Trans Am Still

I don't think there is a Penny in Olathe. I only know of the fleet manager in Rockwall. As for desk arrangements, it's has change multiple times over the last few months. Seems like every time I go in there just about dispatchers have moved around to new desks. I don't remember where Conrad was before, but I know his current spot is a newish thing. Last time I checked, Chris G was still in night dispatch. Funny he was "demoted" about the time the April death truck screwup happened in Olathe. But it is possible he is now gone altogether. Chris M is the one who does safety classes and is now the one locked away with the planners reviewing drive cam footage forwarded to TransAm.

Passport, I think to avoid confusion, I would skip the Rockwall fleet manager intervention and just go straight to Paul. But that's just me.

I dropped in Duncan and am at the truck stop for a break. No NC runs available on my time frame and location. So I think DM2 is trying another driver placate on tool. My initial plan for the week fell through and I told her that was flexible anyways and I would focus on miles so she throws me a Dodge City run to FL. DM2 also was made aware I'm coming down with the plague so I guess she figured I could use a pick me up. Works for me! Two stopper in Orlando but one of them is Quirch, yuck.

I feel like utter crap ((so begins the cycle of getting the plague after EVERYTHING hometime again... happens in every season except summer!)). I'm curled up in bed wallowing in plague-ridden misery and sharing leftover birthday cake with the dog.

 

^ April death truck??? What could that mean?

Penny may have been promoted as I know she is a supervisor in Rockwall now, she is one of the reasons I want to get out of Rockwall dispatch.

Godspeed on feeling better.

 

Basically back around March/April a driver came onto the yard on a Thursday night/early Friday, dropped his trailer, and parked in bobtail parking for a break. Normal business. His load delivered elsewhere on Saturday. Keep in mind at this point temps were still insanely cold so of course most of us keep our bunk heaters cranked up high! Friday, after his break was up and he still hadn't moved, his dispatcher sends a couple messages asking why he isn't moving yet. No response. Saturday rolls around and truck still hasn't moved. More messages sent and no driver contact is made. Sunday, same old, same old but of course you have the peanut gallery running the show. Monday, truck still hasn't moved so they ping the unit for location and OH! It's on the Olathe yard! It's possible they were aware the truck was on the yard before this but Friday is certainly too soon to think the worst and no surprise the truck wasn't opened up. Weekend, however.... good luck getting them to do anything more than push buttons and have a potluck in the dispatch office. So now it's Monday and the terminal is fully staffed. This truck and load are STILL on the yard, but the driver isn't responding to messages or any other attempted contact so someone decides to open up the truck which was parked in the middle of bobtail parking with the tail of the tractor close to the back corner of the shop. The big reveal ends with the driver dead in the sleeper likely from natural causes and dead long enough with the bunk heater making it worse so that body fluids were dripping out onto the cement under the truck.

Death truck spends weeks on the yard empty for intense cleaning and I know for a fact this unit was later reassigned to another ((new and likely oblivious driver)). All if the dispatch team at this point is under a lot of pressure and stress.

And I heard from some birds that the family had tried to reach their driver and when they were unsuccessful reached out to TransAm for assistance in reaching or locating him and got nothing. Supposedly the crap hit the fan with that one and I believe a lawsuit is in the works.

This info was gathered from several sources, but the bulk of it came from one very reliable source who works on the yard but will remain unnamed and is NOT my DM.

Believe what you will. It is, of course, possible that some actual facts differ from what I was given. But the basic jist of this story is true!

 

^ Oh ok, sorry to hear about that. I took "April death truck" to be something much more lighthearted. RIP to that driver. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

Sorry that you are feeling bad, honeybadger, and I hope that you will soon be better! I didn't see Chris on the list of corporate upper management, so i didn't know if he was still there or not. Actually, I noticed several changes in upper management personnel.....one of these days I am going to make copies of these things so that I don't have to go back and look things up all of the time.
I hadn't heard about the driver death in April. How horrible and sad. Even when a driver has given dispatch at TransAm permission to give his family information very rarely will dispatch make the time or effort to do so. I was fortunate that in the one time I was trying to locate the King he had a wonderful driver manager. I had called dispatch because I hadn't heard anything from him, his DM looked to see where the truck was, sent him a message and found out that his phone had died. The Dm relayed the message to me and when the King got into the yard had him call me. This DM was one of the rare few ....he had been a driver of many years. He took the time to know his drivers, sent out Christmas cards to each of his driver's families personally, etc. etc. He was a great guy and the miles were fantastic. ....He lasted about 9 months.
I always recommend that if you have a smart phone that you and your family put the Life360 app on it.

 

A 1930's version of a GPS for cars! Who knew?

 

Let's see if this link works.Some interesting reading -

http://dockets.justia.com/search?query=TRANSAM+TRUCKING+INC

 

Hope you feel better real soon, HB!

George had a swap Tuesday afternoon at St. Louis, MO. He is now on his way for a 9 am drop in Birmingham, AL. He's hauling about 42,000 lbs of beef.

For your check list, HTQ: scaling loads....never just assume it's ok, scale new loads to avoid getting a ticket. Pretrip is up there in importance too.

Also, something that apparently isn't addressed in training: state income taxes. Unless a driver lives in Kansas or TX, (whichever site their DM is), TA does not deduct state taxes. Keep all work related receipts (tools, etc.) to claim as business related expenses and claim on your taxes.

 

Our state income taxes were always deducted from our paychecks. passport? Panhandle? Did they deduct yours?
Because TransAm does pay per diem it will have a limiting effect on your available deductions, but it is always a good idea to keep records and receipts.

 

They always paid mine.