Long Waits And Update

So yesterday spent the day driving I actually only once reflecting on the accident negatively. I have been improving so much and have gone the whole day driving have my usual snacks and coffee and energy drink perfectly fine. I parked about 20min away from the drop location and I only had 6 minutes of drive time left! My closet to running out, how close you guys ever got? Then today spent 4hrs at the location which was really long for what I am use too. I usually go get a dock quickly drop the trailer let them unload and reload and have the yard dogs move it to the pickup location which after I drop it I don't wait I just go to the pickup yard and get my load then leave after weighing it of course. So my questions for you all, what's the closest you have been to running out of drive time? How long have you waited at your current jobs locations and your longest wait in general? Thank you all for your support and sorry about if this comes out choppy trying to get my food and review the paperwork on this load while typing this.

Chris, so happy to see you getting back into the swing of things. I thought you would do it and you did!

I have run my clock down to 5 minutes and 4 minutes on two separate occasions. I have also had to stop just before I was out of time and switch to PC to make it to my planned stop, several times. According to recent discussions here on TT, I may or may not have been in compliance, but I didn’t get chastised by my safety dept.

The longest I’ve had to wait at a customer has been 18 hours. In other words, I got there on time for my appointment but departed 18 hours later. Very unusual for me, but things like that happen.

Great to hear from you, Chris! Glad it is working out for you very well, that's awesome.

Closest to time for me was around 7.5 minutes to go. Wait times just haven't been bad, yet. Only around 2 hours or so a couple of times, but I'm sure that'll change because I'm so new.

Chris,

Glad to hear that you are back in the saddle again.

As far as running down my clock, I regularly go below 30 minutes and often go as low as 2 or 3 minutes.

As far as waiting at a receiver, recently I had to wait 30 hours.

Glad to see you back!

I routinely roll down to 30-ish minutes. The last load I hauled, I pulled into our inbound lanes with one minute to spare. I wasn't about to delay my departure to Montana another ten hours, with my mom in the ICU after a stroke.

Do I like going into the sub 5 minute remaining clock area? Nah, but sometimes it's just how the day shakes out.

As for waiting, well, the Christmas load got 49 hours shut down due to weather (super light, super windy after the blizzard) then 36 hours waiting half a mile from the reciever waiting for them to get their 💩 in a group to reschedule. They finally had me do the second drop first, and we're going to figure out the first one. Then I get a call as I'm pulling into the driveway that the first stop was ready. Meat loads I am usually mentally prepared for a 34 at the shipper , that way I'm pleasantly surprised when it only takes ten hours. If that meat load is ready when I get there, I grab my behind, because SOMETHING is going to be wrong with the trailer!

Good update sir!! awesome news. Take it a day at a time..

Wait times vary widely. Reefers tend to be the worst. Generally 2-6 hours. Last week I sat in a door 10 hours to get loaded. No way to ever judge it.

I’m getting ready within the next couple weeks to go back to my flatbed. Again customer dependant, however generally alot less wait time.

Stay safe!!

When I read your post about your accident, my heart hurt for you, just out of human compassion. I didn't post anything in response because I couldn't think of something to type that wouldn't sound too shallow for what you were experiencing.

One driver to another, I am glad that you made out to the other side with your head high. Keep doing what you are doing and trusting those who care about you most.

When I ran Walmart Dedicated I once made it to the gate with less than one minute left. As soon as my ELD said I was at my destination (the DC), I put myself in yard move with only seconds to spare. I dropped the empty, parked, and did my post trip. There were quite a few times when I returned from my second load with less than 5 minutes left on the driveline.

I ran so late one day that I parked at the Pilot in Rochelle, IL. I called dispatch before I went on duty and was told to "come on back." Well, that was bad advice. I was on the clock and ended up waiting 4 hours for a load from the DC. More than 25% of the DC workers had called in sick. It was a Sunday after all and a lot of the reefer loaders were not at work.

The Walmart in Davenport Iowa was famous for being slow. I arrived with two hours left on my 14. I just needed them to take off the last 4 pallets so I could get back to the DC which was 45 minutes away. I didn't make it. They were so slow that I had to creep mode from the dock to the parking lot since my 14 was out.

I went to an Americold facility to pick up a live load. Appointment time was 1800. I arrived at 1715. Expected load time was 45 minutes. I was there for 6 hours. I had to use creep mode off the dock to go park for my 10.

thank you so much

When I read your post about your accident, my heart hurt for you, just out of human compassion. I didn't post anything in response because I couldn't think of something to type that wouldn't sound too shallow for what you were experiencing.

One driver to another, I am glad that you made out to the other side with your head high. Keep doing what you are doing and trusting those who care about you most.