Stevens Transport A year in review

March 29 to april 4 done and in the books

Miles ran 2793
started out to be a very bad week but improved.
Miles Paid 4118
Miles transfloed not paid zero will transflow Monday, about 2700.

This week started out to be a very bad week. Finished my reset in Moriarty NM, and and 6am, headed for liberal Kansas. ugh... Arrive in liberal about 2pm, and finally get a load assignment to be picked up Wednesday. 2 fully wasted days. I am not happy and my new driver manager heres about it. I get me a hotel room, and make the best of it. See a movie, have a couple good meals, and general relax. Tuesday evening, I see the message on the QC that my load is ready, but the first drop is in Maryland on Saturday. I get a good nights sleep, and pick my load up wednesday morning, and head east. this load is going to a C&S warehouse so I assume the appointment will be midnight, or 2am. Later on Wednesday I get the messages about the appointment times, 5am on Sunday, and 10 am on sunday. I will be there Friday afternoon. Not happy. Ran 587 miles and stopped in Warrenton Mo. Thursday morning "C" calls telling me she is looking for a load since I am running so early. Wants to know how far I will get. I tell her Wheeling WV.

I stop In Brazil IN, to see how she is doing on a repower. So far there is only one, not any improvement, 3 drops final on sunday night. She tells me to keep rolling. Oh well, one bad week will not kill me. She calls again, asking if I can stop in Indy, the meat dept really needs help on the 3 drop load, as the G1 can not make the appointment in Columbus OH. She says she will repower me off it in the morning, just let her know what Truck stop I am at. Okay, I take it, but really don't expect another repower.

Stop in Mount Comfort at the pilot, and wait for the other truck, which shows up about 5pm. the appointment in Columbus 160 miles away is 0500. talk with 3 different drivers, and then I head out to stop at London OH, just short of the delivery, and take a nap.

Get to MBM in columbus at 4:30 am, and the guard is in total control, park on the street that says no parking, you can only enter when he says you can. Oh well, I park, after blocking the street for a couple of minutes, getting his instructions over the CB. 5 minutes later he gives me door 25 and opens the gate. I check in, and 2 hours later I am unloaded. go in to pay the lumper, and he tells me he was the pickup truck behind me at the gate, and wanted to know what was going on. I told him the guard calls it his yard, and I did as he requested. It is the only thing he controls, and I am use to it. He thanks me, says they need to change the way he is forcing trucks to park on the street.

Okay, time to pick a truck stop. Next drop on this load is north of Cleveland on I90, so I head up I71 just incase I don't get repowered. My fuel stop is the loves in Lodi, so I stop there, fuel, shower, and let "C" know. Start my break, as it is only 90 miles to the next drop. Get some good sleep, wake up around 2pm, and see a message on the old QC. Repower in Lodi, for 1900. She found me one.
Send back a message asking where it is going and when. A question always ignored on repowers. I like to plan ahead. She lets me know Amarillo TX, for monday 3am. 1250 miles and 2+ days to get there. that works.
The other truck arrives at 4:30 pm, another G1, yes I ask. He is running out of hours on his 70, and is glad to get off this load. I give him a few pointers, letting him know that he can head up the 90 miles, as there is a pilot 1/2 mile from his delivery location. Will make his life much easier. He has 3 hours left.

this just made my day easier. Scale the load, as he is not sure he got it right on the yard scale. He did good, 33900 on trailer, and I let him know. Head out, make spiceland Indiana for the night. Get up, have a good breakfast, and plan on making Big Cabin OK for the night, 623 miles. Pull into Big Cabin, fuel, PTI eat, and get a good nights sleep.

Saturday, only 420 miles to go, sleep in, eat breakfast, head on down the road after BS's with an older truck driver. Pull into the Petro in amarillo bs's with 2 stevens drivers for a couple of hours, both have more experience than I do, eat dinner, then head over to Affiliated foods check in and hang out in their staging area until 3am for the delivery. This place does not expect you to listen to the CB, the guard comes and knocks on your door when they are ready for you. I wish more place were like this.

So my bad week turned into a decent week. I will have to thank "C" for her hard work. We had a bad start, but this helps. She has done everything she says she will do. She even got me paid for the reroute turn around miles from last weeks Saturday cluster without any arguments. It was on my next settlement. First time that happened.

Monday, Amarillo, I bet I drop this Trailer at Tyson, and WAIT. i sure hope not.

 

Monday morning I did not go to Tyson, but did a repower of a load that should have been repowered on Sunday, moved it to Moriarty, then repowered to a team to make LA tuesday morning. I got a load going to Kraft in Ontario Ca, so on Wednesday with only 2 hours available, I got the truck serviced, and now have a preplan for strawberries from oxnard, to Cedar Falls IA.

A G1 is a grad fleet driver in their first month of going solo. G2 is the second month, and G3 is the third month.

Breakpoint varies, depends on the truck, but stevens says 1800 miles per week. for me now it is 1600 miles per week, as I get better than 6.0 fuel mileage. And I have an expensive lease, since the truck is new.

 

Thanks, just remember that April is the snowiest month of the year for Wyoming. I still dislike going to california, and dealing with the 5 and 6 pick loads. My strawberry load turned into a 6 pick load, 2 in Oxnard, and 4 in LA Metro. Now that the storm is over, they are routing everyone south on 40. a little too late now.

Brian today in produce told me I had to run 40, bad weather on 80... I laughed at him, and told him the sun is shinning, and it is a gorgeous spring day, according to family and friends. Besides, he does not have the authority to tell me what route to run.

 

I was going to post my week 14 update tonight, but I am in the wrong frame of mind to do it. New Driver manager does not look past the end of her nose, and therefore creates more work, and more repowers for me, and more setting. Tonight I am setting in Vernon TX to make a delivery at 7am in the morning right behind me. Repowered to this load right here too!!!!!! Other driver needs to get to yard, so instead of delivering this load, then deadheading to Dallas, I get to sit, he gets to delivery my load in the morning in Garland, then go to the yard.

Lack of communication, not asking me to do a repower, just sending it on the QC without any other information, and trying to micro manage my time. We are going to have a talk about how I am NOT a company driver, and that she needs to ask first, with full information. It took her 3 hours to try and figure out this repower, and she never did get it right, me and the other driver worked out the location by calling each other, and communicating what time we could be there. She just throws out what ever date and time she feels like, without putting any thought into it.

I bet she looks as busy as a beaver after a flood. But she is getting NOTHING accomplished. Time to call it a night, as tomorrow I will deliver to TYSON, then be deadheaded to Tyson and sit again.