4/8/09

In a day and age when the news tends to be bad more often than it is good, I'm going to throw a little curveball here. As long as the bona fide geniuses who run our government are in charge, and as long as the companies think it's a good idea to sink money into projects like this one, I'm inclined to think that the auto industry is in for some rough times. However, a recent article by that odd little Mitch Albom fella tells us that one man back home is standing behind them. Insignificant? Sure, in the grand scheme of things. It's exactly as insignificant as the company deciding not to spend the advertising money in the first place. Merely symbolism? Yeah, pretty much. As symbolic in making Ilitch look good as the advertising was in making GM look bad. But you know what? He's doing something. Mr. Ilitch used his own judgment and did what he thought was right, using his own money, instead of running to Debbie Stabenow or Barack Obama for a handout or a subsidy. (You listening, Mr. Gates?) As soon as the rest of the country starts approaching things this way, we'll start to hear more good news than bad. So buy an extra hot dog the next time you're at Comerica Park.

Today began with a quick hop over to the consignee in Milton. It was nice to see that they are such big Notre Dame fans, naming their company after the head coach and whatnot...

After I checked in and the guy told me to talk to the lumpers, I headed out and backed into the dock. Then I headed inside and got the good news. The shipper has made arrangements to handle the unloading so I didn't have to pay a lumper. Any time I can get by without loaning money to my employer, I take this as good news.

I got an assignment while I was at the dock, for a load picking up in Mechanicsburg and heading to Ohio. Given my intended home time in the near future, we can take this as bad news. More on that later. I had to go down to a trucking company in Cumberland and get a sticker to put on my trailer before I could make the pickup. That was easy enough. Once my trailer was properly stickered, I was told to stay in the area but not to go to the shipper until receiving word that the load was ready. Okay then. Or maybe not so okay then...

Pennsylvania has these weird little things called hills and mountains all over the place. Scouting out a location to hide a 70 foot long vehicle tends to be a challenge when you can't see more than a quarter mile in any direction. I hopped on the turnpike and headed toward Mechanicsburg, thinking that I could duck off at one of the parking areas along the highway. I didn't see any such areas before my exit was coming up, but I did spot a warehouse under construction. Good deal. Finding the warehouse... well, that was a different story. The first right turn off the freeway had signs saying that no trucks were allowed. I doubt that I could have made that turn anyway. It looked pretty tight. After going north for a half mile, then east on another state highway for a half mile, I found an entrance to the office park where I thought I might find the empty warehouse. I went all the way through and never saw the warehouse in question.

I decided to take a second trip through the office park and just park on the road if I didn't find anything better. I saw a sign for a construction company with an arrow pointing to a skinny driveway going up a big hill. That couldn't be the company building the empty warehouse, could it? One way to find out. Up we go. Haha, I found 'er! Only five miles from the shipper too. How 'bout them apples?

As my 1pm appointment approached, I still had not received the go ahead to make the pickup. I sent a message asking if my 1pm appointment was a firm arrival time. The reply said that I just need to let them know when I'm released with the load. Yeah, thanks for nothing there. I needed to know if I was supposed to continue waiting or if I needed to be at the shipper by 1pm. So I sent another message asking for clarification. I never got a reply. At 12:50pm, I received the automatic message saying that my arrival call had not been received and that I needed to send it once i arrived at the customer. Here we go... This time around I opted for a phone call to sort out the situation. After a few minutes on hold, I was told to head to the shipper. Whatever dude.

I went through the trailer inspection process and then gave my pickup number to the shipping boss. My number coincided with a shipment that had been cancelled. Good deal. I hung around for a while, thinking that I would likely have to get back on the board and wait for a new assignment. Then the shipping guy said that there was another shipment going to the same consignee. It was supposed to be taken by another carrier but they had screwed up and put it on one of our trailers. Works for me.

I made my drop/hook there and then headed west. Nice easy 12,000 pound load and fairly light traffic in the hills. Good deal. The delays throughout the day conspired to make sure that my 14 hour clock would run out before I reached Columbus, so I couldn't get all the way to the consignee tonight. In reality though, I probably was going to stop before Columbus anyway. I'm not sure if I could have parked at the consignee. This nice big rest area on I-70 is always a reliable place to find a parking spot at night.

So I'll head past Columbus and make my delivery in the morning. Then we get to do the good old home time dance. I have some engagements planned for next Wednesday. This would mean that Friday will be five days before I want to get home. This would mean that tomorrow is the 'play it safe' date for me to send in my request. Sending my request tomorrow could very well earn me an unpaid ticket directly home without passing 'GO.' This would be bad. I could wait and try to grab one more load and get a little further from home before sending my request. It would be helpful to make a few more bucks this week (only 900 miles so far). Then, with the weekend approaching, I would run the risk of getting a long run with a Monday delivery. Not much chance of getting home by Wednesday in that case. This also would be bad. I don't know. We'll see what kind of mood I'm in once I make my delivery.

Hey, bonus! I see that I got $415 from the fine folks at ConWay in my 401(k) today. I read a press report not too long ago saying that they were suspending company contributions until financial conditions improve. Maybe we (profitable) OTR employees were spared from some of the cutbacks. Or maybe they'll start with the second quarter. I don't know. For now though, four hundred bucks is four hundred bucks.