My week running in Canada and a thought on climate/pollution
Mar 26, 2016 8:15:28 GMT -5
Post by rah on Mar 26, 2016 8:15:28 GMT -5
Back from the great white north and glad of it. I have come to hate running out the Romulus, MI terminal. I just don't like the attitude of the people up there. Some of them lack manners and have little consideration for drivers. The whole attitude of at least half of them seems to be to make it through the day doing the minimum possible and screw anyone or anything else. Besides, I am quite often given runs that are very trying. That's how they use us guarantee drivers from Anderson when we go up there to do THEIR work. If there is a problem with a run that is the one we'll get. That is because their own drivers will tell them no or just fail to perform if forced into it.
This run is from Romulus, MI to Brampton, ON (In the Toronto metropolitan area on the NW side) to deliver. Then to Waterloo, ON to pick up and take it back to Romulus. As with most Canada runs the driver has paperwork to do for the import documents. Paperwork that must be done correctly or the driver will not receive the clearance documentation to cross back into the US. This paper work involves recording the containers and their stated contents and quantity. Applying PAPS stickers with bar codes to the import invoice the shipper supplies and the on the Manifest that the driver fills out. Then filling out a cover sheet that is more or less a listing of each set of documents. Each Bill of Lading requires a set stickers for it's invoice and the manifest. Then the material certifications, if there are any must be included. Then all this put together in oder and transmitted back to the import/export people at my company. They fill out their own forms to add to it and then transmitted it to the company that is the border broker. That broker then fills out their own set of forms and sends it to customs to receive the clearance numbers/codes. Then sends it back to my companies import/export people who then fax it to the truck stop where I tell them to send it for me to pick up when I get there. There is a lot more to being a driver than just driving.
They've had a lot of difficulty getting this run done within the 14 hour limit. Very tight on time. One Monday and Tuesday I did get it done in 14 hours though I was at 13 hours and 58 minutes each time. No time to eat and feel guilty even stopping to do a #2 during that time. #1s done while driving down the road in the ever handy pee bottle or while at the customers facility.
Because they got me out late on Tuesday due to the border clearance documentation arriving late I could not do the run on Wednesday because I would have departed too late after my 10 hour break. But instead of allowing me to go to a truck stop and fuel my truck and get a shower and perhaps a decent sit down meal they said I had to "stick around in case they needed me". Turned out that there were 3 hours at the beginning of the day I could have gone but no one told me that. Thus at the end of the day I had an hour to go fuel and that was it. No consideration for the driver. No shower from Sunday morning until I got back Friday morning. Make do with baby wipes, clothing changes, hand sanitizer, and deodorant. Shave with an electric in the truck. Brush my teeth with bottled water.
On Thursday morning I departed for the run at the designated 03:00 time but as I was driving up I-75 N as approached the exit for US customs and the bridge I saw the trucks lined up along the shoulder. Not being a rookie I knew what that meant and pulled over and got in line along the shoulder. The bridge going into Canada was backed up again. It took 2 hours and 12 minutes from the time I got in line on the interstate until I reached the Canadian customs booth on the other side of the bridge. This is not that unusual going both directions. This time it was because Canada failed to open enough booths. Only three lanes were open at customs. When I got in line I already knew that would have the hours to get back into the US and called the terminal and told them so. But it really didn't worry me. Nothing I could do about it.
However the next time you hear some US or Canadian politician blathering on about how they care about pollution or the environment I want you to picture 100 to 200 more big trucks lined up in lanes at customs and then a single file of them lined up for two miles or so back over a bridge and on the roads in the country they are trying to depart idling along the whole time. This kind of thing happens quite frequently during work days. And all of those trucks idling for 1 to 2 hours. Understand this kind of thing is exactly what has been going on for decades now and they haven't done much to improve it either at the Detroit-Windsor crossing or the several other major commercial crossings large numbers of big trucks use along the US northern and southern borders.
So obviously I did not make it back across the border on Thursday. It really didn't matter to me since Good Friday is a national holiday for Canada so the Canadian customers would be closed. The load was hauling was not critical either so they had already told me that they normally don't relay it. But this time for some reason they decided they would. I think because they wanted some work for the butt head drivers that wouldn't do the whole run in the first place. So instead of letting me just enjoy my 10 hour break without interruption they sent a driver across the border to get the trailer I was pulling. So my 10 hour break was actually an 8 hour break. Again, no consideration for me.
So Friday morning after getting 7 hours of sleep I bobtailed across the border and went to the terminal in Romulus where they had me hook to empty trailer that I brought back to Anderson. Got up at 02:00 Friday morning. Started work at 03:00 at Comber, ON and got back to Anderson, IN at 08:38. At least I had some good Tim Hortons coffee to sustain me. Once back I filled the truck with DEF, had a light fixed on the trailer I had brought, went to the Safety department to straighten out a problem I had been dealing with on my electronic logs, dropped the trailer, parked the truck and came home to a good meal and a shower and several Jack Daniels and Cokes.
Over the last 7+ years I have driven back and forth between Windsor and the Toronto area at least 50 times.
Hwy 401
Along that route during the colder months the worst for winter weather is almost always along an approximate 40 mile stretch between Kitchener and Milton. If it isn’t snowing anywhere else there is a chance it will be right along that stretch of road just as it did on Monday this week when I drove it. If it is snowing other places the worst will usually be along that stretch of road. If it’s cold and raining if one is going to hit icing conditions it will most often be along that stretch of road. Thursday I was running through rain headed east until I got to the vicinity of Kitchener and then within a mile all the vegetation was covered in white and road conditions icy. Toronto had gotten some ice and sleet but the worst of it was right where it usually is from Kitchener to Milton.
I can't figure out why that stretch of road is always the worst for winter weather. No lake effect there and the altitude is not much higher than the surrounding areas along the route.
This run is from Romulus, MI to Brampton, ON (In the Toronto metropolitan area on the NW side) to deliver. Then to Waterloo, ON to pick up and take it back to Romulus. As with most Canada runs the driver has paperwork to do for the import documents. Paperwork that must be done correctly or the driver will not receive the clearance documentation to cross back into the US. This paper work involves recording the containers and their stated contents and quantity. Applying PAPS stickers with bar codes to the import invoice the shipper supplies and the on the Manifest that the driver fills out. Then filling out a cover sheet that is more or less a listing of each set of documents. Each Bill of Lading requires a set stickers for it's invoice and the manifest. Then the material certifications, if there are any must be included. Then all this put together in oder and transmitted back to the import/export people at my company. They fill out their own forms to add to it and then transmitted it to the company that is the border broker. That broker then fills out their own set of forms and sends it to customs to receive the clearance numbers/codes. Then sends it back to my companies import/export people who then fax it to the truck stop where I tell them to send it for me to pick up when I get there. There is a lot more to being a driver than just driving.
They've had a lot of difficulty getting this run done within the 14 hour limit. Very tight on time. One Monday and Tuesday I did get it done in 14 hours though I was at 13 hours and 58 minutes each time. No time to eat and feel guilty even stopping to do a #2 during that time. #1s done while driving down the road in the ever handy pee bottle or while at the customers facility.
Because they got me out late on Tuesday due to the border clearance documentation arriving late I could not do the run on Wednesday because I would have departed too late after my 10 hour break. But instead of allowing me to go to a truck stop and fuel my truck and get a shower and perhaps a decent sit down meal they said I had to "stick around in case they needed me". Turned out that there were 3 hours at the beginning of the day I could have gone but no one told me that. Thus at the end of the day I had an hour to go fuel and that was it. No consideration for the driver. No shower from Sunday morning until I got back Friday morning. Make do with baby wipes, clothing changes, hand sanitizer, and deodorant. Shave with an electric in the truck. Brush my teeth with bottled water.
On Thursday morning I departed for the run at the designated 03:00 time but as I was driving up I-75 N as approached the exit for US customs and the bridge I saw the trucks lined up along the shoulder. Not being a rookie I knew what that meant and pulled over and got in line along the shoulder. The bridge going into Canada was backed up again. It took 2 hours and 12 minutes from the time I got in line on the interstate until I reached the Canadian customs booth on the other side of the bridge. This is not that unusual going both directions. This time it was because Canada failed to open enough booths. Only three lanes were open at customs. When I got in line I already knew that would have the hours to get back into the US and called the terminal and told them so. But it really didn't worry me. Nothing I could do about it.
However the next time you hear some US or Canadian politician blathering on about how they care about pollution or the environment I want you to picture 100 to 200 more big trucks lined up in lanes at customs and then a single file of them lined up for two miles or so back over a bridge and on the roads in the country they are trying to depart idling along the whole time. This kind of thing happens quite frequently during work days. And all of those trucks idling for 1 to 2 hours. Understand this kind of thing is exactly what has been going on for decades now and they haven't done much to improve it either at the Detroit-Windsor crossing or the several other major commercial crossings large numbers of big trucks use along the US northern and southern borders.
So obviously I did not make it back across the border on Thursday. It really didn't matter to me since Good Friday is a national holiday for Canada so the Canadian customers would be closed. The load was hauling was not critical either so they had already told me that they normally don't relay it. But this time for some reason they decided they would. I think because they wanted some work for the butt head drivers that wouldn't do the whole run in the first place. So instead of letting me just enjoy my 10 hour break without interruption they sent a driver across the border to get the trailer I was pulling. So my 10 hour break was actually an 8 hour break. Again, no consideration for me.
So Friday morning after getting 7 hours of sleep I bobtailed across the border and went to the terminal in Romulus where they had me hook to empty trailer that I brought back to Anderson. Got up at 02:00 Friday morning. Started work at 03:00 at Comber, ON and got back to Anderson, IN at 08:38. At least I had some good Tim Hortons coffee to sustain me. Once back I filled the truck with DEF, had a light fixed on the trailer I had brought, went to the Safety department to straighten out a problem I had been dealing with on my electronic logs, dropped the trailer, parked the truck and came home to a good meal and a shower and several Jack Daniels and Cokes.
Over the last 7+ years I have driven back and forth between Windsor and the Toronto area at least 50 times.
Hwy 401
Along that route during the colder months the worst for winter weather is almost always along an approximate 40 mile stretch between Kitchener and Milton. If it isn’t snowing anywhere else there is a chance it will be right along that stretch of road just as it did on Monday this week when I drove it. If it is snowing other places the worst will usually be along that stretch of road. If it’s cold and raining if one is going to hit icing conditions it will most often be along that stretch of road. Thursday I was running through rain headed east until I got to the vicinity of Kitchener and then within a mile all the vegetation was covered in white and road conditions icy. Toronto had gotten some ice and sleet but the worst of it was right where it usually is from Kitchener to Milton.
I can't figure out why that stretch of road is always the worst for winter weather. No lake effect there and the altitude is not much higher than the surrounding areas along the route.