Millis OTR journal

My current big gripe about Millis is the lack of preplans most of the time. It's pretty rare for me to get them for anything other than the triangle turn and burns, and sometimes it's ridiculous.

For example: Back in the summer, I delivered to AWDC in Covington. Got unloaded, got my paperwork, pulled out and backed into the parking area across from the docks. Put in my empty and ready calls. A couple of minutes later, load information comes in. My load is at.... AWDC Covington. I go inside, check in, and she puts me on the same dock ai just pulled out from. There was another Millis truck in the next dock. He saw me as I was backing back in and all we could do is look at each other and laugh.

Then the last time I went home, I had a beer load that went to Salem, VA. Once at the final, I got a message "Stay in the dock and get loaded with dunnage for Trenton.". Ok, cool. I go in and check in and tell the guy that he needs to reload me with dunnage once he's done. Go back out to the truck and wait. Truck stops moving so I know he's done. Put in my empty and ready calls so I can get a load number for the dunnage. 15 minutes pass. Load comes in. My load is at Owens on Ringgold. Whoever told me to pick up the dunnage hadn't planned me on it, nor had he told day shift. So I tell dispatch.I am already loaded and they sort it out but why couldn't I have been pre-planned on the dunnage?

Then there was yesterday. I had picked up a load at Conagra in St. Elmo going to some Walmart DC in Virginia. Was told to drop it in Trenton since I am due home tomorrow (the 12th). I get to Trenton, drop the load, and dispatch comes back "Why u drop load in Trenton?". I explain to him why, and then I have to tell him some of the ways Pat gets me home when I am empty in Trenton and trying to get home. Again a pre-plan and some communication between dispatchers would've been nice.

 

Went to Smuckers over the weekend in Fairburn. Drop, hook to a new empty, send my messages, sweep out and pretrip my trailer. Where's my next load picking up from? One guess and you won't be wrong. Wasted all that time when I could have streamlined everything at the gate when I checked in and just done what I had to do immediately and efficiently. Also wasted clock time screwing around driving around that big complex twice instead of once.

 

The guards at Essity in Cherokee once told me that we were the ONLY company that does drop n hook in there that doesn't regularly come in with a pre-plan. But yeah I don't know how many times I've spent 30 minutes or more looking around for an empty, then hooking up to it and learning that I don't need it because my load is right there.

 

Well I'll give you guys advice on how I do it to eliminate that issue. Granted in @JOHNQPUBLIC case being weekend dispatch it probably wouldn't have mattered lol.

But anytime I'm going in somewhere with a load that I know we also pick up loads from, I message dispatch an eta about an hour out and ask if I need to grab an empty or am I grabbing a load back out from there. That gives Opie time to get things figured out before I get there. This goes for Cherokee, any Menards DC, Fairburn, Miller, LaCrosse if not already preplanned, etc.

When I 1st started several times I delivered to Plano, hook to my empty, and hit ready, only to get a fn load back out of there. So doing it the way I donit eliminates that ####.

 

Yes I usually give an ETA on an open window drop during the week. I didn't bother over the weekend because I figured it would not matter much or at all considering how things usually operate on the weekend. I also have not picked a load up from there in forever.

As it was, it was regional truck miles due to be delivered on the same day. I normally probably would have not gotten that load unless I was one of the only trucks available to take it. Seems like when I think I have things figured out on what to generally expect I am wrong.

 

I think your last sentence perfectly explains truck driving lmao....and ya doing it on a weekend more than likely you'd probably got the same reply by asking your Refrigerator what you should do.....lol

 

Speaking of things going wrong....

Picked up a load of beauty products dropped in Trenton to take to Bellefontaine, OH to deliver before going home. It's a lumper load so it takes 6 hours to get it unloaded and for them to count it, etc. Now I'm sitting here because there was 41 boxes of product.on the truck that was the wrong thing. So now I'm waiting for the mothership to figure out what I'm supposed to do with it....as my 14 slowly winds down. 99.5 miles driven today and I only have 3:46 o my clock. I better get one hell of a detention pay for this.

 

At a food warehouse right now in Texas. Been here 7 hours and counting. Hope these loads pay someone well because they don't seem worth it from my perspective.

 

Well I got loaded in 30mins today.....but headed into a winter storm warning thru Indiana calling for 10+inches lol. Is it spring yet?

 

Midwest Whse is a zoo today. Never seen it this busy.