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Yesterday I deadheaded from DePere, where I park my truck, to Oshkosh to pick up a load going back up to Appleton. The warehouse said the load wasn't ready yet as it was still coming in from....DePere!?! Appleton is about halfway between DePere and Oshkosh. And to top it off- the truck that brought the load down from DePere is based in Oshkosh, and he deadheaded from there to pick up the load. With me so far? Here is the math: My DePere to Oshkosh roundtrip 104 miles plus the other truck's Oshkosh to DePere roundtrip 104 miles, minus what should have been a simple DePere to Appleton roundtrip of 56 miles= 152 wasted miles. At 6.5 mpg, 23 gals of diesel uselessly sent through the exhaust pipes. Multiply this scenario by 3 days this week, and then again by another truck that ran these loads too. Then multiply again by the number of overworked traffic department personnel in this country that aren't paying attention.

Keith

WOW! I'm suprised someone hasn't bid for this job yet that knows about the deadhead / bad routing. Sounds like a good dedicated route for someone. Although a bit short ;) Perhaps your boss will give you a bonus.

Last year I had 3 trailers spotted at the DePere mill. I would run this product direct to Appleton, 15 minutes to unload, run back up to DePere, drop/hook. 4 turns a day were easily done in 6 hours and the money was fantastic. Unfortunately, the Appleton company was bought out. They no longer accept the paper as it is being made, which is a problem for the DePere mill as they produce the paper in "runs" and have very little storage space. Their solution is to ship the product to a warehouse in Oshkosh via a huge carrier based in Oshkosh. Most of the local product is shipped back north using other carriers such as myself. Why they don't use a local warehouse is a mystery.

The more relevant point of course is the amount of fuel wasted running product back and forth. 23 gallons would get a less than average TDI over 800 miles, or 2-4 weeks of commuting. And the 6 loads one dayamounted to 138 wasted gallons. If this was an isolated situation, I wouldn't be as concerned. But it isn't. For instance, I have hauled a lot of freight the wrong way just so someone could avoid inventory, more than anyone could imagine.

Keith

I guess the mill is willing to pay the drivers to haul the paper to a rented warehouse in Oshkosh and then the Appleton company is willing to pay the first driver, rent at the warehouse (paying the mills expeneses) and more drivers to deliver from Oshkosh to Appleton?

Man that is messed up. How many trailers would it take to have it sit around at one location? Probably more than there is room for in the lot.