My Time With Swift

Rattlebunny, that is actually very good advice and possibly could have saved me a couple days of hassle. The thing is that the qual-com cord and dome isn't part of the pre-trip that the schools teach you and the DMV tests you on so it's not something you ever think of. I know that that is not a very good excuse as you really should be looking over every part of your truck. I do now look up at the dome, just to make sure even though they epoxied the connection.

Scottie, I doubt I will ever try the Sears account again and I'm pretty sure there was no fluke involved with my troubles. I don't know what dedicated route you were with, but it wasn't a Sears route. There is no way you'll get 1700 miles on one trip with Sears, it's all regional, short trips of about 100 to 200 miles. It wouldn't be too bad if you could work one or two of those loads into one day, but you only get one trip per day. Yes, the multiple stops can add up...if you actually get them. I only had 1 trip that had MORE than 1 extra stop. The other Sears trips only had 1 extra stop each. And the back-haul loads that aren't Sears don't have extra stops, but are still short. It just doesn't add up to enough to make it worthwhile.

I don't know if other dedicated accounts work the same way or not, as far as short runs and extra stops. I really don't mind the extra stops so much, as long as there is adiquate time to make those stops. It's the short trips and long lay-overs in between that kill me. Give me a 1000 mile trip and a couple days to get it there and I'm a happy camper. Just have another one ready for me to go when I get there.

 

Well, it's been a fairly good week so far, I guess, after kind of a shaky start. Last week, I had my son with me and had already got my hometime set for the next weekend (with Sears, you are home every weekend, about the only good thing about that account) so they went ahead and got me home so I could drop off my son. I had actually got back to the terminal here in Columbus on thursday to get my qual-com fixed and talk to my fleet manager on friday about changing dm's. He told me he will look into it and see if he can find a place for me. A week later and I still haven't heard anything yet, so I will give him a call next week.

He did get me a load going home, problem was it delivered on tuesday in the Chicago area, about a 5 hr drive from my house. As this was friday, I would have been home for almost 4 days. That would make for a really crappy check, so I called my dm to see if I could actually t-call the load in Gary on sunday with the hopes of getting a 600 mile load that delivered on tuesday from there. Well, I did get the t-call and dropped it on sunday as planned and I did get a load that delivered on tuesday. Unfortunately, it was only 245 miles. But that was 245 mies I wouldn't have otherwise had and set me up for another good load. I ended up with about 1700 miles for that paycheck, which still sucks, but is better than it could have been.

They have really had me running this week and I've been pretty happy with it so far. I got a load going up into New Jersey, then from there, I picked up in Philly and dropped in Martinsburg, WV. Philly was a new adventure. They actually do double park there, right out in the middle of the street! There were even cars parked in the center turn lane.

From Martinsburg, I picked up a load in Winchester, VA and ran that way up to New Hampshire. This trip really had me excited as I had never been up in New England before. It was doubly exciting for me as the route took me up I95 thru New York City. As I stayed on the interstate, it wasn't too bad, but I definately do NOT ever want to deliver inside of the city. I've had problems in both Pittsburg and Philly, I don't even wanna try NYC!

Then from New Hampshire, I picked up a load in Vermont to T-call in Columbus, where I sit now. It was a cool trip, going up thru New England, seeing all of the history that makes up the area.

 

Wow, what a week! They have certainly been keeping me hoping....that is up until friday. What is it about fridays before hometime that causes the planners to get stupid?

I last left in Columbus, I got me 34 reset in and took a load up to Newburgh, NY. While I was still in Columbus, I looked up the customer on Google Earth to get a look at where I was going. Interestingly enough, just about 3/4 mile from the customer is Orange County Choppers. I would have loved to been able to stop in and check the place out, but unfortunately, it was in the opposite direction of the truckstop and I didn't know just how far away they were when I first got there. Maybe next time. But after getting unloaded, I did drive by OCC and took a picture of the place, which I sent to my kid. He was mad at me for awhile, lol.


After getting unloaded from this customer, I pulled out of the docks to shut the doors. That is when I spotted the mess. Trash all over the trailer and one case of raisen bran cereal torn open and about 5 boxes thrown out and crushed. I went back to the truckstop and swept out the trailer. Kept all the good boxes of cereal. I'm sure the kids will eat them.

After getting the trailer cleaned out, I headed for Connecticutt to pick up a load going to Charlotte, NC, just in time to see all the NASCAR haulers leaving for NH for todays race. COOL! I get that load delivered, then head 15 miles to pick up my next pre-loaded trailer with an 08:00 appointment time...and it will be ready at 10:00. Of course. Finally get that loaded and I'm back on the road, heading for Williamsport, PA, where my week really turned to crap.

I got to my appointment ontime, then they showed me what they needed me to do. This is where it gets ugly, you might want to skip ahead. The receiver guy showed me three trailers parked in a set of docks on the back side in a VERY TIGHT lot. He told me to drop my trailer on the side, pull the first trailer out of the dock and take it over to another building, park it and bring another trailer back and put it in that empty dock. Then pull the third trailer out, park my loaded trailer in there, then take the other trailer to the other building and hook up to my empty and I can go. Fortunately the guy helped guide me into the docks, otherwise I might still be there. I had to seriously jack these trailers in, it was that tight. Unfortunately, I looked in the "empty" trailer I was given and it has a pile of cardboard in it. I can't take this to a shipper! I asked the receiver about it and he said that the shipper is supposed to take care of it. I'm wondering how that is going to happen, the shipper is 700 miles away! He did tell me that there is a recycling center just down the road and that maybe they will take it for me. After I pulled out of their gate I parked in there lot and called my DM to explain to her what I have and find out what I need to do. I told her about the recycling center and she said she needed to check with a planner first. 2 hours later, I'm told to go to the recycler and get cleaned out, then let them know I'm ready, which I did. 4 hours later, I'm still waiting for a load and running out of hours quickly. Finally, with just enough hours left to get to a safe place to stay for the night, I'm sent a load offer that I can actually do. The previous loads they sent me were either after my hours or during my 10 hr break. This one I could actually do. But I took it in such a hurry, I didn't look closely at the delivery times.

After I got to my safe stop, I started writing down my load information, and when I saw the late delivery time, I realised I may not be able to make it. So I figured I would send a MAC 22 (Late) while I was being loaded. The next morning when I was doing my MAC 10, I realised the delivery date was not for this same date, but for the next day. Great, now I've got a load with 370 miles on it that I have to sit on for an entire day, specifically on the day that I set for my hometime, which is today.

So here I sit, waiting for 23:00 so I can deliver, then hopefully head in the direction of home...early in the morning. So far they have sent me 4 pre-plans, 2 of them backing up the other 2, and none of them will work for getting me home. I'm hoping they come up with something soon, or I will be heading home empty.

 

I do that everytime they send me a load not getting me home. I ended up sending a message asking for a load to get home or should I just head home after I delivered the load. They replied telling me to just go home. Just before I was ready to leave to deliver the load I got another pre-plan. It just so happened that it was exactly the same load they had offered me before, right down to the same trip number. Again, I declined it with "hometime" in the comments, and delivered my load.

I was hoping this was going to be relatively quick. It took less than an hour to get loaded so I was hoping for the same to get unloaded. Then the lady in Receiving gave me the instructions for docking, then said feel free to take a nap. Wait. What?! Um, just approximately how long is this going to take? You are scheduled for about 8 hrs, but it could take less. Ok, a nap sounds good. Never did get another pre-plan. Got home about 07:30. Hopefully they'll send me a load offer to head out on wednesday.

Tach, I'm glad my posts have helped you. I wish you all the best.