One Of Those Boring Days

It was one of those boring days today. I had two pickups one at 8am and another between 1-3pm.

The 8am pickup went smoothly, I actually got there around 7:10 and got loaded early and I was out by 8am, so I thought it'd be a great day. Now I was off to the second shipper.

I arrived around 10am as I wasn't far from the place,same as my first pickup I was hoping to get loaded early. But upon arrival I went inside to talk to the folks, and there was confusion as if I was at the right place or even had a pickup there. It took two hours for the guy to sort it out, and he did. Very friendly guy. He said he had multiple people working on getting the order ready and should be done around 3pm. So I waited some hours until 3pm rolled around and I went inside to see if the order was ready. He said it'd be another 30 minutes, so I waited around. I went back to see if it was done, this time he mentioned something about the company receiving the products (not the place I'm taking it to but where it's going afterwards).

So he called someone from the company and talked for 10 minutes or so, and came out to give me the bad news. There was some things changed up with the order and it wouldn't be ready today and I'd have to come back sometime tomorrow.

Now a lot of driving from my short experience would have blown up on this guy, etc. But I was very polite and said that's fine, and to have a good day. Went outside to call my DBL to have them contact them for a new appointment time tomorrow. Of course I was irritated I waited all day for nothing, but it's apart of the job. 🤔

I got paid layover pay, so it's better than making nothing. I'll discuss more about this load after I drop it off, as it's interesting over all.

I guess it wasn't so bad, boring but I got to talk to my wife most of the day, so that's a bonus!

Enjoy those boring days. Better to put them into perspective when you have those frustrating days like me sitting for 36 hours waiting for a load of chicken parts in Nowheresville, VA. Then having to drive through the night for 2 nights in order to get it in on time.

But seeing a tractor totally gone in a fire reminds me that it can always be worse. I was incredibly ****ed cause it was my daughter’s birthday weekend & wanted to have dinner with her. That tractor fire reminded me that I can still have dinner with her. Her birthday notwithstanding. Any day above ground is a great day!!

Glad it worked out. I broke down last night. Ran out of fuel. Turned out the my engine was only getting fuel from one of my tanks. So now it's in the shop and I have spent all day sitting at the shop. One of those boring days

Came back here today after customer service said it was ready but the guy at the warehouse said it wouldn't be ready until Thursday. This place doesn't seem very organized.

Oh Geeeez!

Jamie, here's what I would do...

Call your DBL and ask if he can take you off this load and put you on another one. That's commonly done in this situation. They can just have you drop that trailer (leave the bills in it) and then you can go grab an empty or maybe even a pre-loaded one. That will save you from waiting around, and it will also help them move some more freight.

Give that a try and let us know how it works out.

Jamie I am in complete agreement with Old School. I frequently experience the same thing with many of the backhauls I am planned on. Don’t be afraid to get creative in order to keep moving.

Good luck!

My DBL contacted customer service for Schneider, and I was instructed to deliver what I already picked up. I'm glad to get back on the road!

Good deal. As you gain experience, you'll learn to be your own advocate out here. I can't tell you how many times my dispatcher has taken a suggestion from me saying, "Man, that's a great idea. I hadn't even thought of handling this situation like that."

These dispatchers are sometimes overwhelmed with everything they have going. Sometimes you can help them clear the fog in their head and make a suggestion that will help keep you moving.

I had a moment today that is like what old school said. Yesterday I was stuck waiting to get loaded for 3.5 hours and wouldn't have had enough time to deliver to VA. I knew what loads we going out the next day and was able to get my dispatcher to get today's load out a quarry in VA instead since it was less than 2 hours from where I was delivering. Solved the problem of me losing a load and him losing a driver for a load today. Turned out a win all the way around.