random questions, thoughts, and observations

Whenever I came across a junk trailer or one that needed to be fixed I would send in a message on the sat and let em know what needed to be done. When I was with SNI an Swift I dont think they ever got the messages or didnt look at them. But when I was with JR Schugel they would either have me take that trailer to a shop right away or let me know how it was gonna be fixed. I had a few instances when I was with schugel they would have me drop my good empty at a shipper, grab the damaged bad trailer get it fixed then come back an pick up my loaded one once it was fixed.

 

First off, don't blame your co driver or other truck that loaded it because YOU didn't do a pretrip. You are supposed to do a pre and post trip. NEVER assume (we all know what that stands for) anything, it only takes a few moments to do, at the very least, a quick walk around to check lights and tires before you start driving. And if you found these major issues with trl, DON'T take it. You CALL your company (and follow up on qualcom) and tell them the situation. And tell them they need to send somebody to get it fixed. And if they say take it anyway, knowing it is unsafe or a "ticket waiting to happen" then you prob don't need to be working for them anyway and tell them to shove it.

Next, you are lucky you didn't get caught running with a flat tire, you can get a nice ticket and have to sit on the side of the road till road service comes out and changes it. Thus making you even later. (I know this from personal exper, I had to donate some money to the sate of Alabama a couple of years ago after a tire blew on a trl I was hauling and I was in a hurry and was trying to sneak to a tire shop in Mobile. I didn't make it, a state trooper caught me)

 

Someone else no doubt called the trailer in as junk and when the company showed the trailer as being "in service" that is when you got the call to bring it in for maintenance. Your pre-trip is what you do, every time, to CYA. Many of your questions would have been answered whilst you were Covering Your #####. With six month experience I am guessing that your co-driver is the lead driver and it was his call to roll with the trailer in its condition. Talk to him about it, being put under the gun is not in the team spirit.

Next time around, and there will be another one just like this one, here is what I would suggest. Pre-trip your unit. Get everything down on paper. Call a human being with some authority and speak to them until they make a decision. Loads can be re-loaded, lots of places do tires "around here" and just because someone else is a knucklehead and won't do the right thing does not mean that you are excused from that responsability. The DOT will certainly make that clear. (press hard, five copies, we now accept credit cards sir) What about the next poor suckers who ended up with this rolling wallet vacuum?

Lousy situations show up with monotonous regularity in this business. Dealing with them takes time and initiative, but at least noone gets killed by a flying tire tread and the trailer doesn't buckle because of a broken cross member becoming part of a group of overstressed and busted cross members. Handing off crap to someone else only ensures that everyones hands get dirty. There are guys in ties, in offices that have had plenty of rest and time at home that get paid to deal with this stuff. The decision makers have to step up and make the decision of where it gets fixed. That it needs to be fixed is not an issue.

Spending the time to do it right, not burdening your fellow drivers and covering your hind quarters is what will build your reputation as a stand up guy and a good hand. There are already too many people passing the buck and not doing what everyone knows needs to be done.

P.S. In my first six months I worked for a guy who made bolt holes in truck frames with a blow torch. I understand where you're coming from. Those are the hard knocks that become experience that makes darn good truck drivers.

 

GOOD MOURNING:
now crazy eyes it is true after all else is said and done YOU the driver are responsible for the safe operation of any equipment you drive or are in control of and if you get caught YOU pay the fine and in some cases you go to jail.

that is a big problem if you work for a company they dump all the responsibility off on the driver and there is not a #### thing you can do about it except pay the fine and do the time the company just does not give a #### about you , your just a driver. is that right ? hell no , is there anything you can do about it ? sure there is , you can quit before you wind up in jail or worse and hope you find another company to work for that is better.

and i dont care who you drive for there all alike when somthing happens it is your fault when it comes to a driver they just dont give a ####.

if you find yourself in that position DONT hook up to the trailer if that is the best the company can do for you its better to quit and find another job before you wind up in jail or worse kill some body.

the driver is always resonsibel for the equipment he drives or has control over.

good luck my friend.----southernpride.---

 

I have only worked for 2 large companys over the years. Central Refregerated, where we had some bad old trailers, and I had to get many fixed that I got at shippers.
The second is where I am now, at Heartland. They have there issues but equipment service is not one of them. After having hooked close to 100 trailers here and pretriping all of them, I can say they do a good job with them.
So far, no bad tires, well greased landing gear, no binding issues on tandom slides.
I have gotten several with ABS light issues and one or 2 with a light out that I had to fix, but that is it.
So tally one positive up for them, they get all trailers to terminals at least 1 time a month for service.