Starting at Magnum Transportation

Sorry for not keeping up, the holiday season has been hectic for me.

We made it to Texas on time, unloaded, reloaded about 30 minutes to the south in Arlington before calling it a night and catching some shut eye. Woke up the next morning and we drove sort of like a team up to Scottsbluff. Apparently the LTL terminal there was from a company that was purchased by Magnum not too long ago. Got to check out my truck once we got there. A 2020 Cascadia with about 195k on the clock. I bought some cleaning supplies but thankfully whoever drove it last, his wife did a fairly good job of getting most of the stuff out, so i only spent a couple hours of cleaning, which Magnum actually paid me for, which was a surprise. My trainer and I headed on our seperate ways at this point. He headed up to Bismarck for a delivery, while I headed down to Anheuser Busch in Fort Collins to pick up some beer going to Moorhead, MN. Unfortunately I wasnt able to sample any of it. Besides for some fuel card issues at the Flying J in Cheyenne, it was an uneventful drive. US-85 through Wyoming is gorgeous, however there is no cell reception in many stretches and there would literally be nothing accept the occasional oncoming vehicle for miles. The embodiment of the middle of nowhere and I loved it.

Made it into Fargo with time to spare, dropped the beer in the yard for a local to deliver the next morning, and found my next preload to North Carolina in the yard also. Woke up the next morning with it colder than a well diggers you know what and blowing snow. However the weather improved once i got east of MSP and stayed dry for the duration of the trip. Delivered to a small place in Fayetteville a couple days later. I was in and out within an hour. Picked up another preloaded at an ecolab near Winston-Salem to deliver to the Chicago area. Dispatch also said i could go home and get my stuff as well as some other stuff i needed to do. Due to being forced to run off recaps due to my 70, i didn't get home until noon on Christmas Day. Besides for running to Chicago and back the next Monday, i essentially had about 3 days at home.

Came back out on the 29th and headed down to the Chicago yard to pick up a trailer delivering to a Blain's Farm and Fleet in Janesville, WI. Another quick unload. Headed up to Appleton to get loaded and dropped the load at the Chicago yard. Had to wait a few hours for a local to bring my load back up to MSP going to some Asian food warehouse. Made it there on Friday and I must say, it was a pita backing into the dock at that place with my Freightliner. I'm not sure how the ones who drive Peterbilt's at Magnum do it. The perk was i got unloaded in like 15 minutes and i was out. Meandered over to the Coon Rapids yard and I've been here ever since. My truck is in the shop right now for a few services but hopefully that won't take too long. So far i like my experience with Magnum. Besides for that one fiasco we had when i was with my trainer, its been nothing but great experiences. What i like is that there's no BS to be found as far as i can see. Everything I've been told has been true and correct so far. As long as you communicate to your driver managers when required, they leave you alone. I've been treated as an adult here, there's no babysitting to be found at this company in the short experience I've had.

 

Just a quick update.

The shop had to completely rebuild my bunk heater. Apparently it was super clogged and all that. Got advice from the mechanic who worked on my truck to run the bunk heater at least once a month during the summer to keep it free flowing. This made me late to my appointment at Jennie-o but dispatch said they could still take me. Arrived, got loaded, survived what is the fiasco at the pilot on US-52 south of St. Paul, and called it a day at a rest area. Woke up and hauled ### and just as I was passing Rockford, I recieved a message that the reciever in Chicago called it a day...ended up stopping at a Love's with a buge parking lot. Got to the reciever at 6 am the next morning, got unloaded, and backtracked up to Beloit for a load down to North Carolina. Didn't get very far down the road before I had to shut down. There were 40-50+ mph winds straight out of the west as I was going down I-39 and with hardly more than 10k in the box, it was an absolute bear to keep my truck on the road, much less in my own lane. Informed dispatch and twiddled my thumbs for the rest of the day. Started off the next day strong but as I was passing Cincinnati, i heard cb chatter about a major winter storm impacting Tennesee into the Virginia's, with both I-40 and I-64 being a complete mess. Wanting no part in that either, I called it a day in Chillicothe, OH and informed dispatch that I wasn't making my 0700 appointment on Friday. That's the one good thing I have to say about Magnum, and Schneider also. They would rather you pull off the road to a safe place than put yourself in a dangerous situation. They said they can always change appointment times as needed.

They ended up changing my live unload at the Ecolab in NC to a drop n hook, and took me off the NC to ND load and instead put me on a Shelby, NC to Winona, MN. Made it to Ecolab, dropped my loaded, picked up and empty, and headed down to Shelby, which was another drop and hook. Some drivers don't like DNH's and I don't get it. I'd rather turn n burn in half an hour than sit and do nothing for 2-3+ hours. Did my DNH in Shelby and stayed at the Walmart there overnight. Woke up the next morning and started my drive to Minnesota. Nothing of interest happened until I ran into my trainer in Wisconsin. He invited me over for dinner and to chat. Had some pretty good fried chicken and mashed potatoes before I walked back to my truck and called it a day. Sat Monday since my delivery was Tuesday. At this point I had already had another load lined up from MN to Washington. I specifically asked for this as I was dying to see the Western US and I knew that the weather would be very mild by January standards. Unloaded the next morning in Winona, and head up to White Bear Lake to get reloaded. Made it up to the Fargo yard before shutting down. Did some laundry and other errands while I was up there. Left early yesterday morning and made it to Glendive, MT before I decided to take highway 200 across Montana rather than I-94/90. It's actually quite a bit shorter by 60-70 miles and save for Great Falls and steeper grades, you can go the same speed since I'm governed to 64. Stopped at a rest area literally in the middle of nowhere. Amazingly my phone service was actually pretty good. Woke up this morning and all was good until i climbed a long, steep grade to Rogers Pass along Highway 200. Stopped off at the summit to take pictures and noticed that i was leaking antifreeze faster than Niagara Falls from the radiator cap. I let the engine cool for about 15 minutes, put what antifreeze i had in it, tightened the radiator cap and hoped for the best. I couldn't call the shop since I had no service in that area. Even my peoplenet had no service. The only bad part about Highway 200. If you break down in a rather desolate area, you're screwed if you have no phone service, as other traffic is hard to come by. I suspect the cap was just loose as I made it down to where I'm at now in Missoula, MT with no issues. Topped off my coolant and oil and ready to head for Washington in the morning. I have an 1100 appointment Saturday morning in Sumner, and hopefully this mild weather and good road conditions prevail. I was worried since they had I-90 shut down over Snoqualmie pass for an extended period but for now it seems to have improved immensely in that area.

 

I do not know. I'm assuming that if you're early delivering a load, they'll have you drop it to keep you rolling. That seems logical to me at least. But take what i say with a grain of salt.

 

Another update. It won't be a long and drawn out play by play because for one I can't be bothered to write that much and for two I've honestly forgotten some of it. I had home time about a week after I last posted and after I came back out I was thrown into the fire so to speak (in a good way). Went from Michigan to Minnesota. Out west again and then a long run across the country to Virginia, then back up to Fargo. I can honestly say I liked the miles that I was getting. Magnum will keep you rolling, as long as you do your part. I've also had zero issues with my truck since I got the bunk heater fixed besides for a torn off bumper...but that was because of the nut behind the steering wheel lol. Was in the Coon Rapids yard and was backing up when I apparently didn't see a big snow clump embedded in, well..snow. At least my bumper is in one piece. Secured it the best I could with what I had at the time. Reported it and the head driver trainer called me for reasons unrelated and told him about it. I got the "stuff happens" vibe from everyone I spoke to about it. Apparently they're used to ripped off bumpers and bent fairings. I should've known considering that they hire drivers right out of CDL school. I also had a scary experience last Friday going up I-94 in Minnesota. The roads were a sheet of ice and saw numerous trucks in the ditch or median. Chugging up a hill going about 20 when I myself almost slid off the road. Decided at that time to pull off the road and inform dispatch. That's another thing I like about Magnum. It has a very good driver/employee oriented atmosphere and I'm treated with respect. I never once felt like they were pressuring me to get loads delivered on time in bad weather conditions. And also on that same line I've gone several days of running loads without speaking to anyone. Micromanagement need not apply here. Spoke with a driver when I was in Fargo who was leaving the company after about 4 or 5 years, but she had nothing bad at all to say about Magnum. Most other company drivers I've met have had mostly positive experiences. They're not a perfect company. A perfect company doesn't exist. But they're a #### good one in the 2.5 months I've been here. I have no regrets about coming here from the pumpkin.

 

Had time at home after the previous post. I was a day late for hometime due to weather related reasons. Dispatch had no issues extending it by a day. Had a good 5 days off before picking a load up in Chicago heading to the Twin Cities. The receiver there is a joke in terms of having room to back. It's tough to do it in a Freightshaker, let alone a Peterbilt that Magnum mainly operates. The turning radius blows in comparison. The plus side is they unloaded my full trailer in 20 minutes.

Picked up a load out at Michael's Foods going down to Pineville, NC. Reefer quit on me halfway thru Indiana. Had to jump it the next morning. It's running on continuous now and seems to be operating fine. Maintenance said that the batteries in the reefer get replaced every 2-3 years, and the unit i have is about that old, so who knows.

About to head off for my 5 am appointment in Pineville. Reloading in Fayetteville later today going back up to Minnesota. I have a PM due on my truck and i want them to fix my bumper, since it's literally held on by bungee cords and rope.

 

Another update.

Reloaded in Fayetteville and delivered to an Aldi DC in Faribault, MN at 0100. Rolled into the Coon Rapids yard at around 3:30 am. Caught an hour or so of sleep then checked bright and early in with the shop. Apparently my truck had a few PM's due as well as a new dash cam they needed to install. Got a new bumper on my truck but it's just a standard gray one, but was told that the owner wants it painted blue to match the truck if he's paying $3,000 for it. Also found out that my windshield needs replaced, but not sure when and where i have to do that.

Picked up a load down in Owatonna on Friday for a delivery on Monday in OKC. I hauled ### down to Kansas and pulled into the J in Salina with 26 minutes left on my clock. My best friend lives in the area and i knew that if i could get there by Friday night, I'd have the weekend to spend time with him. That's why i took I-70 west out of Kansas City instead of I-35, plus Magnum has no forced routing and is flexible with how you get to your destination as long as you don't go way out of the way (like turning a 500 mile trip into a 900 mile one). I get two days of layover pay too

Got on the road at 2 am this morning and am now getting unloaded at US Foods in OKC. Going up to Ponca City for a turn n' burn after this for a delivery in the Twin Cities on Wednesday at 0600, then my truck will be back in the shop to get the bumper painted. Hopefully the preload i pick up is in decent shape. The last couple DNH's I've had, I've picked up with a crummy reefer unit.