Holiday Chaos
New Year's Eve
The last day of the year.
The last holiday of the holiday triumvirate.
And we have had another busy, chaotic, aggravating, long, and eventful season of holiday business. We haul fruit and produce, and if you aren't busy moving fruit and produce during the Thanksgiving to New Year's holiday season, then you better look for something else to do. We have been so busy it ruins my holiday spirit; and some days I make Scrooge look more like Barney or Big Bird. Just ask my son, Jeff, who often bares the brunt of my aggravation simply because he is the only person in our office besides me. I can't help it. When the going gets tough I get into a zone.
Because it's tough out there! "It's hard work," says our president.
Damn right it's hard work.
Amidst the holiday chaos is the usual employee desire for extra days off: for the death of a family member (this year it was legitimate) to a court date (for the removal of an order of protection) to a daughter's birthday (Owner-operator, on the verge of insolvancy and who owes me about 2 grand, will lose another load because he wants to be home "a couple of hours" to make her happy.) to Christmas shopping to a Christmas party to a wife's Christmas party to a family Christmas party to a driver telling our mechanic, "Don't fix the truck. I don't want to work."
And our shippers/receivers have been trying to knock down our rates because they have been giving us so much holiday business. Can't you cut us some slack, they say. Things are tough, they say. We're not making any money, they say. Look at all the business we're giving you, they say. And trucks are tight, we say...We don't budge on our rate.
Because money is tight this time of the year. Holiday cheer is expensive. And we pay our owner-operators while their engines are still hot, but have to wait, call, wait, call, get pissed off, wait, and call some of our customers (usually the ones who want to chop our rates) for our money.
Throw in our New Year's Eve morning attempt to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles to renew our trailer registrations and it is closed. But this is my fault because I just don't think every holiday should be a mini vacation. I never anticipated the DMV being closed...never entered my mind. I thought Saturday and Sunday was good enough to ring in the New Year. There was no need to throw in Friday too. (I'll bet the DMV employees got paid for it.)
And at 3:30 pm on New Year's Eve, just when I thought the chaos was over...the proverbial breakdown.
Jimmy was in my office talking to Nick who was on his way back to the yard with a load of onions for Plant City, Florida. Jimmy was also loaded for Plant City and was coordinating their departure time when...
"I gotta go!" said Nick. "My truck just shut off!"
"Nick's truck just shut off," Jimmy said to me.
"What?" I said. "Where is he?"
"I assume he's at the Pilot in Syracuse because he said he just got his axle weights straight," said Jimmy.
I picked up the phone and dialed the truck. "Nick!" I said. "What's going on?"
"I don't know," said Nick. "The truck just shut off."
"Where are you?" I said.
"I just left the Pilot and was getting on 81 to come to the yard."
"And the truck shut off," I said.
"It just quit," said Nick. "It'll turn over now, but it won't fire."
"Don't kill the batteries trying to get it started," I said. "I'll call you back."
I called Penn Detroit Diesel Allison in Syracuse for some troubleshooting advice. They told me it could be the SRS sensor near the air compressor. It was then that I remembered we had another truck that did the same thing in Charlotte, North Carolina. This truck was shut off and when the driver tried to start it, the beast would turn over, but it wouldn't fire. I had to call Covington Detroit Diesel Allison of Charlotte...and was out $769.30 for a service call to replace an $81.00 part.
This time we'll fix it ourselves, I thought.
I sent Jeff with our mechanic, Brent, to Penn Detroit Diesel Allison for a SRS sensor and then to the truck to make the repair. Simple problem, simple solution, I thought.
"That's not it," Jeff said when he called in. "We put the sensor in and it's doing the same thing."
"Bitch!" I said. "I'll call you back!"
I called Penn Detroit Diesel Allison again.
"It's not the SRS sensor," I said. "What else can we do. We need this truck!"
The shop foreman told me they could go to the truck, but their New Year's Eve service call rate was $185.00 per hour with a 4 hour minimum. "But," he said, "it could be the TRS sensor or it could be the computer. If it's the computer, the truck has to come to the shop and you've spent some money for nothing. What do you want to do?"
I didn't hesitate. "I need the truck," I said. "Go!"
About an hour and a half later, Jeff called. "It's not the TRS sensor," he said.
"Then it's got to be the computer," I said.
"Tow truck's on its way," he said.
"Bitch!"
And those words once again echoed in my tormented soul. "Don't fix the truck. I don't want to work."
We can't fix the truck!
You get the weekend off.
Happy New Year.
The Highway Reporter
The last day of the year.
The last holiday of the holiday triumvirate.
And we have had another busy, chaotic, aggravating, long, and eventful season of holiday business. We haul fruit and produce, and if you aren't busy moving fruit and produce during the Thanksgiving to New Year's holiday season, then you better look for something else to do. We have been so busy it ruins my holiday spirit; and some days I make Scrooge look more like Barney or Big Bird. Just ask my son, Jeff, who often bares the brunt of my aggravation simply because he is the only person in our office besides me. I can't help it. When the going gets tough I get into a zone.
Because it's tough out there! "It's hard work," says our president.
Damn right it's hard work.
Amidst the holiday chaos is the usual employee desire for extra days off: for the death of a family member (this year it was legitimate) to a court date (for the removal of an order of protection) to a daughter's birthday (Owner-operator, on the verge of insolvancy and who owes me about 2 grand, will lose another load because he wants to be home "a couple of hours" to make her happy.) to Christmas shopping to a Christmas party to a wife's Christmas party to a family Christmas party to a driver telling our mechanic, "Don't fix the truck. I don't want to work."
And our shippers/receivers have been trying to knock down our rates because they have been giving us so much holiday business. Can't you cut us some slack, they say. Things are tough, they say. We're not making any money, they say. Look at all the business we're giving you, they say. And trucks are tight, we say...We don't budge on our rate.
Because money is tight this time of the year. Holiday cheer is expensive. And we pay our owner-operators while their engines are still hot, but have to wait, call, wait, call, get pissed off, wait, and call some of our customers (usually the ones who want to chop our rates) for our money.
Throw in our New Year's Eve morning attempt to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles to renew our trailer registrations and it is closed. But this is my fault because I just don't think every holiday should be a mini vacation. I never anticipated the DMV being closed...never entered my mind. I thought Saturday and Sunday was good enough to ring in the New Year. There was no need to throw in Friday too. (I'll bet the DMV employees got paid for it.)
And at 3:30 pm on New Year's Eve, just when I thought the chaos was over...the proverbial breakdown.
Jimmy was in my office talking to Nick who was on his way back to the yard with a load of onions for Plant City, Florida. Jimmy was also loaded for Plant City and was coordinating their departure time when...
"I gotta go!" said Nick. "My truck just shut off!"
"Nick's truck just shut off," Jimmy said to me.
"What?" I said. "Where is he?"
"I assume he's at the Pilot in Syracuse because he said he just got his axle weights straight," said Jimmy.
I picked up the phone and dialed the truck. "Nick!" I said. "What's going on?"
"I don't know," said Nick. "The truck just shut off."
"Where are you?" I said.
"I just left the Pilot and was getting on 81 to come to the yard."
"And the truck shut off," I said.
"It just quit," said Nick. "It'll turn over now, but it won't fire."
"Don't kill the batteries trying to get it started," I said. "I'll call you back."
I called Penn Detroit Diesel Allison in Syracuse for some troubleshooting advice. They told me it could be the SRS sensor near the air compressor. It was then that I remembered we had another truck that did the same thing in Charlotte, North Carolina. This truck was shut off and when the driver tried to start it, the beast would turn over, but it wouldn't fire. I had to call Covington Detroit Diesel Allison of Charlotte...and was out $769.30 for a service call to replace an $81.00 part.
This time we'll fix it ourselves, I thought.
I sent Jeff with our mechanic, Brent, to Penn Detroit Diesel Allison for a SRS sensor and then to the truck to make the repair. Simple problem, simple solution, I thought.
"That's not it," Jeff said when he called in. "We put the sensor in and it's doing the same thing."
"Bitch!" I said. "I'll call you back!"
I called Penn Detroit Diesel Allison again.
"It's not the SRS sensor," I said. "What else can we do. We need this truck!"
The shop foreman told me they could go to the truck, but their New Year's Eve service call rate was $185.00 per hour with a 4 hour minimum. "But," he said, "it could be the TRS sensor or it could be the computer. If it's the computer, the truck has to come to the shop and you've spent some money for nothing. What do you want to do?"
I didn't hesitate. "I need the truck," I said. "Go!"
About an hour and a half later, Jeff called. "It's not the TRS sensor," he said.
"Then it's got to be the computer," I said.
"Tow truck's on its way," he said.
"Bitch!"
And those words once again echoed in my tormented soul. "Don't fix the truck. I don't want to work."
We can't fix the truck!
You get the weekend off.
Happy New Year.
The Highway Reporter
posted by The Highway Reporter at 8:40 PM
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