Who IS Busy Right Now?

The port situation in so cal is multi facited, but your right. Between the labor unions and gov’t out there they are cutting their nose off to spite their face. Gulf states and east coast ports are booming. I saw an article today the container shipping prices have come way down.

This industry has always had a roller coaster type effect, nothing new there. What is different this time is the gov’t involvement level thinking they will fix things.

The epa just approved Ca’s ban on diesel trucks of all sizes heading to zero emissions.

I’m at National Road/Cowan. It’s been real slow for us. Causing high turnover.

Worked just under 10 hours today hauled 3 loads of pulp about 20 miles away. Work is steady in Northern WI for my company. Much of our freight base is paper (scrap, pulp, etc).

Sitting here in Dodge City waiting on a load at National Beef. Really have had some long detention times this past week. Unusual for me, so I wondered if it was an indication of a slow down.

Another company driver just parked next to me in the bobtail area, so I had an opportunity to talk to him. He’s been with the company much longer than me and he said it’s like this every year about this time. He said he only got 2000 miles last week, which was about the same as I got. Normally, both of us get at least 3000.

But there is a steady stream of cattle trucks coming in and going out of here. I’ve got to get my loaded trailer and go to Georgia with it. About 1300 miles, so I will be busy for the next couple of days. After that, time will tell.

I hope you all are doing ok with your jobs.

All in all, I manged 10640 miles last month, it was actually 11690 but I dropped the last load on the 1rst.

Not great by any means but not bad considering what I had to work with and for being in the mountains and CA floods.

We seem to be picking up again, I'm back to having preplans and not working so hard to get loads.

So my usual load out of Cranbury, NJ to start my week at 02:30 Monday morning canceled this week. Instead I had to wait to pick up a load out of South Jersey at 16:30 Monday afternoon. It was a split load. I did the first leg. I met the driver of the next leg just after midnight at a Pilot near Youngstown, OH.

The next load I was given doesn't pick up until this evening at 20:00 in Cumberland, MD. That's 200 miles and nearly 40 hours between loads. I did drive most of the deadhead miles yesterday in order to get closer to my pick up location.

I should be able to deliver that load at a place north of Pittsburg by 0200 tomorrow morning. From there I'll have another 200+ mile deadhead to Hagerstown, MD for a pre planned load that picks up there at 0100 Friday morning. That's another nearly 24hrs between loads.

I dont know if this is a sign that things are slowing down for my company. It could be that the canceled load at the beginning of the week simply took me out of my normal "lane" of operations, which is mainly along the i-95 corridor between MA and VA. Anyway, I will have only done three loads this week by the time I deliver my last load Friday morning in Secaucus, NJ. We shall see what happens next week.

So my usual load out of Cranbury, NJ to start my week at 02:30 Monday morning canceled this week. Instead I had to wait to pick up a load out of South Jersey at 16:30 Monday afternoon. It was a split load. I did the first leg. I met the driver of the next leg just after midnight at a Pilot near Youngstown, OH.

The next load I was given doesn't pick up until this evening at 20:00 in Cumberland, MD. That's 200 miles and nearly 40 hours between loads. I did drive most of the deadhead miles yesterday in order to get closer to my pick up location.

I should be able to deliver that load at a place north of Pittsburg by 0200 tomorrow morning. From there I'll have another 200+ mile deadhead to Hagerstown, MD for a pre planned load that picks up there at 0100 Friday morning. That's another nearly 24hrs between loads.

I dont know if this is a sign that things are slowing down for my company. It could be that the canceled load at the beginning of the week simply took me out of my normal "lane" of operations, which is mainly along the i-95 corridor between MA and VA. Anyway, I will have only done three loads this week by the time I deliver my last load Friday morning in Secaucus, NJ. We shall see what happens next week.

Where are you going in Cumberland and Hagerstown?

The place in Cumberland is somewhere I've never been to before. It's called American Woodmark.

The place in Hagerstown is a Home Depot DC near the truck stops that I've been to many times.

The place in Cumberland is somewhere I've never been to before. It's called American Woodmark.

The place in Hagerstown is a Home Depot DC near the truck stops that I've been to many times.

The Home Depot is awesome. Been there many times myself and 90% of the time I'm the only one in the yard :) I've parked many times at the mall right down the street and grabbed something to eat.

It seems to me that things are changing somewhat at my company. I’ve noticed that my appointment times for deliveries are more “generous”. I’m not sure what that means but maybe the loads are diminishing and the company is allowing more time so as to keep the drivers occupied. We have what is called an early delivery bonus of $100 if the driver arrives at the delivery location 24 hours early. Some call this layover pay. Lately, it’s been getting easier to get he early bonus. However, I’m not a big fan of this. If I can drive that day instead of sitting for $100, I can make more than 3 times more pay.

It’s too early to tell if this is a trend or just an anomaly, but it does have me thinking about the underlying conditions.

Also I have hauled some very light loads lately. The one I picked up today in Russellville, AR, is only 5707 pounds and it’s going almost 1200 miles to Pottsville, PA I almost needed a telescope to see the load way up on the front of the trailer.