Rookie Truck Drivers, What Would YOU Do? #2

Daniel B. here for another installment of 'Rookies, what would YOU do?". Same rules - experienced drivers please don't give your answer/opinion until we give the rookies and soon-to-be drivers a chance to give an answer. I ask that Ken C., PJ, and David please don't jump in until the end please.

You have a delivery to a Walmart Distribution Center, you're delivering yogurt - required temp: 34-37 degrees. There was too much time on the load so you arrived at a truck stop 30 miles from the delivery and you spent the night over there. Your appointment time is at 1300. So you wake up on this summer day, have a nice breakfast and basically do nothing for the entire morning. This particular Walmart never accepts a driver early so your plan is to get there 30 minutes before the appointment time to conserve your 14 hour clock. You also are preplanned on a load that you'll be picking up right after this delivery and its a 900 mile load that is on a tight schedule so you really need to watch your clocks.

It is 1200 and its time to go! You get out of the truck to do a quick pre-trip inspection. You notice that the reefer temperature is reading at 42 degrees.

You open the engine compartment of the reefer unit and can't find anything that can be wrong. Luckily, you're parked at a truck stop that has a repair shop. You quickly run to the Shop Foreman and tell him what's going on and ask him to please take a look at it.

15 minutes later he comes back with his answer. "Your Water Pump is broken, that's why the reefer can't hold the temperature. It needs to be replaced and it'll take about 2 hours." says the Shop Foreman.

So the question is, what would YOU do? You can still make the delivery appointment on time, or would you opt to get it repaired then deliver this load late?

Trucking isn't an easy career. We have to make difficult choices on the road constantly. As we learned from my previous post, sometimes you just have to pick a poison and get creative. We all encourage you folks to get your practice here on real world decisions every trucker has to make from time to time. I had to make this exact decision when I was training Ken, it wasn't easy.

So I say again, rookies, what would YOU do if you were the driver in this situation. Please give your opinion and the reason for it. Remember, there is no wrong answer. I do this to get you ahead of your competition and to help you out, not to tell you that your opinion is wrong. So you have nothing to fear and everything to gain. Come and give your opinion and we'll discuss it! Lurkers, make an account and talk with us. We would love to hear from you!

I think I would probably make the delivery.my only reason I really have is because if they do by some chance have a water pump in stock by the time they get it changed the temp.inside the trailer could be alot higher than what it is suppose to be which could destroy the load..

Well you have to call and change your delivery time.Best case, earlier,there must be exceptions,for real life. Not a perfect world. Emergency, you save the product deliver a bit late but intact? After it is fixed?

Some great points being made here folks. Keep it coming! There's a lot of factors here, read between the lines.

Still very wet behind my ears. Don't know if there is a water pump in the reefer. If not, I would call the DM to find out if they could find another driver nearby to come to the rescue and/or advise.

Calling dispatch was my first thought. They almost always have more information available to them on what is and isn't acceptable when making deliveries. It might be that, at 42 degrees, the temp has already gone past what's acceptable for WalMart. I think opting to get the reefer fixed before delivering the load would make a bad situation worse, given the short distance to the store and how close it is to the scheduled delivery. If 42 degrees is still within WM's guidelines, I'd get the load delivered ASAP and then go get the reefer fixed.

It's now 12:15. Ask the foreman if you can schedule an appointment for right after your deliver at WalMart because you're going to roll, get that yogurt delivered before it gets any warmer and come right back. If you sit there for 2 more hours while he fixes it first, the yogurt is going to get warmer as the summer day gets longer. Chances are, if the refer is packed with cold stuff, it'll hold its temperature long enough to get it delivered and into the WalMart store refrigerators. Call your DM on the way to WalMart, let him know what's going on and that you're handling it as best you can on your end. What does he want you to do after the WalMart delivery? Is there another refer nearby that you can trade with so you can move out and get that load soon after this delivery? Also, watch your clock and log every non-driving minute. Keep yourself awake and alive 'cause if you still get that 900-mile load, you're going to be bookin'.

-mountain girl

Problem is if you get it repaired there, the reefer unit will be shut down so they can work on it, thus the temperature will rise.... bad joo joo for the load, so I'd say crank the temp down a bit and make your delevery.

*reefer

-mountain girl

First i would call my DM to let him know ofbthe sitiluation and let him know that i plan on going to the deliver the product and come back to the truck stop to repair the water pump. I would ask him /her if there is any way i cancel tue preplan since i am obviously not gonna make it on time. If a mechanic say two hours i usually multiply that by at least two.