Will you make it home tonight ??

I'm in Casper, WY with a delivery tomorrow in Great Falls, MT.

And nope, not getting home until mid January.
I usually work through the holidays and take home time in the more off times.
My last home time was with my girls in Denver, and we did our Christmas shopping during that visit. But Christmas day they always have a big get-together with EVERYONE down in the Springs, and as the ex I'm not really comfortable in that crowd.

My home is with my sister and her son in MN, and we can celebrate any old time.
This year she is cooking a prime rib, so I don't care to be there for that. Not crazy about prime rib, especially with garlic on it.
So I'll get there mid-January and cook a real turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

It works out well for both me and Swift. I keep running, and they have an another driver when they need one most.
It must be tough on the planners, trying to route thousands of drivers home for one particular day.

 

Stayed out by choice. I took almost 3 weeks off last year in Europe at Christmas. One week was vacation and they didn't have to give me the other two off but they did.

i was home for Thanksgiving and I will be home for New Years. In the meantime they've been keeping me running and that's all I ask for if I'm gonna be out here.

Had the option of them trying to line up with a load thru the house. I said save yourself the hassle of that puzzle and either use me to help someone else get home or keep me rolling. Just don't jack up New Years. (I've never had problems getting home when it's time)

Drivers who choose to stay out the 22-27 get entered in a drawing selecting 30 drivers for a week paid vacation. Lease guys have a drawing too, but they get covered lease payments.

 

i got sat from 6 pm until tuesday at 1 am off
dispatcher said i could take off as long as i wanted as
long as i was in Los Angelos 2300 Thursday
wouldnt be bad if i wasnt starting from Chicago

 

<--- I am home every night
Mary christmas and stay stafe out there drivers.

 

Got home Sunday afternoon, ain't leaving until Thursday morning. Had to actually tell dispatch to keep me out last weekend and next weekend to cover the holidays (haven't been here quite long enough to qualify for paid holidays, gotta be employed for ninety days first).

Have I mentioned I hate it when the holidays land in the middle of the week? So blasted inconvenient!

 

Well I would have been back home in Chicago around 4am but I had a shipping and receiving guy turn me away because I was late by 15 minutes so now I have to sleep at a truck stop and get loaded at 7 am when I could have been sleeping in my own bed.

I hope I can find a local job soon because I'm getting really sick of all the b&#347; involved with out of state DOT's, weigh stations, refrigerated warehouses, doing things for free....

OTR drivers seriously need a union or some Cesar Chavez type to say enough is enough because it really is.

 

Try sitting outside a steel mill for six hours to pick up a load that should have been ready twelve hours ago due to six union types that between them can't manage to count up to eight......yeah....

 

Sorry, but you can't blame others for your own lack.
You were late, and many times that means going to the back of the line - as it should!
Be late too many times and you will find that no company will hire such an unreliable driver.

Sometimes it is not the drivers fault, sometimes it is.
In either case we may have to suffer the outcome, because shippers/receivers often run an extremely tight schedule.
It's not BS, it is simply the nature of the business.

If you think local is so much better, you might be sadly mistaken.

 

I totally agree JB! Its not like Christmas is a surprise, its the same time every year, all it takes is a little planning to get your drivers home. I drove otr 20 yrs and never missed a Christmas home, I didn't get home til late Christmas eve a couple times but I was home Christmas day. Company policy was anyone that wanted to be home Christmas was, irregardless of where you were. I was deadheaded from St Louis to Pensacola, FL (750 miles) one year. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

 

You have no idea what the circumstances were so how can you tell me that I'm in the wrong. You have no idea how I operate, what kind of freight I run, etc.

I had 4 drops in a 200 mile radius that I started at 7am and would have had plenty of time to pick up my backhaul but these warehouses take such an unreasonably long time to unload and they won't let me unload it myself because I certification to operate their equipment. So the warehouses who take 4 hours to unload and process three pallets are at fault, not me.

You don't know me or how I run. I'm the guy that blows your door off when I pass you and then I see you sleeping in the truck stop while I'm fueling my truck coming on the backhaul while you still have 200 miles to your final destination.

I'm honestly not the angry or confrontational type, I just used TTR as a forum to vent myself a little bit not as a way to get chided by some internet super trucker. I know why the warehouses operate the way they do, I was just saying its not right. I'm sure you have been victimized by these warehouses and you're gonna take the side of some mismanaged warehouses who make you a new hole every chance they get. Maybe the federal government should start regulating the warehousing business as much as I hate to say it, because regulations are ruining America but somebody needs to take a stand not just bend over and take it. If you still feel the same way, I really don't know what to tell you because at the end of the day its your time and my time that gets wasted. I don't know how valuable you think your time is but mine is more valuable than anything else in the world (to me anyway).

I run hard, do it safely and I know my limit.

I'm sure you don't care one bit about my rant but I'm sure many agree with me.