I drove for owner-operators, so even though I was a member of the Gang..., er, uh, Teamsters, I didn't get any $ for an assist.
That one started poppin' up recently, as a surprise on of our freight bills when we had arranged for a mill to deliver directly to a customer. At that level the "mills"' get special freight rates based on guaranteed volume to a consortium of carriers but the carriers have started adding these ancillary charges. The smaller carriers may or may not impose 'em.
The whole driver pool was heavily impacted a few years back as well, with the mandatory drug testing weeding out a significant percentage, and the FTC imposing mandatory limits on daily as well as weekly hours. Literally, if a guy's out in the middle o nowhere and he hits his hours, he's legally required to stop. Some outfits'll send out a replacement driver, and in cross-country situations I'm sure they've got 'em set up in relays. One of our mills sends out a truck at 3pm Friday Wisconsin time and it gets here like clockwork on Monday 10AM California time having come thru LA first.
That thing (the trailer at least) had to be on the road at least 18 hours a day.
Anyway, these days, good and legal drivers are in short supply, and the Teamsters probably know it.
Then there's the absolutely byzantine ICC rules and regs.....
But my favorite all time story was about a trailer from a bakery in Texas, full of ice cream cones, yep
ice cream cones, and
nothing but ice cream cones for a well-known outfit that always has 32 flavors to choose from in every one of their stores every day.
On that particular day the Nevada and California State Highway Patrols were conducting 100% stops for safety inspections on big rigs crossing into California.
Turns out the driver had several unanswered citations in a number of states, some of which had even matured into warrants, so he was immediately taken into custody and the trailer was impounded.
Many an ice cream store owner had a rude surprise when they attempted to place their supplies orders with us that week.
It was almost as bad as the time when all the blue raspberry flavoring syrup was fermenting in the bottles and exploding in transit, just in time to create a shortage during the annual Independance Day motorcycle ride-in in Hollister CA.
You really don't want to P>O> the bikers in Hollister on the 4th of July.....
And there're your amusing anecdotes for the day...something to think about the next time you go to an ice cream store...:highly_amused:
