Friday, February 15, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
The Slackers Guide To Trucking Company Operation
It has still been a slow month. Following on the heels of the slow January. Following on the heels of a rather slow December. I do not feel at this point that it is entirely the weather, the season or the business climate. I will explain further in somewhat scattered detail as I have not yet had my meds...I don't have meds, I am needing them however...
If you look at the average mileage for my runs, while I am actually running, that is, then the average really is not too bad. Not to say that I am running by any means terrific to be sure. But, none the less, not terrible.
There is the constant reminder when working for Jim Palmer Trucking of Missoula, Montana, that you are working for people that are more concerned with collecting a paycheck, or kissing large butts that are attached to people that are perceived to possess the real "power", rather than display personal excellence. Or in the case of my driver manager...personal hygiene.
Extreme Sloth on a High Level. On average, I am losing a full day with each load and sometimes more than two whole days. There is no desire to do any extra work and get a load set up by the customer disservice representative or my driver mismanager. As a result, there is no such thing as a preplan. They do not start working on the new load until I am empty. I find this to be unacceptable. Preparation is the very bedrock of success. No planning? I am concerned that this company may possibly be too lazy to be in the modern trucking industry. They are certainly not very well run.
Forced To Do Nothing. This company operates under the forced dispatch program. That works out to be that they do a crappy job of getting you some freight and when that freight arrives, you as the driver have no real say in whether you actually drive this crappy freight or not. There is no choice in the matter. Funny though when drivers are called into the office and grilled about the mileage that they are getting or not getting and that the mileage had better come up or that something "will have to be done". Forced dispatch? and the driver has to answer to the lack of mileage? Sounds to me like driver services is afraid to do their job and kick the stupid driver managers in the ass and make them optimize their efforts for the benefit of the company. Funny thing is that when the driver is getting plenty of mileage, that also the company is seeing more money coming in as well. I don't know, maybe I am just an armchair quarterback. I don't really know anything about business. Let's see, More miles, Happy driver, more revenue for driver and company. I must be missing something...oh, yeah, people must do their jobs for that to happen. That is it!
Spend 500 bucks to save a dime. Repairs are often passed on to the Peterbuilt dealership because the company repair facilities are overloaded at times and there is the whole warranty issue that keeps you going back to a bunch of losers because they repair the truck for free or at least at a warranty discount. I have a clutch fan that is definitely going bad. It was going bad ten days ago. This fan is past warranty at 409 thousand miles. The fan stays running all the time and is hurting the mileage. I put the truck in the shop for a day in Denver and was dismayed when they said that nothing was wrong after a day and a half. Especially when the fan was shrieking on the way out of the parking lot.
I am going to run this sucker until it falls off and slices the radiator. I hope it happens in the fast lane on I-10 during rush hour. After I block a full lane of traffic, I am going to go to the side of the road and pull my pants down and show my ass to that stupid traffic helicopter that adds insult to injury by harassing people that break down by buzzing them with that dumb chopper. I need to do this. I am after all, living in a small town and have nowhere near enough shit to talk about. Dedication:)
If you look at the average mileage for my runs, while I am actually running, that is, then the average really is not too bad. Not to say that I am running by any means terrific to be sure. But, none the less, not terrible.
There is the constant reminder when working for Jim Palmer Trucking of Missoula, Montana, that you are working for people that are more concerned with collecting a paycheck, or kissing large butts that are attached to people that are perceived to possess the real "power", rather than display personal excellence. Or in the case of my driver manager...personal hygiene.
Extreme Sloth on a High Level. On average, I am losing a full day with each load and sometimes more than two whole days. There is no desire to do any extra work and get a load set up by the customer disservice representative or my driver mismanager. As a result, there is no such thing as a preplan. They do not start working on the new load until I am empty. I find this to be unacceptable. Preparation is the very bedrock of success. No planning? I am concerned that this company may possibly be too lazy to be in the modern trucking industry. They are certainly not very well run.
Forced To Do Nothing. This company operates under the forced dispatch program. That works out to be that they do a crappy job of getting you some freight and when that freight arrives, you as the driver have no real say in whether you actually drive this crappy freight or not. There is no choice in the matter. Funny though when drivers are called into the office and grilled about the mileage that they are getting or not getting and that the mileage had better come up or that something "will have to be done". Forced dispatch? and the driver has to answer to the lack of mileage? Sounds to me like driver services is afraid to do their job and kick the stupid driver managers in the ass and make them optimize their efforts for the benefit of the company. Funny thing is that when the driver is getting plenty of mileage, that also the company is seeing more money coming in as well. I don't know, maybe I am just an armchair quarterback. I don't really know anything about business. Let's see, More miles, Happy driver, more revenue for driver and company. I must be missing something...oh, yeah, people must do their jobs for that to happen. That is it!
Spend 500 bucks to save a dime. Repairs are often passed on to the Peterbuilt dealership because the company repair facilities are overloaded at times and there is the whole warranty issue that keeps you going back to a bunch of losers because they repair the truck for free or at least at a warranty discount. I have a clutch fan that is definitely going bad. It was going bad ten days ago. This fan is past warranty at 409 thousand miles. The fan stays running all the time and is hurting the mileage. I put the truck in the shop for a day in Denver and was dismayed when they said that nothing was wrong after a day and a half. Especially when the fan was shrieking on the way out of the parking lot.
I am going to run this sucker until it falls off and slices the radiator. I hope it happens in the fast lane on I-10 during rush hour. After I block a full lane of traffic, I am going to go to the side of the road and pull my pants down and show my ass to that stupid traffic helicopter that adds insult to injury by harassing people that break down by buzzing them with that dumb chopper. I need to do this. I am after all, living in a small town and have nowhere near enough shit to talk about. Dedication:)
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