Off To Shaffer I Go...

Happy to hear your mother is recuperating.

Yep. Trial by fire. The worst of circumstances give you the opportunity to become a better driver. There is no better teacher than experience. I still recall my first adventures into NYC.

How about some specifics with Shaffer? How's the equipment? Does your trainer have a ProStar or Cascadia? What kind of places are you going to? I know they're a reefer outfit, just curious what kind of loads - I heard they do a lot of candy and ice cream. Many Wal-Marts? Produce loads from CA?

Trainer truck is a '13 Prostar but Cascadias are in the fleet as well. I had heard they were only buying Cascadias from now on and phasing out the Prostars due to maintenance issues but I saw a few brand new Prostars the other day so I'm not sure. My trainer doesn't want to deal with DEF so he hopes to keep driving a Prostar. I'd say this truck has about another year of service before they sell it off. Crete/Shaffer sells the Prostars around 450K and Cascadias around 500K with the oldest trucks being about 3 1/2 years old. I personally am hoping to get a Cascadia but will likely start off in a Prostar.

As far as loads, yes Shaffer does a lot of candy from Nestle and Hershey and a good bit of ice cream. But, I've been to Cali twice on cross-country runs and the first was a load of Aleve (very light) and the second was Tyson chicken. We pulled grapes and other produce out of Cali and wine out of Washington state. Both Crete and Shaffer do a lot of Walmart DCs all over the country. Most likely will pickup a load at some cold storage facility around Indy tomorrow that hopefully goes by Lenoir so I can get some home time.

Both Crete and Shaffer do a lot of Walmart DCs all over the country.

Are the Shaffer loads to Walmart DC's drop & hook. I know Crete's are and that can make a huge difference. How many of your reefer loads in general are drop & hook versus live load/unload?

Are the Shaffer loads to Walmart DC's drop & hook. I know Crete's are and that can make a huge difference. How many of your reefer loads in general are drop & hook versus live load/unload?

So far I have never had a Shaffer load to a WalMart DC that was drop & hook. Every last one has been live unload as all were deliveries. Most are fairly quick (less than 2 hours from time of checkin to driving back out the gate) but there are a few that were 4+ hours and one in CA that refused the entire load after a 4 hour wait. WalMart claims to have the best inventory management system in the world. That day I found out that they manage it by refusing loads that they ordered before realizing they were overstocked on Tyson chicken. We had to sit on the load for an extra 48 hours and jump through multiple flaming hoops before Tyson found another distributor to take it.

Oh I forgot to mention that I FINALLY got back home after 5 weeks and when I go back I will be getting a new trainer. Hopefully, the new trainer communicates much better and is not a good candidate for a straight jacket like my last trainer was. The last few days in that truck were an experience I hope to never repeat. In truth, I should've followed the advice I was getting from friends and family and sought a new trainer 3 weeks sooner. I fooled myself into thinking that it would get better but a few things happened that convinced me that it was not an option to continue training with the same trainer. I have 15+ years in the hotel industry and at least that many more years dealing with all kinds of people in various jobs outside the hotel industry and I can honestly say there were a few things going on I've never seen combined in one individual and a few I've never seen outside a clinical setting (worked in EMS doing transport for awhile). Just glad that the time on that truck is over and looking forward to the new trainer.

Wow! What a night and day difference between trainers! Since I have a good understanding of the reefer unit operation, they were able to put me with a Crete trainer for my last 3 weeks. The new trainer has probably taught me more in 5 days than the last one did in 5 weeks.

The secret to backing,is to know when to straighten your wheels,2 turns from lock,and pivot trailer. Master this and backs become much easier.

The secret to backing,is to know when to straighten your wheels,2 turns from lock,and pivot trailer. Master this and backs become much easier.

Well it helps a lot when you also don't have someone giving you directions that are flat out wrong as my first trainer was apt to do. I did 4 angled alley dock backs today and got all 4. One was troublesome but I got it in after two extra pull ups. I did finally have a kingpin jump the fifth wheel and that took a little undoing but the trailer was empty so it could've been much worse.

So my incident with the jumped kingpin has been reviewed by the Safety and Training departments and a ruling issued. The right side cab extender required a quick repair at a shop. The only damage was the lower fiberglass screw mounts and the cab extender itself was undamaged. The shop put three nuts and bolts through it and it is now stronger than before. But, because there was damage, there had to be disciplinary action. I have been charged one safety point and must remain in training one extra week. My trainer went to bat for me with Training and it all works out for the better in the end. He has to be in California for a family event and after that they will begin routing us toward whatever terminal that I will do my upgrade at and then I will finally be solo in my own truck and routed for home time. It's about to get REALLY real....

Are you going to Lincoln for orientation after training?