Archive for the ‘Economy’ Category

Well here it is the middle of May and I’ve been home for six days now.  That’s not quite as good as it sounds since I originally planned to be home only three days.

Don’t get me wrong.  I love being home.  It’s a pleasant change being able to spend some time with Marilyn, even when she puts me to work with chores around the house.

This happens sometime in the trucking industry.  Too many trucks at one end of the country and not enough loads.  Seems like there are one or two such slowdowns every year.  A friend of mine with the same company, who only came as far east as Toronto this week, is running full out and getting lots of miles.

But here it is the 14th of the month, second last day of the two week pay period, and I’ve only got one weeks running in.  That is definitely going to put a dent in the end of the month pay cheque.

No use complaining.  Just have to be thankful I’ve been enjoying more home cooking than usual and that we’ve been able to go out to a restaurant together a couple of times.  We had time to rearrange the livingroom, wash and service my truck, set up the bird feeders so Marilyn can get more bird photos. Man has she ever got more bird photos!

Birds aren't the only ones who benefit from feeders. Click on the picture to view more in the Gallery.

I know there are other driver’s experiencing this same slowdown right now.  I hope they are enjoying the time at home, not stuck out on the road somewhere, staring at the same trucks stop parking lot.  Been there, done that.

*****

It has been quite some time since my last post to this blog and if I had such a thing as regular readers I apologize. Between a lot of pressures on the job and a lot of other things going on, this blog got sadly neglected. None of it was really a good reason but most certainly a good excuse.
Hopefully, all that will change however, as I have moved my truck to a new company. As of Friday the 19th of February I am officially a driver/broker with Fastrax Transportation out of Hartland, New Brunswick, a division of Day & Ross.
I owe a deep vote of gratitude to Fastrax Broker Manager, Gerry Betts and his very capable assistant Andrea Grant for making the transition painless, if not downright enjoyable.
My previous employer, while acceptable in many aspects and even above average in a few, just didn’t seem capable of allowing me to meet their expectations without breaking the hours of service regulations on a daily basis. To be honest my last few months with them had me almost to the point of burnout.  As an example, I got a $488 logbook fine on my last trip with the previous employer. I hadn’t had a logbook violation in the past 16 years. This one totally attributable to lack of sleep and exhaustion.
Today is Sunday the 21st of February and I’m in Northern Ontario on my way to Portage la Prairie, Manitoba with a load of McCains frozen french fries and pizzas. I had almost forgotten what it was like to drive mostly daylight hours and get a good nights sleep.
Now I’m not one bit afraid of a good days work or a good nights work for that matter. But when I’m expected to do both on a continual basis I’m forced to draw the line, for other people’s safety if not my own.
I truly hope if there are other drivers out there whose employers play fast and loose with their safety and well being that they too will have the common sense and ability to make a change.
Marilyn has been very supportive throughout this transition and is every bit as relieved as I am at the prospect of running legally once more. She doesn’t see me often but when she does she prefers it when I’m not quite so uptight.
Stay tuned to this blog and I’ll keep you posted on how Fastrax proves out on this and other factors. Who knows this may be the company to fit your needs as well.

If any of your decide to put in an application at Fastrax please tell them the GrumpyOlTrucker sent you.

PS. I’ll be posting pics of the truck with the new decal package whenever the weather allows it to be clean again for five minutes.

We have just gone through a provincial  election here in Nova Scotia (Tuesday the 9th of June).  Unfortunately I was picking up a load several hours away and was unable to get home before the poll closed.  Not the first time that’s happened.

This win is historical in more ways than one.  The first time the NDP (New Democratic Party) has been in power in Nova Scotia’s 142 year history.  Nova Scotia joined Confederation in 1867.  It is also the first majority government since 2003.

Anyway, for several weeks prior to the election, the polls were predicting a majority government for the NDP .  A day or two ago I was Googling for information on the up coming election, and found a few sites with public comments regarding the predictions of an NDP landslide.  I was amazed at all the negative comments of doom and gloom regarding the predicted NDP win.

Of course I’ve been around long enough to know that there will always be plenty of negativity in regard to anything that involves people.  Some people seem to thrive on negativity.  Likely many folks visiting this site and seeing the name of it, assume I too am a negative guy.  However nothing could be further from the truth.  I readily admit to being grumpy from time to time (ask my wife), but it’s usually with very good cause.  Negativity though is a not normal condition for me.

My father had a very wise credo that he lived by and I find it mostly true in my dealings with folks as well.  He said, “If you look for the worst in people, you’ll find it every time.  Look for the best in people and they with amaze you.”

I’m not naive enough to think that just voting a new party into office is going to solve all the provinces woes.  I do, however, think that a change is as good as a rest, and with the type of mud slinging that Rodney MacDonald (PC Premier) indulged in during the campaign, we are well rid of him.  I have never been a big fan of party politics and would much rather see a system where we select the man (or woman) and not the party, but I guess we have to make the best of the system we have.

Well it seems my optimism in regard to the security of the food industry may have been naive.  This has been the worst month since I started with this company as far as waiting for loads, running empty miles, and low total mileage.

Not that I thought we were immune from the downturn in the economy, but I have sure noticed a difference this month.  I have been following reports from other drivers who have mentioned the slowdown in their business, but never thought people would actually start cutting back on food consumption.

While I was ready to go back out on the road on Tuesday this week, it wasn’t until Thursday morning that a load became available.  Last week I sat for three days in Newfoundland waiting for a back haul and ended up coming back empty.  If this keeps up it will definitely affect the old paycheck.

Of course I have been reading of trucking companies closing down and owner/operators losing their trucks and that’s not a good thing at any time.  The only thing one can hope for is that things will bounce back soon, that I’ll be able to hold on until then, and when it does come back there will be fewer trucks on the road and thus more freight available for those who could hang on.