Fuel for Thought

The Weekend Report

Started the week with two short loads each day. The second load was a repeat of the first load. The shipper asked if I was still in the area and to offer it to me first. I aim to please. Then from Wednesday to Friday, it was Indiana, to Illinois, to Texas, back to Illinois, and the last was a recovery load from northern Illinois to Kokomo, Indiana.

Recovery. Another Sprinter van was having transmission troubles, so I was dispatched to meet him at the shipper. The other van had made it about an hour south before running into trouble. I caught up with the other vehicle as it backtracked to the shipper. He was crawling at a pace that would have taken another hour to get to the cross dock location. We pulled off the road and after looking at the freight, I was pretty sure we could transfer the freight ourselves. Dispatch gave us the go ahead, and it took us less than thirty minutes to slide the 700 and 1100 pound pallets into my van using the cargo strap method. Funny thing was that I could have picked up the load after my previous drop (only thirty miles away) and made the original delivery time, but who’s to know when a vehicle is going to break.

One of those loads. My load to Texas had a couple of those typical hick ups. At the pick up I overheard a conversation between the logistician and dock supervisor. They really wanted this load to go directly to the manufacturing facility in Dallas, not the warehouse as was originally planned. This load was already out of order, and the shipper asked me to pick up the freight from a different manufacturing location a couple miles away. An extra stop was added to my pay. The drive was uneventful, and I arrived a couple hours early. It took a half hour to get through the line of trucks at the gate. My turn to process into the plant, and they turned me away. The computer said I was supposed to go the satellite warehouse that the shipper was adament I did not go to. A driver can’t argue with a computer at the gate of a big facility. I parked away from the gate and told dispatch I was being redirected to a different warehouse, and I told them about the conversation I overheard back at the shipper. I fell asleep. Two hours later, I’m given contact information within the plant. The contact cleared me onto the property. After two and a half hours getting into the plant, I arrived at the dock just in time for break.

New knot. I learned a new knot, but I’ll have to wait until I can take pictures of it. This thing really is slick.

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