Criteria for declining a load

Granted I'm not a Prime lease op, but a lease op nonetheless... so I will chime in.

If it's north of Pennsylvania, I decline it.
If I'm expecting home time in less than a week and it's sending me 2000 miles in the opposite direction, I decline it.
If I've been stiffed on detention from the customer in the past, I decline it. (Once I'm screwed, I don't go back to be screwed again)

That's pretty much it. Picky sob ain't I?

 

Short hops north of PA is where the money is. You should reconsider if you're paid on percentage. If you're paid a flat mileage rate +FSC, then carry on. Although I don't know why any lease op would do that...

 

Not worth the stress.

 

Oh right... JCT doesn't run I-90 so I don't have to worry about it... but if it is an I-90 run in the winter.... I'd decline it.

 

You need to go to the lease forum under Prime and ask Iron Pony, He is the master, we are but peeon's

 

I wouldn't even go to PA if i could avoid it. I recently had a multi drop load in PA. Congested, non freeway back roads to all three drops; I burned up 7 hours of on duty/drive time going maybe 230 miles. Every city I went to the drop was in a location absolutely not designed for a 70' tractor trailer. The roads to the drop were not designed for a 70' tractor trailer. Peterbilt pulling a spread axle didn't help. I'm not one to advocate more regulation of this industry, but seriously, put this crap on a day cab or a straight truck. It's a miracle I got all three drops without hitting anything significant.

 

I'll give you a rundown of a couple loads I rejected when I was at Prime.

A. Southern NJ to Central OH: This load was picking up on a Monday afternoon outside Philly, and delivering Wednesday morning north of Columbus. This was at a point when freight out of NJ paid next to nothing. After doing the math on the load, I would have lost less money deadheading out of NJ to OH and having a PTA in Ohio of Tuesday morning, than I would have picking up the 40,000#+ load, running it and having a PTA Wednesday morning.

B. Southern, CA to Memphis: This was a heavy 5 stop load that had 4 stops in TX and emptied out in Memphis. I was team at the time, and was dispatched on it on a Saturday morning. When the dispatch came over, I was happy because looking at all the stops I figured I was looking at a very profitable rate. However, when the rate came over, it was more than $1.00/ mile under what I was expecting it to be for what was a load that was going to be a PITA with all the stops, and had probably an extra day on it. I knew I was taking the risk of not having a load for until Monday when I refused it, but I rolled the dice when I calculated that if I could get a load of produce on Monday, it would likely give me more profit in the same timeframe than running the load I was offered. About 5 hours later, I was given a hot 2 stop produce load going to the NW that the solo it was dispatched on couldn't make.

C. Southern, CA to Denver: Load with an unknown weight, going over Vail, in mid-January, with a winter storm forecast. Enough said.

D. Northern, CA to Omaha: This one was scheduled by a moron. It was a 5,000# load that was scheduled for a pick up on a Tuesday afternoon with a delivery 1650 miles away on Wednesday morning. If it wasn't delivered by the time the place closed Wednesday, it couldn't deliver until Monday due to a holiday weekend. Given the weight and impending chain regulations going up on Donner (I got this load after a DH to Ontario, OR fell through since I wasn't going up Donner with the chain law up while I was empty) I didn't take the load. I don't 100% remember if I refused it outright, or my dispatcher realized what was going to happen with it and took it off me.

 

Not having enough hours to pickup the load and deliver it is a very good reason. Unless they want to reschedule the load for a later delivery time. Feast to famine somedays it appears.

 

1. Not enough hours available, unless your primary FM has a plan for a repower from the git-go.

2. The rate is low enough that you're going to loose money on it. However, this depends on what's happening at the other end... I like to be positive on loads that are just paying the fuel to get to a better load.

3. Certain locations that I refuse to go to.

The northeast can be quite lucrative... short runs mean you can capitalize on low costs. You need to know your fixed cost per day to understand the hit you take today that must be paid tomorrow for rejecting a load. You also need to know your operational cost per mile to judge whether a load is going to be profitable. I keep a weekly scorecard on my loads to look at where I am in regards to my total gross revenue for the week and per day. Knowing your numbers allows you to understand how your week is going, and whether you are on target for your weekly financial goals.

You need to clearly state to your FM what those numbers are, and give him feedback on how he's doing. Remember, your FM is just one of the folks on your team and you're the coach. He is definitely NOT your supervisor, and you are in charge of making sure he's doing a good job.