My Day By Day Experience At Eastern Freightways Flatbed Division

@Caterpillar6nz Nice. I almost did tanker for Schneider when I was looking at companies. Honestly didn't even look at flatbed till the end of my search. TMC was my first choice but I was told I lived above i90 and that was out of their hiring range. Yea flatbed seems to be the same way as far as receivers and shippers and usually a fast load/unload. I'll keep you in mind. I'm still pretty happy here. Pro's and Con's but they had 2 of the things I was looking for. Money and home time. Now if we can just get better equipment with driver amenities and a rider program I'd be good.

 

Day 7

It was a nice quiet night until 3:00 when my alarm started going off. Made some coffee and finally got up. Did a pre-trip and the #### passenger directional light was out on the truck. No mechanics at 3:30 in Albany. I did find a spare in the truck that the last driver must have left. I replace it and nothing. Checked the bulb and it's not blown. Ehhh. Well I'll just stop in Montgomery on my way to PA. Well that didn't happen. Cruising down 84 and a message pops up. PSC or PCR performance issue truck will derate in 60 minutes.... Ummm what? I look it up and it had something to do with the regen. Well Meriden here I come again. Hooked the computer up and did a manual regen. The light that was out had some bad wiring. An hour later back on the road. I've got to say Meriden mechanics have been good to me.

Get into PA and it's pouring! Traffic was going really slow. Made it to my stop after figuring out that the road i thought i should go down was not the one! Way to narrow. Finally found the right way. Un-straped, un tarped and started folding tarp 1. Well all that rain decided to turn an 80lb tarp into a 300lb monster. I finally got it but ####. Cant wait till winter.. HaHa (Not)

I figured I was heading to Danville, PA for some sheetrock. Yup there it is. Danville, PA back to where this all started on Day 1. Attleboro, MA. A nice run and I've been there before and actually know the correct road to take. I only had 2 hours left and there wasn't much sense in going to far as the truck stops headed north already looked pretty full. So parked it at the Loves 80, took a shower and making some double cheeseburgers for dinner. Hoping to head out around 2:00 to MA

 

Hey @Cat sdp

Once out here on our own. We have a min. guarantee of $900 a week for the 1st 12 weeks. After that it's .46c a mile. .04c a mile attendance bonus and a 1 year longevity bonus of .02c a mile for all miles driven within that year. Plus there is accessorial pay. Tarp-$22, Live load-$22, Overnight Delivery-$50, Drop n hook-$11, Multi stop-$22, and NYC pay- $30 It all adds up pretty quick.

My goal was to not earn the min. I like to run and make $$ Beet the Min. last week and on target for a better week this week.

 

We are sister companies under the Shevell group. We have access to all of their terminals, mechanics, fuel etc. I'm not sure of the specifics but they are owned by the same person I believe. NEMF is union and we are not

 

Day 8

Finally an uneventful day. haha. Up at 1:00. Coffee and head down the road 6 miles to get my loaded trailer. Hit the road headed to Attleboro. It was a light rain and fog and at times it was tough to see. Does anyone have any tricks for seeing better at night? I get to the receiver around 7:45 and a Western Express driver was getting unloaded so I jumped at the chance to get my straps & tarps off and roll them up after all we don't get paid to sit there in line and wait. The quicker I can unload the better.

Get unloaded and head to Newington, NH to do a drop and (fix) They tarp and strap for us but we usually have to fix it to our specs. The drive Clock is ticking faster than my 14 today which was nice. So I had some extra time to narrow down my plan for a place to park. Sturbridge, MA Pilot is the spot. Slow traffic had me playing minute for minute HOS. vs. GPS. I got here with no time to spare. Fueled and parked. Crazy line at the pumps at 15:00!

I was looking forward to another hot shower tonight so I reserved one with the app. as I was 3rd in line. By the time I got my stuff together and got down there I had to wait about 10 minutes, Not bad. Planning on heading out around 2:30 tomorrow morning to get an early delivery in NJ.

Side note: I received my settlement for my 1st solo week via E-mail. 1st week rookie and I grossed $1202. I'll take that for being a newbie. I busted my hump for that one. This week is looking better than last at this point.

 

Thank you @DougA I grew up here in the North East but obviously have never traveled it like I am now. When I started researching the industry about 90% of the drivers I came across and still come across hate running up here. Traffic does suck and the parking situation I've learned you have to get a little creative but all in all it's not bad. But I have only done 1 NYC run so far and that was with my trainer sooo that may change my attitude.. HaHa