a load) is done free. Driver only gets paid on loaded portion of trip. The 23% is for new Drivers in the SE Region, no matter your experience level. You top out at 25% a few years later; if you make it that long. Most Drivers don't.

Rest of KLLM regions and OTR get paid by the mile. Why it's done this way, who knows.

I do know when I see SE Region Drivers, they are always tired. They always run and get very little sleep. How they make their logs legal is beyond me after looking at one provided by a Driver.