What I have learned...

A good dispatcher or small company in this case knows his drivers and uses that to his advantage. We have about 20 drivers at my terminal. Some like to go long and stay in the truck a few days, some want 1 or 2 100 mile roundtrip loads each day and that's it, a few don't mind running north into PA while others want nothing to do with it and one dosn't mind only nights on a dedicated run. With this mix the dispatcher puts everyone on stuff they like first and fills in the holes afterwards and pretty much gets few complaints. Works all the way around. This isn't hard to do as long as the drivers see that they are all being treated equal when it comes to the crappy loads and each gets his shot at it. We have a weekend duty list which is 3 guys at a time so you come up every 6 weeks or so. If you can find someone to work for you if there is a load then our dispatcher doesn't care as long as it get's done but if you can't then your up. No excuses. Everyone complains but everyone works it so the complaints are standard trucker bull.

 

If only more drivers thought this way.

 

The Adventures of Good, Bad and Great.


Good, Bad and Great are at a shipper getting a load of pipe.

Good arrived last night, got to sleep, woke up this morning, ready to load. He is standing watching them load him. He secures his load, gets his BOL and is rolling.

Bad rolls in late, been driving for 5 hours already...stayed a little too long at the Casino. He's at the very end of the line when he arrives and now his sitting and waiting to get loaded is eating into his 14. He calls dispatch and starts raising hell about how slow they are in loading. Bad finally gets loaded, throws the bare minimum securement on, and hammers out of there.

Great arrived last night, but stayed at the fuel stop down the block. He topped his fuel tanks off and arrived at the shipper after Good, but before Bad. shipper calls your office because Great wont take the load. Shipper is raising sin and Great told him that if they wont cut the order, to take the whole load off. Dispatch calls Great and asks why Great is causing problems at the shipper. Great tells dispatch that the loads are overgross. Dispatch asks how much fuel Great has and Great tells dispatch that he's full. Dispatch tries to appease shipper and asks Great if he could burn off some fuel or 'figure a way AROUND things that are going to be an obstacle", but Great holds his ground. Shipper cuts the order, tells Great never to return. Great secures his load and is off and running.

Good get 40 miles down the road, weighs his wagon and realizes that he's 800lbs over GVW. Dispatch asks him how much fuel he has on and Good says, "Less than half a tank". They arrange for his tarps to be handed off onto another truck and the plan is for Good to run bare minimum fuel.

Bad gets called by dispatch who tells him to weigh his wagon because he's probably over GVW. Bad has fuel. Bad is going to cut through the woods around the scale.

Freak snow storm hits. Good is stuck in a rest area with diesel fumes. Bad is stuck on a goatpath because a tree fell and blocked the road. Great took shelter in a WalMart parkinglot, waited for the plows to come through and is back on road.

I hope that you and your company know the difference between Bad and Great when problems arise.

 

A good company/dispatcher will know their drivers and use them for their strengths...

 

Exactly. And also guides said driver to overcome his weaknesses

 

Interesting except a flatbedder knows to never go to a company with a full tank of fuel, what his tractor and trailer weighs and how much he can haul. I went into a customer in Cali once and the guy tried to put a coil on the flatbed in a place I didn't want it as it would make me over axle. Told him no. He insisted. I told him not to load anything and left. Called my company and explained what happend and my boss said "you are the captain of that ship, do what you think is right." This at Swift Transportation no less.

 

What are you talking about???? Your drivers should ALWAYS go into a facility full of fuel. Why would you not??? And you as a company owner should also k ow what your trucks weigh and full of fuel, and not book loads that come too close in weight to gross.

 

thats why i do what i do. do what you say your going to do. work ethic is everything to me!

 

Depends on the situation, if my dispatcher tells me im going to get a 50k coil, i would run with 3/4 tanks or under so i know i could scale the load, usually your told how much your load weighs and if you want to be able to haul it you need to adjust your fuel to make you legal...

 

True Logan, on a more local basis this works well. I have the mindset of OTR LongHaul where 1/2 tanks to stay under gross just doesn't cut it. But I also don't haul so called "general freight" like coils, lumber or steel in general. I guess I will keep a more open mind on situations as I realize not everyone does what I do.