Well didn't get to go directly home from Pittsburgh. I knew it would happen being Saturday night and no way to get with fleet manager in home terminal to get some help. Weekend dispatch sent me up to Erie, PA to pick up a load at midnight going to Budweiser in Jacksonville, FL. Complained that wasn't headed anywhere near home and got the usual message that it was all he had...not like I could prove he was lying.
Delivered there on Monday afternoon and meanwhile had been on the phone with fleet manager getting some assistance to get home. They gave me a load from Jacksonville to Hattisburg, MS to deliver Tuesday night at midnight at a Sam's Club. They preplanned me on a load from Meridian to New Caney, TX that got me home on Thursday morning.
Did pretty much nothing for 4 days enjoying my living room and my recliner for the most part. I did get out Sunday afternoon and crawl under the house to level the bathroom. It had settled a couple of inches on the outside corner. I had borrowed some jacks from a friend over 6 months ago to get it done. All ways something else coming up, until now. The people we paid to level the house had not done a very good job at that corner. I had to add some blocks to brace it in between the widely spaced blocking. Now you can go in the bathroom without holding down your brake peddle.
Left out again Monday morning and picked up a load of water going to a Sam's Club in Metarie, LA near New Orleans. Will deliver there in the morning. I will only stay out 2 weeks this time and take a vacation the first week of May. Finally getting a chance to go to Branson, MO for a few days. A very special friend just recently moved to the area and we got free lodging. More money for shows.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Short loads
Getting a lot of them the last 2 weeks. I hope this is not a trend that stays. I'm getting loads 250 to 500 miles and that is it. A good week is 2,500 miles and up. This week I only got 1,400 miles on 4 short loads. They eat up your hours because you spend so much time loading and unloading instead of rolling. No rolling, no money. The loading and unloading, breakdowns, etc. are part of the job not something you get paid for. When the "parts of the job you don't get paid for" become a lot more than the "parts of the job you do get paid for" you start to get ticked a bit. It is what is wrong with this job and has always been that way.
The company has you over a barrel. I have topped out in mileage pay here, and their top pay is better than 95% of the other companies, but they hire new drivers and at 11 cents less per mile and they get their mileage most of the month. In order for them to get a raise they have to make 10,300+ miles per month for 3 months running. Dispatch gets them close to that and cuts back their miles so they can't make the raise. On the other hand since I make 11 cents more per mile, they don't give me the good paying mileage loads because it costs them more and they would prefer I just quit so they could hire someone at a lower mileage rate. It's all a game and the driver loses. If I do quit and move on to another company I start at that mileage rate 11 cents lower than I am making now and work my way up again. Stuck...
Not a good profession to be in and you get pretty cynical about it. You never know what loads are on the board to be offered, so you can't complain about it. Everyone complains about unsafe trucks. Fact is that safety rates for trucks and miles traveled has increased for several years now. Trucking has never been safer. The only thing that keeps it from being totally safe is the pay per mileage game where drivers have to drive their lives away to make a decent wage. Companies pushing them to make on time deliveries or they lose their jobs. Doesn't matter that you were held up in traffic because of an accident, weather, or shipper who held you up 7 or 8 hours...still have to make the on time appointment which is normally preset before you even pick up the load. These are the things that make it unsafe. Rookie drivers pushing too hard to get the load there instead of just telling dispatch it ain't possible and they need to reschedule the delivery appointment. They are too worried about their jobs to learn the tricks yet.
I, on the other hand, have to worry about my job because of my high mileage rate cuts into the companies bottom line. I have hit 60 years old now and chances of finding a better job has decreased. Companies want drivers who don't know the ropes yet and can be bullied around, and work scared of losing their jobs. Well really, everyone is scared of losing a job now a days. Back home there are no want ads running much at all. No local jobs to speak of that pays above minimum wage. I'm not quite to that point in my life where I can take that big a pay cut. Nor do I want to move to where I can find a better paying job.
Strange and scary times. Don't think they are going to get better any time soon. The grand kids will never have it so good, they will be taxed on 70% of their earnings to pay for those who do not work. Entitlements only force people down into the government sludge. You can never get out so you keep voting in the idiots that are holding your head under so they will give you a tube to breath with.
I am in Maryland today, I had a heck of a time getting through Baltimore yesterday afternoon. Traffic in the northeast is bad. Too many people up here. Headed over to Pittsburgh to deliver to a grocery warehouse tonight. I was supposed to be home Monday, but surprise, they don't have any loads that are over 250 miles. At this rate it will be May before I make it there.
The company has you over a barrel. I have topped out in mileage pay here, and their top pay is better than 95% of the other companies, but they hire new drivers and at 11 cents less per mile and they get their mileage most of the month. In order for them to get a raise they have to make 10,300+ miles per month for 3 months running. Dispatch gets them close to that and cuts back their miles so they can't make the raise. On the other hand since I make 11 cents more per mile, they don't give me the good paying mileage loads because it costs them more and they would prefer I just quit so they could hire someone at a lower mileage rate. It's all a game and the driver loses. If I do quit and move on to another company I start at that mileage rate 11 cents lower than I am making now and work my way up again. Stuck...
Not a good profession to be in and you get pretty cynical about it. You never know what loads are on the board to be offered, so you can't complain about it. Everyone complains about unsafe trucks. Fact is that safety rates for trucks and miles traveled has increased for several years now. Trucking has never been safer. The only thing that keeps it from being totally safe is the pay per mileage game where drivers have to drive their lives away to make a decent wage. Companies pushing them to make on time deliveries or they lose their jobs. Doesn't matter that you were held up in traffic because of an accident, weather, or shipper who held you up 7 or 8 hours...still have to make the on time appointment which is normally preset before you even pick up the load. These are the things that make it unsafe. Rookie drivers pushing too hard to get the load there instead of just telling dispatch it ain't possible and they need to reschedule the delivery appointment. They are too worried about their jobs to learn the tricks yet.
I, on the other hand, have to worry about my job because of my high mileage rate cuts into the companies bottom line. I have hit 60 years old now and chances of finding a better job has decreased. Companies want drivers who don't know the ropes yet and can be bullied around, and work scared of losing their jobs. Well really, everyone is scared of losing a job now a days. Back home there are no want ads running much at all. No local jobs to speak of that pays above minimum wage. I'm not quite to that point in my life where I can take that big a pay cut. Nor do I want to move to where I can find a better paying job.
Strange and scary times. Don't think they are going to get better any time soon. The grand kids will never have it so good, they will be taxed on 70% of their earnings to pay for those who do not work. Entitlements only force people down into the government sludge. You can never get out so you keep voting in the idiots that are holding your head under so they will give you a tube to breath with.
I am in Maryland today, I had a heck of a time getting through Baltimore yesterday afternoon. Traffic in the northeast is bad. Too many people up here. Headed over to Pittsburgh to deliver to a grocery warehouse tonight. I was supposed to be home Monday, but surprise, they don't have any loads that are over 250 miles. At this rate it will be May before I make it there.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Spring is Springing
Thank goodness. This has been a long winter with storm after storm blowing through. I have never been in so much snow during the winter. As long as I'm running up north it is not too much of a problem since they have the equipment and know how to keep the roads clean. You can go to bed in a bad blizzard, and if it blows on through over night, they will have the roads pretty well cleaned off by morning. Of course, this many storms in a year really blows their state budget. I'm glad they continue to clean them off even without money. States aren't like the federal government who just prints more paper to pay their bills.
I have been running hard for the last week. The last two weeks I have run out of hours in 6 days and had to shut down to rebuild my hours, that means 12 to 14 hour days every day. Of course the selection of runs don't help. I have had a lot of 200 to 400 mile runs, some of them pick up in the morning and have to be dropped that same day. Short loads eat up your hours burning up an extra hour per day off your logs. Hours you don't get paid for. If your not rolling your not making money. Spending time at each end of the trip making pick up and delivery you have to log, but you don't get paid for it. If you get delayed at shipper/consignee you don't get paid unless it is over a 2 hour wait. Then you get paid a few dollars for it, for the time over 2 hours not the first 2 hours.
You can set 2 hours at the shipper, then 2 hours at the consignee at the end of the trip and get paid nothing. You can only work 14 hours in a day, so that is 4 hours off your driving time. Add in time to stop and fuel, get a bite to eat or go to rest room and you suddenly have lost 100 to 200 miles off your day...less money. Small wonder you go all day long without stopping to eat, just munching, or holding your legs crossed and stopping at a rest area to use the rest room and out in a few minutes. This is getting harder to do with age, and the fact the states are closing all their rest areas.
Then there are more and more regulations coming down from the federal government spurred on by interest groups that want drivers to work less hours in a day. It is not bad enough that we have to stay gone from home 24 to 30 days in a month and only getting 4 days at home each month. Now they want us to stay out here on less pay and spend more time setting in truck stops, which are fewer since they are closing too. The end of my days driving are fast approaching and a lot of drivers feel the same. What will the country do when they regulate all of the drivers so much they force them to quit because they can't balance making a good pay check against justifying being away from home so much.
There is already a shortage of drivers and companies are needing more trucks and can't get them to move their product. How do you as a consumer get you food from Walmart, clothes? Everything else you buy at the store. No drivers to get them there so you can buy them. Learn to grow a garden and sew. The day is coming you will need the skill. All of the necessities will cost more than you make to buy.
Off my soapbox. Made it into Nashville, TN yesterday morning on the way to Atlanta, GA. I will stay here until Monday morning early and run down to deliver. Got to watch the final four basketball tournament last night which was fun. Tennessee is out so Go Butler!!! Break out my "Hoosiers" movie and get excited about them hopefully knocking off Duke tomorrow night.
I have been running hard for the last week. The last two weeks I have run out of hours in 6 days and had to shut down to rebuild my hours, that means 12 to 14 hour days every day. Of course the selection of runs don't help. I have had a lot of 200 to 400 mile runs, some of them pick up in the morning and have to be dropped that same day. Short loads eat up your hours burning up an extra hour per day off your logs. Hours you don't get paid for. If your not rolling your not making money. Spending time at each end of the trip making pick up and delivery you have to log, but you don't get paid for it. If you get delayed at shipper/consignee you don't get paid unless it is over a 2 hour wait. Then you get paid a few dollars for it, for the time over 2 hours not the first 2 hours.
You can set 2 hours at the shipper, then 2 hours at the consignee at the end of the trip and get paid nothing. You can only work 14 hours in a day, so that is 4 hours off your driving time. Add in time to stop and fuel, get a bite to eat or go to rest room and you suddenly have lost 100 to 200 miles off your day...less money. Small wonder you go all day long without stopping to eat, just munching, or holding your legs crossed and stopping at a rest area to use the rest room and out in a few minutes. This is getting harder to do with age, and the fact the states are closing all their rest areas.
Then there are more and more regulations coming down from the federal government spurred on by interest groups that want drivers to work less hours in a day. It is not bad enough that we have to stay gone from home 24 to 30 days in a month and only getting 4 days at home each month. Now they want us to stay out here on less pay and spend more time setting in truck stops, which are fewer since they are closing too. The end of my days driving are fast approaching and a lot of drivers feel the same. What will the country do when they regulate all of the drivers so much they force them to quit because they can't balance making a good pay check against justifying being away from home so much.
There is already a shortage of drivers and companies are needing more trucks and can't get them to move their product. How do you as a consumer get you food from Walmart, clothes? Everything else you buy at the store. No drivers to get them there so you can buy them. Learn to grow a garden and sew. The day is coming you will need the skill. All of the necessities will cost more than you make to buy.
Off my soapbox. Made it into Nashville, TN yesterday morning on the way to Atlanta, GA. I will stay here until Monday morning early and run down to deliver. Got to watch the final four basketball tournament last night which was fun. Tennessee is out so Go Butler!!! Break out my "Hoosiers" movie and get excited about them hopefully knocking off Duke tomorrow night.
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