Post Gordon ~ Thoughts, Commentary & Reflections

I would suggest this is exactly your single most obvious shortcoming Victor, lack of credibility. Funny how we don't see the most blatantly obvious facts, isn't it?

 

IIRC Gordon does have detention time paid after 2 hours. Made a load a significant money maker rather than looser for me.

Drop and hook Victorville, CA Live unload with 5 hrs paid detention Stockton, ,CA live unload with 7 hrs paid detention Spokane, WA + extra drop pay.

Key was the anal retentive documentation you had to do to get it.....

Arival and departure times on bills, Qualcom macro after 1 hour. (follow with a freestyle to get DM's attention). I would drop a second @ 2 hrs that detention pay started.

 

This is the most important factor to remember and is the key difference between it and a normal break. I use it often with one of our regular customers; they have a DC in Plainfield, IN and we always make two timed - and I mean to the MINUTE timed - stops, usually in the metro Detroit, Ann Arbor, Flint areas. The first stop is always at 0400 and the second one is always at 0645. 0401 and 0646 are LATE. With the total trip time about 6 hours (with the new 30-minute meal break), I use the split sleeper and take 8 hours at a truck stop near Plainfield, then drive through the night and take the 2 hour break on site before the crew arrives at 0400. I had one last night and expected nothing different from what I've done many, many times. It's always worked well, giving me enough flexibility at the tail end to handle a broker load or something, which is what normally happens.

Normally.

Well, guess what? About 2 hours into my midnight journey, the QC chirps three times. Not twice, which would be normal for a preplan. Uh oh, I think. Something unusual is happening. It's very late, the dispatchers are gone, THREE chirps...definitely strange. i was curious, but waited until I got to Lansing, the first stop, to read them.

Bad news. The preplan was for a 3-stop back haul from the two stores on my delivery plus one in Ann Arbor, 45 miles away back to Plainfield. When I arrived in Lansing, I had 5.5 hours left on my 14, which is normally sufficient for my needs and availability. However, with three additional stops, including an almost 60-minute trip through AA, which has had its roads torn up all Spring and Summer, thus adding to rerouting - there are lots of no-truck routes in a college town - and time, I knew I was in trouble.

And I was. To make a long, very unpleasant story short, I ran over my 14 by, um...shall we say less than 5 but more than 3 hours? And here I sit in the first available safe haven while Mr. Safety does his magic with my QC logs to show compliance.

It's all about planning and good planning requires knowing where you're going next before you leave. I didn't and was mightily shocked with the over-hours. Yikes! At least the Michigan State Police commercial vehicle inspection teams weren't out in my neck of the asphalt jungle last night.

Oh. And my king-pin lock handle got bent during one of my hooks, so that's gotta be fixed. Somedays it just doesn't pay. Anything, anywhere, any time. But I just got another preplan, so I still have a job!

 

Vic, I miss having my daily reading lol.

Just have to add that this last month has been pretty darn good. (Not that there haven't been headaches and short runs, I said it was good, not perfect lol!) Had a service failure that was put on me that I am still sore about. (The load was borked, but I accepted the preplan without confirming that it had already been failed).

But I did ask if I could get run through a certain city to take an old buddy out to dinner, and sure enough with 4 loads they made it happen. ANNNNNNNNNNNND (drumroll please) I got my first bonus check. For the last quarter ran 23.5k miles, at 6.9 mpg (The quarter before was 6.6 I think). Was about $250, and I sure was happy to get it, as I was not expecting it.

 

Which board are you on

 

Well I am trying not to give out too much info lol.

 

23.5k for 3 months?????? That's 2k miles per week.

What am I missing?

Performance bonus was just coming in when I split from GTI. Figured it would be more than 0.01 per mile though.