I don't know if your an OO or not but I like to get loads from Zrate periodically.

New York City?!?!?! Get a rope... (For those who didn't catch that reference, watch this: This Stuff's Made In New York City!!! Pace Thick & Chunky - YouTube )
We don't have stores in NYC, so I don't have that problem. As for 'east coast,' I don't care for the actual coastal areas. Give me the hills and hollers of Wild, Wonderful Worst Virginia any day. That said, if I get a run to the north or to the coast, I run it. I may not like it, but I'll do it. I know that dispatch will make up for it somewhere somehow. The dispatcher I have now may pull some stupid stunts, but she's never lied to me. Neither have the previous ones I've had. When it comes to who gets what load, sometimes it's bad luck and sometimes it's good luck.

This reminds me of a run I was supposed to do several years ago. (Mind you, I run on a dedicated account based in South Boston, VA, as did my friend) I was pre-assigned a two-stop load to Middlesex, NC and Sneads Ferry, NC. It paid around $300 and one could do most of that run in a day. Don, on the other hand, had a 3- or 4-stop load that only went to Lynchburg and Madison Heights, which only paid $150ish, but would take 6 less hours to do. Since Don liked to spin the odometer more than me (and I knew my way around Lynchburg, as I was raised 10 miles away), he called and fussed at our former dispatcher, who switched our trips. I thought nothing more of it until I returned to the yard. I checked my phone, and there was a message. I called Don back and he sounded a bit irritated. He said "You'll never guess what I found in my trailer today." I said, "Ok, gimme three guesses. Either A) manure (which had been found in a tote by the ladies at the Vansant, VA store some years back), B) a snake (which had been found in a rolltainer at the Buena Vista, VA store, and in a rolltainer at the Wakefield, VA store) or C) a stowaway (which none of us have found, to my knowledge)." He said, "Well, you got one right." My prophetic response? "Oh crap..."

Warning: Those with weak stomachs and Pringles addictions should quit reading now.

Somebody did their business in one end of a case of Pringles (which are open on each end) and threw the strikin' paper in the other end. I'm sure our dispatcher heard more four-letter words in their phone conversation that I've heard all year. To my knowledge, the person who did that was not caught or punished. When I was on the phone with Don, he said "I reckon that's what I get for griping about a [figuratively] crappy load."

OMG! I'm surprised to hear that ANYbody likes driving the mountains! They're HORRID! The company I'm with now only runs east, except for the flatbed part of the company. They get to go to California and they get the great runs that go on the really great roads, I-80, I-65, I-57. You get it, the nice straight, flat roads. LOVE 'EM! I ran I-80 from Illinois to California for a while on a different company. Other than the salt flats, the runs were just special. I got spoiled.

Now I'm with crap company that the dispatchers have no idea what it's like to be on a truck and really try to screw with the drivers. The one I've got now is a real stupid B. Example, got a run taking me home. She doesn't know the area but wouldn't take my advice in regards to where to take the truck for the night and where to fuel (no parking in the delivery area). She told me to take it 37 miles away to a drop yard, multiple tolls, but to get fuel in the middle of the big metropolis where I live. She is so stupid that she didn't know the gas/fuel station isn't in the Pilot network (no company discount), does not accommodate trucks and with the major construction projects and low overpasses, turned out to be impossible to access. If I had gone the other way, 35 miles, a safe Pilot, in the Pilot network (could have gotten company discount), 10 miles away from where I live, no tolls.

I could also have gotten fuel a few miles away from the drop yard, but she insisted I go to the one in the middle of the city. What a dumb _ _ _ _ _! Just one of many such instances of her trying to screw with me.

The dispatch office is so abusive, when you first start with the company, they go so far as to dispatch you to a hard to find address and then disconnect the navigation system. Then you can hear them laughing in the background when you call. Threatening to call the office in the morning to let them know how the drivers are being treated sure straightens them up quickly.