trip planning

Well duh!! Your just preachin to the choir now son. Disagree about running in the middle of the road though, but to each there own. I am sure you have your reasons. I always drive in brail. I keep my drivers side tires on the rumple strip. Thats how I know where the road is. I run the hammer lane so I am less likely to have one of those panzy granny drivers embedded in my grill.

 

That little bit sums it up for me better than anything that has been said so far.

While there are a lot of things that can go wrong in a day, I find that whether or not I know where I am going makes the biggest difference in whether I have a good day or a bad day.

My whole driving career made a huge change for the better when I made a single revelation. Every extra minute you spend trip planning will come back to you at the end of the day as a minute saved, and often will result in saving you more time than you spent in the planning.

 

At this point, I am still a wannabee w/o a CDL.

For me, good trip planning is not jsut the smart thing to do, it is a compulsion. I cannot make a day trip, weekend trip or a week long vacation without planning it all out. It drove my first wife nuts. "Why can't we just get in the car and go?' I don't care if I am on foot, Valley Fair, Mall of America, etc.. I have to have a map on me.

I am confident that this trait will contribute to my success.

 

as someone speaking from the other side of the fence, I am a Fleet Manager/Driver Manager I cant say enough about how important trip planning is. I could name countless times that my drivers was late either to their pickup,stop or final delivery simply due to poor trip planning. when the driver is late like this due to poor trip planning it really makes the company look bad. That is why it is so important if you are going to be late for whatever reason to let you Dispatcher know as soon as possible so the customer can be notified.

 

I am sorry - I have to say it even though I know what you mean......

Zero Miles! ........ Easiest trip planning I have ever done

 

Is there such a thing as too much communication between the DM and Driver?? When I get out there, I want to be able to keep the DM informed, but I don't want to irritate him/her to where we don't get miles...

 

Would you say it was poor trip planning, narrow pickup/delivery window that doesn't allow much leeway, or the driver simply got lazy and decided to take a few breaks during the trip?

Hmm..maybe a more ambiguous username would really allow you to vent about drivers.

 

Yes!
I like to meet with my dispatcher and talk with them if we have the time if I'm at a terminal. I've had two tell me they have drivers that will call them every single day...just to talk....about whatever. As much as they (the dispatcher) want to be nice and not be rude to the driver..they still have their job to do and while that driver is yakking away about whatever, calls are starting to come in from other drivers that need his/her attention.

Drives them nuts.
That's why I keep my relationship with my dispatcher strictly professional. I got things to do and so do they.

So in my opinion: if it's related to the trip you're doing or the trip you're about to do, I'm sure QualComm messages about important details are okay. You're keeping them in the loop.

 

That's what I was thinking - keeping them in 'the loop'.. not chatting about <what ever non trucking stuff> comes to mind. Mainly can you 'update' them too much... as you are closer and closer to goal to pinpoint your delivery/pickup time...

 

I personally have 65 to 70 drivers on my board this isnt counting the other 200 or so drivers i help from other fleets. there is 50 of us Fleet Mgr's who handle over 3000 drivers. some fleet mgr's have up to 100 drivers and more on there fleets. i constantly send out fleets messages to my drivers if you have any questions or need any help dont hesitate to call me or send me a message. To me there is never too much communication between the driver and the Fleet Mgr. I actually dont plan any loads but I have a huge influence on the planners decisions.