Wtf, is the disconnect between sales and dispatch?

The problem is at the end of the day, it all comes down to sales not doing what they should be doing.

The key issue at this receiver was they require an appointment for unloads. Sales keeps sending us with loads there and telling drivers to show up at 6am. I completely understand the guy's position at the receiver as he keeps having to deal with this issue.

The details of this one receiver and how I solved my issue there isnt the story here. The story is sales is not paying attention to details and covering all their bases when it comes to these smaller facilities.

The problem with that is they waste everyones time and can potentially lose contracts which hurt us all. If this receiver requires set appointments, then thats how they should be settling up the loads. No ifs ands or buts, set the load up properly and my time, other drivers time, recievers time and whoever elses time doesnt get wasted because someone at sales didnt spend 5 extra mins to do it right.

There really is no excuse and while the receiver was trying to make it a pissing contest, I don't really blame him. Its clearly a issue with Prime's sales department not properly setting up these loads and putting drivers in middle of a problem that we shouldn't have to deal with.

Every single load issue Ive had in my short time at Prime can be traced back directly to the door step of sales. Now when I was company I did get some bad "planned" runs. That issue I think had shared blame with both the dispatcher and sales, but far as issues at shippers or receivers its always been the same ####.. appointment times being wrong and loads that were canceled before I even got there but no one bothered to tell me the guy driving the truck..

I know for a fact Im not the only one dealing with these issues. Ive talked with several drivers who have been having these same issues.

 

Its a bit more than $1k in the hole, but the earning ability is more than company. Also the forced dispatch kinda sucks on company side. I guess dedicated would be diffrent, but I found I really had to wear myself out trying toeven get close to a 600 mile day while driving a company truck.

As a side note, with the load I dropped today and the one I pick up tomorrow Im back out of the hole and profitable this week once the next load is dropped. No issues with the last load other than it was nasty ### chicken guts that was oozing out of the trailer drain holes.

I seriously dont know how people work at those chicken plants...

 

I just had a load of chicken backs, skin and what ever else they put in those gaylords.. The guard opened the rear doors abd it was oozing all over the floor.. It leaked on my truck as well while sitting over night even set at 28 with outside temps in the 20s...

Im soooo glad it was a drop and hook.. (took it to a Tyson plant) I really want to switch to flatbed this summer.. Ill do anything to never visit another chicken factory..

As far as company vs lease, even with these screw ups I made way more this month than I did as company. Things like driving a extra 200 miles a week unpaid as company really ticked me off.. (because they pay zip code to zip code, not actual miles) You do waaay too much unpaid work as a company driver.

I tested the waters as company, but it just wasn't for me.. Id need 3k miles a week consistently with a 70mph truck to get me to work as company per mile pay.. A slow truck like Prime's on per mile pay is just forcing me to work harder and longer hours to save them fuel. Not to mention no room in tbe truck, no fridge and no power to pull those heavy loads up the hills.

As far as lease goes, my 1st 2 weeks I was able to put $3k into my new truck fund and still pay myself a decent pay check. (I couldnt do that as company) Last week was a wash out, but between my carry over load and my curret loads Ill be back to putting money in my buy a truck fund. (Granted I'll likely get hit a bit more than Id like on taxes this year) My goal is to switch to OO by summer, so Im saving as much as possible and paying myself a moderate wage until I get my down payment saved plus a buffer. (My plan is to buy as refer driver then convert the truck myself for flatbed so I dont get pushed into the 4 year flatbed lease)

 

Na, mate 100% MERICAN some wanker took my favorite name, so I took this one.. g'day

 

I used to do affiliate sales online, so delt with lots of Euros, Canadians and Various others. I probably picked up the decimal thing there as that's how they usually do it.

As far as chicken I eat more chicken too, I just dont want to see the factories, and they couldn't pay me enough to work at one.. lol

As for the TONU, I did that with my cancled load as suggested and I wasnt paid for it, I didnt get lay over pay the 3 days I sat..I'll be calling payroll monday.