The Adventures Of Daniel B.
Topic 1881 | Page 26
Current Load: Cabazona, CA to Salt Lake City, UT. 700 Miles. Pays: 311$
Total Weight - 76K. Product - Bottled Water
OS, I don't leave a mess in the shower from dishes. And I don't take my plates in there when they are covered in leftovers. No, after I eat I clean the dish with a 1gallon jug of water that I have then wipe it down with a paper towel. This gets the dish somewhat clean, and then it gets sparkled using hot water under a sink.
Wine Taster, if you can catch me first!
Anyways, now that I've gotten those two out of the way I can begin.
This is the first load in like 3 loads that is under 1000 miles. This load will also take me to the terminal in SLC for some minor repairs. I mainly just need to get my drivers side windshield replaced, it has grown a 7" crack.
Anyways, as I was saying in my last post. I picked up the load with hardly any time left on my 70 hour clock. I had to basically take the entire day off.
I arrived at shipper 6 hours before my appointment time and as always they wouldn't take me earlier. So I sat in there truck parking area the entire day.
I checked in an hour before my appointment time and was told that they'll give me a call when they have a door for me. I get that call 15 minutes after my appointment time. This place is one of those annoying facilities that require you wear a safety vest in order to get serviced.
I back up to my door with ease, its CA after all. Open my trailer doors, slide my tandems , and chock my tire. They take exactly two hours to load me and they give me paperwork.
This load isn't too heavy and is short pallets of bottled water.
After driving the next day I parked at St. George, UT. Across from the Walmart there. Everyone goes to the Pilot and hardly anyone knows that the walmart has truck parking. Plus its much more quiet and gives me a better sleep.
I wake up at 0330 and start driving at 0400. Again, nothing special. I get to my delivery 45 minutes before the appointment time.
As soon as I'm done with my delivery I will go to the terminal and get a truck wash and drop my trailer. Then I'll get my repairs going. I'm planning on seeing my DM and just having a short conversation with me. Nothing really to talk to him about but I just don't want to go there and be a stranger to him. If I'm there I might as well say hello and ask him hows he's doing.
Back in the day, he was a trucker too. So he talks a lot if given the chance. We usually have no problems starting a good conversation.
After my repairs are done I'm going to bobtail to Smiths Food & Drug store and get some groceries. I could have gotten some yesterday when I parked across the street from the Walmart in St. George, UT but I decided to wait a day and give my money to a better company and much better store than Walmart. Plus there's a Little Caesars Pizza across the street from the Smiths Food & Drug Store and I'm definitely planning on treating myself to a deep deep dish pizza.
Yesterday I drove 360 miles and today I drove 300 miles. The rest of today I will rest!
Bobtail:
"Bobtailing" means you are driving a tractor without a trailer attached.
Shipper:
The customer who is shipping the freight. This is where the driver will pick up a load and then deliver it to the receiver or consignee.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
I decided to wait a day and give my money to a better company and much better store than Walmart.
Hey, why do you want to badmouth Walmart
. . .that's the only other career path besides trucking open to us old farts . . . if the trucking gig doesn't work out I'm headed to Walmart to be a an official "Greeter" . . . I've heard it's not quite as demanding as driving truck . . . Close but no cigar . . .
Jopa
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.
I decided to wait a day and give my money to a better company and much better store than Walmart.
Hey, why do you want to badmouth Walmart
. . .that's the only other career path besides trucking open to us old farts . . . if the trucking gig doesn't work out I'm headed to Walmart to be a an official "Greeter" . . . I've heard it's not quite as demanding as driving truck . . . Close but no cigar . . .
Jopa
Try delivering to a Walmart D/C. They're a giant pain in the ass and always make everything a hassle. I have so many horror stories from my walmart visits.
Trust me, you'll grow to hate Walmart if you go there a lot like me. I grin whenever I get a walmart delivery.
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.
Are your Walmart loads drop/hook?
Are your Walmart loads drop/hook?
I've delivered to Walmart more times than I can count. I've never had a drop and hook at a Walmart.
Drop And Hook:
Drop and hook means the driver will drop one trailer and hook to another one.
In order to speed up the pickup and delivery process a driver may be instructed to drop their empty trailer and hook to one that is already loaded, or drop their loaded trailer and hook to one that is already empty. That way the driver will not have to wait for a trailer to be loaded or unloaded.
I was just curious. Crete Carrier is always drop/hook at Walmart. So it is usually in and out in no time, stress free. They have some dedicated accounts with Walmart as well. I know they have a terminal on the North Platte, NE Walmart property.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
All of my experience with Wally World's D/C's have been drop and hooks. Usually a 48 hour drop window, quick sticker on the BOL for delivery proof, and plenty of empties to choose from.
Drop And Hook:
Drop and hook means the driver will drop one trailer and hook to another one.
In order to speed up the pickup and delivery process a driver may be instructed to drop their empty trailer and hook to one that is already loaded, or drop their loaded trailer and hook to one that is already empty. That way the driver will not have to wait for a trailer to be loaded or unloaded.
OOS:
When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.
We used to deliver at Walmart for US Xpress. They were also drop-n-hooks with plenty of empties but we were also treated to a catered dinner, free movies in their employee movie theater, and a $50 gift certificate for shopping in their stores.
Man Daniel...you really got on their bad side! They treat everyone else like gold!
Ok, most of what I said was a lie. I admit. But the truth is back in the day, before you were a driver Daniel, Walmart was a dream for drivers because Sam Walton really made sure that truck drivers were shown the utmost respect. The people who run Walmart nowadays....not so much with the "loving truck drivers" thing! The Walmart experience really went downhill for outside carriers at their distribution centers and the "no truck parking" signs went up at a lot of stores across the country after Sam passed on. Obviously if you're doing drop-n-hooks it's a dream. But live unloads at the distribution center isn't a great experience.
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.
Daniel,
Maybe you should join the flatbed drivers for some real work. I am sure Old School would be willing to teach you!
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Hey Old School,
You will catch Daniel one day. I will be on the road soon. If I seem him, I will handcuff him to a pole or something for you. Anyway, I just finished securement training. I got to make my tarps look pretty so you don't yell at me for being sloppy.