Tardy Drivers?!?!

In this case, you & the broker scheduled it too tight. 0530 drop then 200 miles of hell through Philadelphia, Wilmington, & Baltimore morning commuter traffic before 1130 drop.

Averaging 50mph might be a reasonable expectation for that particular stretch of roadway at 3am, but not at 0730. From 0600-0900 you should probably plan on 30mph. Then 45mph after 0900. That puts eta at 1230. Add another 30minutes for your driver to park & find a restroom -- 1300.

Can it be done quicker? Of course. But you should be more conservative if you want 98% on time despite having drivers unfamiliar with the area.

PS: You should get a prepass if you are going to be running a lot of toll roads. It is not terribly reasonable to expect drivers to carry & front you hundreds of dollars.

 

I know who planned that. That is typical Costco planning. Not the broker. Perfect world assumptions with google maps. It happens so often it is ridiculous. I have even caught shippers, brokers, and planners in the act pulling times off of google maps and planning drops like that. You cannot plan, especially trucks, with google maps! You got to know what your business is and stand up for your company before taking loads. It is way to easy in this industry to blame drivers.

 

Be careful docking drivers. If one gets in a bad accident he will say I was in a hurry because I could not afford to get docked. The shark lawyers will be circling.

 

I'll have to agree with Double Yellow, the performance bonus may be just enough to keep your drivers on time 98 percent of the time as long as you can make it worth while.

 

I don't expect your out there to hate on drivers. But from your first post, and growing from then on, I read a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation.

As there was piss-poor planning on everyones part, you must consider who accepted that load for their business. In all honesty everything you posts read just like the actual problem was: poor planning on your part and blaming the driver for the outcome. Blaming the driver is almost always the case and that is why there is 100% turnover in truckload. When in this case, like so many others, everybody in line from Costco planner, broker, to you should have caught this poor planning. It is not just simple math. Many screw up on that even. Since it is assumed that the driver is the weak link in this equation (read:thought to be dumb and lazy) he was put with the blame.

Really, morning drive time traffic in Trenton, Philly, East Philly, Chester, Wilmington, Newark, Baltimore, and toll roads. Everybody going to work in Washington DC. 4 hours for 200 miles in that with downtown deliveries. For someone that knows that is so far out of the range of possibility it is ridiculous. Add to the fact he called you. He shouldn't have had to, you should have known!

 

let's not make this forum about a single driver being tardy

 

I havent read through all the thread yet... and yes, I know I dont have a lot of experience.. but, I am a driver who takes pride in running efficiently and on time.. as soon as I encounter a delay that may put me behing I communicate it..

I see drivers on the same account as I am, running the same loads as I am.. but, they waste time and have no sense of hustle..

I know me as a driver would have no problem with there being a late delivery charge.. it fact, it is more frustrating that there in consequences for goofoffs.. why should a driver who did not run as effectly and efficiently as me get paid the same. They shouldn't....

On the account I am on, we often have to fax our BOLs... so, the driver on the other end of the load when it comes off the rail has them.. drivers were not faxing BOLs and it would cause delays and trouble.. so, now if the bols are not faxed on time.. the driver who failed to their job is charged... and since that was put in place, drivers started to get the BOLs faxed..