Hey txdirtroad, Awesome! That is good to hear! I hear ya on the not confirmed loads lol I know what you mean, I'm getting to the point now where I seldom look at em anymore. Trucking along!
all the new 680's at transam have been having problems all warranty but that still doesn't help get miles just a first year model thing I am sure KW has a list every day of updates 700's were same way in 2010
atruckr Just got hired for the choice prog. I told Jenifer my recruiter to give you the referal bonus lI kind of made up my mind by reading your post , call her and tell her Scott told you to call for it ..
I'm on my 3rd load since leaving Thursday evening from Schneider, Charlotte, NC, everything is going great, now i get to sit today Sunday till Coca Coca opens in the morning. Then I've got 2 pre assigned drop and hook loads till Tuesday. Still in the North East region. Haven't got homesick yet
Got a zero $$ pay last week! Yep that"s right zero! actually negative about $300 bucks. But all is well that ends well! After the Flower Mound TX load I had 2 more loads picked to finish my week with a decent paycheck. However sometimes things get wacky out here as you probably already know. Went up to Oklahoma and p/u a load going to Canton, Mississippi delivered that no problems quick drop and hook grabbed my empty and on my way to the next load in Columbus, Mississippi. Got up there (load going home to PA) checked in, backed into the door, per their requirements swept the trailer out and waited. The guy loading me comes over and checks out my trailer and says you have an oil substance on the floor of your trailer we are going to have to reject this trailer. eeekk so I ask how can I get it approved? He said you will have to get it washed out and then let it dry out before we can load it. Crapp! just what i don't need! well i let Schneider know what is going on and after about 30 mins they give me a new solution to go about 6 miles down the road and swap out trailers. Oh, cool! im thinking.. great, maybe I can get back here in time to get loaded and put down some miles today to reach delivery before our pay period cut off time on Monday. That was my original goal. So i go down the road to get a different trailer. Pull into the lot at some tractor repair shop and in the back see about 4 empty SNI trailers. Knowing now that this customer is really uptight about the condition of the trailers I find the newest and cleanest one, give it a good sweep and head back to the shipper. Back into the door and wait inside for the inspector. He comes in and starts to check out the trailer. He stops about mid way inside the trailer looks down and says I think I see little specs of glass in here, yep yep that's what it is. He says you have glass in this trailer I am going to have to reject it. I'm like, what!! are you kidding me!!! No he says you have glass in here we can't risk getting glass into our product it is used to make baby diapers. I said you would think they could package there product in such a way as to protect it from getting contaminated like that. But what do i know, right?? Anyway! By now it is late and I am running out of time. I call Schneider again but it is the weekend and systems are down there is nothing they can do. Okayyyy I'm thinking... now what! Well I remember seeing a cleaner trailer down there but is old so it wasn't my first choice. So I head down there again anyway and locate that trailer. By now it is getting dark and it is 90 degrees and humid as hell. I strap on a head band flash light and grab another lantern light I keep with me for these occasions. Shine as much light in the trailer as possible because by now I assume that every trailer that has been rejected from that place is probably here in this yard . So I see those little specs of glass (i guess it is glass but who knows) in this trailer too. But it was cleaner. So I begin to sweep, after sweeping it out 3 times it was looking pretty good but I wasn't sure. Besides the fact it is so hot my family jewels are taking a steam bath at this point and there is no where to get a shower! ugghhh! I know this sounds gross but now we know why they say "thank you for all that you do!" I wonder if anyone in the general public really knows what we do out here. Not sure why exactly but I love this work so it doesn't really matter. Just wonder sometimes. I decide my best action is to get back to the customer and park for the night and sweep the trailer out again in the morning and by that time there will be a shift change at the shipper so maybe things will go better. There was a little truck stop at the place where the empty trailer was so I wash up best I can and head back to the shipper and park it. to be continued..
It kinda freaks me out that you got a negative paycheck, but it seems like you knew you would be. Did I miss a post where you took some time off or something? We have a friend that does choice and his checks have always been $1500-$2000 a week, net. And I know from your posts, you're happy with the program, but with 4 little kids the thought of a negative check scares the living crap out of me!! I hope things go well at the shipper for you, drive safe.
Well i got up the next morning, sun shining bright which was perfect for seeing into that trailer (now is the 3rd trailer) after making another sweep through of the trailer in the daylight I head over to shipper as early as possible. Check in and back into the door. Totally different crew of people there and my load guy is now a pretty lady with a pink hard hat She smiles and said I saw you were rejected yesterday but I have checked out your trailer and it is fine so we will get you loaded shortly! whew! Thank God because no telling how much time it would have taken to go find another trailer or wash one out. None the less I still didn't get out of there in time to make it to delivery before the pay period cut off time. I made on time delivery but missed getting that last load in to count as revenue for the week. The point I am making is to let others know it is going to happen. Sometimes that last load won't get on your pay check and you end up with a zero. Plus you have to pay a late fee for not making your truck payment. Think it is $25 or $35 late fee will have to check it. Planning is everything in this business! Fortunately I was able to bank a nice reserve over the last few months and have no problems paying my bills and have money for the week. Just mentally sucks getting that zero tho! Now obviously it will go on the next weeks pay but I was taking 2 days off this week so was a little concerned about it. I took off Tuesday and Wednesday and headed back out on Thursday. Took my first load to GA then grabbed another going to MO then bobtailed (no empties at last drop) up to Iowa and picked up going to Texas where I am at now! Got this one in on time so will end this week bringing home about $2400 including my negative last week and my carry over of revenue, which averages out to be $1200 a week for the last 2 weeks. Not my best weeks but it will do! And not to bad for taking 2 days off. All is well that ends well!
Yes, planning is everything! Thanks for all of your awesome postings and insight! Hopefully my hubby will be out there trucking with you all again really soon!
