The adventures of 'Team Klingon'

Central is kind of forced. If you have the hours you can't refuse. You tell them when you willbe available for your next load. Having said that that will split loads to get them out of a shipper or into a receiver on time.

I did find out today that the planner sees you sitting, but only the DM knows why. The planner for my fleet saw me sitting and arranged for me to pick up my next load early. My DM had to tell her I am sitting out a reset.

 

very well said and true at least at my company, the planners have no direct contact with the driver, all the planner does is see the drivers PTA
project time avail and bases this on the next load he plans for a driver, the planner doesnt know why a driver has been sitting, its the dm's job to make sure the planner knows the reason. say a driver is getting ready to final a load and has to do a 10 hr break or a 34 hr restart, the planner can easily look and see on the drivers screen if he has the hrs avail but not all planners do. all the dm has to do is push the pta out to show when the driver will be avail for the next load. the planners rely heavily on the pta being a good pta. planners dont talk to the drivers on the phone at all. it's like when my drivers come in to meet me sometimes i have drivers ask me where do the planners sit. i say i really cant tell you that lol we are really the only direct contact to the driver as far as loads go.
but i do like the open door policy where if any driver has any issue at all whether it be the owner of the company on down to payroll safety logs or even ops mgr any driver can just walk over to a specific dept and address his concerns, only exception is the planners. i do like this policy because of how some smaller companys have a window you slide open and you ask to speak to payroll or logs or the term mgr and they are not avail. at least at celadon if you have a issue with the ops mgr or fleet mgr or payroll etc you just walk right up to where they are. i guess the reason the drivers cant go see the planners is because we as fleet mgr's are their contact.

 

There you go folks, straight from the "horses" mouth! You can't ask for a more reliable report than that! DON'T REFUSE LOADS! FORCED OR NOT! Celadon might be able to back me on this one but it you scratch their backs they usually scratch yours. If you are upfront and take those crappy loads or help your DM when they need help they most likely will return the favor in form of a good load or good miles. Most of them like to know that you are the man (or woman) for the job! If they know they can count on you then the miles are going to come your way and this is how you make money in the trucking industry. Also being proactive and helping your DM goes a long way too. If they have to constantly babysit you or be the ones to contact shippers/receivers for simple stuff then you are not going to be the likely one chosen for certain jobs. Most DM's have a lot of drivers and are on the phone or computer every second of the day trying to handle each and everyone of their problems! Don't be a problem and they will love you for it! C'mon Celadon back me! I think your info is very good for these new drivers. A lot of them don't even know what dispatchers are let alone how to develop a good relationship with them.

 

I will say sometimes a company driver has a good reason to refuse a load, like 1. my engine light keeps comin on 2. or im getting close to my 34 reset 3. or my hometime is 2 or 3 days overdue
im sure there Are several more reasons. thats why when one of drivers says he cant do this load i talk to him/her in a civil manner because there may be a very good reason that he/she cant actually take the load. BUT
not wanting to go to new york because you dont wanna do northeast is not a good reason. or not wanting to go to canada because
"i dont do canada" is not a good reason. or not wanting to do a 400 mile load because thats not enough miles for me, is not a good reason.
thats why i like for my drivers to talk to me because i do have alot of drivers on my board and there are days that i cant keep up with their miles. so if your miles are low, tell me and ill work on getting you a good load. nothing upsets me more when i bust my butt to get a owner op a really good 2500 mile load and he turns it down because "i dont do oregon"
the next time he is sitting 2 or 3 days and he wants to move i will remind him of the time i helped him and he made me look like a fool to the planner. just communicate with your DM and you will do fine, if your DM crosses the line and is really mean or rude to you like screaming at you or shouting at you, dont be afraid to report them to their ops mgr.

 

I did a 20 miler yesterday and I am about to pick up on a 1096 run

 

well i see that you got your cake & to eat it to. patience goes a long way. at least you didn't whine about the 20 mile load.

 

exactly i always back up my driver who gets say a 100 mile load or a 60 mile load or so, these do happen but if i see that my driver only has this 80 mile load or so, i walk over to the planner and say hey wheres my drivers back up load?

 

and away we go....lol