Post Gordon ~ Thoughts, Commentary & Reflections

Half My Shutdown Time Gone Already...

When I got home last night, counted only one Red in the small pen. Should be two. Heard a lot of clucking noise up on the porch, where the dogs stay.

A medium-sized brown egg lay in front of the door to the coop to the larger pen and the other 4-pound Red was squawking wildly up on a table once used for trimming the now-deceased Shih-tz. Terrorizing my 50-60 pound dogs.

At this point there's no clear focus to what I want done in this 'free' time since the 'must-do's' keep intervening while each day slips by. Left the car run all afternoon while I did my usuals in Bloomington (Indiana); put the charger on it this morning just to see the per cent of charge. 75%. Started it, shut it off, wouldn't start after that. Starter again, this one I got from a salvage yard. Battery's old, but okay.

Once securely on jack stands, saw the oil pan was wet with oil. Eh?? Reminded myself, first, remove negative battery cable and when a few minutes later had the starter loose, rocked it back-and-forth to get it out. Sparks. And a steady stream of oil. Caught that oil in a cup found nearby. Removed the battery cable had been supposed to have been already removed.

The oil filter was barely tight, no effort to turn and a wire had shorted up against it and actually burned a small hole. Great design, not!! Oil filter sits right above starter, so starter takes an oil bath at every oil change. Well, we'll do an oil change today. Before the starter goes back in.

When you're out OTR 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks or more, what do you worry about?? Well, everything, sure. But someone else pays for fuel and repairs. You hardly leave the cab and sleeper. As a company driver life has narrowed down to a pretty simple routine. Paperwork, drive, load, paperwork, drive, unload, paperwork, drive, fuel, send trip sheets in. Repeat. Pretty simple.

"Can you get one of these done quickly?" I asked the repair shop. Brought 2 starters. Have 2 '97 Mercury Sable wagons, both in need.

"Maybe later this afternoon," he replied. "Got several ahead of you. Later this afternoon." Local shop, repairs starters, alternators, motors.

It's all good. I'll take it.


Written Friday, July 11, 2014 from the China Wok where the car first indicated it might not start yesterday. All rights reserved.

 

Hi Blu, Was thinking company drivers.

You're a whole different, completely different animal, out of the pan and into the fire. Not for the faint-hearted or weak-kneed. Takes guts, experience and brains. To me, the 'real' drivers are like you, who sweat ALL the details, especially the mechanical details that most of us 'company drivers' cheerfully leave up to the shop or Over The Road service, get paid 'regularly' and still manage to gripe.

A buddy of mine, Tim with Landstar, does almost all his own maintenance; a mechanic himself, Tim's dad is a long-time diesel mechanic, too. They do his brakes, PMs, pulled and replaced the head on his 3406 Cat, for example. Has a '96 Pete 379 (I think), and 53' dry van.

'One size fits all does not work...' Yes, sir!! The industy, the transportation industry, is full of all sorts of niches and crannies (like TruckMovers, for example). Coal haulers, grain and agricultural haulers, scrap metal gondolas...

One of the most profitable small outfits I know is a gal who runs 5 water trucks filling pools summer times around Terre Haute, Indiana. $250 per 5000-gallon delivery in a radius of about 30 miles, can easily do 10 loads/day in season.

That's 10 loads/day per truck and she has 5. Very busy when she's busy.

She has 3 of the 5,000 gallon trucks. 2 smaller water tankers.

A moneymaker. She's making real money. Summers. But she is also one helluva no BS salesperson (unlike TruckMovers), dealing with customers, pool companies and her own drivers.

Vic

 

Hi Zippe,

In a heart beat, yes.

If I saw a path from 'company driver' to small successful O/O, I'd take it. From the very beginning all those years ago, I looked for ways to go on my own. Analyzed every contract I could get my hands on; it didn't pencil out. Then, as now, trucking outfits want to keep drivers broke and ignorant of what their loads pay, whom to talk to, what to say to get customers.

We do well enough on the Prairie run we can run it empty out to Prairie. Imagine that. A $925 load to Madison on the way really sweetens it. So I'm lucky to have this opportunity right now to work with brokers and maybe research working direct. I'll be having further conversations with the Prairie du Chien account about that, too.

Everything for next week was already assigned and we'll be back running to Prairie for the Indiana customer the week after. Still won't hurt to find out who has the magic wand to parcel out other loads. We've run enough loads for them, they know us by now. That's a big part of it.

It is the Indiana customer that put us there in the first place. Up to us if we want try grow it.

An O/O who had something not even this sweet lined up would have a shot. Most company drivers haven't a clue the $$ it takes to stay afloat. The ones who will get there are driven, willing and determined to learn everything necessary to make $$ long term.

Many obstacles, but there is a side of transportation out there very concerned about good service and that opens the door. Applies to brokers, shippers and receivers alike. Doesn't have to be OTR, either. Maintenance is an element, just one of many.

Rita the Water Truck lady knows diddly about maintenance. Takes her trucks to a good shop and just pays the bill. Doesn't even look any further. She knows how to make money, deal with drivers, customers, pool companies. I tell you, she'd land on her feet no matter how hard knocked over.

I think that's part of what it takes, too.

Vic

 

Hi again, Zippe,

As far as your age, I'm not sure being such a youngster counts against you.

Trucking is very physically demanding, though, even just driving (especially as we get older). You bounce, vibrate, shake; there's noise, stress, isolation, bad food, long hours, fatigue. Rude customers, inconsiderate drivers; lousy, chewed up roads. Law enforcement. At least OTR.

It eats up your time, so that you don't have enough day or week to do the gym thing. The beating your body takes means that when you stop it's easy to just crawl back in the sleeper for a nap. (Guilty!!)

At home, the chores have piled up so high it looks simply overwhelming.

Without a solid handle on the business end, it's a really tough business to go. Much safer to just figure, okay, if I get 2 years experience, keep my CDL clean, good jobs will open up. (They will: Ruan, UPS, ODFL). Spent some time today with Brad, an Old Dominion driver 8 years, #30 on a roster of 260 drivers. 230 drivers below him, 230 drivers hired since he hired on. He has ODFL handcuffs.

No Landstar or Schneider Choice for him. ODFL handcuffs.

Nice house, cars, etc.

Many companies highly prefer older drivers. Ours does. We have at least one 77-year-old and one 81-year-old, both very competent and capable drivers.

Yard Boss's knowledge of trucking, how to rate a load, deal with the demands and issues so far out eclipses mine, wouldn't know how to tell you. Yet, after 2 years with Schneider OTR and 15 years managing a 20-truck yard since then that has had changes in company ownership, terrific ups and downs, expansions, contractions, I think he lacks confidence to strike out on his own.

He's too familiar with all the dangers.

If you decided to work 100 hours a week anywhere, and did it, where would you come out, no matter what direction you chose?? That's where OTR takes you, especially in the beginning. Even now, I wouldn't want to divide my hours into my pay. I'll be talking about my pay shortly, too. In detail.

It depends a lot on what you like. An ex-girlfriend would just pump up in a room full of 30 people, where I would deflate. On my own, in a truck all day, driving and ruminating--suits me fine. It would never suit her or someone like her. My aversion to more than a few people at any one time sorta qualifies me for trucking. Off on my own... (at least in my own mind).

Vic

 

Hi Zippe,

That 'uncertainty' is something O/Os live with, uncomfortably, because it's impossible to know what calamity will befall you next, whether brakes, tires, engine, sickness, truck wreck, drop in the economy, lose a profitable run and scramble to replace it, etc.

And it's why in addition to appropriate insurance, an O/O needs to squirrel away money for tires, for maintenance, for truck major repairs and truck retirement. When Brian the CFO (Chief Financial Officer) sends me (and copies to others) that $1.71 from Lafayette to North Carolina is 'marginal' (we were looking at a hypothetical for power-only), that's where he's coming from. Run a little too far empty, get into an area where you have freight in but not out, these are all daily risks for O/Os.

Doesn't take very long to go negative. And start dipping into your reserves.

Landstar, for example, requires their BCOs (Business Capacity Owner, I think) build up reserve accounts, build a cushion. And why Blu has to be able to pay himself, his wife AND his accountant.

Very likely no 2 trucking scenarios are exactly the same. When I had rentals and a hefty net worth, it didn't worry me much that a tenant might trash the place. I only rented to folks I figured I could collect from, repairs were tax deductible, would actually improve the property, and I had the financial firepower to just have the repairs done. Didn't sweat it.

Much tougher to get to the 'not sweating it' point as a trucker, I think. But similar. I figured I needed at least $10K readily accessible at all times to not sweat rentals. You need about that to operate a rig.

As for trucking, have always been a company driver, myself.

Vic


//Big, full moon out tonight like a big, fat light shining down from the night sky.

 

Let's Talk Money... Paychecks!


June 13, 2014... $1,562.48 Gross, $1,241.17 Net
--Covers 2 weeks, May 17-30 (Includes $72 holiday pay)

June 27, 2014... $901.32 Gross, $760.84 Net
--Covers 1 week, May 31-June 13, 2014 (Did not get paysheet in on time for 2nd week!!)

July 11, 2014... $1047.32 Gross, $866.91 Net
--Covers 2nd week in prior pay period where I turned paysheet in late.)

July 11, 2014... $1995.80 Gross, $1552.54 Net
--Covers June 14-27, 2014

I'm typically home every other day and weekends. Job pays okay, not great, for the time I put in, less than the Haz outfit (percentage plus $18 hourly for breakdown, loading-unloading over 2 hrs/trip); less than driving for the USPS mail contractor where I spent 10 months, which ran $24/hr.

(It was always kind of an emergency when the Haz outfit called. "Can you be in Cleveland... " The USPS contractor was a night run. Paid well, but you never catch up on your sleep. Gordon's checks were so small it was embarrassing to admit they were payroll deposits.)

The net deposit drops into one of my checking accounts every other Friday. So June 13, June 27 and July 11, saw those 'Net' amounts hit. Company expects us to make a copy of the paysheet we submit, does not provide a detail with deposit advice, which it calls a 'voucher'.

I really, really do not like this. Have said so.

If you look at the dates on the deposit advice, looks like paid 2x monthly. Not really. It's every other week. Add that confusion to absence of detail of what's being paid... makes me feel uncomfortable. To re-imburse for out-of-pocket expenses, company mails out a handwritten check that looks like came off a personal checking account with the barest of details at bottom. 'Tolls, engine wash... ' etc.

I stopped paying tolls. It's faster to tell the toll clerk I don't have the $5, who then takes my plate info from the front of the truck, gives me a receipt and the Mother Ship has 7 days to pay from that date when I drove through. Haven't got any push back on it, yet.

The alternative is Pre-Pass. Yuppo, that's the ticket. Pre-Pass. It's exasperating to catch up to and pass the same trucks I caught and passed earlier. Was worse running out I-74 through Davenport and all those chicken coops (scales). There are 5, 2 always closed, 3 usually open and Vic has to play catch up at each one with the same slow trucks. G-r-r-r-r.

Pay varies each week depending. The Prairie du Chien run pays $329.16. If I have an outbound load on the way to Prairie, that pays $150 plus the $329.16 for the Prairie turn. That's nice, especially since the company policy is to pay hub miles, not percentage. Yard Boss helped me out on that. It's an exception to company pay policy. Now, if we could ratchet back to the one/week Prairie du Chien turn I was hired for...

There's a warehouse run I'm sometimes asked to do; swinging through the shop in Illinois pays, too. Both add to the check. We had one TONU (Truck Ordered Not Used) for a load out of Terre Haute that didn't happen and paid the company $150 and I supposedly got $30 for my trouble.

Coming up on the next check is a driver unload in Oak Creek, WI that the broker agreed to after the fact; Yard Boss agreed to another $25 to me for the delay for the grocer to count my freight and sign the BOL (bill of lading).

Funny, the broker's processing department called Illinois, asking for the driver unload receipt and the BOL, neither of which they had. Wanted to pay us; Illinois called me, so I was on the phone with both the broker and the Mother Ship, asking corporate to fax those direct to the gal in processing.

No big deal. It's all good. A little unusual role for a company driver, though.


Written Sunday, July 13, 2014 from Martinsville, Indiana. All rights reserved.