Vent & Brag For The Week

Tell us about this weeks trials and tribulations... and accomplishments!

Vent: I was really upset by the weather and accidents this week. i was mentally exhausted.

I didnt swing wide enough (long story) almost took out a yellow safety pole (but didnt hit it) and spilled diesel all over the fuel lane at Pilot. it sucked.

Brag: I was #1 in fuel savings on my fleet board and #116 in the reefer division of all of Prime (pretty good considering we have thousands).

I got some extra time off after killing my 70

I had a guy ask me yesterday while securing my load if I make 2000 dollars a week. I said not really. He said you can with my company. I was in disbelief. Then I though I bet this guy is lease purchase so I asked him if he was. He said yes. Bravo buddy. You barely make more than me and you are responsible for everything. Great job buddy

I had a bad fuel mileage/idling week, I dropped from being my usual 150 something in the company all the way down to like 1200.

I have different dispatchers for different geographic locations and awhile back we lost one due to health reasons. She is sorely missed, due to her attitude and abilities in the position she held. And the fact that she was replaced by two people for her one position speaks volumes. But they are still new and rough around the edges so in their locations I get some extra sitting time or get a load that can't be made here and there.

My "home location" dispatcher has upper her game lol she will send me loads to pick up from ten hours and fifty minutes drive time away. Knowing I'll make it happen. I like those days now and again.

What's this fuel mileage thing you guys speak of? Is that when I run/idle the truck from the time I get loaded to the time I get empty. In transit heat.🙄😬

Me and my co driver finally got together once we both got back to our Riverside, Cal. Terminal

DM got us into a rental car headed to Phoenix to grab our assigned tractor here at Gardners terminal ( CRST bought them)

Supposedly our truck was ready to go.....NOT !! A mechanic was piecing the front bumper together to put it back on...Inside the cab was total crap nightmare of trash etc. (They dont/wint clean em out)

I called our DM told him we don't want this truck.....Ok so he gives me new truck there to check out...Nicer a 2018 white truck with 350k on odometer.....I check it out its ok only needs new driver seat this 1s torn to padding etc....mattresses can be replaced.

We spent all day got no service were totally ignored....Finally I tell a guy in the shop " we are taking that tractor Now we gotta get rolling so write number down and tell your boss.....Just then boss comes along replies ok take it .....

He had some smartass snicker in his reply...Truck has NO fuel so right to a Loves I go....$460 of fuel then next door to Blue Beacon for good cleaning.....2 hours in line waiting for the wash all good away we go to return rental so hopefully we get a load before our DM leaves for the weekend....

NO such luck !! I get stuck at a light, lose track of rental car, so I make my turn finally on green when all of a sudden.....The yelliw engine light comes on then 2nd yellow "check" engine light and its in limp mode no throttle response...I coast out of traffic just barely able to roll into dirt lot....3 plus hours calling for tow etc trucks towed back to where we got it from....Total miles driven since we took it until it broke=9 whole friggin miles hahaha

So here we are a 3rd night in a hotel not turning miles....And I have to wait to get reimbursed for what I have spent so far....They got the fuel n wash and hotel/rental car up to now covered.....

This too shall change soon enough,,,, just another hiccup in trucking world. lol Sorry long post lol I like to give mental images sometimes

Me and my co driver finally got together once we both got back to our Riverside, Cal. Terminal

DM got us into a rental car headed to Phoenix to grab our assigned tractor here at Gardners terminal ( CRST bought them)

Supposedly our truck was ready to go.....NOT !! A mechanic was piecing the front bumper together to put it back on...Inside the cab was total crap nightmare of trash etc. (They dont/wint clean em out)

I called our DM told him we don't want this truck.....Ok so he gives me new truck there to check out...Nicer a 2018 white truck with 350k on odometer.....I check it out its ok only needs new driver seat this 1s torn to padding etc....mattresses can be replaced.

We spent all day got no service were totally ignored....Finally I tell a guy in the shop " we are taking that tractor Now we gotta get rolling so write number down and tell your boss.....Just then boss comes along replies ok take it .....

He had some smartass snicker in his reply...Truck has NO fuel so right to a Loves I go....$460 of fuel then next door to Blue Beacon for good cleaning.....2 hours in line waiting for the wash all good away we go to return rental so hopefully we get a load before our DM leaves for the weekend....

NO such luck !! I get stuck at a light, lose track of rental car, so I make my turn finally on green when all of a sudden.....The yelliw engine light comes on then 2nd yellow "check" engine light and its in limp mode no throttle response...I coast out of traffic just barely able to roll into dirt lot....3 plus hours calling for tow etc trucks towed back to where we got it from....Total miles driven since we took it until it broke=9 whole friggin miles hahaha

So here we are a 3rd night in a hotel not turning miles....And I have to wait to get reimbursed for what I have spent so far....They got the fuel n wash and hotel/rental car up to now covered.....

This too shall change soon enough,,,, just another hiccup in trucking world. lol Sorry long post lol I like to give mental images sometimes

😆 I don't mean to laugh at you... But I had a similar experience years ago. You'll get through it.

I picked up my first truck at Riverside. And my first load was out of LA. That... Was a rough day.

Yup cwc ...this too shall pass lol. Doesn't bother me, my co driver friend has less patience ,,, was getting on my nerves wanting things rushed or his way lol...

Told him to relax man !! Soon you will be wanting a break !!

This is a weird one, but hit my first deer this week, and handled the situation properly by ignoring my first instinct to swerve and instead just kept straight on. It’s actually a serious problem here due to our location, times of day we run, and routes we travel, especially this time of year. The company plans for every driver to get at least two a year, and they train to not swerve. Wasn’t sure I could go against my first reaction, and was pretty happy the training kicked in.

Not trucking related. Mom had her biopsy surgery and we will know in 10 days if she has cancer or not. I brought her home from UPMC medical yesterday and got her all set up. Been cooking hot meals , made bannana oatbran muffins for breakfasts, took care of the snow shoveling and deicing around the house and ran errands.

I leave this Thursdsy back to Oregon and will then find out when my next test date is......

This is a weird one, but hit my first deer this week, and handled the situation properly by ignoring my first instinct to swerve and instead just kept straight on. It’s actually a serious problem here due to our location, times of day we run, and routes we travel, especially this time of year. The company plans for every driver to get at least two a year, and they train to not swerve. Wasn’t sure I could go against my first reaction, and was pretty happy the training kicked in.

Same here, I have wondered since I started trucking how I would react when the time comes, but to my surprise the training took over and I did what I was supposed to do. Although everything in my body said to swerve when I seen the deer but at the same time all within seconds, I remembered the training and stuck to my lane, and the rest is history.

Oddly enough when I reported it, they gave me an accident number and said to send pictures in when the sun came up, which I did and I haven't heard anything else about it. I figured there would be a follow up call or something.