Comments By Suicide Jockey

I haul fuel out of Selma NC. We been pulling a lot of diesel to top our stores off in anticipation of shortage. So far Kinder Morgan and Marathon have still had diesel available. My second load tonight has diesel on it. Fingers crossed KM will still have it...

Otr I always preferred driving nights for the reasons already mentioned. Now that I'm local I still choose to drive nights. No lines of trucks at the loading racks to wait in. No traffic clogging up the roads. And no cars & customers in my way when I get to the store.

*Loading wait times are faster or nil.

*Travel is faster

*Unloading is faster due to having the place to myself.

Plus!

*I'm not working in the NC hot sun 🌞

* They pay me 10% more to work nights! (And another 25% on weekends), when there is no rush hour to contend with!)

One thing you'll find out quickly is that many drivers are far better at complaining about their job than doing it.

Prime is a great company that takes good care of it's people.

However miscommunications do happen. They may have been given bad info and passed it on to you. It's just as frustrating to them as it is to you when it happens. So yes at Prime I have been sent somewhere for a trailer that wasn't there due to communication errors. But errors like this are the exception not the norm.

I got my CDL through Prime and spent about 3.5 years with them. I only left Prime because the OTR life was hard on my wife and kids. I now have a home everyday local job.

I highly recommend Prime.

Lol yup.

Some of our drivers have started spray painting brightly colored markings on their hoses and fittings.

Yup my wife teases me everytime I do one of four habits.

1: Swing crazy wide in a car. Fortunately I don't do this one much anymore.

2: Back into every parking spot.

3: Turn on the wipers when I see brake lights ahead. Then am puzzled for a brief moment as it mentally clicks that I'm not in the truck.

4: Put on hazards and slow down approaching a railroad crossing. One particular RR crossing I cross roughly 6 times a day at work, it's just burned into my brain to stop. As I come to a stop in my car there's usually a fuel tanker crossing from the other direction laughing and waving. They've probably done the same...

I got loaded a few hours ago and was happy I was able to find some diesel. Made it less than 1 mile from the loading terminal and got pulled over for a Level 1!

Trooper was very polite and professional, and Inspection was all clean.

I was at one fuel loading terminal last night when the terminal operator said one of his diesel tanks is empty, and the other only has a few inches of product remaining.

Today my slip seater spent 3.5 hours hopping between 5 different terminals trying to find some diesel to load. Everyone was out.

My company doesn't serve any of the major truck stops currently, but I imagine they are having similar difficulties. Make sure your tanks are full heading into the east coast. And keep them topped off at every opportunity.

This had some interesting explanations for why it's happening worse in that region:

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/why-the-northeast-is-quietly-running-out-of-diesel

The 2nd reason they gave was the same reason our dispatch manager gave when one of our drivers questioned him on why our suppliers are running out. He explained that with prices so volatile the fuel buyers are afraid to make more than minimal purchases. They are afraid to get stuck with a million gallons of fuel that's now 50¢ or a $1 more than current prices.

But consequently on our end, stores are running out of fuel because suppliers don't have any. Some branded stores (ExxonMobil, Marathon, Sunoco, Shell....etc..etc) are begging for anything we can find them. Even if it's unbranded or the wrong brand, they just want fuel so they can stay open.

I haul fuel in eastern NC. Its gotten ridiculous trying to find suppliers with fuel allocation available...especially diesel. It's common to see trucks hopping from loading terminal to terminal searching for fuel allocation. One of our drivers spent 4 hours terminal hopping trying to get a load of diesel a few days ago. Yesterday my slip seater couldn't find any and was about to turn a diesel load in unfinished. Then dispatch called him that a driver found some diesel, hurry over before it's gone. When I came in last night for my shift my first load was diesel. Dispatch told me we have one supplier at one loading rack left who still has diesel allocation. She sent me and another truck over to load full loads, and split among our stores who's diesel tanks are empty.

My first delivery the employee came over when I pulled in. "Please tell me you have diesel" he said. He was very happy that I had 5k gallons for him.

I ran a Garmin GPS and a separate Garmin dashcam. Another driver I knew ran a Garmin GPS/Dashcam integrated combo. We had very similar and overall good experiences with the navigation. He was not impressed with his integrated dashcam, while I was very impressed with my solo dashcam.

In my opinion, the integrated units seem good if your just looking for an easy and convenient camera. If you want something with more features, a standalone unit would be better.