Where tire meets the Rods
We today, put a lot of trust in the service technicians (in this case “tire”) who are licensed to replace and/or repair our vehicles or what have you. Certainly when spending hard earned money on said service you are expecting to get at the least, basic service. Unfortunately, this technician felt differently and after being angered decided to go above and beyond. We are emotionally filled pods, called humans and it appears we can be made upset enough that we would jeopardize the life of many in acts of mischief or revenge, without fear of consequence, as is one the reason for this post. The most important reason is to make those drivers aware of what has been taking place so at least they’re aware and can take the steps needed to prevent it from happening to the. It is surely an issue that can be extremely costly and if traveling at Highway speeds, and absolutely fatal if not caught in time.
If you are a fleet manager, an owner operator, or a company driver running power only units, then you are probably familiar with “load out trailers”. If not, these are empty trailers that a broker is willing to pay you to deliver where they choose in set amount of days for a $50-$200. Imagine driving 800 plus miles for $50…Insane right? Well, if I haven’t mentioned yet, these load out trailers are yours to use to haul loads in between the time to deliver it. Brokers know where these load out trailers are at all times as they have GPS tracking onboard or it is required that you accept some type of tracking application. (ex. MacroPoint) Most times the length to drop the is between 5-10 days. Usually if you keep in contact even longer. You should always do a thorough inspection on these load out trailers as you are responsible for them. If you are not happy with that trailer there are more that the broker will allow you to swap out for. Make sure to take photos of every side front and back… and please the tires!
One of our drivers were dispatched to pick up an empty ,as they are sometimes called, in the Orlando Florida area to deliver to Indiana. Driver makes the pick up of trailer successfully and went to grab a load of beverages to deliver in Maryland from there he goes to Ohio and then to drop trailer after an Indiana drop 30 miles from trailer drop. We get the call at operations driver is 12 miles away from the his Indiana delivery and is alerted by a highway driver that he had blown a tire. When he could make it to safety he pulled over. After making his assessment he decided he could make it to his delivery without a problem. Or so he thought. 2miles away, he loses the other tire. Having only a few minutes before the receiving facility closes, he is able to get unloaded. During this time, roadside service has been sent near his location. Repairs are not allowed on the grounds on which he was parked and they we about to close. The tire technician was able to meet our driver right off of the premises and repaired both of the tires and the rims and then as he was taking off, they noticed a leak on the other side of the trailer. Unfortunately, the technician didn’t have another tire. Driver was forced to go to nearest truck stop to have tire replaced. Upon dismount of the tire, technician noticed these metal bars in the tire that were chipping away at the inside of the tire causing the leak damage and then blowout!
We reported the damages to the broker who automatically placed all responsibilities on our driver, stating that he must not have done a proper inspection when in fact, the damage was being done from the inside. After a few days of back and forth with them, they agreed to pay $350 of the $1500 worth of damages.
