My return to LTL... with SAIA

As I sit here on my lunch break at 1700 I have 3 deliveries and 3 pickups left and lots of driving in between.

 

I left at 1000 this morning, so not as bad as noon. Fortunately for me, a local cartage carrier that they use for overflow decided they didn't have enough drivers to send to our yard today, this resulted in my TM splitting up the trailer and I lucked out getting 3 stops on a main road a few miles from our terminal, so it was nice to begin the groove earlier in the day instead of later on.

15 deliveries, 6 pickups. 1 missed delivery from an account that closed at 1630 and one missed pickup. That pickup was sent to me at 1615 or so with a 1530 close time. I called and no answer so I didn't bother chasing it. The one delivery missed was a 1 pallet bill. When I returned to the yard at 2020, I came back with only 3 spots left on my '48. It was a good day, productive, long... but good.

Part of the covid response stuff involved limiting drivers from being in the dock or on the building. I'm not complaining, I don't have an interest in running a lift if I don't have to.

 

Also, looking at the HOS recap on Saia's employee site... I've driven 1356 miles in the last 6 shifts of city work. I'm essentially driving the same amount of miles on a city run as the lowest seniority driver would have for a linehaul bid at my old FXF barn.

 

Debatable, that peddle route in many ways is still running me!

 

The yard only has one 48' liftgate, today it was mine. I only used it once though.

However, at a hardware store with no dock today...

"You have a forklift, or do you want me to take it off with the liftgate?"
"No, I'll go get the forklift, I'm not paying the $150 or whatever it is for you to use that thing"