Comments By Grumpy Old Man

I show on duty time, but I’m paid hourly.

Otherwise, staying on the clock needlessly will mean you don’t make money.

Google stretches for sciatica.

It helps. It also hurts like hell. But they do help.

This does not apply to the entire state. I’ve gone under bridges marked 13’8” and I’m not even sure I had a full 2” of clearance.

Harvest,

All bridges in NY state are marked a foot below actual clearance. I have gone thru this same scenario many times in my 44 year career. It is a real wake up call for sure. I don't know the reasoning behind this or at least just forgot why. Glad you survived Hunts Point too.

I wasn’t going to chime in, but my first thought was wow, that’s pretty bold for a rookie. I’m sure there is a lot Ryan doesn’t know.

I’ve been doing this a bit over 4 years, and there is a sh*t load I don’t know.

Bumping this. In reference to Turtles rebuke of Ryan? Totally true. I agree 100%.

To my fellow moderators… delete Ryans nonsense. Anything antagonistic and insulting, delete it. Ryan cannot be reasoned with, don’t try. It only encourages another hundred words of useless information. Delete his BS.

You all know what is right and wrong. Brett gave you moderation rights for a reason. Use them wisely.

Bruce's approach is none of your concern. He asks a genuine question in a genuine way, and his topics spark beneficial conversations.

Your approach however is always simply to criticize someone or something in an effort to boost your own self-perceived sense of worth. Your replies spark negativity.

You are not the same.

Even after the disposition is the product is to be disposed of, no company I’ve ever been to will allow their employees to accept it.

It would invite accusations of proxy being refused as damaged for personal gain.

I’m always surprised that the dock workers don’t keep this stuff for themselves, the driver would never know.

My guess is because they don't know what the shipper wants to do with it and if they accept the shipment, they'll be paying for it.

If they leave it on the trailer it's refused and it's up to the shipper to decide what to do with it.

It’s true. Warranty work pays crap

Idk how true this is but I’ve heard it several times and it makes sense…that dealers don’t like to prioritize warranty work because it’s not profitable for them so they put the lower paid people on warranty work and save their better technicians for better paying work. If that’s true, that could help explain why they didn’t find the issue and your own mechanics did. Either way glad you got the issue fixed.

Reminds me of the time years ago when I worked for Swift my truck started randomly shutting off while I was driving. And when I say “shut off” I mean the entire thing completely lost power—engine off, lights off, nothing on the dash—completely dead. Scared the hell out of me because I also lost power steering. Turns out it was something with the battery disconnect switch—something coming disconnected or unplugged because it was loose

Oh Hi Deb.

Yeah, they are always pretty good. But having been an aviation electronics tech, I understood how hard it can be to find intermittent electrical issues. But I’m pretty sure all Freightliner did was scan for codes. It sat outside the shop all day as far as I could see.

It's crazy that the dealer could not come up with anything, but your home shop could. I was a HOW driver for 4 years; I always felt that the shop in Wisconsin did a great job.

Lol. Yeah.

He just incon 6-8 drivers so he could run in and grab some lunch. Forgot to mention that

Yes, I know I am an ahole, but hopefully it was a teaching moment for him.

Your name says it all. If they knew who you were they'd have to expect you to respond in some way🤣

Drivers do that a lot in rest areas where there is angled parking for pull-throughs. They park along the back of several trailers essentially blocking the spots when they become empty. Grrrr!

So about March 2021, I got a new(ish) truck. My friend drove it 24,000 miles and left to go with a local company.

By January 2023, it had broken down or needed repairs that took a week or more at least four times. The final straw was a week in Wisconsin to get the bunk heat fixed (annual issue) that took a week, then a week later I had a def pump issue. Towed to Freightliner in Albany NY, where they said it would be two weeks before they looked at it.

I told my FM I was renting a car and going home, the truck is a lemon and I’m tired of being broke down and not earning.

She said nope, had me rent a uhaul, empty my truck, drive to Wisconsin and pick up a brand new truck.

20,000 miles later, the tach and speedo gauges started sweeping up and down, caution lights flashing off and on, trans wouldn’t shift, and weird errors like “please apply brakes” would pop up.

I was able to drive it to Freightliner in Maine and sat for 5 days, to be told we can’t recreate it. I had to stop 7 times in 3 hours and shut the battery off for 10 minutes to make it there.

So they had me bring it to Wisconsin and our shop found a major wire bundle behind the dash that didn’t have enough slack, and was partially unplugged.

So far it has been working fine, 1,000 miles or so later.

So now I just started a new dedicated run. I pick up in Avon, NY, drive to Fremont, IN, swap trailers with another driver, and return. Repeat Tuesday through Sunday.

Just started today, so we’ll see how that goes. But it can’t be worse than delivering to grocery DCs that want you to unload at 2 AM, but can’t stay after (or before) and no truck stops in the area.

I’ve been rolling right along.