Rodney A. sent me a picture of his truck and gave me permission to share it with you.
I didn’t get Rodney’s first email, which thanked us for our newsletter, because I was on vacation He replied: “Vacation is something Sandy and I are on all the time, right when you enjoy your work.” He also said some nice things about our DAT services: “We all appreciate the extra effort you provide for us drivers and dispatchers and everything else for logistics.”
From Rodney A. of Minnesota: “Here is a picture of our truck, which I took in Casa Grande, AZ.”
Rodney has been a dispatcher and trainer as well as a driver, and recalled a two-year period when he dispatched a fleet of 42 trucks singlehanded. Life on the road has its challenges, Rodney says: “If it was so easy, everyone would be doing it right..”
Some truck stops are disappointing and certain delivery locations have a bad reputation. One retail chain’s warehouse “doesn’t care how long they leave you sittin’ in a door,” and another is so bad that he avoids it as much as possible: “Ooh, boy! We would rather get hit in the head with a hammer than deliver there!”
Traffic conditions can also derail his schedule: “Construction is a whoopin’ on these trucks,” he says. “Timing is a factor when doing a 1,500- to 1,800-mile run, especially in big cities, doing a fuel dance with logging and multi stops.”
Despite the delays and frustrations, Rodney concluded that he prefers to spend his days at the wheel instead of “driving a desk.”
His parting words: “Drive it like ya stole it.”
