ABF | Lost Accounts

Thanks everyone for making me feel young when I read the things you where doing before I was even born. But then I take another drink of coffee and it reminds me how old I am by how tired I feel. Working all night just seems to make me feel old, but I still enjoy knowing I'm younger than you :) LOL
 
Whew!....I was going to date myself after Bro. Homesick mentioned Pensacola,...by saying I was stationed at Hurlburt Field, Fort Walton Beach,...way back in '73-'74....
...where my job was Assistant Propeller Spinner on the biplanes....

But then Bro. Seabreeze knocks my "age-bragging" galley-west by saying he was driving truck in 1955.........
.....I was one year old at the time,...and was proud of my getting my big toe in my mouth.....a feat I can no longer do.....

Only reason I got the job, dad was friends with Jim and Ralph Ryder
You didn't get a job driving at 19, back in those days.
I knew I was going to drive a truck when I was 14, always thought it would be for Big R, after I got on with RTL
I never looked for another.
If I had it to do over, don't think I would have changed much, except COE Freightliners and W model Fords.
 
Only reason I got the job, dad was friends with Jim and Ralph Ryder
You didn't get a job driving at 19, back in those days.
I knew I was going to drive a truck when I was 14, always thought it would be for Big R, after I got on with RTL
I never looked for another.
If I had it to do over, don't think I would have changed much, except COE Freightliners and W model Fords.


Ahh,...you didn't like being way, high up in the air , squinting out those tiny Fruitliner windows,..watching all the dust in the cab dancing around from the constant shaking?

I think a COE Jimmy was worse.....check that,...a China Closet GMC.......Not only did you get rattled around like dice in a box,....you got a bad sun burn from the fishbowl windows......

You couldn't scratch your crotch in a GMC COE without half the interstate noticing........

Let's go back in time and tie the designers of COE Freightshakers, GMC's, and W Models to the front bumper in NYC rush hour traffic......
 
Ahh,...you didn't like being way, high up in the air , squinting out those tiny Fruitliner windows,..watching all the dust in the cab dancing around from the constant shaking?

I think a COE Jimmy was worse.....check that,...a China Closet GMC.......Not only did you get rattled around like dice in a box,....you got a bad sun burn from the fishbowl windows......

You couldn't scratch your crotch in a GMC COE without half the interstate noticing........

Let's go back in time and tie the designers of COE Freightshakers, GMC's, and W Models to the front bumper in NYC rush hour traffic......
Don't forget they had manual (power of your arms) steering. I remember driving a GMC from Canton Oh to Hunts point Market to Long Island and back to Massillon Oh. Not fond memories but I was younger, stronger, and STUPID. Just plain ignorant and stupid.
 
It's nice to see a thread where truckers can reminisce. I was a Teamster peddle driver in the NY-NJ metro area for 39 of my 41 year driving career. I worked for 3 union companies from 1969 to 2011. I was lucky to get hired on with ABF at the age of 57. As a bottom man I had more than my share of inside deliveries to midtown Manhattan. My last 2 years were spent as a UT which I actually enjoyed. It was great to be a road driver on the clock...........Back to the topic of lost accounts. ABF had some really crappy accounts that I cursed. But ABF was good to me. At my age making union scale and feeding my pension was all I really cared about.
 
Speaking of old tractors when I started with Red Star in 77 they had those MB cab over Macks. On my first day I had to ask a switcher what the second stick was for and how to use it
I remember driving those at Overnite. I remember sliding threw an intersection while I was bobtailing once. Those were some scary trucks when bobtailing in them. With all the weight in front those back brakes has a tendency to lock up. You learn pretty quick though after you ::shit:: yourself once. They were a pleasure to back though with a trailer. You could hit some very tight spots in those old Macks.
 
It's nice to see a thread where truckers can reminisce. I was a Teamster peddle driver in the NY-NJ metro area for 39 of my 41 year driving career. I worked for 3 union companies from 1969 to 2011. I was lucky to get hired on with ABF at the age of 57. As a bottom man I had more than my share of inside deliveries to midtown Manhattan. My last 2 years were spent as a UT which I actually enjoyed. It was great to be a road driver on the clock...........Back to the topic of lost accounts. ABF had some really crappy accounts that I cursed. But ABF was good to me. At my age making union scale and feeding my pension was all I really cared about.
Inside deliveries in midtown? And you survived? Good God, man...how did you do it?
 
As a veteran of NYC/ Chicago downtown curbside deliveries.....of cars, toy stores, and replacement windows for job sites....

.......a good suit of medevial armor...(...with battle axe).....helps.....

Other than that.....strong arms, strong legs, and a willingness to get in other peoples’ faces,...to “explain” to them how ...wrong...they are,.......are all Good requirements......

Bro. Crystal.......You deserve the Distinguished Freight Cross..........for Deliveries Above And Beyond the Call of Duty.....
 
It's nice to see a thread where truckers can reminisce. I was a Teamster peddle driver in the NY-NJ metro area for 39 of my 41 year driving career. I worked for 3 union companies from 1969 to 2011. I was lucky to get hired on with ABF at the age of 57. As a bottom man I had more than my share of inside deliveries to midtown Manhattan. My last 2 years were spent as a UT which I actually enjoyed. It was great to be a road driver on the clock...........Back to the topic of lost accounts. ABF had some really crappy accounts that I cursed. But ABF was good to me. At my age making union scale and feeding my pension was all I really cared about.

Did you use the old "tilt-the-hood" trick to ward off the cops when you had to park in a "No Parking" location? :smile new:
 
Did you use the old "tilt-the-hood" trick to ward off the cops when you had to park in a "No Parking" location? :smile new:

Don't work in Va, I was parked on the on ramp on I 81, with fan blades sticking through the radiator, HP told me I
was in a no parking area and needed to move.
I told him I had notified the company and if it needs moving, you handle it.
Never saw him again, they wreckered me a tractor from Charl.
 
Don't work in Va, I was parked on the on ramp on I 81, with fan blades sticking through the radiator, HP told me I
was in a no parking area and needed to move.
I told him I had notified the company and if it needs moving, you handle it.
Never saw him again, they wreckered me a tractor from Charl.


Pushing so hard on the fuel pedal you shoved the fan blades into the radiator?
Yeah......I've been there too......
 
Curbside deliveries? 20 years of horses, hogs & goats before a I started my vacation years in freight.

French Quarter, Old Alexandria, VA, Washington St Market in Boston, Knickerbocker warehouses to Harlem, San Francisco and old Philly. Hump strap and a Johnson Bar.

Best job ever.
 
Top