Those Blasted Tires...
Okay, so I have to admit Canada wasn't that bad this last time around. I found myself begging for Canada or hell... even Ohio after this last couple of days. Yes... even Ohio! I was assigned a load out of Elkton, MD after making my Canadian delivery down near Baltimore the other day. So after I dropped that load I hit the road north bound for Elkton on I-95. It was relatively easy to get there and I found the shipper fairly quickly that evening.
I get there and there is a sign, as with most places, for drivers to check in with the security office before going through the gate. So I park my rig, gather up all of my information and head over to the guard shack. So I go in and there is another driver ahead of me so I wait patiently. When it's my turn I give the guard my pick-up number and Bill of Lading number for the shipment I'm supposed to get and he can't find any record of it. Of course, this prompts him to go into the office area of the building and get another person involved in searching for this mystery load.
Turns out, there was a guy who was not there who had set up the load so they called him to come over to help. After about an hour the guy finally gets there and gets things straightened out. Of course, the minutes on my 14 hour work day clock are just ticking away all the while.
So the guy goes over the load assignment with me. While he's gabbing about all the stops I'll have to make and such I realize... there is no way I will have time to take my required 10 hr. DOT break that night AND make the first delivery on time. The ealiest I could have done it would have been 2pm... delivery was scheduled for 7am.
So he sends me down the street to the local TA truck stop to take my break and tells me he will deal with my Operations on the time issue and will let me know what's up via my Qualcomm. So I drive over, snag a parking spot and start my break.
Within 10 minutes of parking and pulling my curtains closed a message came across saying that I was being taken off that load. Woo Hoo.
But then I was assigned a new load out of the same place, with just about the same amount of drops but with a much more doable delivery time to start with. So I take my break, sleep my little heart out and then wake up the next morning refreshed and ready to go.
I headed back over to the shipper and got the load. I meet up with "the guy" I had spoken with last night about the previous load and he fills me in on how it all works. Apparently I was filling in for a regular dedicated driver who had decided to take the week off without notice. *sigh* So the guy shows me how to do what needs to be done and then sends me on my merry way.
The load: Michelin Tires.
The Destinations: Two Costco stores, a Sams Club and a BJ's Wholsale place in NYC.
I was on my way to the big NYC finally... after having avoided it for the first 90 days of my employment with my company. I was a little nervous but heck, after some of the places I'd been to I figured, how bad could it be?! So I was on the I-295 headed north when I got a beep on my Qualcomm.
I have a small screen on my dash board that lets me read the first 20 or so charaters of new messages that come in, since we can't read the messages while the truck is moving. It said "Urgent, stop and call". So I found a safe, legal place to pull off the road and read the rest of the message and then quickly called "the guy" from Michelin.
Apparently two of the deliveries had to cancel because they didn't have the manpower to help unload the tires. And the other two places rescheduled their deliveries for later in the day. Yay! This made me fairly happy because that was 50% less stress I had to worry about for this load. So I get back on the road and continue to make my way to the first stop of the day in New Rochelle, NY just north of the Bronx.
I stopped off at a Service Plaza for a break and to grab a bite to eat since I had a little extra time to spare.
As I was getting settled back into my truck to get back to it, another beep sounded from my Qualcomm. I pulled up the message and was a little annoyed. "Please call asap". So I called the number and spoke to "the guy" again, finding out that this load was now down to one delivery and it wasn't going to be made until 4am the following morning.
I was a little more than annoyed at this point but I had to grin and bear it. I was a little over an hour away from my destination at this point and I figured that since it's a Costco I am going to, I can just park in the back of their parking lot for the night and be there ready to go in the morning. So I decided to press on and deal with the traffic and then the solitude of the parking lot instead of driving the rest of the way from the Service Plaza in the wee hours of the morning.
I arrived 2.5 hours later, thanks to 6 fender bender accidents on the George Washington Bridge. I parked and settled in for the night, stealing wi-fi internet from the Harley Dealership next door. It poured the rain all night, I got to listen to car alarms, police sirens, screaming and cat fights all night long. It was.... peachy.
3:30 am ... the alarm goes off. UGH is it really time to get up? Woof. I crawl out of bed, exhausted from the lack of sleep thanks to all of the distractions mentioned above. Man this is going to be a long day!
I get dressed and pull open the curtains to take a look-see at the parking lot to plan the best course of action for parking next to the tire center bays for the unloading. I get out and check my fluids and do a once over on the rig and then I get back in, start her up and let her get warmed up while I brush the tangles out of my bedhead hair-do. Then I move her into position just as the Costco guys started pulling into the parking lot.
....this really is turning into an excessively long blog, isn't it? Here, I'll make it quick.
Long story, longer... I had the pleasure of being a lumper, aka unloader, for this load. I had the privilege of being the person in the back of the trailer pulling, popping and rolling tires out of the back of the trailer into the tire service bay while the three guys from Costco sorted them and stacked them inside. I "threw" 597 car and truck tires. I was attacked by 4 tires, one of which was a ringer (it came down right over my head and landed square on my shoulders, my head peeking over the edge of it). I had blisters on my hands, bruises on my stomach, knee and ankle and muscles so sore I swear I was beat to death by a grizzly bear. But the good news is... I did it, surprising myself immensely, and I will make out like a bandit on my next paycheck for this one.
It was exhausting. I hope I never have to do it again. Or at least not anytime soon. The blisters need to heal first... *sigh*
I get there and there is a sign, as with most places, for drivers to check in with the security office before going through the gate. So I park my rig, gather up all of my information and head over to the guard shack. So I go in and there is another driver ahead of me so I wait patiently. When it's my turn I give the guard my pick-up number and Bill of Lading number for the shipment I'm supposed to get and he can't find any record of it. Of course, this prompts him to go into the office area of the building and get another person involved in searching for this mystery load.
Turns out, there was a guy who was not there who had set up the load so they called him to come over to help. After about an hour the guy finally gets there and gets things straightened out. Of course, the minutes on my 14 hour work day clock are just ticking away all the while.
So the guy goes over the load assignment with me. While he's gabbing about all the stops I'll have to make and such I realize... there is no way I will have time to take my required 10 hr. DOT break that night AND make the first delivery on time. The ealiest I could have done it would have been 2pm... delivery was scheduled for 7am.
So he sends me down the street to the local TA truck stop to take my break and tells me he will deal with my Operations on the time issue and will let me know what's up via my Qualcomm. So I drive over, snag a parking spot and start my break.
Within 10 minutes of parking and pulling my curtains closed a message came across saying that I was being taken off that load. Woo Hoo.
But then I was assigned a new load out of the same place, with just about the same amount of drops but with a much more doable delivery time to start with. So I take my break, sleep my little heart out and then wake up the next morning refreshed and ready to go.
I headed back over to the shipper and got the load. I meet up with "the guy" I had spoken with last night about the previous load and he fills me in on how it all works. Apparently I was filling in for a regular dedicated driver who had decided to take the week off without notice. *sigh* So the guy shows me how to do what needs to be done and then sends me on my merry way.
The load: Michelin Tires.
The Destinations: Two Costco stores, a Sams Club and a BJ's Wholsale place in NYC.
I was on my way to the big NYC finally... after having avoided it for the first 90 days of my employment with my company. I was a little nervous but heck, after some of the places I'd been to I figured, how bad could it be?! So I was on the I-295 headed north when I got a beep on my Qualcomm.
I have a small screen on my dash board that lets me read the first 20 or so charaters of new messages that come in, since we can't read the messages while the truck is moving. It said "Urgent, stop and call". So I found a safe, legal place to pull off the road and read the rest of the message and then quickly called "the guy" from Michelin.
Apparently two of the deliveries had to cancel because they didn't have the manpower to help unload the tires. And the other two places rescheduled their deliveries for later in the day. Yay! This made me fairly happy because that was 50% less stress I had to worry about for this load. So I get back on the road and continue to make my way to the first stop of the day in New Rochelle, NY just north of the Bronx.
I stopped off at a Service Plaza for a break and to grab a bite to eat since I had a little extra time to spare.
As I was getting settled back into my truck to get back to it, another beep sounded from my Qualcomm. I pulled up the message and was a little annoyed. "Please call asap". So I called the number and spoke to "the guy" again, finding out that this load was now down to one delivery and it wasn't going to be made until 4am the following morning.
I was a little more than annoyed at this point but I had to grin and bear it. I was a little over an hour away from my destination at this point and I figured that since it's a Costco I am going to, I can just park in the back of their parking lot for the night and be there ready to go in the morning. So I decided to press on and deal with the traffic and then the solitude of the parking lot instead of driving the rest of the way from the Service Plaza in the wee hours of the morning.
I arrived 2.5 hours later, thanks to 6 fender bender accidents on the George Washington Bridge. I parked and settled in for the night, stealing wi-fi internet from the Harley Dealership next door. It poured the rain all night, I got to listen to car alarms, police sirens, screaming and cat fights all night long. It was.... peachy.
3:30 am ... the alarm goes off. UGH is it really time to get up? Woof. I crawl out of bed, exhausted from the lack of sleep thanks to all of the distractions mentioned above. Man this is going to be a long day!
I get dressed and pull open the curtains to take a look-see at the parking lot to plan the best course of action for parking next to the tire center bays for the unloading. I get out and check my fluids and do a once over on the rig and then I get back in, start her up and let her get warmed up while I brush the tangles out of my bedhead hair-do. Then I move her into position just as the Costco guys started pulling into the parking lot.
....this really is turning into an excessively long blog, isn't it? Here, I'll make it quick.
Long story, longer... I had the pleasure of being a lumper, aka unloader, for this load. I had the privilege of being the person in the back of the trailer pulling, popping and rolling tires out of the back of the trailer into the tire service bay while the three guys from Costco sorted them and stacked them inside. I "threw" 597 car and truck tires. I was attacked by 4 tires, one of which was a ringer (it came down right over my head and landed square on my shoulders, my head peeking over the edge of it). I had blisters on my hands, bruises on my stomach, knee and ankle and muscles so sore I swear I was beat to death by a grizzly bear. But the good news is... I did it, surprising myself immensely, and I will make out like a bandit on my next paycheck for this one.
It was exhausting. I hope I never have to do it again. Or at least not anytime soon. The blisters need to heal first... *sigh*
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