Old guy new to trucking

The Good, The Bad, The Beautiful, The Ugly, and Big News

Things took an interesting turn this week. A quick recap of my short time driving since completing training: week one, stretching into week two, turned into an eight day stretch with the weekend stuck doing a 34 hour reset in SC. I took that in stride just figuring that happens with the ebb and flow of freight. The rest of week two started with a scheduled delivery in Columbia, SC and then a 4+ hour wait for a live load in Gaffney, SC, terminal drop in Richmond and then had my truck in the shop for 2 ½ days with not a single thing fixed, then a quick run to NC and a backload to deliver Saturday morning. Not great. I asked my driver manager about weekend layover and minimum pay for the week with no immediate reply. Hmmm…

So now week three: I was assured of being home Friday if I posted availability to go out Sunday, which I did. Nothing Sunday. Monday morning load assigned, available for immediate pickup. I arrived to find that it would not in fact be ready for 10-12 hours. I notified dispatch and was told that customer service would contact the customer (I don’t know what for). Apparently it was not until over two hours later that what I reported was confirmed AND THEN dispatch started looking for a load. Got one and picked up in South Hill and delivered in High Point, so only 220 miles for the day. No dispatch until next morning for a load to not pick up until 1500. I asked to wait for something better and was told I had to take it. I asked for customer service to inquire about earlier pickup but never get an answer. It was only when I got there and asked that I found out the shipper would have loved to ship early as it would have eased his afternoon but he never got a call. When I let my driver manager know I was told that she had contacted customer service but did not know beyond that and that I needed to not be so frustrated when things didn’t work out my way. This excellent management advice did not, of course, add to my frustration. Yeah, right.

I drove until I ran out of clock and took my ten hour in a rest area. I started next morning on the dot of first legal minute. Fog slowed things down and there was heavy traffic around Augusta even at 0630. I hear they had some golf thing going on 😉.

Now for the one really great part of the week and the kind of thing I knew I would love about this new life I have chosen. An absolutely beautiful moonset just one day shy of full moon. Then the drive down US 1 toward Macon was gorgeous. Fog in the low spots and ravines and miles of pecan orchards, which I had never seen before. 

I arrived at the consignee with only twenty minutes to spare. I asked out of curiosity if the load could have delivered the day before to find that it could have been, but late deliveries were always pushed to the next day (confirmed by a driver who told me he was less than five minutes late the day before and got pushed). 

Then on to a pickup near Atlanta with the joy of what is reportedly among the worst traffic in the whole country. I used to be there a lot twenty years ago so I wasn’t surprised how much worse it has gotten. So just 500 miles in two days when I could have done all but the last pickup in one if customer service could have bothered to make a few calls.

As my frustration had mounted during the week I contacted the carrier that was my first choice when I finished CDL school. The reason I did not go with them to begin with is that they lost two trainers and had a several month wait as a result. The recruiter was happy to hear from me and promised to see if my training at my current job would pass muster with their requirements.

So on to the end of the tale. I overnighted just north of Atlanta and rolled early for a nearly seven hour pull up I 85, then I 40 across to I 95 and north to near the VA line. Before I even finished the drop I had a load tendered going to Jax. I knew that not only could I not make it home Friday, there was a fair likelihood that I would get struck over the weekend again due to lack of northbound freight, just like the last time. Home time on weekends is a priority to me as it is to most drivers. Some weekends I might have gone with the plan, BUT, in the meantime I was told that, yes, I was credited layover pay for the weekend from the last Florida trip, but since I was receiving the minimum guarantee for that week it would be deducted. I tutored statistics in college so I’m pretty good at math, but I can’t get those numbers to jive! Oh, and no detention pay for the 4+ hour wait for that other load, reason unclear.

So with some steam already coming out of my ears I declined the Jax trip and waited for the call I knew was coming. It came, not from my driver manager but her boss, wanting an explanation. In the interim there was what might be divine intervention. I got confirmation from the other carrier that, yes, they would love for me to come on board. A call with the recruiter and head driver manager confirmed everything, including the routes and lanes that I am looking for and the commitment to home time that this company is known for.

The call with my current fleet manager was not so swell. I explained that I had made it clear to my driver manager that I have a regular commitment on Sunday mornings (I play in the ensemble at my church and, especially this Sunday, we will be making a joyful noise!) and that I am ok with being out until Saturday, but not Sunday. He said that was understood but there were no guarantees of that and they have a business to run. I told him that I understood that we were not going to have a meeting of the minds, that when people’s actions and words don’t match up I know I am in the wrong place and that I would have his truck back in Richmond within the hour.

I’m not happy with the way this ended but absolutely jazzed to be going to work where I am. I have purposely left the name of my employer out of my stories. I may be sharing that soon.

How’s that for a whirlwind week? So I’m off next week and starting my new gig 4/19. I’ll keep you posted!