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TForce | Teamsters fight TForce Freight truck slowdowns

I recalled a very long time ago in Baltimore I was roadtesting with Keyway or some other outfit there. Anyway there was a dispatcher bent over the desk with a new monochrome computer display. Fancy high tech space age crap for it's day. (Ugh...)

He was talking loud into the phone saying "Driver from here to norfolk its supposed to be 5 hours and 18 minutes why are you a hour late?"

I asked him how do you know? He showed me on the display. The allowed company time from Baltimore to Norfolk is exactly 5.19 in hour/minute.

I laughed and told him add a hour on certain times a day dealing with Richmond-Ashland before that 295 opened. He threw me out after turning purple. How dare I, a pup fresh from school tell him anything? The nerve.

The truck they road tested me on was a old sleeper eagle with about 1.9 million on the odometer. Its Eaton 10 speed was literally a barrel of bolts being rolled inventing a scary noise every few miles. I came out of that thing scared badly, as in teeth chattering shaking scared. Need a 5th of something and a smoke or two to calm down for the drive home. That old tractor did pull to 65 or so but shook and shivered so much its scary. I did however find a sweet spot at 55, apparently where it spent most of those miles.
 
1984Sideways said:
Actually hills matter. Horsepower solves that problem.

I used to haul out of a railyard for Lowes dedicated on flatbed and there was a 6 mile pull that used to be done at 80,000 pounds gross (Give or take a smidgen) and a little 300 cummins. Probably a NTC on a tall 9 Ranger.

Painful. I think I can I think I can I think I can, some days when shes not feeling that well, its run at 16. You can see the needle quiver that far down the dial.

6 miles at 16 mph is a hell of a lot of time we dont have. That load WILL BE THERE at 8 am sharp 300 miles and 4 mountain gaps away.

One day they sold that old thing. Handed me a CH Daycab Mack with the big 350 in it and short legged transmission. Walked right up that same mountain at about 48. I was arriving 20 minutes to the good prior to 8 am.

YAY mack. However, years after that they handed me a 550 CAT on a 13 for a while. The first of the new computer crap. Then they realized I would run that same hill like a elevator at about 75 loaded to the gunwhales. Come down the same one at 150 Georgia overdrive. Gravity maxes out.

They took it away from me. All that misbehaving and money making time saving driving was stored in the tattle tale computer. The yelling in the back shop was epic. Learned a few profane words too.

Long live Cat. A money maker in any terrain.
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Yes to many drivers just want speed. What good is speed when you have to drop 3 or more gears to climb a small hill let alone a big one. I drove big boy trucks 625 CAT with and 18 speed. The truck were not restricted there top speed was about 72. These trucks were built to pull and pull they did many time I had my doors blow off only to later pass them on a hill while grossing 120,000lbs and being on the east coast it was like playing a big game of leap frog.


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1984Sideways said:
Motor carriers claim they save a bunch on insurance. Pfft, many are large enough to find it cheaper to self insure with cash.
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Some what true. Even if a company is self-insured they still have an insurance for catastrophic events. Now with all the tech out there one of there terms my be having the truck speed limited to 65 if not they will not cover there claim
 
Fly-by-night said:
Yes to many drivers just want speed. What good is speed when you have to drop 3 or more gears to climb a small hill let alone a big one. I drove big boy trucks 625 CAT with and 18 speed. The truck were not restricted there top speed was about 72. These trucks were built to pull and pull they did many time I had my doors blow off only to later pass them on a hill while grossing 120,000lbs and being on the east coast it was like playing a big game of leap frog.


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I dont have enough experience with the 18 to speak very much, but agree with your sentiment. I learned to love reduction. As in deep deep planet stopping reduction. Then pull. The weights would not matter even at 120K and beyond.

They gave me a old early 80's auto car and taught me about the additional reduction box on the transmission. We would go into the woods and fetch trees really heavy. That old thing... gotta love em. I dont know how much those trees weighed back there but some were dragged on the dirt path to provide it's own braking at times.

They dont make trucks like that anymore I dont think. I wished they did.

To the other poster about self insurance, ty for the clarification. I learned something new tonight. Its a shame most any company do not teach their drivers any damn thing at all. Just toss em into the trash when used up and have 50 more ready to assign tha tractor.
 
Tolietpaper said:
Sounds like you need to change the batteries in your calculator
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Don't listen to SOR, we used slide rules.
Skyking68 said:
Heard breeze invented the abacus
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Slide rules are better.
Years ago one of Ryder's brilliant brainchildren with his slide rule, decided they would put just enough fuel in the tractor to reach it's destination.
This would save a lot of labor fueling.
An Atlanta driver ran out of fuel in the Ga. swamps.
He called the dispatcher and was asked his location.
The driver said "ask that damn slide rule, it should know"
 
seabreeze said:
Don't listen to SOR, we used slide rules.

Slide rules are better.
Years ago one of Ryder's brilliant brainchildren with his slide rule, decided they would put just enough fuel in the tractor to reach it's destination.
This would save a lot of labor fueling.
An Atlanta driver ran out of fuel in the Ga. swamps.
He called the dispatcher and was asked his location.
The driver said "ask that damn slide rule, it should know"
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This guy must have been using his slide rule GPS.

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i think the argument is weak on both sides:

68 to 65 is generally not going to make jack a difference UNLESS you have a dedicated 000 route that IS NOT a niteliner, and especially if it's a niteliner it won't make ANY DIFFERENCE....., but even on the dedicated routes 3 mph isn't going to make much, if any a difference. Sometimes it takes me 20 mins to find and hook up my set, sometime is takes 90 mins, and sometimes it's already hooked up.

Alain's position: "Well, everyone else is doing it, so we should do it too......"
What about the states that have a 70mph speed limit?

Now, if they wanted to go from 65 to 55, THEN we might have an actual problem....

So, this is really a non-issue and i think we should just leave it at 68.
 
seabreeze said:
At 68 mph I clocked in my 391 mile trip in 8.5 hrs.
At 62 mph I clocked in my 391 mile trip in 8.5 hrs.
At 68, I had a few more minutes to BS, (only difference)
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But did you have a tailwind ? And did you have newer high flow air mirrors and did you have the new smoother low resisted rolling tires on ? Kinda like the country song goes faster horses !! Giddy Up & Go !!
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wongway said:
But did you have a tailwind ? And did you have newer high flow air mirrors and did you have the new smoother low resisted rolling tires on ? Kinda like the country song goes faster horses !! Giddy Up & Go !!
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You're requesting a lot of info for a plain ole ordinary 15 percenter.
As for a tailwind, I never had one.
Every time I ran late, my excuse was, I been buckin a headwind.
 
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