Old timer question. Before cell phones and load boards

There were payphones everywhere. At the truck stop counters and tables ....... I was a company driver hauling are own products... So I don't know about finding loads..

I do know that most loads paid better back then......

 

1. Long waiting lines for payphones at the truckstop.

2. Telephones at the coffee counter so you could call dispatch. Be prepared to write down everything right then (shipper, reciever, directions, and any numbers being fired at you by a dispatcher at Mach 12)

3. Company paid calling cards to call shippers and recievers for directions when they didn't offer an 800 number or a WATTS line.

4. Long wait times between loads. Typically, dispatch wouldn't start looking for a reload until they heard you were empty (at least, in my experience).

Believe it or not, this wasn't all that long ago. A better question would be "what was it like before fuel cards?" You know, when the boss handed the driver his load paperwork and a couple of grand to pay for fuel and tolls for the week. Those are the actual "good old days".

 

I would be interested to hear this also.... How ever what are the chances of someone of that age being on the internet.....? I started young and just caught the very end of regulation ....

I believe that trip leasing was big back then. If someone had the load and authority you would have to trip lease to haul it......(I think)

 

There are still a few truck stops with the phone jacks in the booths. I drove for a small company from 70 to 75 so I didn't have to worry about hunting loads but I had to call in and update the boss daily. The guy was a total diaper type so there were times I was the center of attention in the restaurant. I remember getting standing applause once for creative swearing.

Everyone had a pocketful of change and everybody would eavesdrop other conversations so you knew you were in for some entertainment when a driver dumped a load of change on the counter and started swearing while dialing.

All in all it wasn't a great time but time has made it tolerable to remember. Sometimes.
Frank

 

Someone of that age? I'll be 65 in December and I've known about the Internet and used it since it was developed. Still here. Crap, now I feel old! Okay all better!

 

Some companies had their own PAYPHONES in the pier areas on NEW YORK CITY # was assigned to the company so they could call drivers, if you broke down a lot of times you got parts dropped off by another company truck and carried out the repairs yourself. Messages home could get relayed by numerous drivers many who did not even work for the same companies.

My first solo trip into NEW YORK CITY was handed $20.00 in bills & change with instructions scribbled on a piece of paper in pencil , it had been a HOT day and the dispatcher had sweated a bit so instructions were hard to read

Loads into CANADA were very much like MEXICO , you dropped your trailer at the border and a Canadian ( PULL IN OUTFIT ) took it into Canada and brought it back to you.

It was a BIG DEAL when some truck stops started putting a payphone at the booths in their DRIVERS ONLY SECTIONS , so you could talk and eat at the same time

 

It's funny you ask. I misplaced my phone this morning for about 40 minutes and was really upset. It was in the men's room at the little Mom and Pop. I had settled myself with: "You still got all your paper back up. It'll be fine. Just have to buy a new one" when a real nice older driver came up and handed it to me. He said "I believe this might be yours." It was and we kinda both chuckled about how we used to do things and how much we depend on these new things now. But I still have my old school back ups. Just wasn't looking forward to using them as primary again. All this technology is pretty cool. Provided you know what to do and have the means to do it when it fails - or gets left in the men's room. LOL.

Never rolled without at least $20 in quarters. Then they came out with prepaid long distance cards. All that stuff you do on the Qualcomm now; we used to do on phones. Like Cat said there was a bank of pay phones on the wall at every truck stop, phones at the tables and counters at the restaurant and a pay phone on every corner and at a very gas station and grocery store. Pretty much 85% of the businesses had toll free numbers - as did your company. You knew your RMN MC Atlas super well and picked up a paper map of every city you went to and made a stop at every welcome center for the paper maps they put out. I still have a BIG box of them at home and still pick up a current one every now and then for big cities like NYC, Miami, LA, Atlanta etc. Rolled with the big thick "Truck Stop Yellow Pages and Interstate Exit Guide." Carried a notebook and paper with you everywhere. Learned to fix a LOT of stuff on the truck yourself and rolled with basic tools and replacements for bulbs and belts, wire, hose patching, etc. Might be sitting a good long while or taking a nice long walk to find a phone otherwise. I was a company driver until recently so I couldn't tell you about loads and freight rates but as a company driver - miss a load or a few check calls and you went to the bottom of the barrel and put on the crap list til you either got starved out to getting another job or earned your way back into good graces. AC and Heaters weren't near as good as they are today and hit wasn't uncommon at all to not even have AC, just lots of vents. Trucks weren't nearly as roomy or smooth riding as they are today but seemed to be more dependable with less electronic dependency and a lot fewer emission control stuff. No APUs, so everything was 12v and most of it like coffee makers, sucked and that which did work well was very expensive. DOT wasn't really interested in your logbook that much but you better have every other I dotted and T crossed so that hasn't changed much. They were till pretty good for the most part about cutting someone with a good attitude a break.

All in all it's just a trade off. I'm not a "those were the good ole days" driver. They were just "yesterdays". The one constant in this business is change and all change is a tradeoff of something for something. Just got to go with the flow.