Dec 29, 2009
first load after christmas
**i had to repost a blog i made. for what ever reason it didnt save. will said it was probably swift that erased it because it was not a glowing report towards them. i thought if swift could do that they would have erased the entire internet. but maybe i just forgot to click the save and post button**
our first fedex run after christmas sent us to spokane rather than our usual kent.
spokane is still a good run about the same miles, but 24 hours to get there instead of the 18 to kent.
beside its on the spokane run that we get to see the shoe tree. it is at milepost 53 on us97.
i have a snow covered picture . there are sneakers, sandals, cowboy boots, slippers etc...but you'll have to google it to get a good look at the shoes. we never stop because 'we have a schedule to keep' ( i think will secretly wants to work for the post office) but since i am getting pretty good at timing my picture taking while moving. its not to bad
before we arrived in spokane, troutdale sent us a reload. it was a stores run. that means waiting to be loaded and unloaded. the pick up and first delivery times were before we even delivered to fedex. so we denied the load due to hours. we didnt hear from anyone until 1 hour after we delivered fedex. it was the same load we denied. so we denied it again, this time saying pickup and first delivery times have past. they sent us back a message that the times were not important, just do it as soon as possible. we had hoped to get out of the load all together, but at least this way we have them on record saying we wont be charged with a late delivery.
we drive to the rail yard in spokane to pick up the trailer, then it is off to the grandview, washington walmart dc. that is when we realize why the troutdale loadplanner told us it doesnt matter what time we deliver. walmart said since we were late (by now 2 hours late) we would just have to dock and wait in the drivers lounge until the next person is late and we would be unloaded in their time slot. also nobody can be in the truck while waiting. will had to get out of the sleeper and wait with me in the lounge. and i use that term loosely. cafeteria tables and a couple of vending machines, no coffee. plus will needed sleep. he should have been in the sleeper not some rinky dink drivers lounge.
we waited 3 1/2 hours. other drivers were saying we were lucky they took us at all being 2 hours late, they could have rescheduled our appt time for the next day. i know thats what the load planner was planning on. after grandview we continued on to hermiston to drop the trailer at the next walmart. so that time did not matter. it took me all day to drive that and wait, and for what 220 miles. i didnt even make minimum wage.
now i might be a new driver but for the life of me i cant understand why a company thinks it is a good idea to use a team to make a 200 run with 2 store drops. all it does it take time off our logs and then we are not available to longer / team runs.
we wait and wait for a reload. we hear from the lathrop load planner, asking if we got a south bound load do we want to drop it in lathrop, or fresno. sometimes we tell her lathrop if we need a shower, but if we took one in kent the night before we tell her fresno is fine. she is one top of things. she will give us our fedex assignment as soon as we get a south bound load. she makes sure we either have an empty trailer or she has a local driver drop an empty one at fedex for us.
when we have a problem we asked her once what happen and she said, oh sorry i dont work on sunday and monday. sorry nobody was here to take care of that. wow an honest explanation and an apology.
my question is why doesnt our own terminal work that way. it's the same company, they have the same equipment, the same rules and procedures. why doesnt our own dm do that. she could issue us a south bound load as soon as she sees we are headed north. in fact since our driver manager works monday - friday, we should only be thrown to the wolfs on sunday.
our driver manager only manages to raise wills blood pressure, increase my frustration, and keeps me popping tums like popcorn----mmmmm popcorn.
will being patient
so after we drop in hermiston we wait for a reload. and wait. we finally hear the beep. that lets us know someone knows we are here. its a load from walmart to fresno. so back to grandview, then down to fresno. and yes before we even accepted that load, lathrop was messaging us what time did we think we would be there. when would we be available for our fedex.
we want to transfer to lathrop but need to ask some questions. would we still be up to the mercy of toutdale when we unload in kent?
so now because of weather and loads, it has taken us 2 days to get out of washington. not making any benjamans this way.
***oh and during the weather in washington, latrope messaged us and ask how we were doing. and told us to be careful. one person in phoenix helps us too. she is the nicest person i've never met. she sometimes fixes things after hours. and when we sent a message about the weather problems she told us drive safe.*** so i know it is possible to have nice efficient people working for swift, but i wish it was more than 2.
snow and ice on the klamath river in klamath falls
love and miss you all.
