Plus One

Wrong address issues have been around longer than Plus 1. Most of the time I try to get there early enough to search out the right address on foot or whatever so the arrival macro is sent before the appointment time. Other times when not 100% sure of the address but running a little late, I've sent the arrival 1.5 miles out from the place just to keep out of trouble. Pop the brakes at a stop sign one time then reengage, looks like you're there.

Remember to send mac 12 and mac 23 then compare the notes to your GPS. Some places we go to you'll get a response "no directions for this shipper", and you're all alone trying to find the place.

Bug your DM every hour on the hour every single day til they remove the service failure. My DM said I didn't deserve mine, but she got so busy she never removed it. I suffered with it for a year. She did remove others or prevented them from sticking though.

 

FR8monkey, did you receive that msg today, if you have the QC, they are going to activate it even if you have not been to a class.

 

Take this Plus1 and put it somewhere where the sun does not *$&#$^. Picked a trlr today at the rail yard in Dolton, IL to t-call in New Boston. Should del 1800 on the 9th, today. Then received the work assign, and they snuck in a new del time, BY 11/11 @ 0245. Send in Mac34 with arrival at 1800 and my new pta. Rec msg back, can not set pta for earlier then the del appt. There was no set del appt. Made a phone call, and was told that even the DM could not change until such time that actually t-called it. Then shortly after that, knowing that I will have only 1 hour left, they send me a pplan, pick up in Warren, MI tonight and del to Streetsboro tomorrow. Now how am I supposed to play drop and hook here, then up to Warren and play drop and hook, and then find a place to park, all within 1 hour. On top of that, 195 miles. Like, they have no other drivers sitting here waiting for a load. Of course, refused it, and did not even bother with HOS for a reason. Told them, I am not a company driver, and it would be my 3rd ld in a row under 300 miles. They should have waiting until all the new QC's are installed and everyone is on the same page before implementing something new.

 

I will not be accepting any service failure for this. If I was late arriving, then okay, but just late sending in the darn Macro, no way. That is why I told them, pull up my log for that day, and they will see that I was there, and early at the place that they sent me.

 

So, I take a few days home time and put my truck in the shop.
PTA was supposed to be 11/06 1000, but they were waiting on parts.

Finally get the truck back this morning, and a NLA going to Canada that delivers at 2200 tomorrow night - 1200 miles away (which means at least 1300 miles).
Aside from the fact that I don't do Canada, and no one could tell me if it was t-calling, I probably could not have made it on time.
I turned it down - 'no passport'.

So an hour or so later (`1030) I get another, picking up 11/9 1200 and delivering at 11/10 0001.
Well, I was already too far into my 14 (because logging in to the QC set me On-Duty) so I turned that down as well.
Planner sent back... It can deliver anytime tomorrow until 1500, plz commit to load.
Oh! OK. So I commit to the load.
It is now close to 1100, and it picks up 45 miles away at 1200.
No mt, and it's a live load.

I send a QC - need an mt please.
Half an hour later, send another.
Finally get directions to an mt, getting me even further away from the shipper.

Get to the location, and the trailer has not been unloaded yet. No others available yet, either.
So I sit out on the road between the yellow lines, and QC a message.
Sat for over 1/2 hour before a response came, by way of my DM calling me. At the same time a trailer became free, and I was able to snag it.

I sent my e-call to get the dispatch, and guess what?
That 1500 delivery window shrank to 0915. A time I could not meet, considering the time I had already used up on my 14 just getting the mt.
Didn't care, because...

So then, while hooking the mt, I notice quite a lot of oil spotting on my trucks mud flaps. A little looking and I see quite a bit more.
The transmission output shaft seal was (again, still...) leaking.
That was one of the parts I was waiting for, and something that was replaced by the shop.
It was also the thing that made me spend nearly a week in a motel room, the day after I got the truck a couple months back.

So I call my DM and tell him. We agree that I would drive to the shipper and get loaded, then bring the truck back to the terminal and t-call the load.
By the time I got to the shipper, the inside of the front left drive tire was turning shiny from the oil splatter. I QC'd a message telling my DM this, and that the load needed to be t-called/repowered when I got to the terminal.
No response.

I get to the terminal, and nothing had been set up to t-call this load.
So I have to wait another 45 minutes to get that cleared up.

And now I am sitting at home again, the truck in the shop again - for the same problem that has been 'fixed' 2 or 3 times before.


So, that is the end of my rant.
I put it here because of that change in the delivery window with this load, with this new 'Plus-1' system. (so, it's not totally off topic)

 

Another perfect example of how this Plus 1 is not working. Send a pplan that showed pu 1215-1315. 115 miles away. I received it at 1215. Sent in Mac 9 sayinig no but could pu at 1430. It was a preloaded trlr. The last time that I went after a pre loaded trailer and sent in late I almost received a svc failure.

Called my DM, and he then told me that the load actually had a window of 2300. I stated that I have to go by what is on my QC, and not yours. He then told me that the system sets it up when it thinks that you can make the pu. Receive at 1215 and the system thinks that you can make 115 miles in one hour.

This system is messed up.

 

Wow. I've been around long enough to know that any new technology needs a transition period, but all this? Wow.

 

It gets worse, they then sent another pplan at 1600 to pu at 1900, 135 miles, and deliver at 0930 430 miles. Last time that I added, that was somewhat over 14 hours. They said that just pu and they will tell me later what to do with it. Unless it is on the QC right then and there, I will not commit, since once you commit, you are responsible for it. These NE planners like to play games. I am not going to commit to something that I know that I can not do, and this was also after being up all day waiting.

 

I finally get a load after waiting for a couple days.
Send the Mac10 before I accept it, stating 00.00 hours for the past 2 days.
Get a message back an hour later saying that, based on the Mac10 info I sent it was determined that I did not have enough hours to run a load and my PTA was being reset to 0345 tomorrow.
???
The system is hosed.

I'm also not really sure if I can really make the appointment time on this load.
Picking up at 0900, a live load, and delivering 440 miles away by 1815.

But, because of the truck being in the shop twice in the past 2 weeks, I have only had 150 miles in the past 2 weeks and I need to get rolling and make some money.

I may end up doing a mac22 on this one, but I don't really care. I'll simply blame it on a load time of more than 30 minutes and a computer that can't factor in traffic, heavy loads, breaks... etc.


This new 'Plus-1' system has to be giving even much bigger headaches to some of the office staff, I would imagine, even if it is not directly affecting their take home pay.
It will even more when we drivers are turning down every other load, or sending mac22's, because of it.