Rumors....... Confirmed

Last week, while delivering to a customer in Massachusetts, I was enlightened to what seems to have been privileged information.

The customer asked if I had any travel plans for the holidays. I thought he was referring to the Thanksgiving weekend. But instead he was questioning me about the Christmas and New Years time frame. Seeing as how our plant was to be closed for TWO WEEKS, he thought I may have scheduled a nice trip/ vacation. HUH???!!!!

Normally during the holidays, the plant remains open and ships aluminum with the exception of the actual holidays themselves. This year, they are closing the doors.... so to speak.

When I returned home, I questioned the Bossman. He looked at me with a startled expression. Not because my information was inaccurate, but rather because I had already found out through an outside source....

Yes, we will not be shipping any material out for two weeks. He did remark that there would be scrap loads to haul during this time, so we would not suffer too much. But lets do the math, shall we.

2 facilities provide scrap
6 scrap loads per day (combined total)
10 days (excluding the actual paid holidays)

Okay so we have 60 loads of scrap to haul... Doesn't sound too bad, so far.....

But there are 40 drivers...... and I am sure a few of those will elect to be off the entire time, so lets just cut that back to 30 drivers. But still, that leaves 2 loads per driver in a two week period.

One of the hauls pays a flat rate of 98 dollars, unless they send it to the Tennessee facility. Then it pays approx $268.... The second haul pays about $225.

Therefore, I have the potential to earn anywhere from $196 to $536 in a two week period. NOT GOOD..... Yeah, that should cover taxes and insurance and a few pennies in the 401K....

So, you can see, I am kind of in panic mode.... While I would not mind having a long delicious holiday season without work, well, financially, I cannot afford to. Especially because I have not purchased Christmas presents yet, and am planning the big move early next year...hmm, that might have to be delayed until late spring..... Okay, enough trying to figure things out....

Superman thinks I should try to get my loads in early, and then pack a two week bag. That is not a bad idea because I could get in some serious quality time with ALL members of my family, but are they willing to feed me for 2 weeks??

Nothing is set in stone just yet, and the details are very sketchy. Hopefully there is actually more work available, but we do not know just yet. So, I quite possibly could be overreacting. but secretly, I am excited about the possibility of having so much time off, even if I do starve for a few days....