Stevens Transport aviary

Picked up the only empty at the Colton yard and guess what? Dead battery. I mean stone dead. So we shoot over to the TA in Ontario, you'd think they could swap out a battery in no time right? Nope, three hours and $325.00 later....

So that pushed our schedule back, fortunately Taylor farms is ok with us being late, but we don't have a clue yet when we will get loaded.

On the bright side I got to stop in and see my brother today.

 

hey,any of you been to C&S Wholesale c/o Safeway on Leeland Rd, Upper Marlboro, MD? You know if they allow parking overnight? I cant get anyone to answer the phone there.​

 

Yea buddy big lot big warehouse lots of room easy place... but lumpers take forever depending on what ya got.

 

even allow you to park there after empty.
They need the big lot, the lumpers take all day, or night.

 

Now for your weekly entertainment. Incidents and comments from drivers as heard thru my phones...
"I need an optistop."
"How much fuel do you have, do you have a weight issue and where are you?"
"My red light's been on for about a hundred miles. No...no weight issue. I missed my last stop. I'm at a Loves now."
"Go ahead and get 50 gallons at that Loves. I'll put in on the Qualcom."
"I don't like Loves. I want a Pilot. There's one about 50 miles away. Should I chance it?"
"Do you have a co driver?"
"No. Why?"
"You'll need someone to steer while you push."

"I ran out of reefer fuel. What do I do?"
"You've had this load for 3 days. How did you run out of fuel?" (as if I didn't know...)
"It just happened."
"Did you 'just happen' to check your fuel gauge when you fueled up each time?"
"I never do. I thought Stevens fueled the trailers."
"Stevens PAYS for the fuel, but the driver does the fueling."
"Do I get paid extra for that?"
"No, unless you call not having a payroll deduction for a spoiled load a pay raise."
(This was a two year driver)

"My tire's flat. What do I do?"
"Turn it over to the round side." (it was close to the end of a tough day for me...)
Ten minutes later he calls back. "It's flat on that side too. Now what."
I wait a few seconds. Maybe he's good and just playing games with me. I deserve it. "I'll transfer you to Road Breakdown."
"Oh don't do that. My truck isn't broken. Just have a flat tire."
"One of us needs a drink and the other needs a tire fixed. Road breakdown doesn't serve alcohol. I'll transfer you."

Last night, the night supervisor gave me a printout of a truck needing repower. It was in Harrisburg PA with a final due in Roanoake VA. It was already 30 minutes after the appointment and 288 miles away. So I began working on it. I saw the driver still had nearly 7 hours available so I called him. "What's going on? Everything OK?"
"Yea. Why?"
"Your load was due 40 minutes ago. I see you have hours, but you're not rolling."
"They said this load is due in the morning when I repowered it. I was waiting until morning."
"Yes...look at your load assignment. It's do at 2330. That's 11:30 PM. It's now after midnight."
"Oh! I don't understand those military times things. I was never in the military."
So I got him on his way, then something caught my eye. This load was shipped from Colton, CA. One stop. The final in Roanoke. Now even for a novice, it's easy to see you head up the 15, veer to the right in Barstow and follow the 40 until Knoxville, where you take a left. I now research the routeline. The previous truck had started out from Colton, headed north on the 5, took Donners over the 80, then up thru Wyoming, Nebraska, etc until they slipped down thru Indy and repowered it in Ohio and finally it was in Harrisburg.
What's more, the previous truck was Alliance.
We all looked at it increduosly. One suggested we route the other driver back to Dallas for a remedial course with Sgt Major. I suggested we let it go. It probably wouldn't be good for Smokie to find out about how everyone missed this one for three days.
I know he will. The load was late and he does a post mortem on EVERY late load...personally.
Oh, yea..I researched the recent QC messages from the previous driver. He was complaining how he was being shorted pay. Not being paid for all his miles and he needs to make more money.
Go figure!

But there is another one that will make the Stevens Orientation list of routing mistakes.
We had a driver being detained at the border at Windsor. No paperwork.
Upon further investigation, the load was suppose to go to Ontario California. He figured ONTARIO CA meant Ontario Canada.

All in all, an entertaining week. I did manage to get three grad fleet drivers repowers to go home. These were low priority repowers to the company, but I haven't forgotten (yet) what it's like to be out there 6 weeks and still not getting a load home. So I consider it a good week.

 

OK, now a lesson how the night crew decides and does repowers. Hopefully this helps those interested know how to use the system to their advantage.

I come in at 2pm. Between 2 and 5, I do my tracking where I go over every truck from my assigned customers to find out which ones are needing repowers. Then I review my list of trucks that I know will work with me. I find out where they are and what kind of load, etc. If they're running ahead of time or have a load I know they might want off, I note their locations and then start matching those up with trucks in the area that may need repowering.
Now if someone calls (and I do get some of these) that volunteer to repower, I place them on my mental map of repower locations. So if you call and tell me and you're in Morris IL and shutting down around Indy, I have a mental picture (and write down)your route line and times, then search for troubled loads along that corridor.
On any night there are 30-50 loads that need repowering in my division. This does not include meat or produce for the most part.
The process of finding trucks that can possibly repower is a long tedious and slow process. So if I know of someone wanting to help, I work with theirs first.
Often I'm interrupted by a 'high priority' repower from my supervisor and have to concentrate on that, but largely it's done as 'targets of opportunity."
Can never guarantee anything. Timing is everything. As an example, found a team with a load going to Laredo from the Minnesota. They were two days ahead and about 100 miles south of the 80, in Kansas. I had a truck shutting down in York, NE needing a team to get the load San Diego.
If I'd found that team a hour earlier, it was a repower made in heaven for everyone.
Timing plays a big part.
Oh, yea...one last thing. Never assume your DM passes information along about your requests. I almost never hear from a DM. At 5pm...not 5:01, those phones switch over and half those people on that side look like rats leaving the Titanic.
So even it you told your DM to get you out from under a load, call the night crew, and if we deem it reasonable to answer the phone and interrupt our coffee breaks, let us know too.

 

Emul, thanks for the weekly update, horrifically entertaining. I know it is way over used but the phrase 'You can't fix stupid' is so right in the freight moving biz.

 

I love the one about using the round side of the tire... reminds me of the Army days...

I had a young new private assigned as an assistant driver on my truck... very gung ho, very energetic, very eager to do the job, just not real long on smarts...

One morning after formation he asked what he should do... normally if I was not on a dispatch it was a day of PMCS (PTI for you civilians), so not being in a huge hurry, I figures I would slip over to the snack bar, so he being so eager to start I said "well it's getting on toward winter, I guess we should take the summer air out of the tires and put the winter air in"... and then I walked away.

About a half hour later when I came back to the.motor pool, he had the air hose out and told me he had already finished 6 of the tires.

 

Hey mate I thought you were doing so well? your previous post: frogmeister

Medium Load MemberMember SinceMay 2011Locationfort worth,txTrucker?4 YearsPosts343Thanks3Thanked: 174 Times

I lease a truck.I netted 48 grand last year.Took seventy days off last year.Last week,scanned 2900 miles,netted 1225 for the week.Hmmm,thats over 40 cents per mile,I got fleeced.And I could care less if I own the truck.And I have a walk away lease with no report to credit.I drive a brand new pete with120000 miles on it.At 200000 Ill turn it in and get a new one.Im feeling so taken advantaged of.Poor me,I should have listened to all you guys.LOL Heck the last 22 days ive netted 4400 dollars,and I think when I go back to the yard Ill take maybe 8 days off this time.Poor me.I was fleeced.​

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I think the area that catches most lesees off guard when turning in their trucks is tire wear. It works like this: They measure your tires when you first take the lease out. Depending on brands, a new tire will have anywhere from 30-32/32's of tread. Then they measure the tread when you turn the truck in. You are charged for the difference. Most drivers aren't remembering this.
So let's assume you get your truck with 16/32's on it. Along the two years you end up buying a set of tires, but when you turn the truck in, you have 6/32's tread. You are charged for 10/32's. The rate is about $10 per 32nd (maybe that's a bit low seeing how tire prices are increasing with oil prices), but you then pay $100 per tire (10/32 x $10), and end up with a thousand dollars in unexpected costs.
Now if you release the same truck (as I had done) you don't see this charge. It's only when you turn the truck in. If you release a new(er) truck, that cost is rolled forward into the new lease and you don't see it readily.
If you have a large bill of almost any type, and don't have enough in your maintenance account, Bonnie usually converts that to a loan and takes it out at $25 or $50 per settlement.
But at lease termination, it's all due.
The same thing is done with brakes and clutch. So these expenses tend to catch us off guard at the end. The solution is to up your reserve by a few bucks each week and amass a bigger reserve.