Off For Christmas?

I don't know, this is my first Christmas out here as well. I put in for December 15 and I'm still 2500 miles from home today on the 17th. I had some important papers to sign 2 days ago oh well, they will still be there when I get there. I have the all important magic 6 months in now, looking around for better opportunities all the time....

 

why wouldn't you have sent in a Mac 8 last week? I was asked by my DM about running Wal-Mart dedicated for a week out of missouri, just to keep me around this area, so i can get home on the 24th. But that is one of the bennys of being a L/O, come the 23rd, i can turn down anything that dont get me home on the 24th. And the DC is only about a 3 hr drive from my place...

 

famous last words of a DM. If i was still a company driver, and i was still 2500 mi from home, i'd send a message into my DM saying "i know you're doing your best, but can you msg the planner to start heading me back (east/west/north/south)?"....and THEN, any PrePlan that came across my QC that didnt head me toward home, would get declined. But today is tuesday....if you're not 1500 mi from home by now, you're not getting home.....and they wont deadhead you more than 200 miles to get you home either.

 

Keep pestering until you get a response, that's the best advice I can give you. DM's are hassled this time of year, cause most of their drivers are wanting home. Planners are hassled, too. You've got to scream loud to be heard over all the other drivers that are screaming too.

I don't think they would guarantee home time so soon after you just had some, but they might make an exception as a favor to you, especially if they can easily find a load going that way. They might be able to get you home under a load, too, something that will p/u before X-mas and deliver after.

 

I dropped a T-call in Edwardsville KS on Saturday morning (7 days before Christmas) and had a preplan for a load out of there to Lost Angeles- only 350 miles from home terminal. Edwardsville had no empty trailers and when I went to ask at the window if they knew of any consignees around where I could go get one, she curtly told me to "go sit and wait in your truck". Whoa, now I'm mad. 12 hours go by I sent a message maybe they want to take that load off me which they did (I was hoping something better would come along...) Then they offered me a 588 mile load with 3.5 days on it to Denver then, I was like Heck to the No, 1st, that's gonna make a short paycheck next week, 2nd, I need a 34, better to do it in Kansas rather than Denver where I might be trapped in by the snow. So I waited for something better, beep, Henderson Colorado now, OK I'll bite, (because now I'm thinking I will be here til New Years lol) hazmat load etc, can't find the trailer on the Edwardsville yard at all. I went in the office three times to tell them it wasn't out there. First he told me it was a Container type trailer, nope, then he said it was a regular Swift trailer,then they said look for an Xtra Lease trailer no numbers etc. I messaged my home terminal to confirm, DM calls Kansas, guy tells her curtly he doesn't have time for her, she calls me and says 'I'm voiding that load off of you, go bounce the papers off that guy's head' (I wish). But she hooked me up with layover pay and got me a good load going to Sparks which is even closer to home, however CB rumors that I-80 is shut down west of Laramie now shucks.

 

being based out of edwardsville, i'm calling Bill Shatner on this story....or atleast the exact wording. Now you might have got someone on a 'bad day', but nobody is going to call Edwaks and say "i dont have time for you". Your biggest mistake? going to driver services to ask for an MT, THEN WAITING 12 HRS FOR ONE. Why would you not have sent in a macro 38? or if anything, send in a 38...then follow it right up with a macro 22 and state the reason you're running late is you need directions for an MT trailer?

and there are always MT trailers around that terminal. you just didn't look hard enough. yeah it sucks...you actually have to WALK from trailer to trailer, open each one that dont have a seal, and see if its actually MT.

 

I did send macro 38 but got no response. Didn't do the macro 22 though. I did look at every trailer there and hooked to a few with the pigtail and each on was either on shop status or was an MS trailer that has to stay there. I should add that I wasn't the only one there desperately looking for an empty. I don't know if it was 12 hours, may have been using a little drama queen action there lol. But the DM who called me from Lathrop did tell me that the CSR guy told her he was very busy and didn't have time to help her. That's when she called me and said she voided the load and told me to find an empty asap and beat them to the punch on getting out of there. The trailer I found had jammed doors that wouldn't open unless you opened both doors simultaneously which is what no other Swifty had thought of earlier luckily for me.

On a funny note earlier a driver entered the terminal, a rookie, asks 'where's row E?' I answered, "Behind row D" lol. The CB lit up like crazy with Swifties asking him if he was bringing in an empty trailer.

I did see a guy get out of a red Kenworth, looked to be about 98 pounds, hair slicked back, coke bottle thick glasses with a piece of white tape holding the bridge together, button down short sleeve shirt with hideous tie, 3 pens in the breast pocket with calculator, 2 cell phones on his hip along with tire air gauge, high water black slacks with white socks and black dress shoes. I walked toward him to introduce myself but he turned and sprinted in and apparently locked himself inside one of the showers.