No Good Deed Goes Unpunished...
Topic 24753 | Page 1
I admire you flatbedders. That is kind of crappy never realized how switching loads could cause a problem like that. I never considered you guys switching the tarps and all that stuff. And I think I have problems running reefer loads... LOL
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.Reefer:
A refrigerated trailer.
A 1800 or 1600 mile run sounds good to me. The longest I’ve gotten so far has been 1100. My current load goes 900. Dry van, so no tarting. I’ll have to leave that to you young studs
Dry Van:
A trailer or truck that that requires no special attention, such as refrigeration, that hauls regular palletted, boxed, or floor-loaded freight. The most common type of trailer in trucking.
A 1800 or 1600 mile run sounds good to me. The longest I’ve gotten so far has been 1100. My current load goes 900. Dry van, so no tarting. I’ll have to leave that to you young studs
If your load is drop and hook don't complain. Only about 25% of my loads are like that. Really frustrating that I set for five or six hours to get unloaded. Walmart and Sam's Club are often the worst. If I get out of either of those in less than 3 hours I do the happy dance.
Dry Van:
A trailer or truck that that requires no special attention, such as refrigeration, that hauls regular palletted, boxed, or floor-loaded freight. The most common type of trailer in trucking.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.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
What is really frustrating is some of the Sam's Clubs and Walmart deliveries do get you in and out in 3 hours or less. Others it just seems they don't give a damn. And they will not let you on the lot if you're there an hour before your delivery time. But they have no problem keeping you there past your allotted hours.
Yo turtle, you fellas have to redo an entire load when you swap? Is that because you have to buy your equipment? Our swaps with other drivers at maverick were pretty easy, just had to make sure each driver had the same amount of equipment when we were done. We did have to swap equipment in and out of trailers for drop and hooks though which was a pain. Also, what kinda load did you have?
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.
What an awful place to have a 34-hour reset!
Yo turtle, you fellas have to redo an entire load when you swap? Is that because you have to buy your equipment? Our swaps with other drivers at maverick were pretty easy, just had to make sure each driver had the same amount of equipment when we were done. We did have to swap equipment in and out of trailers for drop and hooks though which was a pain. Also, what kinda load did you have?
Most of the time we just trade equipment on a swap like this, and it doesn't take too long. But this guy was pretty new and had all new equipment so I don't blame him for not wanting to trade his clean shiny straps and tarps for my old dirty patched up stuff. But we did just end up trading the chains, binders and protectors that he had on his load of suicide coils. No sense taking all that apart. That saved some time. I had a load of angle iron and steel rod. 10 straps and 2 steel tarps the we took off and redid.
What an awful place to have a 34-hour reset!
Agreed, but it was the best I can do. I could possibly have made the TA at Fort Bridger, but it would have been too close for comfort.
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.
At least Little America has good food, great showers, and a nice little TV room....lots of worst places to get stuck :-)
As for the rest of your story, well, you know I think you flatbedders are crazy
Ring....ring
Hello?
Hey Rich, I got a driver that needs to get home in NY by the 7th, and your load to MI will get him close. His load was going to SLC, and I'm not sure I can get him back in time. Can you swap loads with him? It'll turn your 1800 mile run into 1600 miles but I'll throw some extra $ in to make up the difference.
Sure pal, no problem. Whatever you need.
*************
Good deed, right? Well, first you gotta understand that I beat feet outta Utah just yesterday to get ahead of that storm going through WY. Now with this repower I had to turn around and drive straight back into the storm, while also trying to squeeze in a needed reset to ensure my own hours will be there to make it to my own upcoming hometime in FL.
Met up with the other driver in NE, and went through the unpleasant process of untarping/retarping and unsecuring/resecuring our respective loads. This took some time of course, but hey this a rare event so no biggie.
I spent the night right there and got up at 0200 to head off into the storm, intending to make it as far as possible before the weather shut me down, then staying wherever that may be for 34hrs to get that reset I need. I'd finish the trip early Mon and still make delivery on time.
I wasn't long into the trip before noticing the load just didn't feel right behind me. It felt real heavy to the rear, and I began to suspect the balance was off, so I hit the next cat scale. My drives were at 25k and my tandems were at 37k!! Of course this is legal on a spread axle, but still not how I'd like it. This guy loaded the trailer completely off-balanced, and now here I am having to run it through a snowstorm.
I've been to the shipper where he loaded this, and I know the driver determines load placement there, so the fault is all on him for not centering the load.
Well, I'm glad to say I made it safely through the storm, and got as far as Little America in WY where I'm currently sitting out my 34. As planned I'll get up early Mon and finish the 2-3 hrs to the receiver. Yes I could have waited out the storm, but this gave me my best option for success going forward towards my own home time. I never reached the point of feeling unsafe but I certainly felt the off-balance of that load and adjusted my driving accordingly.
So a nice easy weekend run turned into a PITA. That's what I get for my good deed. Not that I'm really complaining. I'd do it again tomorrow if my dispatcher asked me to. He takes good care of me for stuff like this.
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.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Dispatcher:
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.CAT Scale:
A network of over 1,500 certified truck scales across the U.S. and Canada found primarily at truck stops. CAT scales are by far the most trustworthy scales out there.
In fact, CAT Scale offers an unconditional Guarantee:
“If you get an overweight fine from the state after our scale showed your legal, we will immediately check our scale. If our scale is wrong, we will reimburse you for the fine. If our scale is correct, a representative of CAT Scale Company will appear in court with the driver as a witness”
And dont forget the bath tubs...and of course a hotel lol .
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Ring....ring
Hello?
Hey Rich, I got a driver that needs to get home in NY by the 7th, and your load to MI will get him close. His load was going to SLC, and I'm not sure I can get him back in time. Can you swap loads with him? It'll turn your 1800 mile run into 1600 miles but I'll throw some extra $ in to make up the difference.
Sure pal, no problem. Whatever you need.
*************
Good deed, right? Well, first you gotta understand that I beat feet outta Utah just yesterday to get ahead of that storm going through WY. Now with this repower I had to turn around and drive straight back into the storm, while also trying to squeeze in a needed reset to ensure my own hours will be there to make it to my own upcoming hometime in FL.
Met up with the other driver in NE, and went through the unpleasant process of untarping/retarping and unsecuring/resecuring our respective loads. This took some time of course, but hey this a rare event so no biggie.
I spent the night right there and got up at 0200 to head off into the storm, intending to make it as far as possible before the weather shut me down, then staying wherever that may be for 34hrs to get that reset I need. I'd finish the trip early Mon and still make delivery on time.
I wasn't long into the trip before noticing the load just didn't feel right behind me. It felt real heavy to the rear, and I began to suspect the balance was off, so I hit the next cat scale. My drives were at 25k and my tandems were at 37k!! Of course this is legal on a spread axle, but still not how I'd like it. This guy loaded the trailer completely off-balanced, and now here I am having to run it through a snowstorm.
I've been to the shipper where he loaded this, and I know the driver determines load placement there, so the fault is all on him for not centering the load.
Well, I'm glad to say I made it safely through the storm, and got as far as Little America in WY where I'm currently sitting out my 34. As planned I'll get up early Mon and finish the 2-3 hrs to the receiver. Yes I could have waited out the storm, but this gave me my best option for success going forward towards my own home time. I never reached the point of feeling unsafe but I certainly felt the off-balance of that load and adjusted my driving accordingly.
So a nice easy weekend run turned into a PITA. That's what I get for my good deed. Not that I'm really complaining. I'd do it again tomorrow if my dispatcher asked me to. He takes good care of me for stuff like this.
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.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Dispatcher:
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.CAT Scale:
A network of over 1,500 certified truck scales across the U.S. and Canada found primarily at truck stops. CAT scales are by far the most trustworthy scales out there.
In fact, CAT Scale offers an unconditional Guarantee:
“If you get an overweight fine from the state after our scale showed your legal, we will immediately check our scale. If our scale is wrong, we will reimburse you for the fine. If our scale is correct, a representative of CAT Scale Company will appear in court with the driver as a witness”