Downstream Affect Of Laziness And/or Ambivalence

A very productive post. Just this morning two trailers I have pulled both had one. The top picture is on an older trailer and sits just about the mirror but the one on bottom is pretty much plain view.

Curious though how responsive is the system or rather when does it activate. The trailer I just got done pulling had a tire that was looking alittle low but ended up being okay.

Aubrey you are asking good questions...

I am a Swift driver on a Walmart Dedicated Grocery account, 6 years in March of 2019. This relationship is an official contract with the 7030 Grocery DC that has a NorthEast regional territory (Pa west to Harrisburg, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware and southern New York). We pull Walmart dry vans and reefers (on occasion rentals) using Swift tractors.

- Any issue with a Walmart trailer must be reported to their shop located at the 7030 DC. This process may differ for other Walmart Dedicated accounts, the one noted is specific to us. Every driver assigned to the account or running surge knows this.

- Store personnel is not reponsible for trailers. However it’s best to inform a supervisor or manager because the issue can possibly disrupt their operation. With few exceptions, they do not initiate any service for a trailer.

- I believe the word dispatch was used to describe the process of releasing a load to an assigned driver. At the 7030 account, dispatching is handled by Swift personnel located at the DC, which is coordinated with Walmart transportation operations. In this case I informed my Swift Driver Leader of the problem and the delay it may cause. I backed it up with a free form Qualcomm message that also confirmed contacting the Walmart shop. The QC message documented the issue and status when I departed the store.

Hope this helps clarify things for you.

Yes, thank you. Makes sense after hearing it and getting the breakdown of who's trailer it is, coordinating the load, etc.

Don't have photos yet. Our company just purchased a bunch of new trailers, many with the Meritor inflation system. The lamp is mounted inboard of the rigid aluminum corner post, and on a sleeper cab with fairing, is not visible in the west coast mirror. At night, there's enough light coming from the lamp to let you know of a low-pressure condition, during the day you do not see it.

While the Meritor is a great tool, it is not foolproof, and like any system, can fail to operate properly. Inter trip inspections are still a great idea.

Thanks G-Tow and Susan for the teaching moment. Very good to know. I had this system on any of our trailers when I drove before. I wish I had once. I had just gotten a full tanker of crude oil out of San Jose, Ca. I checked all my tires as usual before leaving. I got the end of the driveway of the oil plant and my rear drive picked up a bolt. Didn't even feel anything. As I usually do is to check after 25 miles after leaving any place I'm driving from. So I pull over and on my passenger rear drive in plain view was a shinny bolt. Two and a half hours later I have a new drive tire and on my way. So I feel it was my fault for not looking closely at the driveway to see the debris that was there. So lesson learned.

G-Town, There is nothing like a good teaching lesson from someone who has valuable information to pass on to anyone driving. I have never had a trailer equipped with this system but would want it for all the reasons it is designed to do. I'm sure a new light should rattle someone's brain cells to inquire what it is so they can remember it's purpose. When I was running refrigerated trailers I couldn't wait to have a light bar installed on left corner of trailer to indicate how the "reefer" was performing and what mode it was in. I placed it next to the temp gauge so I could monitor it while driving. I even went with different color lights so I could tell when it was in normal-clear, cooling-blue, heating-red and defrost-amber. Then I appreciated the amber running light for ABS brake system. Bottom line each system that helps with daily safe operation should be a plus in anyone's book. You did a great job!