Home for Labor Day?

Are you or are you not? I’ve spent many Labor Day’s away and on the road. It sucked, but I survived. We all know the old adage, we’ll celebrate the holiday when dad gets home. The worst thing is when operations gets you close to home – let’s say 350 miles – but they can’t find a load to complete the deal. Oh sure, there is a trip 350 miles AWAY from home, and it delivers Tuesday. Your not an O/O that can just decide (to eat the cost of diesel) and go home.

I’ve certainly had my share of those. The only thing you can do is make the best of it. Right? Tough it out and you might get home next week, when the Mrs. doesn’t have three days in a row off, but you might. More time to sleep alone or tackle one or two items on that “honey” list. That’s if you have the spare cash to do anything.

I say find a Wal-Mart or Target. Tell the Pilot or T/A that despite their absurd no drop policy, that it’s freak’n Labor Day, you’re not home, so for a few hours your going to drop your sack, I mean load, of potatoes or whatever the heck your transporting, and heading to the store to buy yourself a present or two. Then lock and cuff the heck of of the thing and get going. Stick to a super center or whatever Target calls their big store and park somewhere safe and away from the crowd. Grab a bite to eat before you go in, so as to not give into temptation when you see those fudge brownies on sale.

There is a boat load of stuff you can buy this weekend to make your life on the road easier and more tolerable. You’re not going to require a lot of cash to do it. Even on my limited budget for everything, I wanted a BBQ grill for the weekend and found a great deal for $25 at Wal-Mart. I didn’t see anything similar for less than $44 at Target. I don’t like the taste of charcoal.

The little gas canisters to run it are $2.50 each. Go way over to the other side of the store and there is plenty of fair priced steak or chicken that you can prepare while you’re parked. Get some spices, like McCormick’s “Grill Mates”. Here’s their link – McCormick/LOTR Drivers Love To Eat!.

If you have a crock-pot, there was a pre-packaged – all cut up – meal for or two or for one over two nights. It was some kind of roast, with new potatoes, tomato, celery, carrot and gravy. Cut it open, plug in the pot in your inverter, later add some corn starch later on and let it cook. For those of your gravy challenged, here’s a link to help you out – HOW TO MAKE GRAVY.

Of course, I never advise the consumption of alcohol in, near or around any commercial vehicle. However, if you drive the 350 miles or whatever the trip and arrive at the truck stop near your final with two days down time, why not, a “beverage” or two? Beer is so “pedestrian” and gives you a big “belly.” Who needs that?

For $1.25 you can get a pre-made – alcohol included – “pack” – of strawberry daiquiri or three other types of “cocktails”. Put “them” (I assume you’re going to want more than one) on or over ice in your cooler and when you’re ready take the package out, scrunch it, and pour. I always say the cheapest wine is the best wine. A large bottle of Gallo white “vino” for under $10 is much tastier than something else with a fancy French family name for $25. I preferred mine chilled and it’ll go great with that salmon you’re going to grill.

For the entertainment portion of your weekend, hit the $5 bins for DVD’s and CD’s. There is an excellent selection of music and movies to go with your meal. Are you single and plan to have a lot lizard, so sorry, a “date” over to dine? Fine and dandy – make it a “special” evening – both Target and Wal-Mart have a good selection of flowers as you enter the store. If you’re feeling really frisky, you can get roses with a smattering of baby’s breath for $9.99. Along with your large bottle of Gallo and the croc-pot roast, your “date” will feel like Julie Roberts in “Pretty Woman”.

By the time Tuesday rolls around, you’ll have passed the weekend over quickly and with a smile. Some of you might even not want to go home next holiday. Well, maybe not. But at least you didn’t sulk around all depressed laying in the bunk feeling sorry for yourself.

Oh, one last thing – clean yourself up and get shower – you’ll feel a lot better. And please, “protection” – gentleman.

PS2/for our Spanish speaking readers, Wal-Mart has an entire section of movies produced for you. See photo.

PS2 para nuestros lectores de habla españolas, Wal-Mart tiene toda una sección depelículas producidas para usted. Ver foto.

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This Labor Day is for you!

I want to gear this post to the drivers who are NOT home this weekend, but are on the road, either heading to their consignee, sitting MT somewhere or have already arrived at or near their final destination for delivery on Tuesday. If you’ve delivered today or will tomorrow and possibly have a preload that will keep you moving, all the better.

Let me also do a follow-up to the issue of ATM’s (and their use) on the road by truck drivers. There are always two sides to everything, right? Of course. Bottom line is, experienced drivers and business savvy O/O’s, avoid using any ATM’s at all costs.

One driver contacting me on the “backchannel” on Facebook last night described his horror story. He used one of those, “independent”, called ISO’s, ATM machines in Dallas to withdraw cash for the weekend. He was hit with a $3 surcharge for the privilege of accessing his own money. All was good at the time.

About two weeks later, he was in Biloxi and tried to use one of the “flashy” ATM’s at a casino. Rejected! No cash available, zero balance, ding, ding, ding – no dinero for you driver, no mucho or otherwise. Angry, confused, frustrated with a seat at the poker table empty, he was screwed. He called his bank and waited about an hour for a real person – probably somewhere in India or Vietnam – to get the bad news.

It seems his card number, when he used that “independent” ISO ATM, magically was also used by someone, somewhere in the Caribbean (later found to be Belize) to purchase about 300 gallons of diesel from a local gas (petrol) station there. And they did it twice and tried for a third time, before they went through his overdraft reserve. He was out about $1500.

The bank had “frozen” everything. It took him about a week to get it straightened out. He got the money back and the fraud division was notified of the crime, but the culprits were never caught. They were probably busy sucking another drivers account dry from one of the 400,000 other ATM’s around the nation. He had to close his account, rip up his card, locate and go into a branch to redo everything. It was a total pain in the butt. He vowed never to use another ATM again.

I recommend you follow his advice. Most of the time on the road, I never carried cash. There was no need. Why would you pay cash for something? It’s makes it difficult to return anything and after being audited by the IRS, they don’t like cash, they like credit or debit card receipts – for everything. You can’t stop at a “real” bank in your truck to use an ATM, so you have to use those “cheesy” ones at a gas station or in a travel plaza. Don’t trust any of them.

Never use ATM’s at bars, strip clubs or casino’s. Not only are you opening yourself up for fraud, the fees are ridiculous. You’re better to fuel up at one of the big four truck stops, and if you really need cash money, cash a Comcheck and avoid ANY fee. Unless your doing an intra-bank transaction or using your local bank at home, count on getting hit with a minimum of $1.25 per withdrawal.

And that is cheap. The operator of that ATM is making about $300 a month off of drivers, based on a few hundred transactions a month. For those of us who studied Alexander Hamilton, he was of Scottish ancestry. In other words, he was damn cheap. If he were alive today, he would never use an ATM. He would be very displeased to know that these ISO – “independent” – ATM’s – representing 60% of the US market – can hit the user with as much as a $6 fee!

Smart drivers limit their “exposure” and “liability” by using their debit and credit cards responsibly. Never use an ATM to do any money or account transfers. Check your balance on line using a secure site. Never carry more than $25 in your wallet. In case of emergency, I “hid” six $20's – $100 – in the truck. I never let my cash advance account go below $50. When I drove my own truck, my maintenance/repair balance was always robust. As I said, I don’t recall ever having the need to pay a stranger $2.50 so I could get a $20 to buy something. It made no sense to me.

Drivers, be smart out there. Remember my suggestions last post to go to Target or Wal-Mart this weekend – plenty of good cheap stuff to buy. Walk past the ATM. You need to stay positive this holiday weekend, if you’re not home, well, even if you are home – LOL. Get in that shower. Take care of yourself. I know that when I go shopping today for food or whatever, that, thanks to you, it got there fresh and ready for purchase. You are the (not paid or recognized enough) backbone of this country. Labor day is to celebrate your efforts. Give yourself a pat on the back!

Let me give you a resource to check out – 5 Places With the Highest ATM Fees – to avoid.

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