Couple Questions..

Stick with it. Things will turn around. Have you had a talk with your fm about your concerns?

 

As Dan mentioned, have a professional conversation with your fleet manager.
If you do not get the info that you want or feel that he or she listened to you, then ask to speak to his boss and up the ladder.

 

D4J, I've had the exact same issues. Two weeks ago I picked up Thursday afternoon for a Monday EVENING delivery. Been having lots of minimum mileage runs, too. Getting between 1800 and 2300 on average.

This week was different. Started with a 1050 run and first pick up was 950. By Wednesday morning I already had 2000 miles and closed the week with 2 gratuitous loads.

Next week will end up being crap again. Picked up in Butler yesterday at two different locations to delivery Monday in St. Louis and Washington, MO. I split the load and ran completely separate tarps to help speed things up. There's still no way I'm driving three hours to St. Louis and sleeping for 10 when I can just sleep in and drive there in the morning. Not worth it, IMO. But, to others it is. I can't blame them for putting their money on odds when mine's on evens.

I also drove 65+ all week and got over 7.6 mpg. Tuesday I drove 655 miles from Fr. Smith to just outside Indy. Not that I wanted to, but the load was time sensitive and Mac+ already detained me for over 6 hours because they calculated the load weight wrong (unusual, but I put in a detention request while at a Maverick terminal as a result).

On a side note, if Gerdau at Ft. Smith wants you to tarp in their new maintenance nightmare they call a tarping station, just remind them you are Maverick and would like to go across the street. Maverick isn't required to use it and they should let you go. 45 minutes of my wait was waiting behind another Maverick truck that had a student before I got up there and the machine broke. 30 minutes later maintenance asked the scales clerk why Maverick was even parked on that platform. Thanks, buddy. I will not be happy if I don't get my detention request. That was none of my doing.

 

With me the biggest problem with trailers are drivers that won't report problems with the trailers when they dropped them at a customers yard. And leave a bunch other junk in the boxes. All they do is leave their problems for somebody else to take care of. If you have a trailer that has a bad tire on or any other problem stop and get it fixed.
But no they won't do that because it takes up too much of their time they just hope they get a preload somewhere so they can leave the trailer for me to get so I can stop take care of their problems.
As far as I'm concerned when I get a preloaded trailer and I have to get repairs to the I should get 50 bucks and the driver that dropped the should be fined 50 bucks.
If I have to take junk out of the boxes boards etc. etc. I should get 50 bucks and a guy that left it like that have to pay 50. You're too lazy to take your junk with you then pay me to take care of it for you.
Sorry for the rant I got it out of my system for now.

As far as the miles per week you're getting a lot has to do with time management you will get better with it in time. Some weeks just suck but all I can say is try to be empty as early as you can when possible.

 

I get the time management part but, When you get good pre-plans and the they are cancelled when you know you can do it and you have to wait for something else that's not so great or you are done loading on Thurs. morning early and they have you pick up on thurs. for mon. delivery. This happens a lot lately.

 

Thats one thing that I hate. Unloading on thursday or friday morning close to the house. Means I will be going home empty, which sets the tone for the next week. (Late start monday morning and fewer miles)
I know that Maverick wouldn't do it unless they had to so.....it falls into that whole 'take the good with the bad' thing

 

Ain't that the truth. I don't look at miles so much weekly I look at it quarterly. Most things work out in the wash.

Hope the miles get better for you.

 

I rarely go home empty even when close to home unless its late afternoon friday. As for preplans,they are just that,pre. Meaning the load could cancel or if you decide since your preplanned you no longer have to hustle to your next delivery it very well could be pulled off you to give to a driver empty before you. I have heard many a driver say they were preplanned so they werent worried about getting out of bed early to deliver then they cry because someone else got their preplan. Preplan doesnt mean the load is yours. It just means your eta is before the next guy the load could be loaded on so if you start draggin your feet your preplan will go bye bye ALOT. I cant say this enough to new guys GOOD COMMUNICATION EQUALS SUCCESS. Failure to work with your fm on problems will just leave you diggin yourself a bigger hole. Will things always go as planned,of course not,but they will go a lot smoother and your fm will appreciate your professional attitude making things better for you in the long run.

 

I totally agree with you. I always keep me FM in the loop. I wasn't ########, just stating that I would rather go home loaded than play the waiting game monday morning.
Sewerman, I started to look at my miles as a monthly basis. Your correct, it usually evens out by the end of the month or quarter.