Refusing to Haul a Dispatched Load

Always, always, always check the load on a repower if you have an inspection door. I've hooked onto a repower load that had fallen freight in the trailer - that proved to be damaged at the receiver. Pictures taken through the inspection door at the time I hooked on, and a discussion with my FM kept me from having a problem.

Damage to a preloaded trailer is another - hooked onto a trailer with a frame strike on it when I was a rank newb. Didn't pay too much attention to it at the time except to note the damage on the QC trailer inspection report macro. A day later, I'm under the trailer doing my daily pre-trip - mostly looking at the brakes n' gizworkin's, and turn around while I'm under there... there were two bent and one sheared deck ribs down there. There's a note in the FMCSRs that makes it a grey area for damaged floor ribs on an inspection, but I could have been put out of service. Talk about a mess that would have been... reloading in another trailer at a weigh station! Made it to the receiver without incident, and put the trailer out of service.

Lesson learned... always do a thorough pre-trip on a trailer. Just hookin' on and blowin' on down the road is asking for trouble...

 

I ran into a 12' 9" bridge in NY...(posted on the bridge)...as I am staring at my situation... I look to my right and a sign says..."actual bridge height 13' 6"" what is up with that? There was another bridge in the same area that was the same way.

 

They mark the bridges in NY considering the height of packed snow beneath the bridge. 13'6" is the actual height from the pavement. This is beyond common up there.

Um... I may be wrong here, but the 12'9" sign may have been color coded white with black lettering, while the actual height sign was yellow with black lettering, yes?

 

####, I thought you were talking about me for a second. Until you got to why, since I had to have mine repowered because somebody hit me at the truckstop.

Didn't think about lowering the landing gear, ect. Oh well, this guy couldn't have been in a hurry since he sat there for a 1/2 hr. before he took off. Only took a couple minutes to unhook anyways.

 

On the one occasion I've had a load repowered, I had everything unhooked as soon as I knew another driver was coming. When he got there, all I had to do was hand him the paperwork, and pull out from under it. I figure it can't hurt to be prepared, and it just might be a few minutes the next driver needs.

Which is another gripe. On a different occasion I went to get a repower, I found the trailer # I was looking for. A truck still hooked to it. I park next to it, and knock on the other truck. No response. Knock again. Nothing. Wait a minute in case he's just inside for a restroom break. Finally, go inside, ask fuel clerk to page driver of truck ______. Still no response. Back out to my truck. Message over QC, "do you have current drivers phone #?" Few minutes, message comes back, "No."

I give up, and just wait in my truck. The load is due in Detroit that afternoon, time is running out, but I can't find the bleepin driver. He finally comes out about an hour later, and starts giving me a speil about how his truck won't go more than 30 mph and he just won't deal with that and blah blah blah. I told him to just give me the paperwork and unhook, for crying out loud. He's already wasted too much of my time.

By the time I finally get under the trailer, CSR had rescheduled the delivery for the next day. It only took a few hours to drive to Detroit (I picked up near Indy), and so now I get to sit and wait for the new delivery appt because a driver chose to mess around doing who knows what instead of being around to promptly get the trailer transfered.

We all hear about how horrible Swift drivers are, and I can't blame folks for thinking that sometimes. There are times I hate Swift drivers, too. I've met some great people here; drivers with phenomenal safety records, highly intelligent, very polite and considerate. I've also had run-ins with drivers I'd like to dangle out the window of a very tall building.

 

There is another reason, and I have had this happen more than once, accept a preplan, saying that the load is preloaded. Arrive at the shipper, and find out, live load. Now the HOS will not work becuase of the wait. The dispatch wants to know why accepted. Tell them because was told that it was pre-loaded. Communication is the key, but at times, I really think that CSR has their head somewhere else, and I know, they can only do what the customer tells them, but then, why make a delivery appt until they hear from the driver.

 

what does ect planner stand for?

 

E C T Extended Coverage Team. These are the folks that work nights and weekends. Not the ones that are usually at your home terminal, these people work out of Memphis and Phoenix for the most part.

 

We've had to repower 3 loads in the last two weeks. One driver wouldn't get out of his sleeper to check his qualcom or answer his phone so he wasn't even aware we were coming.

Another all but kissed us when we got there. Most helpful in having things ready and helping us hook. She was late with the load due to the shipper and now was going to make it to her son's graduation because we repowered her.

Third reload......driver was angry because of lost miles on the load. However, the driver took the load knowing HOS was an issue but said and I quote "the customer can just wait a day till my hours roll".

Having to repower that load has run us out of hours and we now have to sit before we can go home. It's life.....it's trucking.....it's miles which equals money in the bank but man.....repowers can be a pain in the patootie.

 

I did a repower once, the dude said his truck had an issue. Convenient that he had the issue at the Flying J that he always parks at on home time, just 169 miles from the final.