Marooned Update; Still Here!
by
Phil Madsen, Expediter
(Written October 28, 2003. Edited March 114, 2007 for publication on SuccessfulExpediters.com.)
We are still stuck in Tampa. Grrrrrrrr.
We got here Thursday when we delivered the load and swapped trucks (See: Marooned! Our First Bad Week).
Friday morning we drove the new truck (actually a used truck but new to us) for the first time and discovered a sharp pull to the left when braking. The truck owner sent us to the Tampa Freightliner dealer for diagnosis and repair. The service manager said they could not get to us until Monday.
The truck owner called later and talked the service manager into getting us in on Saturday. We spent most of Friday at a large shopping mall and organizing our stuff in the new truck.
The mall featured some interesting art pieces that I photographed. I am no professional photographer by any stretch but am developing an interest in photography. Our digital camera will hold nearly two hundred photographs on a memory chip. It is easy to fire away without concern for wasting film.
We spent Friday night back at a truck stop and arrived at the dealer bright and early Saturday morning for brake repair. A nice breeze through the shop made it comfortable to hang out in the sleeper as repairs were being made. We also spent some time outdoors sitting at a picnic table.
The brake repairs were completed. When we drove away, the sharp pull to the left was still there. While the brakes clearly needed repair, new front brake pads and drums did not cure the pull. We were told to return on Monday.
I talked the owner into accelerating the regularly-scheduled DOT inspection by a couple months. With the inspection complete, we would know the truck was in good condition and we could run for several weeks straight without down time (hopefully).
Sunday morning we drove the truck to the beach. We found a free parking place at a boat launch where large boat trailer parking is provided. The officer patrolling the area said it would be fine to park our straight truck there.
We spent all day Sunday at the beach. It was glorious. The weather was perfect; sunny but not too hot. Swimming in the ocean was a real treat for Minnesotans like us. The water was warm. We used outdoor showers at the beach to wash off the salt water and then spent the rest of the day reading and sleeping in our reclining lawn chairs. And yes, we got sunburned, but not badly. The late October sun is not intense in Florida like it is in the summer months. We left the beach a little before sunset and returned to truck stop to spend the night.
Monday morning we arrived back at Freightliner. They got us quickly into a bay but it was two hours before a mechanic came anywhere near the truck. He did a careful and thorough DOT inspection. I followed him most of the way through it to watch and learn. He struck me as a good man and good mechanic.
The inspection revealed six new items that needed attention, some of which would have put us out of service if they were found by an inspector at a scale. When I notified the truck owner, expressed concern about getting screwed by unnecessary repairs. He said it has happened before and I believed him.
Next came a two hour delay caused by owner and service manager playing phone tag. After the owner argued with the service manager for a while, the manager suggested that owner have me look closely at items mechanic condemned. I already believed the mechanic, but owner, located on the other side of Florida clearly did not. He was willing to make repairs if needed. He just wanted to be certain they were.
Having been an auto mechanic in a previous career, viewing things from a mechanic's creeper is not new for me. But I got out of that work partly because I felt peering up at the underside of filthy vehicles was no way to live. Laying on the creeper under the truck, I thought, "Well, well. Look at me now. Here I am again." I chuckled at the thought. It also confirmed that getting out of mechanical work was the right decision.
I like and respect the truck mechanics I have met so far. But when I see them start each day in a clean uniform and end it covered with dirt head to toe, and see them wrestling heavy parts on and off trucks, I am glad to be a driver.
Crawling out from under the truck, I called the owner and said, "I have spent the last half hour with a mechanic touring the underside of your truck. I have grease up to my elbows. What do you want to know?" That satisfied him that the dealer was not suggesting unneeded repairs. He authorized $2,600 worth of repairs to begin.
It was not required, but we chose to wait around the shop all day Monday. We felt our presence and occasional polite inquiry might speed things along. It didn't.
I cannot believe how slow this shop is in getting work out the door. They fill all their bays with incoming work and let it all sit as a small number of mechanics poke along. At shift change all work ceases for two hours or so; .an unbelievable waste of time and resources. This is a sharp contrast to other dealers and truck facilities we've visited. Until now, they have gotten us in and out the door with welcome efficiency.
Late Monday, convinced that our presence will do nothing to speed the work, we called a taxi and went to the nearest Holiday Inn. That is our hotel chain of choice; good free breakfasts, guest laundry facilities, iron and ironing board in room, competent staff, clean and spacious rooms.
Sleeping in the truck was not an option. With the truck in the bay we could not run the generator that powers the sleeper air conditioner. It was too hot outside to sleep comfortably in the sleeper that night. Lowering windows would only provide a feast for the mosquitoes that also do business at Freightliner.
We could have pulled the truck out of the bay to run the generator spend the night in the Freightliner parking lot. We dared not because we feared the staff would forget all about us and we would lose our place in line, such as it is. It would only be a matter of minutes before another truck filled the bay we vacated. We did not want to lose the position we had.
As I write this, it is Tuesday morning. We will stay here at the hotel, using the pool and exercise room. I forgot to pack my swimming trunks. I will have to buy others nearby or take cab back to Freightliner to get them.
Tampa as a mini-vacation site has much to offer. But the mini-vacations we prefer are the ones that come between run offers when we have a functioning truck. We don't want to get too deep into a mini-vacation in case we're needed back at the dealer.
We are very eager to get back in service and back on the road. We can't wait to get rolling again. When the truck is done we will run, not walk back into it. I can't wait to hear that engine running again and see the white lines passing under us as we roll along.
Oops! I .forgot to mention that the Monday we spent at the dealership was in the clean, air-conditioned sales office. There was an unused office near the showroom floor. I asked for permission to use that room to do some office work of our own. We still have a lot of work to do to close out the business interests we left behind when we started trucking. We brought our computers and paperwork into that office and had a very productive business day there.
We have more such work to do today and brought it along to the hotel. We might do it pool-side or inside, depending on the weather. Today will not be a wasted day, but it is not a driving day either. We never knew how much we like to be out there hauling freight until this truck repair and unbelievably slow Freightliner dealer kept us from it.
Thank goodness we were prepared for this kind of delay. My heart goes out to the other drivers milling around that dealership. Some of them have the money to take a cab to a nice hotel. Some are bumming rides from strangers to the nearest Motel 6. And a couple poor souls are wandering around in the dark probably wondering how in the world they got stuck in that place.
Advice for trucker wannabees; be mentally and financially prepared for unanticipated delays. In our case we are losing a full week of revenue and are now spending $100 a day just to eat, sleep, and get around. A healthy financial reserve fund is essential; not only to meet your creature comforts through idle days like this, but also to ease the frustrations that would otherwise mount. Financial reserves will also keep you from losing your one-truck business.
No amount of money will help get us out of a situation like this. The truck is broke down. With this dealership, I believe if I offered to pay double the amount for a rush repair, the service people would just stare back at me with vacant eyes. Driving or having the truck towed someplace else is not an option. The truck owner would not agree to such an expense.
Because we have financial reserves, we are not condemned to wander around that dealership for a number of days and nights. We will instead suffer through, poolside at the Holiday Inn.