Back on the truck for the day!

First week off the truck and back home proved to be nothing short of eventful. Albeit, being stuck up in my office staring at the window, imagining I'm back out on the road looking at something gorgeous or exiciting is definitely causing a sadness in me. However, ya know your girl loves it when things go sideways on a load so we have the opportunity to prove why we are worth the money we charge, and this week didn't disappoint!

The market is still pretty much crap nationwide from what I'm seeing, even with the hurricane and upcoming holiday. I spend a lot of time just watching load boards calculating how much of a sad loss people are taking when I note them being booked. With fuel at the price it is, even with paid off equipment and low overhead, I know these folks are struggling with $1.85/mile or less rates.

We've been fortunate to be able to stand our ground on not running for cheap rates though. Hell I'll have Daryl deadhead home empty before perpetuating that cycle and unnecessary wear and tear on our truck and trailer. I get told "no" to quoted rates, but after a brief conversation, the wiggle room for negotiation typically opens up and this week was no different.

We were called earlier in the week about hauling some equipment from DFW to a little town about 200 miles a way that was just an insult rate. As always, we tell them as nicely and professionally as possible "if it's still sitting there, give us a call and we will talk about a more reasonable rate. We aren't the cheapest carrier, but you get what you pay for with us, knowing your load is going to be transported safely, like it was our own, and I will communicate with you every step of the way to ensure all parties are happy with our service." So fast forward to Wednesday, I get an early morning call about the same load...This time they offer a bit more money, but still not worth it. Broker tells me has 2 loads that need to move to the same customer, seemed like a pretty chill dude, not pushy or short tempered, so I told him, "look man, I'll be perfectly honest with ya, the load is sitting because fuel has risen $0.60/gallon over the last few months, and because you or the customer are running it for cheap. It's not worth the fuel to move it, and it's going to continue to sit unless you or the customer pay more for it....Worst case scenario, someone does book the load and steals the equipment (which is happening more and more these days)....So I can run both loads for you today and tomorrow at our rate, you let me know...." Hung up and resumed my day. About 20 minutes later I get a call back, I can book them both for you at your rate...." Beauty, 2 days of work lined up, decent paying rate, I'll take it!

Daryl heads out and picks up the first part of the run, brings it home, heads out early the next morning with Drake for the first drop, round robins easy peasy....And then it goes sideways lol Daryl calls me and says the next load (a skytrak) isn't starting on it's own due to several issues, smokes like a freight train when it does fire up briefly, not sure if it will require a landoll trailer with wench....We obviously don't have that style of trailer, so yeah let the creativity in loading begin! I update broker with details, possible solutions we are going to try and this goes on for about 2 hours. After all is said and done, the next step is to figure out how to get this hunk of busted iron off my trailer without injuring anyone or damaging my equipment or the customers. The decision was finally made to offload using 2 large forklifts to lift the skytrak up while Daryl pulled out from under it, Drake recorded the whole thing!

'Updated the broker with all the details the whole time, along with video with proof of safe delivery. When all was said and done broker said he was thoroughly impressed with not only how we conducted business, didn't just cancel because things got hairy, and most importantly maintained timely, thorough communication throughout the entire process. My response was "remember what I told ya when I said you get what you paid for, glad ya didn't go cheap, huh?". He texted us the next day to thank us again for our work and that he was glad he made the initial contact with us. Told him to stay in touch next time he needed something hauled, he now knows why we are still in business when so many are dropping out, we stand by our word and deliver excellent service, even when it all goes sideways.

Friday after combing the board I found a decent little run hauling some equipment from McKinney out towards Lawton OK, Perfect load since it picked up in the afternoon and delivers over the weekend which means it doesn't tie up the truck and trailer, and frees us up for the holiday weekend, and we don't take a huge hit for running out for the day and coming back home! Daryl got to load and unload the excavator which makes him happy to play with the big toys. The jobsite crew was awesome at delivery, cracked me up trying to help me out with unloading and loading the ramps, as I waddled around in my work boots getting chains pulled and unloading equipment set up. He had Drake convinced that he was going to have him unload that 36k lb of machinery and that they were growing tomatoes and cookie plants out in the middle of Oklahoma. Apparently told Daryl I was a "strong" woman out there after learning I am 7months pregnant running around working the trailer lol I don't see it as strong, I see it as making much needed money for my family, doing what needs to be done until I can't do it anymore. Either way, super cool dude! Super cool dude and the kind of folks I love getting out and meeting while on the road!

I love my office views during the backroads drive between TX and OK, makes me want to find some land and move it all out to the country! Especially with having to pay $150/month to park the truck and trailer while living in the city. Some day that goal will come true...Some day!

#viragotransport #pregnantandtrucking #realstepdecklife #4thgenerationrodrigueztrucking