When it's bad, it's bad!

This is more of a therapeutic, cathartic post for myself, because I want to remember these moments in the future. I want to remind myself of just how far we continue to grow. But by all means, please continue to join in the shenanigans that is my life lol

So today has been an interesting day right out the gate...To preface the situation, let me catch y'all up on the Virago trucking tea!

We booked a load out of Denver yesterday headed to northern CA that ended up being a direct shipper situation. Let us recall that this is a preference for independent carriers because there is no broker middleman taking 25-50% of the load value from us! Just us working directly with the customer.

After thoroughly vetting the customer and coming to terms on payment we picked up the equipment and started making our way towards CA, stopping late in the night in beautiful WY to catch some sleep, let Daryl get his mandatory 10hr break in, and prepped to roll first thing this morning.

That was the plan anyway lol And we all know how planning usually goes...

Instead, I get woken up first thing this morning by the shipper's finance director who is calling in a panic requesting us to hold the equipment as the payment from the customer has not been verified through their bank...And that we may need to turn around and bring the equipment back. This sets off a full cycle of calls, emails, text messages between me and the customer and the shipper...All before having my first cup of coffee!

So we sat and waited through the back and forth phone calls with the president of the company we are hauling for until we received enough documented proof that payment has been made, we aren't going to be chased down by law enforcement for potentially unpaid for equipment (this particular piece of equipment ain't cheap!!), and that we as the carrier are covered.

Being the middle "woman" between 2 companies is not where I wanted to be first thing this morning lol

As of today, Virago Transport is officially 1 year old! Daryl has been working on a little something special along with some stats for those who are keeping up with our little transparent journey in trucking that I'll be posting later on this week to commemorate. And with that joyous milestone, the downside is that this is the time of year for us to have all of our annual renewals come up for payment (insurance premium down payment for the tractor/trailer, tractor/trailer inspections, operating permit renewals, etc), all on top of our regularly scheduled payments.

We are talking tens of thousands of dollars that is needing to be paid out over the next few days...In a crap market where most little companies are able to get $1.60/ mile...Our business plan and model reflects for us to be able to save small incriments from each load throughout the year to lessen the blow of all the fees coming up at the end of our year, but with the turn in the industry, yeah that hasn't been able to happen.

I'm all about not sugar coating the realities of our journey and being open with the real life in trucking. Like I've said, we built this company from the ground up on our own financially, no investors, no outside start up capital, nothing other than the blood, sweat and crap ton of tears we've poured into it. So the struggle has been real. We are just one of hundreds of thousands of independent carriers who are feeling the pressure right now. But we will weather this trucking pendulum swing. Nothing in either of our lives has come easy, and this is just the next level of adversity to overcome.

So you can see where the panic might set in to this overly emotional 6 month pregnant woman when we get a call that a great paying load may not be in the works. Literally every penny counts right now. Fuel has increased over the last couple of weeks, broker's aren't budging off of low rates, it's just one big stressor after the other....Ahhh life in trucking lol

So with all that being said, we are rolling onward towards CA after hopefully cultivating a good relationship with the customer, and will be looking to head back to TX for our upcoming baby appointment next week and mandatory new entry safety audit! I'm confident we will ace this audit thanks to both of our over anal retentiveness and record keeping, but could definitely use a prayer and good vibe sent our way...for good measure!

#viragotransport #realstepdecklife #4thgenerationrodrigueztrucking #familytruckingcompany #independentowneroperator #pregnantandtrucking