Sumner yard. Half a dozen trucks hooked to empties. Drivers went home for the weekend. Luckily, I was able to find one in decent repair, but I feel sorry for whoever had to find the next one.
This is one of those things that make me go Hmmmmmm...... Some yards require us to drop trailer, others don't. Who decided which would be the former, which the latter? ***insert shrug here*** I personally have never stayed hooked to an empty when on home time unless I was not at a yard. I may fudge the clean-out-your-truck rule from time to time, but I don't try to hold empties when I'm not working. I'm surprised the Sumner staff allows it. Maybe it's the favoritism thing- local drivers get trailers, OTR drivers are SOL.
I believe it is up to the terminal to manage. I was at one, needed an mt and asked where the empty line was. They told me just go look for one in the yard. I asked why no mt line and no loaded line. The answer was they tried to do it that way, but the drivers just did what they wanted , so they don't bother anymore.
the Sumner yard is a true dedicated yard, for Costco heavy haul...they don't do much in the way of OTR...so they (the local drivers dedicated to Costco, have "special privileges"...mainly because they are on really tight schedules and can't afford to waste any time on searching for MT's....especially in the Seattle area. Always been that way since they built that terminal. Troutdale used to be almost as bad about local drivers staying attached to the MT over their weekend!
I very much prefer going home empty. I drop my trailer down the road from the house with a king pin lock. Park the tractor inside my fence. Lately I have been loaded on my home time. Have to leave the rig hooked at the Pilot.
Yeppers! At Walmart DC in Plainview, TX. Two mt's...both rail pigs. ECT does not want me under a can, so here I sit with an easy preplan in a preloaded trailer waiting for an mt. Typical Texas. I think our trailers go over the border and get lost in that sucking black hole known as Mexico.
