Regional??? Yeah right!

Just an observation. Don't expect to run in the "region" you are hired to run in. After 4 months at Interstate, I have had to fight to stay even close to the area I was hired to run in. I was hired to run Kansas City Regional. I live in Denver, the farthest west that the KC Regional fleet is supposed to run. (Check out the Interstate website, says KC Regional should run CO, KS, OK, TX, MO, AR, and TN.) I'm in Phoenix now with a load tomorrow to Salt Lake. Why? Because the only loads available out of Denver yesterday were going west. My FM does her best to fight the planners for a load that I want, but I constantly get told that what I'm being offered is all that is available. I don't have to take it, but if I want to make a pay check, I need to run it. I have run National with other companies for several years, but went to Interstate because the pay was good and they hired me for KC Regional. I have run all the way to Cranberry, NJ to the east, and Boise, ID to the west, and all points in between. Not exactly what I signed up for. Also, as for getting home weekly for a 34 hr reset, good luck with that. I think in the 4 months I have been here, I have made it home only once two weekend in a row. All the other times, I end up getting home every 12 days or so. I've been so pissed about it that I do push my home time to the max and even take an extra day once and a while to compensate for their lack of planning. I still get 2600-2900 miles a week even when I do go home. I don't know if I'm the only Interstate driver with this issue, or if it's a KC fleet problem. If they didn't have the business to support a KC Regional fleet, they shouldn't have hired drivers for it. I do like Interstate as a company. They treat me well, I'm just a little frustrated with the planning and loads. Also, I need to get to KC before the new year to get whatever is sitting on my FM's desk for my truck. Hmmm, I'm delivering in Salt Lake City on Monday morning. That gives me Monday and Tuesday driving if they get a load for me going to KC to get there. They have known I need to get through KC to get that stuff since the beginning of December. Great planning guys!

 

I like the company and my FM, I just wish I could do the job I was hired to do. I hate changing jobs, but, like pretty much all drivers, my eyes are always open for something that really is better. It's just scary, because what seems better, could be a whole lot worse than what you left it for.