Snackbar is chillin'....at Shaffer

I'm bobtail 800 miles...from Mobile AL to Lafayette IN...to get a trailer ??? ..that doesn't make much sense...but it still pays me the miles...so I don't mind it

 

SSB, I’m not going to trivialize your expertly written accounting and observations about Crete/Shaffer. But I will say this, all companies, mine included, has the same issues, albeit ours on a smaller scale. I’ve picked up trailers that have been missing for 6 months. Last week, while moving into my 3rd truck this year alone, I hear from the shop manager that we have 10% of our trucks, in various shops throughout the country broke down. That’s 45 trucks. I can’t imagine what your companies dead in the water throughout the country is.

I called Crete/Shaffer before the holidays inquiring about coming onboard, when the chick on the other end of the phone told me I had to be out 6 weeks before going home, I politely told her that there wasn’t a trucking company in the lower 48 and all of Canada worth .70 CPM to stay out that long. I looked at a bunch of companies and decided that for the BS I put up with, making $90K in 9 months work, having 3 weeks vacation and 12 weeks off, I’ll stay were I’m at and put up with the monkees running the zoo, even if our parent company is Knight/Swift Holdings Corp. one reason why I stay? I’m on my last medical card renewal and got my last new truck last week.

 

For perspective- there are a LOT of drivers that appreciate and desire those types of messages.

 

By nature of reefer work, it’s impossible to know who is working or sleeping without checking each individual. I like to start my day at midnight or so and could be sleeping when many day shift people are in the office depending on the time zone I’m in. I just lower the volume when I don’t want to be disturbed. I’m too tempted to get up and look at them otherwise.

 

WOW! Imagine the knock on effect of that.

Not only does the company have to have over an extra 100 tractors to keep 1000 on the road, those that have in-house shops are overwhelmed with work. This leads to often doing the bare minimum to get a unit on the road and either do a half baked repair or not fixing many of the items that are written up, especially those repairs that do not affect the ability of the unit to pull freight. Those would include things such as bunk heaters and other driver comfort items or the PeopleNet and lead to the kind of frustrations we see here.

In addition, parts shortages mean the shop itself is crammed with sick trucks that await repair. Frustrated mechanics, frustrated drivers, and higher cost to the company.

 

I haven't had any issues with my last 3 trucks(2 of them to 500k and this one to 145k so far) the nanny stuff is annoying, but it all becomes white noise to me at some point. I've never had an issue with a bunk heater in any truck since we've had them, only issue I ever had with opti idle is when my a/c compressor puked. I've only had issues with equipment once in my almost 14 years here, and during that fiasco I had 4 trucks in 6 months. It's very frustrating. But I don't think it's even close to say that the majority of drivers have all of the issues you are having. I hope things start to get better.

 

Yes, here we go again, you kvetching about SSB's thread.....

 

Hey! Guess What! Crete Salt Lake has deemed me drug and alcohol free! lol

On the trailer shortage note, SLC terminal has about 25 stripped 838xxx series trailers scattered all over the yard...

34h reset is incoming. Gonna see if there's any entertainment to be found nearby.

At least the mountains look nice...