Smart move on your part, glad corporate back ya. Better safe than sorry. 

You made the correct decision......and it get's there when you can get there........only an idiot would NOT understand that sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate.

To the big head guy of Land star .... will it work or get me fired

Sir.

I wish to bring to your attention a safety issue that I ran into the other day. Let me assure you as I continue with this letter that I wish to convey all due respect as I lay out the problem to you. I have been with LandStar for twelve years now and up until just a few days ago I was always allowed to run my truck in the most safe and legal way possible. I feel that the last few days have shown me a reverse in this policy and would ask for a clarification of company policy so that I might continue to run as within the rules as before.

Booking a load about six days prior to the pickup date, I found myself unloading early and then sitting for four days before loading the load. On Monday morning, I loaded up out of Aurora, OR and proceeded east on I84 to Pendleton, OR at which time I notified the agent that the chain law was in effect between Pendleton and Ontario, OR. According to LandStars policies, I refused to chain up my truck and continue through the mountain pass.

Figuring that the agent would call in to Costumer Service, I also placed a call finding the agent being notified of company policy and then trying to figure out how to make me return the load to the shipper or repowering the load to a driver that would ignore Landstars chain policy leaving me with the cost of repowering the load. On that day there were four different locations requiring chains plus a two hour delay due to a wreck in the pass. Experience has taught me that the time required to chain, unchain and repeat the process four times plus the two hour delay, time is better spent taking a long break allowing the road and wreck to be cleared and then continuing on. This took two and one half hours. The agent unfortunately was not happy with this approach.

This load was booked with enough time to make legal delivery, but as luck would have it snowed that morning leaving me unable to run. The agent being so adamant that the load not be late for any reason was making it very clear that he would repower the load if I was not going to be on time. So with the threat of having to pay whatever price I might be charged for a distressed load and with the knowledge that LandStar would indeed put a driver on it that would do what it took to get it there, I decided against my better judgment to deal with it and inform you at this time the outcome of my decision.

The scheduling of the load was so tight that absolutely no time was left for any kind of a delay. This left me having to keep my truck at the speed limit across that snow and ice cover mountain pass. Truck after truck I went around as they were running twenty five miles an hour keeping it safe on the slick road. Time and time again I would drop off of the hills on solid ice at highways speeds dodging the slower traffic. With luck I finally made it to the Idaho state line just to find the fog setting in and a multiple car wreck due to the black ice. I continued on pass Boise, Idaho until a car spun out in front of me and with my hours about to run out, I pulled off into a safe spot for the night.

As requested the night before, I called Customer Service with an update and again explained the road conditions. I was informed that I booked the load and it was my fault I was having problems. I found this quite interesting because for the last twelve years with this company, I have always been told to park the truck if the roads were unsafe and continue on as conditions improved enough to do so safely. But this day, I find myself at fault because it snowed in the Rocky Mountain range in the middle of winter and I would be responsible for whatever the cost to get this load delivered on time. I do not understand this policy change.

Being unable to afford a repowering, I continued on with the only way possible to make the appointment time with only a two and a half hour delay, by keeping my truck as close to the speed limit as possible. The road had cleared some and things were safe until I found myself easing into eastern Wyoming. Here no light trailers was being posted on the net between Rawlings and Cheyenne, WY. My trailer had less the ten thousand pounds all stacked in the nose. Also slick and icy spots were all over the place. I went through this area at seventy five miles an hour, the posted speed limit again blowing by trucks that were moving at a much slower speed watching as the wind gust would push my light trailer into the left lane as I hit the solid ice patches of road. Again, with the threat of having the load taking from me and giving to another driver, I could see no difference in my doing this as opposed to LandStar allowing another driver to do it.

The next morning found me stepping into a Colorado Scale house to show my paper work. Due to the fact that I had to push every minute and every mile to keep my log book legal, it has now been two days since I have had a shower. As I stood there representing LandStars finest, I watched as the Scale Master took two steps back as he smelled my arrival.

On to Texas, finding me in blinding rain again speeds upwards of seventy miles an hour blowing by traffic barley able to see over my hood. Every second had to be used to its maximum to keep my log book legal and I have been made to understand that this load would be delivered on time or else. That it was my fault for booking a load and then finding myself on slick and icy roads five days later when the load finally picked up.

Sir, I wish to inform you that legally according to my log book, and still without a shower, I delivered my load In Arlington, TX this morning on time. But if you ask me, whoever it was that decided that LandStar freight was more important to deliver then the human life it passes out on that highway really needs to get down on their knees and thank whatever entity it is they believe rules this world that nobody was killed by me being forced to be on time or else. And I further wish to take this moment to apologize for not being able to stop it from snowing. You should know of course, that in this part of the country you can find yourself in a blinding blizzard in a matter of minutes in the middle of any given summer month.

The good thing about this is that LandStar allows me to pick and chose the agents I work for. Let me assure you that any agent that values freight more than human life will never again find their freight on my truck. Also given the fact that LandStar did not stand behind me by informing me that this was my fault over seeing to it that this load was delivered safely, I will no longer be running freight into the North West from this point on.  Both choices that I freely make because for me, nothing comes before running my truck in the most safe and legal fashion possible.

In closing I would just like to say that it is a shame on our industry that drivers such as myself that truly believe in safe and legal truck driving all too often get treated as if they are only trying to get out of working. That they are being obtuse or belligerent for whatever reason. Perhaps one day the world will recognize the fact that just because I drive a truck, it does not mean that I have no interest in anything other than screwing up some dispatchers day.

I respectfully ask that a review be made of LandStars policies regarding the situation as described above. And again, that you take this letter in the spirit in which I offer it, with all due respect. Sincerely

lc335 wrote:

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straight up wrote:

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me too ... the dental chairs are going to sit in the waiting room for the next two weeks because the construction is two weeks behind ... I hate when morons get behind pushing trucks

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 WHAT???????............dental chairs????........and now; after you literaly risk you life, and your equipment to get these things there; construction means they will sit there for two weeks????

I would make sure that the president of the company knew exactly what this idiot did. Ya know SU a lot of these "agents" may be on a power rush........pushing drivers when they know it isn't needed.

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yup...  I learned this lesson over twenty years ago  ...  got a speeding tickets delivering a got to have load only to be told to drop the trailer, that they would get to it Monday ....    half of the problem of trucks doing stupid things lies in the people outside of the truck pushing .....