Random LTL Rants (all are welcomed)

Nope. Not once, not never.

 

I can’t speak to what was going through that YRC driver’s head, but I can say that today I was in a truck without cruise control when I got stuck behind an ODFL driver going about a half mph slower and it was agonizing trying to match his speed with the pedal. I had to wait until we got to a long uphill stretch with no traffic behind me for miles before I could overtake him.

 

13 minutes ahead of schedule.
The best in over night skip day service.

 

So this week I’ve been monopolizeing the same pallet jack all week. And the big lesson is bring your own tools if you can.

Tonight I thought ehh I don’t need to bring a pallet jack with me when I get to my first stop I’ll just use that jack that’s been sitting by the door all week.

Then a little voice said Michael you know better then that so I backed into a door at the warehouse and grabbed a jack and boy was I glad I did when the jack I was counting on was missing.

 

It's a fact. If you use your own pallet jack there will be one (or more!) just sitting around, trying to lull you into a false sense of security. But, the second you think "Oh, I can just leave mine at the barn this time", they vanish and nobody knows where they are. Also applies to load bars, hand carts, ramps, and other such devices.

Kind of like the way that carrying an umbrella on a day that's threatening rain only makes you look like a dork and might even bring out the sun, but if you leave it at home, the sky opens up and you get drenched.

 

I had that happen a few months ago. Delivered a big housekeeping order to a hotel at my last stop and found a pallet jack just sitting in the receiving hallway. It saved a bunch of time just pulling two pallets off instead of making a bunch of trips back and forth. About a month later the same hotel has another big housekeeping order and sure enough the pallet jack is nowhere to be found...after I had already scanned everything out and stacked it neatly onto pallets in the middle of my trailer.

 

That would be my luck.

 

That's a pro move, Mike. I wish more drivers would do that (or decide against passing when they're only a hair faster) and bump the cruise down so they aren't creating a rolling road block for everyone else.

My view is that I don't want to unnecessarily run next to another semi for the next 10 miles. If I see a fellow Dayton driver (or anyone else really) creep up on me over time and he doesn't bump the cruise down himself, I'll do so just to let him get on down the road. Half the time if we're going to the same terminal we'll end up at the same red light at the end of the exit ramp anyway. I don't mind sacrificing a few truck lengths over the course of 500 miles to be a little safer. In the end my shift might be 30 seconds longer. That is not what I consider to be a burden by any means.

One night coming south on 75 out of Michigan toward Ohio I had two 60mph trucks do that turtle race in front of me. The speed limit was 65 and the far left lane means a big ticket in MI for trucks (and I've heard of several drivers getting them). So I just sat behind those fools for just shy of 20 miles until the Ohio line, where I was legal to jump out into the hammer lane. I looked over at the guy in the middle lane when I went by and he looked completely oblivious, like he was barely even aware he was operating a tractor-trailer.

To me it's about common sense and courtesy, which are two things that are sorely lacking in modern society.

 

Extra runs this weekend.
I’ll see you all out there.