There are few things in life that are as annoying as forced waiting. Driving a truck and hauling produce makes this a double whammy. Add the fact that produce growers and shippers in Yuma, Arizona have trouble keeping labor (all the illegal immigrants don't want to be so close to the border they just crossed), and you have a real mess.
First of all, there is rarely a time when you only have one place from which to pick up. It's usually two or three.
Then there's the issue of appointments. Nobody shipping fresh bulk produce will give an appointment even a day before the load is supposed to ship. It has to be day-of. One appointment might be at ten in the morning. Your second pick is eight at night.
Now, the first pick won't have their product ready until seven in the evening. Then they take three hours to load you and the second pick closes before you can get their product. Guess what. Now you have to get an appointment for the next day. Now you're a day behind on a load that really should be on a rocket ship in order to get there on time.
So you finally get loaded and off you go. You have to monitor the temperature as you go and your dispatcher calls or sends a message several times a day wanting an ETA to the receiver.
When you get to the receiver you find out that they're backed up and won't be able to unload you for several hours. So now your trailer is a storage facility.
Oh, and if your temperature is off - even if it's because the shipper didn't cool the product properly - the load is rejected. So now you have to wait until your dispatcher can find some shady asshole to buy the product to resell to Asian food stores and food kitchens.
Ah, a day in the life of a reefer hauler. Fucking grand, wouldn't you say? So the least you can do is eat your fucking fruits and vegetables. Because some poor fuck just got paid way too much money to bust his ass to bring it to you.
2 comments:
Which is why, in absolutely no offense whatsoever to you, people should eat local.
Better for the environment and saves your ass from waiting around, right!
PS - truckers ROCK. My Dad's a trucker and he's taught me well. I'm the chick that pisses off the guy behind her because I'm slowing down to let you guys in. And yes, I love it when you flash your backup lights to thank me. ;)
I would agree but for the fact that most of the country can't grow during the winter. Nobody wants to can anymore. Plus we live in a society that wishes to maintain its lifestyle year-round. So if my Whopper doesn't have fresh lettuce and tomato on it, I'm not going to buy it.
To make matters worse, legislators in many states want all growers to go organic. So they want us to ship food that lasts only half the normal time? This stuff isn't meant to be moved in the first place. Thus the refrigeration units on the trailers. Stupid.
Thanks for the road etiquette, too. Most people are too bothered to give way to a truck. They also enjoy cutting in front of us and then slamming on the brakes. Forty tons doesn't stop on a dime.
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