What's your average wait time to get a load when empty?

When I was running western Canada, average was between 20-30 minutes while being unloaded. In my regional position, I usually get an answer within 15 minutes at most. My company doesn't believe in making drivers wait for loads (we have better things to do). They usually have a reload lined up days before (we have lots of regular customers).

Longest wait I ever had was waiting to hear back in Saskatoon after an unload. Two hours to find out I needed to be in Carrot River before 3:30pm for a reload. It was 1:30pm and Carrot River is 3 hours away. One of the best night's sleep I had in the truck in that town. So calm and quiet.

 

I normally have a preplan and if not I call my dispatcher the day before delivery to get him working on one.

From the time I send in my empty message until I receive the new load it's usually about 5 minutes.

 

A "Good" carrier Will NEVER allow a driver to sit especially without compensation.........

I don't care whether freight is slow,Your in the Mifddle of New mexico or Southwest Texas, YOU KEEP FREIGHT ON THAT TRAILER- Or its $30 per hour to the driver to Wait for the next assignment.

As an Independent Myself- I Don't have Time Nor Money to waste on a Dead sitting Truck- Unless im at Home.

see way too many Drivers wasting their Lives away ,waiting at truckstops or parking lots For a Planner or dispatcher to "Conveniently" send them a Load. WITHOUT ANY COMPENSATION to the driver.

 

Friday I waited 90 minutes for my next load info after I got empty. First time it's happened at this job. Nope, didn't get paid either. Good news is, they paid me well above my usual regional cpm for the whole day, and I was home in my bed that evening.

 

Flatbed. About an hour.
Two hours tops.
Three hours and I'm leaving the shopper on to the next one

 

Compensation? For something other than bloody household miles? Not likely. Lots of times I'll have a plan on me. Might not pick up till hours after I deliver. Then the shipper says "your appointment isn't till 1900!" As if I personally called and told them I'd be there at 1900, then showed up early some I'm the #######.

Or my absolute favorite. Deliver before 10 am and get a call from Dispatch; "got you a load but it doesn't pickup until late 0130 tomorrow morning, and needs to be delivered by 10 am, so go ahead and STAY ON BREAK" as if I'm some sort of robot that can sleep a few hours after waking up.

 

All the megas have no problem sitting out drivers for days on end and beating them out layover.

 

If I'm not preplanned I usually wait no more than an hour or two for my next assignment. Fortunately, I'm preplanned 90% of the time. My company is pretty good at planning. A few weeks ago I did a load from Charlotte to Dallas. I hadn't even made it to Alabama yet, and I already got my next assignment. It really all depends on your company's customers & where you'll be unloading.

 

I've got a pre-plan 12-24 hours before empty probably 9 out of 10 times. The other time I get the load within a few hours of arriving at final. Rarely have to sit more then 4 hours to make PU appt but today is one of those days. Empty at 08:00 but reload is 16:00, 60 miles away and then deal with SoCal traffic at 17:30 to from Irvine back to I-15 and up the hill. Don't want to think about it right now.

I work at a mid-size temp controlled carrier with roughly 200+ trucks running all 48. They resort to brokers only when they have to to keep us moving but that's not very often.