Van Wyk Inc.

@BBechtel16.. as i classify myself as an experience I-95 Corridor trucker i can help you out.. if you can leave Front Royal around 1 or 2 depending on if you gotta get fuel you you can breeze on up the GW and Cross Bronx and The Connecticut Turnpike unless they have that Construction which usually doesn't stop Traffic to long... But if you can hit the GW/Jersey Turnpike around 7 you will be fine.. Another thing to help out is if you got XM listen to the New York Traffic Channel It Does Real Well...If all good you can get to Norton around 10:30 or 11 and be ready to roll around 9.....

And For Millard for me its been hit or missed... There's been times where ive sat there for 6 hours, theres been times where ive hooked up and left, its hit or missed there quite frankly...

@Husker, ive had that run before... not bad i kinda of enjoyed the trip going across the nice rolling country side (even tho it was summer, a breezey summer day at that) of Minnesota's U.S. 14 and State Route 60....i like railroads (long story) so running along that main line of Union Pacific isn't Bad along Route 60... But hopefully your run ended better than mines, i had to stay in Sioux Falls that night cause the post office there denied one pallet of mail.. i ended up losing 13 hours with that ordeal, Also those #### Bollingbrook Docks are kinda tight!!

 

Hawk! That was you I met in the yard today right? Nice to meet you. Thanks for the advice on the route. I took the route back down yesterday that Larry just mentioned. I was lucky with traffic both ways on both routes at different time frames thankfully, but 95 still drives me batty. 40mph zone?! I was going 55 and still wanted to start slaloming or something to make it tolerable to go that slow, and those RI people... I've never been brave enough to take the GW in a truck, not that it's super scary or anything but I figure it's best for my health to avoid NYC whenever practical. I almost tried it yesterday; maybe next time.

I don't really have much of a Millard horror story. The load was fine. It was supposed to be preloaded and it was. It is just one of those places that has ridiculous procedures and people that don't even pretend to give a crap about you. I pulled in and the trucks were parked three deep at the shipping office, so unavoidably I parked in front of a few doors, only blocking one trailer of which the driver attached to it appeared to be asleep. I wrote down all of the 5 different numbers Van Wyk sent me with the load, to walk in seeing the signs telling me all my numbers were worthless. I decided to play it cool and wait for them to acknowledge my existence when it was my turn and see if they would look me up another way, wrong... So I go back to the truck and go over the load info again, called Waynesboro and got the number I was looking for. I go back in and wait in line again, and then while waiting for my existence to be acknowledged again, I hear the two-way crackle something about Van Wyk, and the woman tells me I need to move my truck because I'm blocking doors. I gave the evil eye of disbelief for a second, bit my tounge, and when out and moved my truck (with the motor wound to the governor of course) and went back in, waited in line again, waited for my existence to be acknowledged again, then I finally got my paperwork.

Then there's the cashier (probably was the gosh darn manager) at the Pilot here in Newburgh. Asking everyone, including me, if I would like some coffee or something else with that or some BS. Yeah, I'd like some coffee with my xtra strength Black Ice air freshener... The kicker is she interrupts me as I tried to politely decline. Then gives the standard thank for coming have a nice day to the cig shelves as she's walking away. If you're not going to at least pretend you mean it, don't say it! Be nice! I hate people. That's why I started driving. Little did I know, haha.

 

PS- Millard is a driver load and count. Another thing that made me hate them right off. DLC policies are a complete scam. And how the hell do you count a preloaded trailer?!

 

So I decided to post mileage/time figures courtesy of Google Maps for the Sysco Front Royal to Sysco Boston/Norton run, for comparison and discussion sake. Yes I am totally bored, waiting to get loaded in Johnstown, NY. 95 route includes Providence bypass on I-295 and all routes factor the local directions into Norton. Routes involving 684 include detouring you from Google's default route having you take the Saw Mill River Parkway. Please point out any errors you notice, as I had to correct my own figures multiple times.

95 the whole way from 78
513 miles
9:19

Avoids George Washington/NYC and all of 95
78-287-684-84-90
533
9:43

Avoids half of Hartford as well (I could start a whole new thread on mileage vs. time on this bypass
78-287-684-84-691-91-84-90
536
9:41

Avoids Tappan Zee and entire NYC area
78-287-87-84-90
542
9:50

In case you REALLY hate Jersey/Allentown (steep grades on 81 and 84 though):
81-84-90
546
9:56

 

Yeah bbechtel16 that was me... I personally don't think the GW/Cross Bronx that bad when you hit it right, just stay in the middle lane and try to do 55 to 60 and stay on your P's and Q's.... and you forgot to put going across the tappan zee then straight up 95, i think its about a 10 mile difference.. majority of the time i'll take 287 North to I-80 and run 80 until it meets the Turnpike/GW...Just Remember to use that New York Traffic Channel on XM..

And the Millard 3 stack deep in front of the rental office isn't a shock on a busy day.. hell ive been there when guys are waiting to sign in all the way back to the door!!! and they've never bothered me about about DL&C... i dont think ive been to a place yet except for picking up that salt in Sliver Spring NY that made me stand on the dock while loading...

 

Oh sure, most DLC shippers won't make you stand on the dock, but when the load comes up short at the receiver, it's our fault. Never mind that the shipper loaded and sealed the trailer, and we know nothing about the product nor do we have a true opportunity to literally count every case. That's like ordering a case of Twinkies and when the sealed box comes up short you blame UPS instead of the shipper. I think if we got all drivers to stand on the dock and be a nuisance at every DLC facility, we would see that idea go away pretty quickly. Not that that would ever happen, but anyway...

 

I'm sitting in Northlake, IL. Brokered Dominick's/Target two stopper BS. Stood in a refrigerated warehouse for an hour (after my appointment time) waiting for the receiving people to start their day.

 

They got me out of there pretty quick once I fiddled myself into the door. At Target now. The target people are surprisingly friendly. I was expecting a Walmart experience.