What would you do, honestly?

[Whirlwind]

I, uh, for some reason assumed '####ing off' started with a 'J' :rubeyes:

Naw, it was the P word. That gets filtered here.

Whoa, .. wait a minute....

Did that dude say he's married to his sister??

Good catch. I've always wondered how many other people caught that.

 

[Duck]

OK so I get to a drop/hook shipper. Load ain't ready. My trailer is still in their "empty" lot. It'll be a while.

So I bobtailed 4 miles to this little truck stop. I saw a Trans Am bobtail in a pull-thru. I pulled in behind him. He was sitting in his drivers seat. Thinking of this thread, I tapped on his window & asked if he don't mind sharing the spot. (Could be waiting for a relay & holding a spot for somebody with a trailer).

Of course he didn't mind, ... but then I got stuck talking to him for 20 minutes. Actually listening to him talk, .. with what sounded like a British accent, so strong I could only understand maybe every 5th or 6th word. And he was a yappaholic on top of that.

Yap yap yap yap yap yap yap....

I still have no idea what the hell he was talking about. Something about police & e-logs and loads not being ready on time, Philadelphia, and a pallet with 4 boxes on it.

 

[RonS1985]

Last night I had a situation upon me that I hadn't encountered yet, happen.

I dropped my trailer at a DC and was told that they had no empty trailers for me to take.
No biggie, that happens occasionally.
I noticed that there were s handfull of other Swift trucks in the same situation.
There is a Flying J about 6 miles away that we all ended up at, in New Caney, TX.
Of course, when I/we rolled in, there were no spots open and there we all were, browsing the lot for an open space.
I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time though, and while waiting for some dude do 20 pull ups (not a Swifty) to squeeze into the only spot open, I noticed in my mirror a truck pulling out just behind me. Cool!
I quickly backed into the vacated spot, and parked.
A few minutes later another Swift bobtail stopped in front of me. He came to my door a politely asked me if I would let him park in behind my truck, as there were no other open spaces.
We discussed for a few minutes about hours remaining, load assignment, etc. Neither of us had a load assignment yet, and we were both almost out of hours.
He was a young, clean cut guy, and seemed polite enough, so I not only let him in, but I just backed in farther and let him park in front of me.

I wonder if it would have been a different company driver, or if the dude was a scumbag if I would have let him in.

What would you have done, HONESTLY, and is there any reason that I should not have let him in.
I don't believe in the "I've got mine, you get yours" mentality.
I do believe in the "golden rule" though.

I know if I was in that kids shoes, I would have greatly appreciated it.

Well, I've been given a gift to get a bead on people within just a few minutes of speaking to them (only in person). You said you did talk for a bit. I would have instinctively sized him up and let my best judgement prevail. Although I am the type to feel for other's plight and usually do help people because I'd like it done for me. But I have no problem saying no to someone who I feel is a complete jerk. Looks are deceiving. I've met people who are jerks that are clean cut and I've met people who were very nice once u got past their tough exterior. I take each person on a case-by-case basis, but I lean towards helping.


Falcon 1

 

[Wanderingaimlessly]

I would share with anyone who had the balls to ask nicely. If you have ever been to Laredo, Tx you will see tons of bobtails parked in single spots. I would do the same in trying to find who might be needing to leave first.

 

[Mike]

I would share with anyone who had the balls to ask nicely. If you have ever been to Laredo, Tx you will see tons of bobtails parked in single spots. I would do the same in trying to find who might be needing to leave first.

Bobtails have overtaken the truck stops in Laredo.

 

[Wanderingaimlessly]

Must be for the tacos, because it sure isn't for the truck stop restaurants.

 

[Mike]

Must be for the tacos, because it sure isn't for the truck stop restaurants.

Taco wagons are pretty good over by the J, not as good as home cookin', but not bad.

 

[Tim]

Taco wagons are pretty good over by the J, not as good as home cookin', but not bad.

Go about 15 miles south and there even better.

 

[Duck]

Bobtails have overtaken the truck stops in Laredo.

Waiting for their trailers to return from Mexico probably.

 

[Mike]

Waiting for their trailers to return from Mexico probably.

Yes, some of them guys sit down there for several days waiting on a trailer.

 

[Injun]

Go about 15 miles south and there even better.

Food, Tim. FOOD. Not girls.

 

[Tim]

Food, Tim. FOOD. Not girls.

Oh my bad.............sorry...........

 

[krelithous]

Ide have no problem sharing a spot but the bunk is where ide draw the line And you can bet your ass ide be watching to make sure they didnt crash into me:tumbleweed:

 

[Duck]

Taco wagons are pretty good over by the J, not as good as home cookin', but not bad.

Go about 15 miles south and there even better.

Food, Tim. FOOD. Not girls.

Oh my bad.............sorry...........

You were thinking of the wrong kind of taco.

 

[passingtrucker]

Whoa, .. wait a minute.... Did that dude say he's married to his sister??

No, he said "…I'm married to the farmer's daughter."

…I dropped my trailer at a DC and was told that they had no empty trailers for me to take.… A few minutes later another Swift bobtail…

There's the key terms; "dropped my trailer" and "bobtail." You pull into a crowded truck stop to find other drivers in the same situation (no loads available), and IMO this is a depressing environment. Myself, I bobtail over to the nearest Walmart, shopping complex, or indoor shopping mall and just browse at merchandise (usually never buy anything except food snacks) or watch the latest movie at the big-screen theater. Some companies (e.g. JB Hunt) will dispatch you a load IF you can find an empty trailer. Unless you don't mind wasting an entire day making no $$, the prudent option is to drive over to known Swift clients with Swift trailers on their property and see if you can find an empty trailer that they had neglected to call your company to let them know an empty trailer is available. In most cases, your company will leave empty trailers at customer clients' property in hope they'd pre-load it with the most recent shipment orders.
Once you've procured an empty trailer, you call dispatch and see if he/she will deadhead you to pickup a live-load shipment within 300 miles radius of your location.

 

[Kiwi303]

Are you kidding, that's the first thing that popped into my head. Then I scrolled down & saw that Tim already did it.

Not mine tho, through I wasn't joined up when that first came round, I just started reading an old thread that popped up in the "new posts" notification...

My first thought was "do you need a hole in your head" as referenced to the Tomahawk Trail thread with Injuns hubbies surgery....

But then, THAT hadn't happened back then in March either....

 

[Rigjockey]

Not mine tho, through I wasn't joined up when that first came round, I just started reading an old thread that popped up in the "new posts" notification...

My first thought was "do you need a hole in your head" as referenced to the Tomahawk Trail thread with Injuns hubbies surgery....

But then, THAT hadn't happened back then in March either....

Great, Ya. I had forgot about all of that. I had to go back and read the posts. Thanks for re hashing that. lol

 

[Injun]

No, he said "…I'm married to the farmer's daughter."

There's the key terms; "dropped my trailer" and "bobtail." You pull into a crowded truck stop to find other drivers in the same situation (no loads available), and IMO this is a depressing environment. Myself, I bobtail over to the nearest Walmart, shopping complex, or indoor shopping mall and just browse at merchandise (usually never buy anything except food snacks) or watch the latest movie at the big-screen theater. Some companies (e.g. JB Hunt) will dispatch you a load IF you can find an empty trailer. Unless you don't mind wasting an entire day making no $$, the prudent option is to drive over to known Swift clients with Swift trailers on their property and see if you can find an empty trailer that they had neglected to call your company to let them know an empty trailer is available. In most cases, your company will leave empty trailers at customer clients' property in hope they'd pre-load it with the most recent shipment orders.
Once you've procured an empty trailer, you call dispatch and see if he/she will deadhead you to pickup a live-load shipment within 300 miles radius of your location.

You obviously don't know anything about how Swift operates and, beside that, the O/P wasn't asking for an empty trailer. He was asking whether you'd share a parking spot or not.

Going and randomly bugging customers for trailers is a really great way to get fired.

 

[Duck]

Going and randomly bugging customers for trailers is a really great way to get fired.

Gotta use the "right hand doesn't know what left hand is doing" loop-hole. It's gotta work to your advantage sometimes.

Go to a drop/hook customer & tell the guard shack guy that you were sent there by dispatch to get an empty trailer. If they ask for a specific trailer number, say "We don't know, I was just supposed to have one released". That'll probably work. If they dont' ask for a specific trailer number, just go in & find one that's empty & has 8 good tires on it & get the hell outta there. Then call the company, dial the extension for a dispatcher other than the one you've been dealing with & say "I was trying to call (name of regular dispatcher) but I guess he's out to lunch or on another line. No big deal, I just needed to tell him I'm empty & available for reload." Don't mention how you got the trailer or even that you were without one for a while. If they ask what trailer you have, give them the number of the one you had previously.

Go get loaded. Once loaded, send a free-form Qualcomm message saying "Correction: I gave the wrong trailer number by mistake. My current trailer number is ..." and give them the right one.

I did that a couple times in Virginia. Even a small fleet like mine with 180 trucks & 250 trailers will have the "right hand/left hand" communication failures you can exploit in these situations. So what if I happened to pull out a trailer they needed for another load. If dispatch had done their jobs correctly I wouldn't have been sitting there with no trailer & they'd have ended up bobtailing me 90 miles to the VA terminal for one anyway, so what's the difference if they gotta send the local "shag" driver up there with an empty to replace the one I grabbed? Same amount of unnecessary miles, except the "shag" driver gets paid hourly for that crap & I don't.

 

[Rigjockey]

Gotta use the "right hand doesn't know what left hand is doing" loop-hole. It's gotta work to your advantage sometimes.

Go to a drop/hook customer & tell the guard shack guy that you were sent there by dispatch to get an empty trailer. If they ask for a specific trailer number, say "We don't know, I was just supposed to have one released". That'll probably work. If they dont' ask for a specific trailer number, just go in & find one that's empty & has 8 good tires on it & get the hell outta there. Then call the company, dial the extension for a dispatcher other than the one you've been dealing with & say "I was trying to call (name of regular dispatcher) but I guess he's out to lunch or on another line. No big deal, I just needed to tell him I'm empty & available for reload." Don't mention how you got the trailer or even that you were without one for a while. If they ask what trailer you have, give them the number of the one you had previously.

Go get loaded. Once loaded, send a free-form Qualcomm message saying "Correction: I gave the wrong trailer number by mistake. My current trailer number is ..." and give them the right one.

I did that a couple times in Virginia. Even a small fleet like mine with 180 trucks & 250 trailers will have the "right hand/left hand" communication failures you can exploit in these situations. So what if I happened to pull out a trailer they needed for another load. If dispatch had done their jobs correctly I wouldn't have been sitting there with no trailer & they'd have ended up bobtailing me 90 miles to the VA terminal for one anyway, so what's the difference if they gotta send the local "shag" driver up there with an empty to replace the one I grabbed? Same amount of unnecessary miles, except the "shag" driver gets paid hourly for that crap & I don't.