OK, Here I Go!!
Topic 20309 | Page 1
Congratulations on your first solo run!
I'm surprised Rick in New Boston didn't give you his Macro speech. With Swift they are always in pairs. 1/2 Arrive shipper / Leave shipper 5/6 Arrive final / Empty call.
He mentions the others, but those are in his mind the most important to keeping you running and knowing where trailers are.
But, welcome to the club. Smile and have fun.
Shipper:
The customer who is shipping the freight. This is where the driver will pick up a load and then deliver it to the receiver or consignee.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.OWI:
Operating While Intoxicated
Congratulation. Now you have a bunch of the rookie mistakes out of the way. Good luck. Stay safe.
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I upgraded to solo on Monday July 17th.
I was flown to New Boston MI from Lancaster TX on Wednesday to get my truck because they ran out of trucks at our terminal (and other nearby terminals). Got there at around 7pm. Got the keys and just gave it a casual check coz it was late! But it stank of stale cigarettes....boy did it stink! Used up half of my body splash hoping for a decent night.
On Thursday I got all the paperwork, permits, organized and also got a mattress for the upper bunk bed. The one they had was bigger (for the lower bunk bed). They said I could keep the second so am sleeping on two.... I had permission from my DM to bobtail to the nearest Walmart to pick up a few things. On my way, I detected the more than usual play on the steering wheel coz the truck "jumped" (for lack of a better word) whenever I went over small bumps. I took it to the shop around 2pm and it was not ready till 7.44pm.
I was anxious to get started so I decided to leave the same evening (at 8.35pm) with my 1st load which was going to Gibson City, IL. The trailer was pre-loaded, sitting at the terminal....a whole 41000+ lbs. I guess I was soo anxious to leave I forgot to send in my macro....lol, but the guy at the gate reminded me and even went ahead to send it on my behalf.
The load was already late anyway. I stopped at a TA after 4 hours of driving and guess what, I had to do a blindside backing. It was not very difficult coz there was room to maneuver and it was at an angle.....it was also a reserved parking spot. I started out at 9am on Friday and delivered at around 2pm. It was a drop and hook. Now, I had written reminders on post it pads which I put on the dash but I forgot about them. In so doing, I forgot to send one of the macros yet again and took off. Was supposed to pick an empty trailer from about 10 minutes away from another yard, but turned around halfway there because I forgot my enforcer lock on the trailer I dropped (also had written a reminder for this)......got it and went for the empty trailer. There were three of them and the most suitable (coz there was mud under the two) had been spray painted with the word TRUMP'D on the driver side trailer skirt.......wondered..then stopped wondering what others would think.
Now comes my biggest blunder. I go to navigation to get directions for my next stop....which was a shipper in Peoria, IL ( a 74 mile drive), 2nd stop was for fueling at a TA 152 miles south on I-55, and the third my final destination in Mesquite, TX. I clicked on what I assumed was the first stop, but actually clicked on the 2nd stop. I could have confirmed the address but I did not, I could have asked myself how 74 miles turned to over 80 miles but I did not. I assumed there was a mistake and I am driving like crazy to get to the "shipper" before they closed and before I ran out of hours. I was so happy to realize that the "shipper" was only .4 miles from I-55....I drove towards a TA and the gps told me I had arrived.......can anyone guess what I was thinking? LOL. (to be continued...there's more!, but heading out to the movies to watch Dunkirk)
Bobtail:
"Bobtailing" means you are driving a tractor without a trailer attached.
Shipper:
The customer who is shipping the freight. This is where the driver will pick up a load and then deliver it to the receiver or consignee.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.Drop And Hook:
Drop and hook means the driver will drop one trailer and hook to another one.
In order to speed up the pickup and delivery process a driver may be instructed to drop their empty trailer and hook to one that is already loaded, or drop their loaded trailer and hook to one that is already empty. That way the driver will not have to wait for a trailer to be loaded or unloaded.