Hometime

No I'm not blaming him for not being more proactive or saying he allowed himself to get stuck in a bad freight area.

Hes got a crappy FM. It's never happened to me, however I can't say that I have never heard it happen to others.

Ive doubted my FM twice about hometime. Once vocally and he revealed his plan with a repower.

2nd time I kept my mouth shut and worried. I was probably down to a couple hours from the make or break point of missing a wedding when he messaged me to apologize for no load home but where to drop my trailer and bobtail home. I'm not gonna say from where but it was a long distance and as a company driver Prime pays the fuel.

 

I'm former Prime Co. driver(2+yrs) and faced this same issue many times such as sons Hs Graduation, Grandmothers wake, New Yrs (after staying out of Thanksgiving n Xmas). Missed a scheduled med appt that turned out to be expensive to reschedule with penalty for missed appt.
Played word games with dispatch.heard countless excuses it was beyond ridiculous. Had the Fleet Mgr. save the day with a long deadhead home on occasion to their credit but that was only after I got understandbly stressed.I mostly keep even keel and have sense of humor but those occasion I really demanded answers via QC.

Fortunately got recalled to my old job because this was getting to be deal breaker (among other things) saw no future with Prime. Met a lot of good ppl at Prime and hope Mgmt has their feet held to the fire on this. No longer working for Prime has lifted a big weight off shoulders. My quality of life has greatly improved.


Good luck to ya-Hope it works out-I know first hand how adding this kind of family stress to already stressful job and marginal quality of life can be really hard. had some highs n lows at Prime n those occasions were the worst.

 

I certainly agree that the problem most likely is with some of these FMs. Especially if you give plenty of notice and reminders. I can say I have heard from total strangers (Prime Drivers) where some have no home time schedule complaints, and others that have nightmares.

In my situation, I tend not to take regular home time. Sometime 6 to 8 weeks between. I think I would have a serious problem if I was getting the run around from my FM after 6 to 8 weeks out, while Im forgoing my right to take home time every 3 weeks. 6 to 8 weeks is going above and beyond normal, so he should be going above and beyond to make sure I get home when I have to.

I certainly have events that require me to be home at certain times, however the bulk of my home time is requested as a window.

By no means am I suggesting this is a recipe for home time success... Or telling anyone this is how you do it. Its totally my preference to stay out. Its just my thoughts on how I would react if I was put in this situation.

There is an entirely separate group of guys who think they should be passing thru their houses loaded on a regular basis (non home time). They fall into two categories, guys who think its a conspiracy that they never have a load passing near their house unless they request home time, and guys who complain that they can't get their FMs to adjust appointment times so they can have a few hours at the house when they pass by. Its a non complaint issue in my book.

 

Like U2 we have only questioned our FM's thought process twice. Both times it worked out.

I refuse to say he is not going to be home on time this time, but dang!!! Could we cut it any closer??
He asked to get home by the 5th, only because my son, who is on the truck with him right now, has a Fire Fighter Training and Certification starting on the morning of the 7th, and hubby has a Dr appt on the morning of the 9th.
Right now? He is on his way to Munster, IN, coming from NJ. We are in Middle TN!!!!

Does not do my nerves any good, but we will see. As long as they are here by 9 pm on the 6th we will be ok, so plenty of time to get here.

Have faith and communicate is our rule. Of course, we have a great FM, he understands that when he asks for home we mean it. After all, it only happens every 10 to 12 weeks (and yes, we are company)

 

Ive had plenty of issues getting back to the house, but I also live 50 miles from the nearest interstate. I dont ask for hometime much though. No reason to go back. My FM tries hard to get me back, just gotta find the freight to get me there. Deadheaded from Baton Rouge to Montgomery to drop my trailer, and got paid for it.

 

Good to know his concern.

However, even if it was planned time off like vacation, I doubt he'd tell you any earlier than 1700 on the day before it starts unless you've got some serious time with him under your belt, and also one of his top guys.

They try to suprise their fleets so as not to have a mass exodus of drivers taking hometime from that fleet while on vacation.

Nothing like coming back from your vacation with your fleet not generating much income the week before, and I'm sure the FM covering gets a cut of that weeks performance too for his trouble.

 

They're paid base plus commission on the board's production. NEVER rely on the stand-ins to get things arranged if its outside of the normal trip assignments.