Mow My Lawn

We need drivers in management positions, because sometimes management just doesn’t get it. Years ago, I remember explaining to the guy running the shipping department that my time actually does matter. He was a fairly regular customer and we had a relationship that let us talk freely. My appointment in Green Bay was for 08:00 on a load going to the Detroit area and I was usually loaded and gone between 09:00 and 10:00. that made getting through Chicago easier. If it was much later the afternoon rush would be started before I arrived.

One morning, he said that he was pretty busy and would I mind waiting to start loading until 10:00. I said yes. He did not understand why I would mind waiting a couple of hours. I asked him how he would like it if he came into work at 08:00 like he was told and they told him to wait to punch in until 10:00 and just work until 18:30 instead of 16:30. He said that wouldn’t be fair. I said exactly, why would it be fair for me? Then I suggested that I wouldn’t mind loading my own trailer and he pointed at the freight and a hand jack and said go ahead, and I did. It worked out well for both of us, plus he got a better understanding of a driver’s time.

Recently, I got held up at a dock for 7.5 hours on a live load that is usually a drop and hook. To make matters worse this was my Thursday pick up Friday delivery load. Friday is the day that I get home and then I leave on Sunday. For the company they would not lose any productivity. I sent a note to dispatch asking them to PLEASE not live load me at this customer again. They sent a note apologizing for the problems. We keep 2 trailers at this location and the customer needed us to haul 4 loads that day. If everything went according to plan our first 2 drivers would arrive early in the morning and drop empties and pick up loads. In turn the customer could load those trailers. If all went well I would have a drop and hook. My appointment was set up for 13:00 so maybe things would work out.

As is my usual case I had arrived at my delivery the night before. It was not a sealed load so, I opened my doors and backed in. My delivery appointment was for 09:00. I went for a walk about 06:00 and returned about 07:00 and the customer was already eyeballing my trailer. I got out of there early. So, I arrived at my pick up at 10:00 for my 13:00 appointment. I was told to come back between 12:30 and 13:00. That was not a problem. There was a truck stop about a mile away and I went there, put some fuel in, showered, and took 2 hours off duty so that I could split log.

Unfortunately, the customer did not have the freight. It was in route and they had no idea when it would arrive. I mean come on. This is 2017 – don’t tell me that you don’t know where the freight is. Well, I did not get out of there until 20:30. I thought that I would be home by noon on Friday. Instead, I did not arrive until about 17:30. So – I sent what I thought was a simple and fair request to the company. Considering that my weekend was cut short by about 6 hours/.Mow my lawn. Maybe if they did this, they would understand.