What's the word on Gypsum Express NE Regional?

Excess of 3 hours to tarp and strap?
Maybe flatbeddin' isn't for you!

JD

 

maybe, but if the load is screwey, who is to say? sheetrock you should be able to tarp and strap in an hour or so, but what aout a load of foam insulation sheets you need to tarp and strap, and you are not allowed to throw your straps over, AND they wont help with getting your tarps up there? 3 hours, easy.....

 

This is why i Love my job. My buddy works for gypsum and he can have fun with tarps. I'll play with my long house any day and dump a big load! Lol

 

I am a previous employee that ran out of the Aliquippa terminal and was there for about 8mo. Only one dispatcher that basically feeds information into computer because the terminal manager actually makes the dispatch decisions. My average take home pay after they took out for insurance was usually $500.00 but this is for 70 to 90 hrs. of work and I am not including sleep time. Some deliveries are at 10 pm. others at 3 am. and some at 7 am. I averaged waiting 20 to 30 hrs. a week without pay. This company is not all bad, they have better than average equipment and most people seem to care, but they cannot keep all of their drivers with the miles they need. A few bad apples can make any company look bad and I have spoke to drivers that work out of other terminals that do get 2500 to 3000 a week. I have also spoke to other drivers that have left the Aliquippa terminal for the same reasons as me. This terminal as one other driver quoted is Shadyside Ohio's ####### child. In other words Shadyside takes the money runs, and whatever is left over goes to Aliquippa. Also, these are generally issues that you will run into with most companies, and running the east coast sucks because you can't make any time. I am trying to find something local, dedicated or route. Getting paid by the mile is one of the biggest scams going. It makes Bernie Madoff look like Walt Disney. I hope this helps, but unfortunately you have to work for a company before you actually find out how they are going to screw you. Trucking Companies do not make their money by providing excellent customer service, they make it by screwing their drivers. Keep the Vaseline handy brother and good luck to you and your family

 

JD, You go down to a lumber yard and waddle through 8 to 12 inches of half frozen mud and muck with the wind blowing and see how long it takes you. And I didn't mean that it takes that long to tarp and strap, I meant that you probably sat there and waited 2 hrs. before they started to load. Maybe you go to shippers and the sky opens up and the red carpet comes out and the load fairies come down out of the sky and immediately load your truck, but that doesn't happen for the rest of us.

 

You can run your clock to the fullest extent of efficiency, the bottom line is the distance from point A to point B.

 

25 years flatbeddin" in the Northeast and in and around NYC metro area so I have tarped and untarped a load or two in all conditions! Never ceased to amaze me watching some of these road drivers "making love" to their loads for a couple of hours! I could tarp and strap a load of lumber, paper rolls, wallboard, shingles, etc. in less than an hour without trying too hard. Maybe it was because I was running locally and hustle was what was needed to make money. I never ran with electronic logs but it seems that in order to not burn up your 14 that some hustle may be in order! Plus the sooner I got it done the sooner I got home! Just my 2 cents!

JD

 

JD, I also watch the drivers that don't even "sweet talk" their loads. I ran in about 12 different states and hit some roads that were in such bad shape you would have to wonder if you were still on a road and not in a cow pasture. I will fully utilize my straps because I can't relax if I have to keep looking in the mirror. I definitely don't want to get fined by DOT. or hurt or possibly kill someone because I was in a hurry. E-logs are a truck drivers worst enemy when it comes to efficiency. It will definitely kill a bonus and ruin a weekend off.

 

I guess I was just lucky I never "threw a load onto the street" on these smooth Northeastern roads! No load securement tickets either!

JD