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This will go down on my permanent record...

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by otterinthewater, Jul 9, 2021.

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Espressolane Road Train Member

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gentleroger said: ↑

As has already been mentioned, starting with experienced tanker yankers is a big step up. There is a key word in that sentence which lays at the heart of the question.

"Experience" is not the same thing as "tenure". @otterinthewater has 4 years of tenure, but has knowledge and skills that belie his short time as a driver/LO.

I'm a big fan of quantifying things - breaking down ideas/processes to their base concepts, finding metrics to make apt comparisons. When I was a young swim coach I spent an outrageous amount of time tracking and analyzing yardage, energy zones, heart rates, 'test set' times. It was one of the things that set me apart from other coaches and a big part of why I got better results. After a few years I realized that all of the data I was accumulating was leading me to false conclusions. I had all the key stats, but they didn't account for the underlying narrative. I was starting to miss the intangible and worse focusing on numbers that seemed important but were actually not correlated to performance. Stroke counts were important, but only in the context of stroke rate. Taking 14 long strokes and gliding into the turn is slower than 13 long strokes and 2 short shorts to set up a powerful turn, which is slower than just taking 16 strokes. Then on some athletes, getting the hip rotation needed to cut stroke count increases crossover kicks which increases drag. It's not that the metric is bad, it's that I wasn't using it effectively.

One of the common themes I've found in trucking is we don't use metrics effectively. It's MILES MILES MILES, it's drop and hook is better than live loading, it's idle time, or the most recent stupidity at my company - looking at how much time a driver spends on line 3. Someone has equated 'drive time' to revenue.

The "number 1 driver" in my division in terms of time logged on line three for 2nd quarter is a new driver. This driver is a hustler, but I'm ready to pile drive the #@@&*$! into a granite slab. We'll ignore for the minute his wearing of slippers (not flip flops, slippers - they have cotton soles), and his phone use while backing, and the number of tires he has flat spotted by doing a 90 degree back with the tandems all the way back. We'll focus on just the logs, ma'am. We have a 'geo fence' around our customers which logs our arrival. It hits the same for every truck, give of take 10 seconds. I hit line 4/yard move within a minute of arrival, while "Ken" doesn't hit line 4 for 8 minutes. If I logged the same way Ken does, I would have at least another 30 minutes on line 3 a day.

When you look at who logs the most line 3 time in the division, the top 20 drivers are either newer drivers or guys whose average length of haul is over 750 miles. I'm way down the list for two reasons. First, I'm doing a lot of short haul loads that are a high revenue stream. As near as I can figure, the 2,100 miles I ran last week earned the company more than the 2,500 that Ken ran. I also earned more (adjusting for base pay differences) than Ken did - by a huge margin.

This has been a long way of saying "is the shipper looking at the right metrics and are they weighing the data appropriately"?

We have a driver who was having an excessive number of load shifts. The customer was blaming the driver, but it wasn't the driver's fault (mostly). That driver just happened to be getting a disproportionate number of loads with "H" bales, which are hard to band and are prone to break their banding. Those pallets also need to be pinwheeled in - the bales are 40'x'40, so on a 40'x48' pallet if you don't pinwheel there is an 8' gap. As soon as we got the driver going into complain about how the trailer was loaded, he stopped having load shifts (and the customer stopped loading the things wrong).

A few weeks ago I called into the OPs manager to complain about being given an email address that I can't check, but due to my involvement in technology testing people are sending mail to. While we were talking she offered me a 5/2 out and back schedule for after I am done "helping out" the dedicated account. At first I wondered why it was being discussed. Then I realized that for the last 10 years I've had weekly "Time at Home" set up. It's not really TAH, but just the easiest way for me to swap out students. I'm running 30-40 days at a crack, but get routed into "the house" on Saturday, drop Tweedle Dee and pickup up Tweedle Dum, then leave out on Sunday. On paper it looks like I want to be home every week, but that doesn't match with what's actually happening.

The metrics that the beverage company are looking at aren't telling them the real story.
Click to expand...

There is a term for this. Data for data sake.
Collect data for no known reason.

Espressolane, Jul 12, 2021

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otterinthewater said: ↑

Any of you that actually do your own oil changes use one of these? My big stopping point is where do I put 11 gallons of oil? With this I could pull a gallon out at a time and transfer it to something I could take to a recycler. Maybe two five gallon fuel cans or something.

I thought about drilling the lever and safety wiring it to something. Maybe I’m paranoid.

View attachment 376958
Click to expand...

The safety wire seems like a good idea.
The hard part is going to be finding a place that will accept used oil at all. In the past, most auto parts places would take it. Now most seem to not do that.

Espressolane, Jul 12, 2021

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otterinthewater Road Train Member

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Espressolane said: ↑

The safety wire seems like a good idea.
The hard part is going to be finding a place that will accept used oil at all. In the past, most auto parts places would take it. Now most seem to not do that.
Click to expand...

Harrumph.

otterinthewater, Jul 12, 2021

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otterinthewater said: ↑

Any of you that actually do your own oil changes use one of these? My big stopping point is where do I put 11 gallons of oil? With this I could pull a gallon out at a time and transfer it to something I could take to a recycler. Maybe two five gallon fuel cans or something.

I thought about drilling the lever and safety wiring it to something. Maybe I’m paranoid.

View attachment 376958
Click to expand...

Good on the valve and EXCELLENT on the safety anchor. Oughta be a 11 gallon can for people that change their own oil, like the 2 story mobile home for those with money. Jus saying...

JolliRoger, Jul 12, 2021

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TripleSix God of Roads

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Back in the day, we’d pour-the stuff old a gallon at a time into the fuel tanks.

TripleSix, Jul 12, 2021

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otterinthewater said: ↑

Harrumph.
Click to expand...

Up in cold weather country my auto shop on the corner takes mine for his shop heater... do you run any cold country routes?

Qbf594, Jul 12, 2021

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Espressolane said: ↑

There is a term for this. Data for data sake.
Collect data for no known reason.
Click to expand...

Times change...
Used to be 2 execs would say: "Have you girl call my girl and we will do lunch."
Now it is: " Have your computer call my computer and we will do data."

JolliRoger, Jul 12, 2021

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TripleSix said: ↑

Back in the day, we’d pour-the stuff old a gallon at a time into the fuel tanks.
Click to expand...

A little "upper cylinder lube" kinda thing.

JolliRoger, Jul 12, 2021

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otterinthewater said: ↑

Any of you that actually do your own oil changes use one of these? My big stopping point is where do I put 11 gallons of oil? With this I could pull a gallon out at a time and transfer it to something I could take to a recycler. Maybe two five gallon fuel cans or something.

I thought about drilling the lever and safety wiring it to something. Maybe I’m paranoid.

View attachment 376958
Click to expand...

I had one for a while. Always worried about it getting hit, and draining my oil. Like You, thought about different ways to secure handle just in case. I accidentally forced it the wrong way. The locking effects not very good now. Not easy to ruin it, but I managed to. Took it off, yet to get another. They’re great, makes the job much cleaner. Poking a hole in bottom oil filters, with a screwdriver letting them drain first helps too. I always make sure they’re gonna come off first, with the filter wrench, just in case ones stuck on for some reason. Always refill oil filters before putting on. I like having the magnet on the drain plug. My version of an oil sample. Think I’ll just keep it that way. I have a small ball valve plumbed into my bottom radiator hose. It’s handy, for draining the coolant for any reason, especially for unexpected reason, or flushing the system. I’ve used it quite a bit. 1/4” turn brass ball valve. No zip tie, or latch lock. I should put something on it, to keep it closed, in case it gets hit by road hazard.

Rideandrepair, Jul 12, 2021

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otterinthewater Road Train Member

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TripleSix said: ↑

Back in the day, we’d pour-the stuff old a gallon at a time into the fuel tanks.
Click to expand...

My uncles used to do that with their John Deere tractors. Thats multi using a consumable in my book.

otterinthewater, Jul 12, 2021

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