Problem with my down time is that I never know just how much I have though, so I can't relax as I might if I knew exatly when I could be goofing off and when I had to get back to work.
This was one of my several main complaints during my very short stay with Swift. It drove me up the freakin' wall to send in an empty call and then get nothing back. And you never knew... they might send a re-load immediately (not likely), or it might come at 3:30 in the morning. It's the not knowing that made it awful.
I know you'd prefer to run all 48, but if you ever have the notion to be known by name and work for a company that almost always has your next load ready to send you immediately, let me know. Even though I never cross the Rockies... there are some perks. I go to many of the same places frequently. It isn't "routine", per se, but once you know where stuff is... life becomes much easier when you return there for subsequent loads. It's also nice to be able to manage your own fuel purchases... that sounds like such a small thing, but it gives you a considerable amount of freedom. And aside from emergency repairs, you would have one shop and one set of mechanics always working on your truck. That makes a big difference to your running time.
So today is a good example of how my company operates. I make my morning delivery in Indy at about 0800. Pressure gauge shows me almost empty by 0840 so I send in my empty call. Not even 5 minutes later while I'm pulling up to close my doors I get my next load sent out. It isn't the most desirable trip in the world because the ready time is 1600 and it's only about 20 miles away. It's a trip I've done many times before... one of our regular customers. From Fortville, Indiana to Carteret, New Jersey. Delivery time of 1600 on Thursday.
No sweat. So I have lots of time to kill today and I boogie on down to the Flying J on the 465 loop on the south side of Indy. But even though I'm just hanging around for most of today, I know EXACTLY what my plan is and how much time I have. I could sleep (except I had a good night's sleep already and don't really need it). If I had a bike with me I could spend the majority of the day just exploring around. Whatever... because they don't keep me in the dark.
And hurt it did, my friend! For the outline I used no analgesic. For the 2nd session I took Tylenol 3 (thinking it was the same thing as Vicodin). By the time the third and final appt came around I was thanking the poppy gods for the REAL Vicodin pills in my pocket!
Problem with my down time is that I never know just how much I have though, so I can't relax as I might if I knew exatly when I could be goofing off and when I had to get back to work.
This was one of my several main complaints during my very short stay with Swift. It drove me up the freakin' wall to send in an empty call and then get nothing back. And you never knew... they might send a re-load immediately (not likely), or it might come at 3:30 in the morning. It's the not knowing that made it awful.
I know you'd prefer to run all 48, but if you ever have the notion to be known by name and work for a company that almost always has your next load ready to send you immediately, let me know. Even though I never cross the Rockies... there are some perks. I go to many of the same places frequently. It isn't "routine", per se, but once you know where stuff is... life becomes much easier when you return there for subsequent loads. It's also nice to be able to manage your own fuel purchases... that sounds like such a small thing, but it gives you a considerable amount of freedom. And aside from emergency repairs, you would have one shop and one set of mechanics always working on your truck. That makes a big difference to your running time.