Gotta Love Waiting At Shippers!

The person responsible for detention pay at WMDC 7030 is Helen Wate. Supposedly a nice lady, but no one has ever seen her...

We’ve been instructed if we want detention pay; go to Helen Wate.

That was good G-Town!

We’ve been instructed if we want detention pay; go to Helen Wate

That was awesome!

The freight has to be moved. If more Carriers would enforce their detention policy, eventually those shippers would have NO ONE to move their freight

You severely underestimate the supply of trucks and the competition in this industry. There are over 1.1 million trucking companies in the nation when you consider independent owner operators as their own company, which they are. There will never be a situation where no one is willing to haul decent paying freight. If one company doesn't want it, a thousand others will gladly take it.

The person responsible for detention pay at WMDC 7030 is Helen Wate. Supposedly a nice lady, but no one has ever seen her...

We’ve been instructed if we want detention pay; go to Helen Wate.

Thank you for that!

The person responsible for detention pay at WMDC 7030 is Helen Wate. Supposedly a nice lady, but no one has ever seen her...

We’ve been instructed if we want detention pay; go to Helen Wate.

That was great, G-Town! I’m going to put that one away to use at a later date.

So....I ended up finally leaving at 140pm. This is one of those places that process the pork as they load you. Kept seeing them back in a trailer next to me full of hogs hanging from the ceiling already slaughtered. Instead of just 7 pallets I was given 26! We had an outside carrier that we deal with frequently show up around noon to get product as well. The way these guys operate is knowing they have 2 trailers for us they'll load as much as possible on first one to ensure everything is shipped. I was a little ticked off, really didnt even notice additional pallets going in or out as they were using triple Jack's (3 pallets at a time) to load me. I'd called dispatch to confirm what the shipper was telling me was correct and was told yes, and they would separate the paperwork back at the terminal. So I guessed at tandem placement and drove the 2 miles to nearest scale we have an account with so I didnt have to deal with reimbursement. Ended up having about 500 pounds more on my tandems than my drives but said F it, it's legal and I didnt have time to spare. I left pilot in Sioux City with roughly 1:46 remaining on my 14. I had just over a 3 hour drive back to Ankeny (Des Moines) so I figured I'd use my 16 hour rule, which meant I had 3:46 to drive. I know from experience that if I took I29 south to I80 that I would deal with a ton of hills nearly the entire way back, plus I'd be getting back to the area around 5pm on a Friday which would add a ton more traffic. Also I29/80 I'd have to deal with 2 scales that are always open during the day and we dont have prepass. US 20 doesnt have any scales However theres one just north on US 71 and sometimes the DOT will randomly pull someone on US 20 over and escort them to scale half mile up the road. The thing about the 16 hour rule is I MUST make it back or it's a HOS violation. I opted to take US highway 20 east to I35 south. The speed limit was 5 mph less but I made it back with 21 minutes to spare. YIKES. Quickly did my post trip and ended my day and clocked out about 515pm. The route I chose for tomorrow is supposed to be out of the gate by 3am so i informed dispatch I'd be in as soon as my 10 is up and likely be out of the gate a little after 330am.

At OD we dont wait longer than around 1.5 hours. At that point we inform dispatch and we up and leave. It feels great

I contacted dispatch because usually we leave after an hour but we had 8 different customers product we were getting and the amount they make off it they deem is worth us waiting for it. I'm still being paid the same as if I was driving so it didnt bother me too much, although it makes me nervous wondering if I'll be home tonight or not. I asked if they wanted me to log sleeper (they pay sleeper line as well if I'm in a sleeper cab) but told me no it's usually only 3 to 4 hours. I had actually looked into OD but decided this place is a better fit for me. I still get the challenge of going to some tight places but also get to get a lot of driving on the open road while still being home nearly every day. We bid routes daily, I tend to go to Minneapolis or southern MN (Rochester, Mankato) but switched it up today because I was getting bored of the same route. When I walked into the office the VP was on his way out and called me out by last name and thanked me as most guys that do that backhaul dont make it back same day. I haven't talked to him or seen him in about 5 months since my job interview. He offered to bump my start time back even farther but if I start later I need to deal our other drivers bringing General Merch, produce, and frozen loads arriving at the stores when I'm there. We all take precedence over third party vendors (pop, beer etc.) But I still need to maneuver around them if they're parked and it just becomes more difficult.

I'm gonna be stealing that one Gtown

I also want to add that a 2nd 30 minute break was a non factor in 16 hour day. We're paid for both our DOT break and also an additional 30 minute "company break". When i was doing foodservice I got in the habit of having my 30 minutes off duty overlap my 8th hour because I never knew if I'd need to use the 16. Because I did it this way I wouldn't need to take an additional 30 minutes until 5 minutes after I'd be in violation for going over the 16. Any new drivers please ignore this 16 hour talk you will not deal with it OTR. There is strict guidelines you must follow that includes starting and stopping your day at the same location 5 consecutive days, you still may not drive over 11 hours you're just given 16 hours to do it, and you can not do it more than once every 7 days unless you get a 34 reset in. There is other criteria but that's the bulk of it. Because I didnt take my additional 30 minutes I just made a note of why I didnt. In this case I put that doing so would push me over 16 hours and they'll still pay it to me even though I sat for over 6 hours on the load. All in all it was a profitable day for me, once they pay me my break times it bumps the pay to a hair under $500. Do i want long days like this all the time?heck no, but on a 4 day workweek may as well go balls to the walls and earn what I can. However, I now know to avoid that shipper if I want to get home

The person responsible for detention pay at WMDC 7030 is Helen Wate. Supposedly a nice lady, but no one has ever seen her...

We’ve been instructed if we want detention pay; go to Helen Wate.

This is why I like being hourly. :)

But in reality, my dispatcher keeps me moving with drop and hooks, and Im fine with that. I would rather sit and drive than sit and wait, even if it does pay the same.