Stevens Transport aviary

Sitting in Holcomb (well, Garden City technically at the Garden City Truckstop). DLD isn't until tomorrow night at 2300. Got here last night around 0000. Needless to say, I'm less than thrilled about the prospect of having to sit here for two days. And I'm nowhere near needing to do a 34-hour restart, so I'm having a hard time finding the bright side to this. Anywho...

Left Ontario last week with a two-drop load: first drop at the WMDC in Cheyenne, second drop at Royal Crest dairy in Longmont, CO. The Cheyenne drop was scheduled for 1400 on Friday, 7/2. No problem, plenty of time to make that. The drop at Royal Crest, however, was gonna be almost impossible to make on-time (considering WM's track record of '2 hours from your appointment time, we'll give you your bills and cut you loose'). And that's exactly what wound up happening. So I get out of WM's parking lot at 1605. I call Royal Crest to explain my situation, and to update them on my ETA. I get an operator who transfers me to the receiving department. That transfer goes straight to voicemail. I call back once again to try and get a live body in receiving. Once again, the operator answers the phone. This time, I simply ask "How late are you folks open this evening? Are you closing early due to the holiday weekend?" He tells me the company closes at 1600 everyday, and that receiving stops accepting freight at 1500. They are alson not open on the weekends, ever. Monday through Friday operation, always has been, always will be. Hmm? Stevens scheduled a 1600 appointment with a customer whose receiving department closes at 1500? Doesn't surprise me.

Then I call my DM to get him in the loop. He calls the CSR to find out what options we have. The CSR responds with "Just drive over there and see if they'll take you." Normally, that's a viable option. Except in this case, I have two signs that tell me the receiver is in fact closed. 1) The operator on the other end of the phone explained to me their hours of operation, and 2) the last line of my load assignment explicitly states "Rcvng hours M-F 0900-1600". So I reply to my DM "DM, I don't mind dropping by and hoping that someone's there to unload this one pallet of product, but in the event they're locked up tighter than the chastity belt on a preacher's daughter, I'm out $25". He says "$25? How do you figure that?" I explain to him that the nearest truckstop (Johnson's Corner in Loveland, CO....great food BTW) is 30 miles from the receiver. So it's 30 miles past the truckstop to the receiver, only to be told what I already know (sorry driver, we're closed until Tuesday), then another 30 miles back. That's 60 miles I've gotta eat. At $3.00 / gallon for diesel at 7.1 MPG (my average MPG for that particular load), it comes out to $25. He says he sees my point. Tells me to shut it down at the truckstop for the night. He happens to be working the next day (Saturday), and for me to call him at 0900. I oblige, get to the truckstop, shower, feed my belly, then retire in my ultra-luxurious bunk.

Wake up, go in to perform the triple S maneuver, grab a bowl of oatmeal and some egg whites for breakfast, then call my DM. I propose a solution for this problem I've got: I drop the trailer at the Voyager Express yard in Denver, grab an empty and takeoff for the meat patch. I'm headed to the meat patch anyways once this load is delivered. He says he doesn't think they'll go for it, but he'll call me back. 30 minutes later, phone rings and it's my DM. "Hey bro, just go ahead and take that trailer to the Voyager drop yard in Denver, grab an empty, then call in for dispatch". Is there an echo in here? I just reply "That's a great idea! Thanks for your help in getting me off this load so I don't have to sit. Have a great weekend! You're the best!". I just shook my head and took off to the yard to drop the trailer before someone at Stevens changed their mind.

I get a pre-plan for a meat load at Holcomb before I get to Voyager. I get there, drop the trailer, pickup the last empty on the yard, send in a dropped load message, and wait. 5 minutes later, load assignment comes through, I acknowledge and skeedaddle it down to Holcomb.

Get to Holcomb, check in at the guard shack, take the trailer around to the wash dock, where I'm greeted by a Raider Express driver, whose already backed into the wash dock. He approaches my driver's door and tells me "If i were you, man, I'd just keep driving and drop your trailer. I've been waiting here for 45 minutes for someone to come VERIFY that my trailer's already been washed out." I say "Huh? Already been washed out? Then why did you even backup to the dock?". Says security told him he needed it inspected no matter what. He says he just picked up the empty from Cargill, who charged him $40 because they had already washed out the trailer. I tell him thanks for the heads up, but policy is policy. So I open the doors, backup into an open slot and wait....and wait...and wait...and wait....dude wasn't kidding. It was 30 minutes vefore a shag driver even just so much as stopped and said "Someone will be with you guys shortly". So I walk around the side of the wash dock and enter the shop to use the facilities. This guy comes flying out of the office telling me "What do you want?! You're not supposed to be in here!" I tell him my situation, why I'm having to resort to trespassing into his shop to use the latrine because I've been waiting so long for a simple washout, then proceed to the bathroom. I come out of the restroom to find that guy on the phone with someone. Two minutes later, there's someone washing out my trailer, and sending the Raider Express driver on his way. I guess you really do have to ruffle some feather sometimes to get things done. But whatever...I got over it.

So if anyone else is fortunate enough to be huddled up in their cozy bunks in the sprawling metropolis that is Holcomb (ahem...excuse me...Garden City) KS, come knock on my door. I'm in truck 7980. I'll buy you a slice of pie from the restaurant (if their power has come back on yet..it went out about an hour ago while I was in there buying some bottled water...the light look like they're still out though).

Happy trails!

 

Thanks Jim, I'll take a look over there.

 

You gotta love that response. In my opinion that is the poorest form of driver support. How long does it take to make a simple phone call? The same thing happened to me a few days ago and now I am stuck until at least Tuesday.

 

Well I dropped my load in New Carey this afternoon, at the Flying J for the night. New assignment is P/U Ft Worth, Del Las Lunas. I have 22hours to accomplish this feat of magic.
If my load is ready at 1700. If I don't stop to weigh, fuel or pee, it's a 23 hour stint.
I ask dispatch if they want to give this to a team and find me another.
"no..go ahead and take it. We'll figure it out later."
So I guess that means I'll have a WM delivery late and no one to claim credit.
But so long as they keep moving me westward and homeward...

 

I'm hoping they'll be open in the morning...
If not, at least this hotel is 100 times better than the Am-Worst in Dallas

 

That's ok. I had a load to pu yesterday 1700, deliver 25 hours away (incl 10) at 1500 today. On my way(deadhead), QC reassigns me. gives load to team. Now I have the identical run p/u today 2000, del tomorrow 1700. Let's see. went from 23 hours for a 25 hour load to 21 hours for the same 25 hour load.
I'm just going to take it and let them worry about it. Otherwise I'd be waiting here longer for an even SHORTER time frame!

 

Now that is just totally awesome, ///// less time but new load...

wonders what is going on behind the walls and glass. oh yea teams are special. Dispatch does not have to look at their hours of service.

 

No, they do not

 

A frustrating few weeks it has been. The first week did not start that great. I started off with a load that had 800 miles to run in four days (picked up Friday and delivered Tuesday). After that it was off to Plainview, TX. On the way there I was repowered to Los Lunas, NM. During that repower I was asked to step into the HAZMAT situation which which got me stuck here in California. Once I delivered the HAZMAT I was told to call produce. I called produce and was given a nice three pick 2200 mile load to Indiana. I made the first two picks yesterday expecting to make the third pick this morning and get rolling. I should have known that was not going to happen. I arrived at the shipper # 0800 local and was told it was not ready and to come back at noon. I go a few miles down the road to the Pilot where I got a shower and did laundry. At noon I go back to the shipper and was told that it was still not ready. I call Stevens. By this time my patience was growing thin as well as Stevens. I was only a few minutes away from being to told to just roll with what I already had when the shipper said to back into the dock. This was all for two pallets. I finally get rolling at 1600. I go back to the Pilot and scale it out. I was only able to make Ripon today because I don't have the hours left in the day to make all the way into Nevada. I will be more than happy to leave California and not come back for a long time. Total miles the past two weeks: 3200.