Stepping ahead

[tracer]

I'm going to post stuff here about switching from dry van to stepdeck, if someone is interested.

Did my last dry van run Friday, Aug-14th and was waiting to hear from the Wilson dealer, so that I could start heading to Moberly, MO to pick up the 48' RoadBrute. Called the dealer and they said the Moberly plant was closed on that Friday - no production - and people in the Wilson's main office in Iowa had no info what was going on and if my trailer was finished.

I already had the roof deflector taken off (the truck became lighter by ... 260 lbs) so going back to dry van didn't make sense. I told Flatbed dispatch I can do a couple of short flatbed trips with their trailer while waiting for mine to be ready and within 5 minutes they gave me a load of foam from the yard that was going to Connectitut. Someone else had picked it up and strapped it down so my job was just to deliver and unstrap No tarping, except there was a small shabby 'smoke tarp' (actually, a small 2 centuries old part of a 18 oz lumber tarp) and it took me 1/2 hr and 3 stops before I reached the border to make it stop flapping and scare the 4-wheelers

I unloaded near New London, CT on Monday and the new load offer they sent me said 'you are loading tomorrow from the same location where you delivered.' The funny thing is the load is the same foam/insulation (probably different size) and it goes to exactly the same location in Canada where the first load originated.

So, I'm sitting here waiting for them to tell me when to pull in the yard for loading.

[tracer]

Either by accident or on purpose, the first flatbed loads Dispatch gave me after dry van were relatively easy. This is the picture of the return load I picked up in CT today. The temperature was around 95F and I got soaked throwing straps, tightening them and positioning corner protectors under the straps with a long pole. I have no idea how much money I'm making on this, but it's 70% of whatever MacKinnon gets from the shipper.

[bikerboy]

i am gonna guess that is a service plaze on the MASS pike?

and you really should ask what a load pays before taking it.

[tracer]

i am gonna guess that is a service plaze on the MASS pike?

and you really should ask what a load pays before taking it.

Yes, it was on i-90 somewhere in Mass... As for the rate, it's a big secret at MacKinnon - believe it or not. We argued and argued but the first time I see the actual rate is on the Pay Statement 2 times a month. I know it sucks. I'm going to post the rate when I get the statement.

[tracer]

I left CT Monday with a load of insulation and drove towards Buffalo, NY. I have to tell you - after dry van even a load as easy as this takes some getting used to. Throwing straps for 2 hours made me feel tired by 9 pm and instead of using all available hours to reach the Canadian border, I shut down near Rochester, NY. My delivery in Toronto, ON was on the next time, "anytime before 2:30 pm".

Dispatch started bugging me around 10 am asking for ETA to the consignee. I told them "noon" and that was when I pulled in the receiving yard near Hwy 404 and Sheppard Ave. Well, I got unloaded, rolled up all the straps, hid away the smoke tarp, and sent the "load delivered" message to Dispatch.

So, I'm sitting in the truck waiting what to do next and Dispatch writes back, "Hang tight. We're going to get you reloaded at the same place. Talk to the shipper." I can't believe it - this is my 3rd load of insulation in a row! The good thing is I have 0 deadhead but the bad thing is the load is going to southern Ohio and it delivers "by 2:30 pm" on the next day. The distance is 570 miles.

The load planner wrote he already had a return load for me after Ohio and it is in Kentucky, just 15 miles from the Ohio place. I get a feeling I"m doing more miles here than with a dry van!

Today is Wednesday, Aug 19th and as I pulled in to Customs in Detroit, MI my e-log showed 25 minutes available in the 14 hr day. All this happened because I hadn't used up my hours on Tuesday. I was tired and common sense and rules of the road say "Take a break", but the hours of service evidently have nothing to do with common sense. In this case because I didn't drive till midnight on the previous day, my 14th hour ended way too soon.

It was dark and I sneaked over to the TA truck stop at exit 15 off 75 south (Monroe, MI) without getting caught. I needed a shower and Monroe was the only decent truck stop in the area. It was 10 pm but I got lucky and found a parking spot. It seemed it was the last one. Trucks were parked all over the place...

Heard good news today from the trailer dealer's rep. He called to say Wilson expects my stepdeck to be finished this Friday, Aug-21. I want to head out to MO plant after I get back from Kentucky on Friday with the return load (hope it's not insulation again). Dispatch said they'll "do our best" to find me something going west from Ontario, CA on the weekend.

[RostyC]

You'll get much faster at throwing straps, Tracer. I personally like to ball mine up and throw them like a ball over the load. Slinging them over the load can lead to shoulder problems for some later in life.

I pulled an insulation load once, hated it, other than it's light. I pulled mine out of Ohio, couldn't get on the turnpike because I was over 13'6. Clamped down on my straps and dumped the air out of my bags to get legal. Then when I stopped to check the load it was walking out the back of the trailer, thank God it was light enough to push back in and then cross strap it.

I was still pretty green at the time though.

Have fun Keep posting your experience.

[tracer]

You'll get much faster at throwing straps, Tracer. I personally like to ball mine up and throw them like a ball over the load. Slinging them over the load can lead to shoulder problems for some later in life.

I pulled an insulation load once, hated it, other than it's light. I pulled mine out of Ohio, couldn't get on the turnpike because I was over 13'6. Clamped down on my straps and dumped the air out of my bags to get legal. Then when I stopped to check the load it was walking out the back of the trailer, thank God it was light enough to push back in and then cross strap it.

I was still pretty green at the time though.

Have fun Keep posting your experience.

You probably picked up insulation in the same place where I delivered - Dow Chemical, Hanging Rock, OH. ...

I agree with the ball method of throwing straps - that's why I want to get straps for my trailer that have buckles not 1/2 tons of chain plus a hook at the end. They're much easier to work with.

[tracer]

Aug-20-09

I followed i-75 south to Dayton, OH and then took Hwy 35 south (east) to 23 south to Portsmough, OH (right next to the Kentucky border). I switched to 52 east and found the consignee with no problems in the town of Hanging Rock, OH just 25 miles east of 23/52 junction. They were closing at 2:30 pm and I barely made it.

When I sent the 'load delivered' message to Dispatch, they - as promised - quickly sent over the new load offer with the pickup in Kentucky. The shipper was only 14 miles away (in Wurtland, KY) but I had to do a detour along Hwy 23 to get to a bridge.

My GPS led me to the town of Ironton, and I see a sign that says, "Commercial trucks over 7'8" wide are prohibited on the bridge". What the heck? I come closer to the bridge and there's another sign with the same message. I'm probably 8'6" wide but can the bridge be this narrow? I have no idea where another bridge is and my appointment at the shipper is for 4 pm, just 30 minutes away. I look at the bridge from a block away and it looks fine: 2 lanes, cars are speeding back and forth ... I decide to follow the GPS directions and cross the bridge. The approach is very narrow but the bridge itself is okay, tight but not too bad. I breath out as I come to the stop sign after the bridge and here's where the adventure begins.

I do a couple of very tight turns at lights and see a sign "low bridge, 12'8" At first I panick but then remember that I'm pulling a flatbed and that I don't have a deflector on the roof. So, I pull forward, go round the bend towards this railway underpass and ... stop. Something wrong here.. The height is okay, but the road under the bridge is like a tunnel made out of concrete, and this tunnel is probably 8 feet wide! What's more, it's not straight and it curves to the left and there's no space before this tunnel to swing the truck in an arc. I'm stuck.

I put on my flashers and go out and look. No, I can't make it. As I turn back to the truck I see 2 cops walking towards me. And I'm thinking, "A ticket." and "These guys are fast." But the cops don't look hostile or anything. "It's not your fault. There's no signs", says Cop #1. Cop #2 meanwhile is blocking the traffic behind me and Cop #1 is now blocking the oncoming traffic from out of the tunnel/bridge. Cop #1 asks me to back up and make a u-turn in a small driveway off the road behind me. It looks doable and I do just that as passers-by gawk on ... "What the heck is this guy doing?" they're probably thinking.

I turn around and follow cops' directions to get to Hwy 23 on the Kentucky side. I reach the shipper without further complications...

I'm picking up steel products and the paperwork says, "tarp is required'. Mmm ... my first tarping. I back up into the warehouse and they load the stuff on the trailer with a crane. After I weigh at the yard scale (44,400 lbs) I pull into a special area for chaining/strapping/tarping...

2 hours later ... the load is strapped, two tarps are on top of it, and I'm soaked. It's 90 F outside and the so-called "steel tarps" MacKinnon uses on their trailers are 19.6' by 30'! The tarps are all 18 oz vinyl, with no flaps. To me they feel like they are 200 lbs each At least the load is quite dense and sits low, maybe 4 ft from the floor.

I change into shorts and another T-shirt in the truck, grab an empty bottle and head into the warehouse to finde some tap water. I see 2 guys chatting in the lunch room and I ask them where I can get drinking water. One of the guys says he wouldn't trust the local tap water and adds, "I have a bottle of water in the cooler in my car. I'll just give it to you." I say I have no change but he says he doesn't need any money. We go out to his car and in the trunk there's a huge cooler with a bunch of bottles. The guy gives me 2 (two) 500 ml bottles of water, ice-cold, and I can't thank him enough.

As I'm driving on the road 10 minutes later, with my A/C on full blast and a bottle of cold water in my hand, I begin to feel like a human being again Delivery is tomorrow in Milton, ON Canada anytime.

[jagerbomber3.0]

Sure sounds like the company you have is pretty stable for miles right now and you have a pretty quick acting load planner as well from what you are posting up. I'm impressed with the quickness they are getting you scheduled and reloaded. It's hard to find luck that good. i hope it keeps working for ya.

[allan5oh]

Then when I stopped to check the load it was walking out the back of the trailer, thank God it was light enough to push back in and then cross strap it.

Why didn't you cross strap it from the beginning? I've done a few of those loads. I use 2" straps to cross strap, and start with those. Make a big X at the back. If you start with those, the 4" straps hold the 2" straps on, because they can wiggle off and fall. Ask me how I know.

[allan5oh]

Nice easy load! Do you have your trailer yet?

We do a lot of grader blades, I use a 35 foot long tarp that weighs maybe 5 lbs. It's just to protect the stickers from flying off. I get paid $75 to tarp. Takes me 10 minutes to tarp and secure.

[tracer]

Nice easy load! Do you have your trailer yet?

We do a lot of grader blades, I use a 35 foot long tarp that weighs maybe 5 lbs. It's just to protect the stickers from flying off. I get paid $75 to tarp. Takes me 10 minutes to tarp and secure.

Wilson says they finished building it Friday, Aug-22. Now I'm just waiting for MacKinnon to give me a westbound flatbed load so that I can drop it somewhere in US and then pick up my step and put it on top of the flatbed. Would hate to scratch those brand new shiny 17.5" tires

35 ft long tarp weighing 5 lbs? Did you mean to write 3.5 ft long?

[tracer]

Sure sounds like the company you have is pretty stable for miles right now and you have a pretty quick acting load planner as well from what you are posting up. I'm impressed with the quickness they are getting you scheduled and reloaded. It's hard to find luck that good. i hope it keeps working for ya.

MacKinnon is a family-run company. They have about 250 company trucks and 20-30 owner-operator trucks. They've been in business since 1928 ... Nowadays they're letting the "kids" run the business. The planner is probably under 30, of the Mackinnon clan. Lots of energy and enthusiasm. Before he came onboard they only had work for flatbed trailers in the Platform division. Now it's okay to own a step too I know you're supposed to know what the freight pays BEFORE you say 'yes' or 'no' but I'm ready to disregard this minor drawback when I know they have the freight. I think the only way I'm leaving is when I have my own authority. And now - with my own truck and trailer - I'll be just one step away from that.

[BoyNextDoor]

now owning your own step deck is gonna be fine and dandy, but will it effect your loads at all? afterall, you can't just drop it anywhere and get a different trailer... or were you married to a trailer beforehand all the time anyways?

[klleetrucking]

Just a suggestion, Mr. Tracer when you get your own trailer.
I take my straps completly off the trailer and roll them up "flat hook out" that way when you throw, you're not throwing the weight of the hook plus the strap. If that makes sense. Plus, if they're rolled tight enough I can get 10, 30 footers in a plastic milk crate.

[RostyC]

Why didn't you cross strap it from the beginning? I've done a few of those loads. I use 2" straps to cross strap, and start with those. Make a big X at the back. If you start with those, the 4" straps hold the 2" straps on, because they can wiggle off and fall. Ask me how I know.

I didn't realize that stuff could walk like that, and it's funny because the other drivers I was watching didn't cross strap either. Like I said I was still pretty green at that time. I had two 4" straps across the rear and it was the bottom hack that walked out. Thanks for the tip with putting the 4" straps over the 2" straps, if I ever haul that stuff again I'll definitely remember that.

If for some reason I forget though, just look the driver trying to shove insulation back on the trailer, and then stop and buy me a coffee.

[allan5oh]

I had one load of this plastic stuff, that goes around windows. It was a real bear, I used something like 24 straps. And it still wasn't legal because it was stacked four high, and I did absolutely no belly strapping. Couldn't be done anyways, all of the freight was different heights.

After a few hours the back started to blow out. I had to cross strap, even though it was going to damage the freight. IMO it's always better to damage the freight then have it all over the highway! Safety department agreed with what I did. Haven't heard if they made a claim. You have to do what you have to do.

[tracer]

now owning your own step deck is gonna be fine and dandy, but will it effect your loads at all? afterall, you can't just drop it anywhere and get a different trailer... or were you married to a trailer beforehand all the time anyways?

Yeah, that can be a problem. When we pull their trailers, they change them all the time. With my own step, I will have less flexibility in this regard but I also won't have to fight their 2,000,000 lb tarps since I'm going to use lightweight material on mine.

[tracer]

Just a suggestion, Mr. Tracer when you get your own trailer.
I take my straps completly off the trailer and roll them up "flat hook out" that way when you throw, you're not throwing the weight of the hook plus the strap. If that makes sense. Plus, if they're rolled tight enough I can get 10, 30 footers in a plastic milk crate.

Great tip, thanks! I"m going to buy straps with flat hooks. It's much easier throwing them over tall loads. Keeping them rolled up in a cargo compartment makes sense too: 1) they'll stay clean; 2) less chance of them "walking away"

[tracer]

August 24th, 2009
Monday

I delivered that Kentucky load to a place in Milton, ON; 20 mi away from our yard. They were closed Sat and Sun and Dispatch said I'd have to go there Monday myself. Did that and they ask me - do I want to keep working? They explain they have a load for Chicago that will take me towards the Wilson plant in Moberly, MO but that load leaves only on Wednesday. The load offer they sent me is for 285 miles from Brampton, ON to North Jackson, OH (near Youngstown) and it requires tarping. So, I reply "No. I don't want to keep working. If you have anything westbound earlier than Wednesday, I'll take it. If not, I'll leave on Wednesday." And I also send them a "load declined" macro (message). And ... all hell breaks loose I show up at our yard and the load planner is upset because he doesn't want me to sit in the yard "whole week" (monday till wednesday) when they have so much work, and that they're helping me out by giving me a trailer and that if I choose to sit they can't guarantee that Wednesday load for Chicago will be given to me. So, basically, they blackmail/bulldoze me into taking the Ohio run.

I've bobtailed to Brampton, picked up our preloaded trailer with aluminum logs, threw one steel tarp over it, and was on my way to Ohio. I'm told I already have another load coming back to Ontario and then I can take off for Chicago and Wilson plant on Wednesday, Aug-26th.

I checked my old pay slips from the flatbed time last year and a similar run (Brampton, ON to Youngstown, OH) in August 2007 paid $675 to MacKinnon and $472.50 (70%) to the truck. The distance is roughly 320 miles incl. deadhead. Fuel surcharge is extra.

Trailers Canada finally confirmed today my step is ready for pickup in MO. The salesman also said he might have another stepdeck (at Iowa plant) that he might ask me to bring to Canada. If I bring 2 trailers instead of one, they said they'd pay me something on top of the US$1,500 fee promised for one trailer. Since each trailer weighs at least 10,000 lbs, I definitely won't do it for free (distance from the MO plant to Canada is 800 miles and they I'd have to drive over to the Iowa plant).

I also talked to a local tarp shop today about load levellers and they cost around 800 bucks for a pair. Need to call them with my credit card number, so that they can order them. They should be ready to be picked up by the time I bring the step to Canada.