dont know if i should laugh or cry

even after driving for transam for 2 years
I will give them that they knew where all their trailers were
these companies like swift covenant and werner not knowing where every trailer is makes no sense to me
every trans am truck and every trailer had its own tracking device

dispatch would tell you exactly where your empty was at a walmart dc or a meat plant

searching for or fighting over empties wastes time and is stupid


one time my dm did call and say pete where is your trailer
as I was going down the highway I said in back of the truck
they had to reboot the system

 

I wish our system had a notification for the office staff when a driver sends a message. We just have to remember to check for messages every :30 minutes or so. Then again, it would be nice if the drivers would notify the office staff when they are going to be late, rather than us getting a call from the store or the transportation department screaming about where their truck is.

 

another stupid thing a couple of software strokes and you would know you have mail
I suppose you don't know where your trucks and trailers are either
I like how they all show up on a map

 

A mac 22 (running late) is a good way to get attention after a couple failed attempts.
Gunna be late cause of THEM... u will get a reply in a few min.

 

This is very true. Certain things are flagged up for the entire department in a hurry, including Mac-22's. So if you need an empty and can't be on time because you are late getting information from dispatch, then a Mac-22 will do more to light a fire than anything else and give you documentation of the fact.

 

LOL now you see why they are so well renowned on this whole forum... It aint just there drivers its the whole dang company...

 

That's because the Mac22 is an official notification, not just a mere request.

And trailers whose whereabouts are unknown stems from two problems.
The first is the tracking systems on many trailers are faulty, so they just go by where they were last reported to have been.
The tracking system doesn't seem to be one of the things checked at every PM, and I get a QC message on many of the trailers I pick up that the tracking system is not working.
Since I need that trailer for my next load I am not about to do anything about the tracking issue. If I did it for every trailer with that problem I would lose 30% of my loads.

The second is that sometimes a driver gets instructions to just take a trailer to a location, when he is not actually assigned to that trailer. And sometimes that will mean that 2 trailers are at different locations than what is expected - the one the driver was actually assigned to and the one the driver actually moved.
Unless the driver happens to go through a terminal during the move, it will not be noticed until after the fact.

 

Just out of curiosity, did anyone notice in picture 3 that the driver asked if he could "deadhead"? The proper response in picture 4 was given. Do you have an mt? The driver should have asked "am i to BOBTAIL?"

 

No matter what company you work for, nighttime dispatch very rarely relays any messages to the oncoming shift. So issues like this happen. I sent a message to weekend dispatch that I was leaving a company. I left a detailed message on the qualcomm saying what my plans were. monday afternoon (can't remember when), I got on qualcomm and asked where my next load was going so that I could turn in the truck. Dispatch said I was put in for truck abandonment. I replied CHANGE THAT NOW. I am ready and willing to deliver this truck to the appropriate terminal. Dispatch then reversed the prior action and gave me a load to deliver to the terminal.