Stevens Transport Aviary . . cont'

Well, third time in the shop this week. Same problem. Catalyst dozing unit. Derates the engine. Happened last Wed, in the KW dealer in Alb, NM until Sat late. They said they fixed it. Got a load of cheese in Roswell and took it to Austin. Then picked up at Mars Waco going to Pueblo, CO. Got to Hillsboro and stopped for the night. Fired it up the next morning and the fault is back. So I head to the yard. I needed to renew my medical card anyway. I got in the safety lane and a new error came up, more of a notice, SCR/DEF service required. Shop told me they fixed both problems. Got halfway to Amarillo and they are both back. I picked up my load and parked since the dealer said they couldn't get to me until today. Of course that turned into most likely tomorrow. So I'm in a motel. We shall see what tomorrow brings. I think all any one has done is run a regent and clear the codes. If they don't come right back it must be fixed. Maybe noons knows how to fix it. But I cant make any money in a derated truck and if it blows up I'm not paying for it.

 

I feel ya Fozzy.
I wish I had a bad enough issue to land me in a hotel sometimes.

I ended up in 3 different shops a few days ago... Woke up to a dead reefer battery, got that fixed by Loves. Then had to go to Thermo King to get the logs downloaded. While I'm there, an Alliance driver was bucking for a repower, so they gave me his load... and his flat tire. So it was off to a TA to get that fixed (and then the driver decided to track me down because he didn't want my load after all, so they gave me my original load back...).
Then after delivery (yesterday), I had a level 2 pm due. And now thistrailer needs a federal inspection and I have a check engine light...
I'm so sick of shops...

And Stevens Radio (aka: the Alliance Recruiting Radio Network)

 

pretty sure i wouldnt have given the load back to him.

 

I second this.

 

As for loads going back, this seems a good time to bring up a sore subject, but DMs, Trainers and others seem too reticent...so I'll dive in!
Most loads leave the meat plants on thurs thru saturdays, so night/weekend operations sees this problem most of all:
Drivers that don't scale their loads or don't make them legal for all the states they're going to run..i.e. Cali.
I cannot begin to tell you the number of loads that hit the California border and are not legal. The response of the driver is, "It was legal when I left!" Either they assume it's ok because they will be repowered (the load is running late) or they don't care and just want to run, not put up with the pain of going back to the shipper.
The rule at Stevens is: A driver (company, contractor) does NOT have to accept a repower if the load is illegal.
Let me put it another way: If you fail to scale your load or for ANY reason your load is not legal for another driver to take, he does not have to accept it.
Given another way of putting it? YOU do not have to accept an illegal load!
How to ensure you don't get stuck with such a load? Swap trailers, but keep your bills until AFTER you scale. If it's legal, give the other driver the bills and go. If it's not? Give the other driver his load back.
Not all problems are as a result of not being legal. Sometimes it's the vehicles. If you're driving a 660, it may be legal but not for a T700.
Or if you're driving a KW and the other driver is in a Pete or if the other driver has a student...it may not work.
No reflection on you, but the other driver still has the right to refuse the repower and take his original load back.
Often, we in operations will try and talk you into accepting the load, but only if there's a reasonable way around it.
As an example: you repower a load in Ft Worth, heading to Ochelata. There are no scales between here and there. We'll try and talk you into taking the load, but if you refuse...you have that right.
Also, this is a good time to bring up CSA and overweight tickets.
I have yet to find a driver that received an overweight ticket that has any CSA points.
I have a couple good friends that are DOT officers with the CHP, my brother is an DOT officer in Missouri and my next door neighbor is a DOT officer with the Texas State Troopers.
All tell me the same story.
When CSA was designed, it included the feds paying the states to fill out the paperwork for each citation and submitting it to the feds. This is paperwork above and beyond the normal paperwork for the local or state juristicion.
The feds did away with that and unless the violation is very serious, they simply don't do the paperwork. Their watch commanders all push them back out the door to 'patrol and keep the public safe' aka, go get another citation...bring in some money!
My next door neighbor told me he hasn't done the federal paperwork in more than a year.
So, while it is possible to get CSA points, it isn't likely. So if you're a little over on an axle and won't be passing any scales, or if you can go out of route a bit to miss the scales, simply make the decision for yourself. If you decide to run the load, ask operations to send you a QC stating Stevens will cover the out of route miles and/or any fine if you're cited.
We normally will do that without hesitation.
But in the end, it's up to you. If you decide to not take a load, it's your choice and no one's going to think less of you.
BTW, in Disco's case, he was legal, but the other truck was a team in a Pete and couldn't get legal. Disco did everything right. Just the luck of the draw.

 

Gotcha, the way Disco's read the other driver simply had a change of heart.

 

Well, I wouldn't say legal... I had a 3 drop tropicana load. It was 81k when I got it, dispatch told me to run it. It had a drop in KY and 2 in CO. The drop in KY brought the load under 80k, but it was still 900 lbs over on the drives and couldn't be fixed. The other driver was scared of the scale in Limon (which I've never seen open) and I guess he didn't want to out of route to avoid it. He was convinced that overweight tickets go on your MVR and CSA.

I understand, and would probably would've refused it if I was in his stead.
My issue with the dude was twofold:

1) The driver was a horse's backside from the very get go, and his attitude was only worse when I dealt with him on the repeat. Lets be polite and have some professional courtesy-- or any courtesy for that matter. We're all on the same team here...

2) I would've refused the load straight off! Dude said he's been driving with Stevens for 14 years... Well, I'm a noob and its not brain surgery. I told him up front it was overweight on the drives. All he had to do was look at the axles and see the were all the way up, and nothing could be done to shift weight. He should've said no then.
In my mind, when he accepted the load, traded bills, moved his meat lock, hooked up, and sent in Msg 21, he accepted the responsibility and the terms of the swap. He shouldn't have been allowed to double back on that repower... especially 2 hours later.

And why the heck did it take him 2 hours to figure out he couldn't adjust the weight?!

Some people's kids...

 

Admittedly I have only been in Colorado a half dozen times or so, but every time I have been there Limon has been open. That is one I plan on always being open.

For those who may not know there is a great App for a smartphone called "Coops Are Open". It has a free and a subscription service both. I simply use the free one and it is essentially a data base of what scale houses are open. It is updated by drivers as they pass by them so the info is usually less than an hour old when it posts. I update it everytime I pass a scale.

I would recommend downloading it and using the free service. The pay service I think includes detours around and the tolerance limits for each State, things I have not need as yet.

 

Emul!!! I need your help! I've got this gut wrenching feeling I'm gonna get repowered here in KS, and head right back to a meat patch...

 

Just dont answer the phone and shut down in some obscure out of the way down a jack rabbit trail place and all will be fine LOL