Snackbar is chillin'....at Shaffer

Instead of the Bud-Dummer load to OR, they put me on a Monday live load out of a cold storage in Tracy going to Wally in Casa Grande AZ for Wed. The shipper is more like the stereotypical cold storage of yesteryear. 9 am appointment, backed in front of the dock with doors closed and waited...and waited....and waited. At first, I wondered why keep the doors closed until they told you to open them, but after 5.5 hrs sitting there waiting, I see why. It's a -10 load, and there is no way it would hold the precooled temp with the doors open for as long as they make you wait. Google maps reviews have some people waiting 8-12 hours here. I guess you can't win them all, for the most part, most of Shaffer's customers have been fairly efficient getting live loads knocked out. These once in a while long load times are few and far between. Still sucks, but at least I have had my bad customer for this month.

Managed over 12,500 in March. My average monthly paid miles are just over 11k for the year...so, like I said before, if they could get this equipment issue resolved, I would be content here. Not quite up to happy camper status...just content status.

 

Yep, or as a former Magnum driver use to call it...steak money. However, the delay put me behind so I didn't make it thru LA before running short on time. So, now I am taking a break at the Petro north of the Grapevine instead of somewhere east of the city.

 

No problems starting, I think it's just a software thing. In the latest message on 'tips to reduce idling' it mentioned that our opti-idle is set to only run for 10 hours, and it's best to restart the opti-idle (which resets it's clock) before going to sleep if that 10th hour is during your sleep time. However, the problem I am having is at the beginning of my break, so I chalk it up to it being a Junk-liner Crapcadia. I still feel they are the worst truck on the road, and couldn't care less if I ever sat behind the wheel of another for the rest of my driving career.

 

Some more screwed up logic from Deland. #####in about idle time. They say, shut off the truck and not use opti-idle when not in it, but then say...pre-cool it before turning it back on once you return...how? It shuts off in 3 min...that is insufficient time to cool down a truck that has been sitting in the heat w/o a/c. Turn off the inverter when not in use, but use a 12v fan...excuse me, an inverter in standby uses way less than 1 amp/hr...even a small 12v fan uses way more. I gave him 3 options...get authorization to fix this truck outside the company shops since they are nothing but parts changers, not diagnostic geniuses...if the company insists we use a company shop, assign me to another truck that doesn't have problems like this (he said my idle % was fine before I was issued this truck), then the shop can take their sweet tjme to figure out this problem...or I can find a company that appreciates and respects a driver who can safely deliver 130k+ paid miles a year in a better equipped truck, and he can message the next poor schmuck every week that gets assigned to this POS...his choice.