First two days on the new account

After two days on the new account, I can come to a couple of conclusions: it's going to be an improvement over working system by a very wide margin and that I'm likely to be quite tired after a long day's work. I've learned how to handle the new equipment fairly quickly; I'm still fairly slow getting things done but at least I can do them. I also had a first glimpse at the new routes that I might be on starting the second week of June. The new routes have tentatively been moved back to a Monday through Friday schedule (though the "Friday" routes all return early Saturday morning), though they're still awaiting final approval from higher ups. Each route has three trips per week, two of which are guaranteed to take me two days to complete, so I'll be out at least two nights a week. Since the places I'm delivering are only open 8 AM to 5 PM, I'll be able to get plenty of rest on the nights I have to sleep in the truck. Ironically, I might get more sleep during a run than between trips.

So far, aside from the rather hectic sleep schedule I've been on due to erratic routing and trying to cover holiday deliveries, I haven't found any real downside to this account compared to running as a system driver. The trip on Thursday was definitely illegal - we started at 5 AM and didn't get back until 4 AM - but the driver who is showing me what to do let me sleep most of the day so I didn't doze off on the drive home. Unloading the trailer at each stop has taken anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes, as the amount of freight varies from just three items to about eight, plus one to six things that need to go onto the truck and returned to the shipper. The routes between customers vary rather considerably, but it seems a majority of them will require me to stick to back roads for the trip. The distance between stops is usually under 100 miles, but the trip to the first stop and return trip at the end of the route are both considerably longer. It's nothing I can't handle, though I may need a couple weeks to get the schedule hammered out.

I have Monday off due to Memorial Day, so my next day of work is Tuesday. The driver wants to start around 6 AM and estimates that we'll be back relatively early, around 4:30 PM. Thursday's run is the long one as it's the only one on this route that normally requires a layover. If we team-drive as we did this past week, we should be back before midnight, leaving Friday as an additional day off. Thus, on Friday, we might be able to take the guy's truck in for air-conditioning repairs and do a training course for the new in-truck computers that I'll likely have to deal with in the near future. That's all ff in the future, now; for the moment I just want to enjoy a three-day weekend.

Day two of dedicated

Today was a somewhat more strenuous day than yesterday. While I had almost two hours less of driving, the unload took almost two hours longer given the way that it was set up. My arms are still sore from all that extra work. I'm also rather tired from having to get up around midnight for a second day in a row; I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever truly get used to it. Being home before noon was a nice perk though.

I also got some news regarding the account that I'll be working on most of the time: I start training for that account tomorrow. At 5 AM I'm supposed to meet another driver at that facility; I'll be working with him for about a week and a half to learn the new equipment and other quirks and perks of the account. I'm not entirely sure what to expect, but I hope the guy I'll be working with is a decent person. I'm not exactly looking forward to being cooped up in a truck with someone I don't know, even if it only for a few hours a day. But I'll have more information on that after it happens I suppose.

Further details on the dedicated account

I had a meeting with the account manager today. It went quite well, so I'm hugely relieved in that regard. The discussion today answered all the questions I could think of, plus I finally checked out the truck that I'll be using for now. Some of the news was great, some of it was less-than-thrilling, but overall I'm still going to be in a much more stable work environment and making considerably more than I was pulling in over the road. I also received my first work assignment for the account, one that will require me to drive about 160 miles before 6 AM tomorrow.

Now, allow me to address some of the questions that people have asked me since I posted the previous entry.

1. What is a dedicated account? It's an account on which I'll be consistently pulling freight for the same customer. I still work for Schneider; I'm just consistently taking loads for one company instead of anyone with a box full of stuff. Usually dedicated accounts come with higher pay, better mileage, more consistent routes, and/or additional home time.
2. Who am I pulling things for? I can't answer that publicly. If you know me personally, though, shoot me a message and I'll discuss it.
3. What sort of work schedule will I have? This week is somewhat uncertain, as I'm still technically in training for the account. After that, however, I'll actually have a fixed route each week. I'll be making the same trips to the same places week in and week out. I won't be home every night, as I originally thought, but I will be home two nights a week and have a consistent two-and-a-half day weekend. That weekend may or may not be Saturday and Sunday though; I might end up with Tuesday and Wednesday or some other combination.

If anyone else can think of a relevant question, just poke me about it and I'll update this entry.

Dedicated Account Acquired

As I was trying to resume work, I also put my name in for a couple of dedicated accounts. Apparently I've accrued some good karma somewhere, because last Thursday morning I got a call about one of those applications. Fast forward to this week, and on Thursday I was able to talk with everyone that needed to sign off on the transfer... which actually went through pretty quickly. Friday, I actually talked with the account manager and found out some more of the specifics about the run. I'll actually be earning a fixed salary on this run, making as much as I did while over the road, and get home every day and have weekends off. There are a couple of downsides: I'd have a roughly 30-minute commute each way, my shifts would likely start between 1 and 5 AM, and I have to use a pallet jack to unload the trailer myself. Still, this will allow me to enjoy most of the social functions in the area, while still maintaining a job as a driver and getting to see the country. This is really about as good as it could have gotten for me.

I start training for the new position tomorrow and it's supposed to last a week. I'll likely have further updates tomorrow.

Return to work this Wednesday?

After an almost embarrassingly long leave of absence, I finally have a return to work form filled out by a new doctor. I have a driving test scheduled for late Wednesday morning and, if that goes well, I could conceivably resume work Wednesday afternoon or early Thursday morning. I haven't gotten any new information or leads on any local, regional, or dedicated work, nor have I anything new to write about with regards to a possible office job. Perhaps next Monday I will find something new out.