dont ignore/hate the people who dont drive flatbed.were truckers 2.
im not found of falling off the step of the truck let alone climbing up 13 feet and falling straight to the ground.
dont forget to put the equipment issue in the survey they sent you novacane if we all right it in mayb theyll get the idea. flatbed and van driver alike.

 

I would never say that or even think it, shoot I got my start with van and enjoyed it greatly(and would take my first job back in a heart beat!). If I sound as though I am "putting down" van drivers, then I am coming off the wrong way, I just happen to love pulling a skateboard, it's simply my preference. It's just when I picture a "trucker" in my mind, like when someone tells me their husband drives a truck, or I hear something about a truck driver in a song or whatever, my mental picture is of a flatbed.

It probably has something to do with the fact my favorite uncle drove flatbed, and every time he would pull up, that's what I would see, I used to get so excited to hear the whine of a turbo coming down my grandfather's long driveway(it's almost a mile long, and this was the grandfather that recently passed away) and to see the dust from the gravel road cover everything alongside the road, you could see the "dust storm" long before you could see the truck.

But I never meant to "put down" van drivers, and I have to admit that I won't rule them out when it comes to driving, especially after what I heard today, which is something that I would almost certainly get in trouble for posting in a public place like this considering I have been "warned" by other people about what I say on here, so sorry if I offended any van drivers, I never meant to sound that way.

Now, for all the suggestions on the truck batteries, I appreciate it, but I talked with other drivers and they told me not to mess with it unless maintenance specifically tells me to, or I might be the one that is having to pay for the repairs, so I am weary about messing with it unless I am told to, but I appreciate everyone trying to help. On a side note, I have heard that if I have a flat and it's damaged enough that it can't be recapped, or fixed, then I would be charged $150 for it. Now I admit that I have searched the Roehl "bible" over and over trying to find something that confirms this, and I can't, so for now it's only a rumor, can anyone confirm this either way?

Now back to "my day". So far since I have been letting the icon run the truck, no battery problems. But anyway, I had a load of insulation when I left off, and I made it to the relay point, to find the other driver there waiting since last night, cool, normally I am the one having to wait. We swapped trailers, and done all the normal things you do when you relay.

I sat there for about half an hour and finally get tired of waiting, so I send in a message asking what was going on, and could I at least get an address so I can get on the road. The other driver only got the information on where to relay with me, so he had no idea where it was going either.

An hour later and I have been there a hour and a half, and still no address. Now I am sure that most are thinking why weren't you on the phone, or sending message after message trying to get the information. The answer to that is, that they were sending me messages, many of them, 3 load comments, 2 additional load comments, something about blind billing, and so on. The thing is that the messages were arriving a few minutes apart. Like I would get one, then 5 minutes later another, then 15 minutes later another, then 10 another, you get the point. The thing is that I just assumed they were getting everything in order and were sending stuff as fast as they could, and that the information I needed would be coming any minute.

Two and a half hours after my arrival, I got a call with an angry dispatcher asking why I was still sitting there and not on my way. I told him that I didn't even know what direction to head in, and that they hadn't sent me anything telling me, just the load comments and such. Turns out the other driver forgot to send in the macro letting them know I have the load, so they didn't realize that I was hooked up, and they thought they would send me all the information they could thinking I wasn't even hooked to the trailer yet, so in their eyes and from what they knew, they were on top of it, but in reality, I was waiting. As soon as they found out the problem, I got my address and directions, and was on my way.

Well, I was few hours into the trip when mother nature started to call my name loud and clear, and I noticed that a rest area was just ahead. I was contemplating whether to stop or not when the qualcom beeped, so I took it as a sign to pull over, so I could kill two birds with one stone. I emptied the bladder and went back to the truck to see what the message was.

It said "stop, call dispatch asap". Uh oh, I feel another bI$& session coming on. I call, and dispatch said wait a minute, the boss wants to listen in on the line, now I know it's gonna be bad. Well dispatch didn't say much but boss was yelling constantly wanting to know why my appointment times have been being set back 2 hours most every load.

I explained that shippers refuse to load the truck the way that I want them to, I have tried southern charm, being a a$$hole, being forceful, you name it and I have tried it. But they know everything, and I am just a girl, and I can't count the times that I have been told "we load a hundred trucks a day like this, don't you worry, it will be fine".

Well, add to that the fact that shippers won't let you leave the property unless you are tarped if it's required(90% of my loads are required to be tarped). So I have to watch them load it to where I KNOW my steers are gonna be over weight, strap it, tarp it, THEN I have to drive to the nearest scale(most of my shippers rarely have scales on the property unless it's a steel load, and they know how to load the trailer) get the ticket proving the steers are over, return, un-tarp, un-strap, put the tarps up out of the way(tow motors can't just run over them after you get them off the load). Plus most of the time, they are busy with another truck, and can't get to me, so I have to sit and wait for the load to be re-distributed.

After they get done loading it the right way, I have to strap and tarp again, and hope that the second time around will scale out ok, and most of the time it does. But because the shippers won't listen to me, what should take 2 hours to get loaded and tarped and on the road, turns into 4 to 5 hours depending on how far away the scales are, and how busy the shipper is.

Now keep in mind he is reaming me out over the phone, and dispatch is saying nothing, not a peep. The boss says "well, did you inform dispatch that this was a problem?" I said I sure did, EVERY single time, and not just after they loaded me, but while they were loading me, hoping that maybe he could call and tell them my truck is funny or something to make them believe me. Finally, the boss asked dispatch if that was true, and he says, "well, yeah, now that I think about it, she did call about that several times". Of course this makes no difference.

Then I get chewed out about the batteries. Boss says "well if you have been having problems with your truck, why didn't you bring it by a terminal?". I told him that it had been an ongoing problem and if he would look over the qualcom records he would see just how many times I have complained about it, AND I DID finally get to bring it into the terminal, and they didn't do anything about it. Again dispatch is quiet, and when boss asks him about it, he says yeah, she is telling the truth, and told him when and where I took the truck to be looked at. Keep in mind that he has been chewing me out for 34 minutes straight with no help from dispatch except when specifically asked.

Well, boss doesn't care, tells me I am on the bubble, and it's about to pop. Then tells me that they will try and have the truck looked at next week, and that I would be leaving the truck at the terminal and taking a loaner, so that should be really nice, I just hope this ones not as bad as the last loaner.


Anyway, that was yesterday, and today I decided to start fresh. The next time the shipper won't load the trailer correctly, I will do something, and I will get drastic if I have to, these guys are gonna cause me to lose my job. My only other choice is to do it once, and run it illegally, which is just stupid to consider. So today I didn't get to exercise my new attitude since I am hauling fiberglass hoods out of Columbus again, and they can't be loaded wrong. And it's a decent run, so my new start is off to a good one.


I also mentioned that if they didn't have a bolt preventing the 5th wheel from moving(it has a sliding 5th wheel, but won't let it work) that none of this would be a problem most likely since I could probably adjust it out. He said that they prevented the 5th wheel from moving because too many drivers were damaging trucks from having it adjusted too far up, and then changing trailers that would hit the truck during a hard turn because they forgot to slide it back where it is "supposed" to go. So even though I have a sliding 5th wheel, it doesn't work, and it would make a lot of difference to me at this point.

 

Why do you put up with that crap? I'd be finding a new company yesterday if they bitched at me like that.

 

Because I like the company, I know that sounds stupid, but keep in mind that I have had some really good times with them as well, and so far the good still out weighs the bad, but I must admit I have looked other places, and am considering a few of them.

Plus, it's kinda my fault I guess, I mean, I should have found a way to make the shippers load the trailer right. But I have tried and tried to make them listen, and only get through to them 10 percent of the time, I need to make that 100, I just don't know how I am gonna do it.

It all boils down to the fact that I have to buckle down, and get things done, if I have to continue to re-tarp the loads, I will just have to start getting it done quicker I guess.

 

i was being sarcastic about ignoring van drivers, but the fact remains you r on a one way course. they hav identified you as a problem. over and over again. youll find all this stress goes away when you switch to van.
for what ever reason your not gettin the job done from what u said they said with a flatbed.
so be an adult with somewhat of a rational thought process, make the switch to the van division at roehl or another flat company not because pulling flatbed to you is cool but rather this a job and it must be treated as such. i understand you have an idea on what a truck driver schould be or what they/you schould pull. hell even my grandfather drove a truck way bac in day onehand on the steering wheel onehand holdin the whisky but u dont c me holdin no whisky. Thats not being realistic. and the end result is your just closing doors on yourself. do yourself and yur family a favor follow the path of least resistance, roehl is definetly one of the better carriers out here. on yur day off take awhile and think about what you really wanna accomplish out here i hope you come to the answer of gettin paid.

thanks thatl be 500 for the advice no charge for common sense

 

Granted the stress of flatbed specific problems will go away with a switch to van, but driving and switching to van brings other stress along with it. Getting used to the whole van delivery process, I don't know anything about lumpers, or how the whole delivery process is made. I have a pretty good idea, and would be able to figure it out, but in the first couple weeks, it would add stress learning the van world details. Add to that the fact that I would be away from home even longer, and the stress reason is out the door. Plus I wouldn't be doing what I want to do, and what I am capable of, this isn't a problem just for me, I have my little circle of friends that drive van and flatbed, and I am not alone when it comes to these little problems, I am just the only one who posts about them.

I will admit, that in the long run van would make me more money, as a matter of fact, one of my best friends who has drove van for 13 years, and is a O/O for Roehl just made the switch to van, and his miles have almost doubled. It took him from barely scratching by, to having plenty of money left over through the week and is very happy.

I also have to admit that I am so fed up at this point, that if they offered me the same home time, I would probably go ahead and switch over. At the same time, I figure if I am going to be away from home twice as much, and have to switch to van, I might as well go with one of many companies that will let me take Chris with me, AND pay me 6-12cpm more than I make now.

I don't know how to go about quiting even if I did want to make a company switch. I know they don't provide you with a ride home if you quit, and quitting under a load is a major DAC no no, plus they don't deserve it. Neither of my cars are reliable enough to make it to Atlanta, let alone Gary or Marshfield. Chris's car is more or less a race car, and would cost $200 for the trip. My camaro is a POS and is only good for going around town. Now don't get me wrong, it would probably make it, but if it didn't, the tow bill would bankrupt me.

I just don't know what to do, all I know is if the shippers would listen to me, and the truck would start when it's supposed to, then I wouldn't have these problems any more. There's no problem with load securement or driving, and the only other thing I know I did wrong was forgetting to send in the macro's after I arrived at a place.

Macro's aren't a problem any more, I haven't missed one since I got in trouble, and if they fix my truck next week like they say they will, then all I have to do is figure out how to make the shipper load the truck like I want them to, instead of the way they want to. If I can't make the change for all these problems this week, then I will sacrifice my and my families happiness and needs and switch to van and be gone a lot more than now, with a little better paycheck to show for it.(hopefully)

 

these r all exuces i wouldnt expect you to go and switch to van and roll 35oo miles a week i would expect yo to try out south regional.
in order to quit all you have to do is write up a 2 week or less notice minium24 hrs fax it in from a truckstop. dont forget your confirmation page.theyll route you were you need to be maybe before the 2 weeks are up just for spite.
as far as stress its no harder then picking up a load and delevering it on time on time on time. your capable of being a rocket scientist as all of us r but we decided to be truckdrivers instead.
my last advice to you on this thread of yours.you know what you need to do suck it up and get it done.
good luck!

 

I can't do southeast regional in van, if I could I would switch just to see if I might be happier. They only offer(at least when I got hired anyway, and I am pretty sure it hasn't changed, let me know if it has) national for vans where I live. I think they have a SE regional van division, but you have to live within 150 miles of ellenwood, and I live just over 200, so I would have to go national and be out 7-10 days at a time minimum.

When you say that they will route me by where I need to be, do you mean the ellenwood terminal, or home? I understand what you are saying, but being home every weekend is a need, not a want, and I can't really bend on that, maybe every once and a while, but not every week. It doesn't even have to be the weekend, just home every week to take care of things that only I can do.

Since you drive van, what is your average trip length, load, and unload times? Where do you live, and do you get home every weekend? How many times have you had to fingerprint a load? Do you ever have to get the load redistributed, or do you just adjust the tandems to make up for it? Where do most of your loads pick up and deliver to, stores, warehouses, terminals............

Thanks for all the help Ken

 

You put up with more crap and lower pay than just about anyone i have seen on this board!!! If you are dead set on flatbed and really actually would like to make a change...need to be home everyweekend and want some good money.......please go to TMC or Maverick.....your stories amaze me on a weekly basis. i dont mean that to sound rude...but WOW....you have quite the list of stories and very few are good......go to a flatbed company if you want to stay with flatbed and make it without going crazy.

 

You need to start looking on your "have to be home" weekends for a local stakebed truck job. Like delivering for Home Depot, etc. That way, you're home every night as well as weekends and you still get to strap loads and maybe even tarp some if that's what you feel you need to do. Don't need to worry about how many miles you drive a week, being overweight, or anything. Hell, even try at Sears. That way you've got an all day window to wander around before you finally bump into the house waiting for that new stove instead of those pesky set delivery times. Not as awe-inspiring as getting to tell people "I'm a woman flat-bedder", but should fulfill your "needs". Just a thought.