A Long Weekend

A Long Weekend

While it is rare for us to get weekend loads, we are usually happy when one comes along. This past weekend made us rethink our position on weekend runs. Because of the type of freight that we carry most loads requires that one of us be on duty monitoring the load at all times. This means that each of us has to use twelve hours every day from the time we pick up the load until the time that we make delivery. Unfortunately, most of the places to which we deliver are not open during the weekend. For this reason we could not deliver until the following Monday. We had over sixty hours to work a load that would normally take us about 36 hours from start to finish. Somewhere along the way we had to waste 24 hours. This might not sound like a difficult thing to do until one realizes that we could not stop for more than six consecutive hours.

The expedite business began to fill a need in the automobile manufacturing industry in the 1990s. The "just-in-time delivery" concept began as a way to save auto manufacturers time and money by having parts delivered just as the production lines needed them. Since then the expedite industry has expanded to include many other industries. Another common phrase among expedite drivers is that we are in a "hurry up and wait" business. We hurry up to get from pick up to delivery and then we wait to do it all over again. It is not uncommon for us to wait several days between loads. When a load becomes available we hurry in a safe and legal manner to pick up the freight and then we do the same to make the delivery. To find ourselves in a position of having to take our time or "slow walk" our way to a delivery makes no sense. We both drove well below the posted speed limit and took more breaks than normal.

This brings up another concern for the motoring public. While most drivers in both automobiles and semi trucks are in a hurry to get to wherever it is they are going, we were taking our time. We did stay in the far right lane as much as possible; however, would you still consider us a hazard? Would the fact that we are driving slower cause you to develop a sense of road rage? Do you consider slower drivers to be impeding traffic? Do you consider anyone driving at the posted speed limit to be driving too slow? Do you follow the flow of traffic rather than the posted speed limit? These questions are not meant to call anyone out with regard to driving habits. Rather these questions are meant to help all drivers understand that there are times when going the speed limit are necessary while on other occasions going slower is necessary as well.

Here's to millions of safe, profitable and SLOWER miles.

Kelly Plumb