Walmart Dedicated, London, KY

I have been on my own on the account for 3 days now. I'll let this be a guide for newbies, like me, coming into this account. I am still very nervous and feel like I don't know what I'm doing on alot of things, like setting my NAT correctly and trip planning. I am also struggling with backing in between trailers at the DC that are only inches apart, while the yard dudes are waiting impatiently for you to hurry and get out of their way. New people starting out are usually on night shifts. On nights you will deliver meat and produce. On days it's frozen and dairy. Dealing with the reefer trailers can be aggravating at times. Making sure the fuel level is good and the temps. You can't leave the yard until your temps are within 5 degrees of what it says on the paperwork. It's very fast paced and is overwhelming for new people. Around the holidays it gets freakin crazy. I have been asking alot of questions from the managers/dispatchers in the office cause I still feel lost and they roll their eyes, blow their breath with frustration, And is very discouraging. Makes asking for help very nerve wracking. I have yet to figure out how to determine where they want you to fuel up at on the Qualcomm. They don't want you getting fuel at the DC unless the Qualcomm tells you to do so. I have been fueling up there anyway cause I don't know what else to do. I am looking for another job,so I am stuck here in the mean time. If all trucking is like this then I don't want any part of it anymore. If I lived closer to the DC it would definitely help. Living 3 hours away isn't working. They do have a few manual trucks left being used in slip seats. The trucks are usually pretty dirty so you have to find time to clean them when you pick it up. The most helpful people I have talked to are Chris who works in the office on nights and my TE which is Darren Davis. Very friendly helpful people but I can't always get ahold of them to ask questions. Sleeping in the trucks have been more of a challenge then I anticipated. If the temp outside is below 72 you can't idle the truck and it gets very hot without AC, even if it's 70 outside. The heat from the engine heats the cab up even after hours after it has been shut off. A 4 inch built in sleeper fan doesn't help at all in that situation. The mattresses are uncomfortable so I'm thinking of getting a memory foam mattress topper. They don't have power inverters, just 12 volt outlets. No APUs either. Just bunk heaters. And they mess up alot in these trucks so they are constantly working on them. So expect it to fail while sleeping in the cold weather. I would recommend an electric sleeping blanket that plugs into a 12 volt outlet. Like I said I have only been here 3 days thus far, so this is all I've dealt with and learned from my experience in this short amount of time. The scale at the yard is very convenient, but it seems I have to slide the tandems every load I get, and these tandems do not like to slide. Most are very rusted. I asked a mechanic guy to help me out one day and of course he too showed his frustration by sighing and blowing his breath. Hope this helps. Sorry about all the negativity but it's what I've dealt with in my time here. Feel free to ask me any questions. Any negative feedback will be ignored.

 

Slip seating it will be hard to make the truck "home like", but getting a nice topper will help, as will a 12 volt fan and some window screens.

For your fuel - as you make the load active in work flow it will ask you for your fuel level. Then it will update the active dispatch with the fuel solution.

Just remember everything will get easier . In three months you'll be tryinh to figure out what you thought was so gosh darn hard.

 

Thank you so much!! You have helped me more than you know! I've never seen any fuel stops on my dispatch before so I thought I was doing something wrong. Schneider is very strict on fueling up at the cheapest place.

 

If you have been fueling at the dc, it always thinks you have a full tank, thus no solution.

Also, apologies for the wrong way pictures.

 

ok, you have fueling addressed.

whats your struggle with trip planning? NAT should correct itself once you do better at planning.

gotta ask, whats your experience level?

 

unless they changed things, fueling at an OC which the DC would be considered in this case ,would never ding you or be a problem. what exactly are they saying to you?

 

The walmart dc probably doesn't count against the bonus metrics, but Walmart charged SNI retail price, thus why they wouldn't want the dedicated guys fueling at the dc.

 

Experience is none. Just started in trucking. It's been 3 days now and it's alot better. Had to pretty much train myself on everything in my down time. What confused me on the NAT is when I set it what do I change my 11hour, 14 hour and 70hour to?

 

I found out today the OC at Walmart doesn't count as their OC for fuel. So they always want you to go by your dispatch. Retarded.

 

yes, if you plan to run after a short run.. otherwise just the 70 should change if its the next day with a fresh 11/14.

again your planning will inform the rest.

were you issued the highway to success book in orientation? section in there on planning. @gentleroger should be happy to coach you too.

what range of model years are the trucks youve been in? I have a set of screens I no longer need I could send.