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ABF | Wayfinder impressions.

frakie said:
The driver's with the most seniority seem unhappy and worn out.
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Please expand on your post.I'm not sure where you are going with this.Do you mean the yes voters that have realized voting yes was not a good vote ?? What does worn out mean ? Help out here.
 
frakie said:
The driver's with the most seniority seem unhappy and worn out.
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I have 25 years with ABF. A total of 41 years in the trucking industry. My first Teamster card is dated 1975........Am I one of the guys who give you that impression?

And here all along I thought my sunny disposition and my insouciant style belied the gradual breakdown of muscle and brain tissue..........the grey hair, balding patches,......the wrinkles and increasingly thickening glasses.........all, I believed, were disguised by my verbose.....and sometimes bellicose.......postings.

I have been living a lie, gentlemen,......and I've been called out on it. It is true.....I am a crusty, curmudgeonly ,superannuated, wizened old.........truck driver.......with a jaundiced view of the world in general, and trucking in particular......... Especially people with less seniority than me......

Don't let my blithe, breezy attitude fool you any longer........I am two doddering steps from retirement,......and if I am still around for the next contract, I am only interested in getting escalators to access the tractors for us elderly drivers.......

Oh,.......and hand bars in the men's room, too.
 
canaryinthemine said:
I have 25 years with ABF. A total of 41 years in the trucking industry. My first Teamster card is dated 1975........Am I one of the guys who give you that impression?

And here all along I thought my sunny disposition and my insouciant style belied the gradual breakdown of muscle and brain tissue..........the grey hair, balding patches,......the wrinkles and increasingly thickening glasses.........all, I believed, were disguised by my verbose.....and sometimes bellicose.......postings.

I have been living a lie, gentlemen,......and I've been called out on it. It is true.....I am a crusty, curmudgeonly ,superannuated, wizened old.........truck driver.......with a jaundiced view of the world in general, and trucking in particular......... Especially people with less seniority than me......

Don't let my blithe, breezy attitude fool you any longer........I am two doddering steps from retirement,......and if I am still around for the next contract, I am only interested in getting escalators to access the tractors for us elderly drivers.......

Oh,.......and hand bars in the men's room, too.
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Is there a pill you can take to cure insouciant? It sounds serious.
 
And here all along I thought my sunny disposition and my insouciant style belied the gradual breakdown of muscle and brain tissue..........the grey hair, balding patches,......the wrinkles and increasingly thickening glasses.........all, I believed, were disguised by my verbose.....and sometimes bellicose.......postings.

I have been living a lie, gentlemen,......and I've been called out on it. It is true.....I am a crusty, curmudgeonly ,superannuated, wizened old.........truck driver.......with a jaundiced view of the world in general, and trucking in particular......... Especially people with less seniority than me......

My kid of guy. Where do I apply? I already meet the qualifications. von.
 
I think we're already in the club together, Brother Von. You pay your membership fees in ever-increasing aches and pains......
 
canaryinthemine said:
I think we're already in the club together, Brother Von. You pay your membership fees in ever-increasing aches and pains......
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Between my Spinal Stenosis, left artificial knee, & C1 thru C5 fused with a metal plate in my neck, I hope my membership to the club is assured. But the main reason I got in to trucking is I wanted to see the USA. And I did, from Monument Valley in AZ to Glacier National Park & then some. But for some reason I never went past NY NY on the east coast. Never made it to Boston or the New England States. All the Carolinas & old Dixie, but never far NE. Sitting like we do for 30 or 40 years does take a toll on our bodies that no one could see. I gave up my CDL a month after I retired. Now all I have is a simple IN Chauffer’s License 26,000 or less & no physical to take. Haven’t used it yet & probably won’t. Between pot holes as deep as the earth’s magna & bridge approaches that will change your job classification from truck driver to astronaut, I have had enough. Von.
 
vongrimmenstein said:
Between my Spinal Stenosis, left artificial knee, & C1 thru C5 fused with a metal plate in my neck, I hope my membership to the club is assured. But the main reason I got in to trucking is I wanted to see the USA. And I did, from Monument Valley in AZ to Glacier National Park & then some. But for some reason I never went past NY NY on the east coast. Never made it to Boston or the New England States. All the Carolinas & old Dixie, but never far NE. Sitting like we do for 30 or 40 years does take a toll on our bodies that no one could see. I gave up my CDL a month after I retired. Now all I have is a simple IN Chauffer’s License 26,000 or less & no physical to take. Haven’t used it yet & probably won’t. Between pot holes as deep as the earth’s magna & bridge approaches that will change your job classification from truck driver to astronaut, I have had enough. Von.
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Living in W.Pa. means that the bulk of the Freight is going to NYC.......Or Filthydelphia. I've been to New York enough times that I can say with authority that it would be a vast improvement for the whole NYC Metropolitan area if they would raise the water level in the Hudson River about 15 feet...
 
canaryinthemine said:
Living in W.Pa. means that the bulk of the Freight is going to NYC.......Or Filthydelphia. I've been to New York enough times that I can say with authority that it would be a vast improvement for the whole NYC Metropolitan area if they would raise the water level in the Hudson River about 15 feet...
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Last time I delivered NY City, about 1980 Rubes truck stop was like no other truck stop in the world. Or maybe it was the entrance to Hell. The toll on the GWB back in 1980 was like 1.50. Scared to ask what it is now. Just saw this on the web. What is it now? I think 90.00.
Truckers will pay an additional $12 for six-axle tractor trailers, bringing the new toll to $96 for truckers with E-ZPass, and $114 for those who pay cash. Just start a bridge surcharge program. If they want the freight they WILL pay the rate. Any owner operator or company who does not collect bridge tolls to deliver freight on that rock they call New York City should find another place to deliver freight or go broke doing so.
 
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vongrimmenstein said:
Between my Spinal Stenosis, left artificial knee, & C1 thru C5 fused with a metal plate in my neck, I hope my membership to the club is assured. But the main reason I got in to trucking is I wanted to see the USA. And I did, from Monument Valley in AZ to Glacier National Park & then some. But for some reason I never went past NY NY on the east coast. Never made it to Boston or the New England States. All the Carolinas & old Dixie, but never far NE. Sitting like we do for 30 or 40 years does take a toll on our bodies that no one could see. I gave up my CDL a month after I retired. Now all I have is a simple IN Chauffer’s License 26,000 or less & no physical to take. Haven’t used it yet & probably won’t. Between pot holes as deep as the earth’s magna & bridge approaches that will change your job classification from truck driver to astronaut, I have had enough. Von.
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I've been to every one of the lower 48, and aside from some beautiful scenery in Maine and Vermont, you missed nothing going north of NYC in a big truck...
 
Songremainsthesame said:
I've been to every one of the lower 48, and aside from some beautiful scenery in Maine and Vermont, you missed nothing going north of NYC in a big truck...
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Nothing except attitude , filth , pollution, broken cars, broken buildings, congestion on an apocalyptic scale , endless swamps , chemical plants and junkyards........makes me nostalgic just thinking about it......
 
From what I understand, UPS Freight is having such a hard time hiring in the Boston area,..... because of the high cost of living,.......they are asking guys from the Western PA. terminals to volunteer to go up there for a week or two to help out,........and they are renting you a car, paying you by the mile and by the hour......plus per diem.

Rumor has it that guys have made upwards of $3,000 a week..........which would still be about two grand short of what I would charge to peddle freight in the Boston Metro area......
 
Songremainsthesame said:
I've been to every one of the lower 48, and aside from some beautiful scenery in Maine and Vermont, you missed nothing going north of NYC in a big truck...
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I hear the more North you go in the New England States the roads are more narrow, a lot of local towns to drive thru, & the LE people just waiting for you. I bet a lot of those small towns main income is generated by the tickets they hand out. No place to park or pull over. No trucker facilities. Just not trucker friendly in general. When I started I was used to running out west. Couple trips to NJ, Queens, & 1 to Brooklyn was enough for me. And Rubes Truck Stop back then was like no another planet one wanted to visit. But, I have to admit the diner @ the entrance had pretty good food. I always went in there empty. If I had a load, I would stop @ the TA @ the Delaware Water Gap then run it in the morning.
 
vongrimmenstein said:
I hear the more North you go in the New England States the roads are more narrow, a lot of local towns to drive thru, & the LE people just waiting for you. I bet a lot of those small towns main income is generated by the tickets they hand out. No place to park or pull over. No trucker facilities. Just not trucker friendly in general. When I started I was used to running out west. Couple trips to NJ, Queens, & 1 to Brooklyn was enough for me. And Rubes Truck Stop back then was like no another planet one wanted to visit. But, I have to admit the diner @ the entrance had pretty good food. I always went in there empty. If I had a load, I would stop @ the TA @ the Delaware Water Gap then run it in the morning.
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You're correct on all accounts. Connecticut drivers are surprisingly worse and more rude than New Jersey or New York. Never fun to deliver or pick up in a small Massachusetts or Connecticut town (which I did plenty of) and then attemp to wend your way back to the big road. As for Rube's, I don't know if it's changed names but I went into a place that sounds like it, but it was called the Jersey City truck stop. Only stopped long enough to fill my coffee mug. After paying $3 for their version of "coffee ", I decided no further investigation was necessary.
 
Songremainsthesame said:
You're correct on all accounts. Connecticut drivers are surprisingly worse and more rude than New Jersey or New York. Never fun to deliver or pick up in a small Massachusetts or Connecticut town (which I did plenty of) and then attemp to wend your way back to the big road. As for Rube's, I don't know if it's changed names but I went into a place that sounds like it, but it was called the Jersey City truck stop. Only stopped long enough to fill my coffee mug. After paying $3 for their version of "coffee ", I decided no further investigation was necessary.
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That's it......Rube's is the old name, Jersey City Truckstop is the "new" name . Right on Rt. 9.

I hand transferred a load from a container box to a van in the back lot one evening. Me and the container driver butted back to back. I used to haul cars, and I had a 3 foot tie down bar in the trailer with us. Every time someone stuck his head in the trailer and said: " Yo! You need a hand?" I would beat the bar on the container side..........

I think I did it about 25 times......... couldn't wait to get out of there....

Oh, the stupid things you do when you're younger.......
 
Songremainsthesame said:
You're correct on all accounts. Connecticut drivers are surprisingly worse and more rude than New Jersey or New York. Never fun to deliver or pick up in a small Massachusetts or Connecticut town (which I did plenty of) and then attemp to wend your way back to the big road. As for Rube's, I don't know if it's changed names but I went into a place that sounds like it, but it was called the Jersey City truck stop. Only stopped long enough to fill my coffee mug. After paying $3 for their version of "coffee ", I decided no further investigation was necessary.
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If you talking 1&9 jersey city truck stop surprised you made it out of there alive.
 
troubleman84 said:
If you talking 1&9 jersey city truck stop surprised you made it out of there alive.
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Yep that's the one, the one time I went in there it was about 9:00 in the morning. Funny thing was I had picked a load up the night before at a customer down the road in Jersey City and parked on the side street by their gate for the night. The security guard told me it was safe, and he was packing. Guess he knew what he was talking about, I had sat my mag lite flash light on the ICC bumper and forgot to pick it up, and it was still sitting there the next morning.
 
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