Working Line Haul for a Food Company

We don't do that it's a little different, we don't keep our dollies. So what happens is, I pull into the warehouse and there are in bound lanes on a real big white concrete drop pad and it's a little different with us because we don't pull our rear trailers right out of the loading dock our selves that's all done by the warehouse because different kinds of customers have different cut off times for ordering so certain trailers are packed later then others and are scheduled to be released later then others.

So what happens is we pull in and I break my set of trailers down and then I pull out of the lane and go to the fuel island or wash bay or into the office whatever I want to do.

The yard hostlers come up and grab the trailers and they take the trailers to be fueled up or if they don't need fuel they stage them so when the warehouse releases a trailer from the dock one yard hostler will pull a trailer out of the dock while another one will grab an empty and back it in. We have 2 hostlers working at night sometimes there's a 3rd, but usually only 2. It's not transportations job to stick trailers into doors or pull them out or to hostile trailers around, that's all the yard jockeys.

So, what happens is one yard switcher will grab a trailer and another one will grab a converter and they have a special hook/bracket on the front of the yard truck and it hooks onto the converter and they push the converters up to the ready line. We do not always pull doubles back if it's not called for. It's not like LTL where you take an empty out so the pool doesn't get lop sided. The food companies don't really care about that. So like for instance last night we had a route cut from our yard. Well we normally have 6 trailers, but last night we only had 5. So they aren't going to have me pull an empty back to the drop yard, because we don't pick up freight. Our trailers are all empty at the end of the day. So the warehouse takes the dollies from in bound line and puts them on the out bound line and then the hostlers arrange the trailers on the out bound ready to go line. So when I get my release papers I find my trailer and it's all right there in a nice line trailer converter gear and rear trailer. I still have to hook the set up, but the equipment is already to go. Like last night I had a single 28' trailer to take back so I got my paper work and there it was on the out bound line and hooked up to it and took off. We also have a drop lot that's 3 trailers so some usually runs a single up there. But yeah for the most part the stuff is staged on the outbound or inbound line and the converters stay at the warehouse and everyday you get a different converter dolly.

 

So the snow storms put us behind a day, we ended up doing a day time linehaul thing on Friday, and then Saturday they ran the regular routes. I just got home from work and so on and so forth start of a new week.

 

Hi guys, so busy a little bit this week. I'm on my third double run of the week this week today, a single trailer down to West Virginia. Busy last night I had a set of doubles to run to Youngstown and then pulled an empty set out. They had a set of trailers all hooked up and ready to go when I got to Youngstown, but I still had to break my set down of course and spot the converter that I took in with me. So that's all a little bit of work.

Anyway, once I got out of there I ran back to the warehouse and Youngstowns a little farther from the warehouse then I thought. Anyhow, I got back to the warehouse a little after 2am and it was a little bit on the late side, most of the other runs had already left and were on the way back. So I ran into the office and grabbed my paper work, 1 trailer heading back with me. So I ran back to my truck and found my trailer in the yard, and for some reason Harold the Helicopter from Thomas the Tank Engine his theme song started playing in my head and I got hooked up and checked everything out and thought 5:05am I think I can make it back and the race was on.

I ended up making it back right at 5:00pm on the dot. The second truck into our yard had beaten me only by a few minutes as he was still maneuvering around the yard and had only just unhooked from his rear trailer.

 

So last night was a pretty busy night out on the turnpike I had 2 runs last night, both single trailer movements. One single 28' going to Wheeling, West Virginia and then my load back to Lorain, Ohio was just a single trailer. We have 6 trailers normally at our yard, but we have a driver off this week and routing in Cleveland has been cutting a route out of our yard and rearranging the order of things and moving stuff from that route into Cleveland so we are just 5 trailers this week instead of 6, which happens sometimes when it suits them in the summer or whatever they will cut a route.

Anyhow out and back today and out and back tomorrow and that's the week. I had 3 double runs this week which isn't bad. I don't always expect 5 maybe 4 I could do and that could happen, but 3 I think is pretty good. So today I took a set of doubles to the warehouse. Got in, unhooked my set, fueled the truck up then backed the truck in the manual wash bay and washed it down. Then went inside and did my paper work and talked to the boss for a second and then my, load was ready I had the 11:45pm back to town and went outside hooked up my trailers and all that stuff and headed back in.

Last night as I was saying was a busy night out on the turnpike lots of trucks those Estes guys they just come flying up on me out of nowhere I try to keep up with them, but they are just too darn fast, but I like Estes they always blink there lights thank you when you let them know they are clear to get over. But yeah lots of traffic last night. Tonight though was a different story I hooked up and headed out and pretty much had the entire turnpike to my self. Made it back in before 3:00am and unhooked my back trailer, our yard is dirt and snow and ice pac now it's in the 40s today so that started to melt the snow and stuff, but it dropped to 37 tonight and while that's not super cold, it's enough to glaze over the slush and I went to pull away from my rear trailer and couldn't get traction at all and spent 10-15 minutes trying to get out of the stuck dirt hole I was in. Finally I got through, but it was stupid. Other then that pretty easy day.

Last day of our transit movement schedule for the week tomorrow, out and back again 11:00pm set back into town. Then that's the ball game for this week. I rather like being home during the day and I get home early enough where when I wake up I still have a morning, and then I have a lot of my day. I do make a little less on this gig, but I'm working less and have more time for stuff I want to do and it's pretty nice and the amount of less I am making, isn't enough to really move the needle, I can still make my house payment and pay all the bills and stuff, so were fine usually we can save most of my wife's income. Our savings took a hit last year when we paid off a lot of debt and had stuff for the house to buy, but were recovering fine. I did have some bills come up I wanted to pay so I dipped into savings to pay them, but that's fine, because now they are paid and it was one of those 2 steps forward 1 step back deals, but that's life an extra $100 a week wouldn't made a difference in that respect, but were fine so that's how it goes. Alright everyone have a nice day.

 

Alright end of the week, easy out and back run tonight and that's the ball game for this weeks night movements. Anyhow I got to the yard about 7:00pm today had a little bit of time hooking up, because the converter wasn't lined up right, but it's alright I got that taken care of. By 7:45pm I was on the road. By 10:15ish give or take I was at the warehouse.

Usually when I get into the warehouse the first thing I do is drive through the automatic truck wash, this is really more to get the trailers washed off, but it does knock some of the lose dirt and stuff off the tractor. Then, when I am done in the auto wash I loop around and pull my set into one of the inbound slots. I set my break and I break apart my set of doubles. Once I cut the power from the set I bobtail over to the fuel island and fuel my truck up. I pop the hood and check some of my fluids and stuff and then once I am satisfied with all that, I also do some computer work on the hand held computer with inspection reports.

Then I swing around and back my truck into the manual wash bay, I manually wash the truck almost every night if I have time, I find that I do a little bit of a better job then the auto drive through. Anyhow I pressure wash my truck down and once I am done with that, I pull out of the manual wash bay and head inside to the office.

When I get inside I usually use the restroom, then go on the computer and check out the previous nights trip and then I check my watch and in this case when I was finished with my computer work it was 11:00pm and my paper work was up and I was released and ready to go. With my truck all fuel up and washed all
nice and clean I headed to my trailers. They were in the first out bound slot all loaded up and ready to go.

I backed underneath the lead trailer *clink* and I set the break got out checked my connection and then hooked up my air hoses and raised the landing gear. I also checked my load always check the load to make sure you have the right trailers. Anyhow I hooked up my converter dolly got my second trailer hooked and away I went.

I figured by 2:00am I would be back in town and by 2:00am I was pulling into the yard right on the dot. Safely and efficiently is how tonight went, cool out but nice and clear. Anyhow that's it for the week, I'll be back at it Sunday night.