may day with shaffer

I to have sleep apnea and there are com's out there that will let you drive for them even with apnea. That is one of the things I will have to deil with when i get back on the road as well..

 

Miles is not what they once was. Mostly 300-400 a day trips. However they do seem to treat the new drivers better then the ones that have been with them for awhile.I make .48 so I seem to get all the short miles. Crete handles dispatch now. You will run east coast, southeast and midwest. Freight is real slow in the southeast.

 

Do u all get out west any?? Also do you all pull mostly reefer or dry loads?? Are the tractors in good shape? Also the fuel stops used??

 

When I left Shaffer a few months ago I was supposed to be a National driver however, I only ran the North/East Region and when I asked to get more miles throughout the Nation that I was hired for, they told me that they were starting to weed out the National driving areas to more regional… or at least that is what this dispatcher (Vicki) told me.

My terminal manager in Deland told me that there will no longer be drivers who are hired on the East coast going out West and visa-versa… and all drivers getting hired out of California will not be going any farther than Nebraska - apparently Nebraska is the line where drivers will not be able to cross even though they are National drivers.

Miles have been nasty and more trucking companies are placing their trailers on rail. I’m glad I got out of this industry because 2200 miles per week at the most was not cutting it. When I left I was averaging around 1800 a week and you can easily make twice that kind of an income by staying home instead of spending your weekends sitting inside of a bunk twiddling your thumbs waiting, hoping and praying for another 300 mile run just for the change of scenery.

 

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=rQuJcQvHzE8yMUEsxLf2dCw&output=html

I am back at work after being out for 8 weeks+. Shaffer/Crete made me do the sleep apnea test and they required 2 tests. It took me a month to get them done and once I was issued my machine, I was informed that I needed to use it for 30 days and get a printout of use to prove I am using it. I got it and returned to work Sept 14 only to have to sit 2 days while waiting for safety to clear the paperwork. I was rather angry about that. but Im working now so all is somewhat better.

I wish I had brought Lysol with me. The new truck is clean and thats nice but I caught the flu from it. Either that or from the motel I was put in. Been hacking coughing sneezing for 2 weeks. At first it was my throat. I couldnt swallow or drink anything for 4 days. Throat felt like acid was poured down it. Its better now but the head and chest cold are stomping on me now.

at any rate, i am taking a break in Pa before delivering chicago on monday. I will keep updating as I am able to. I am poor so I have no net access some open wifi somewhere

 

very seldom will you get out west. Shaffer is a reefer division of Crete. Once in awhile you may get a dry load. Trucks are in decent shape and traded in after 500,00. Most fuel stops are Pilot and T/A and love's but mostley pilots.

 

How far west does this company go?? I see often on hwy78 coming out of memphis, tn... Should i start with this company?

 

My husband worked for Shaffer and the miles were real bad. The new guys were starting out at $.34 per mile according to a few guys he talked to. We are in Michigan and he never ran west, always east coast. He'd sit sometimes for 2, 3, 4 days on the east coast waiting for a load. Weekends were bad sitting over there and not at home. A lot of 300 - 400 mile runs. He got home about every 5-6 weeks, and then when he would get ready to go again they couldn't get him out of here. No preplanning on their part. We couldn't live on $400.00 - $500.00 per week. It only got worse when his checks went under $400.00. Time to move on. They always say yea you can get regional and then say there's no regional available only national. My husband never got regional and was on the waiting list for a long time.

 

Wow, I thought refer runners did a lot of long haul. Apparently not at Shaffer. What's with all them sub-100 mile days - deliver and park at truckstop waiting for dispatch?