swift pta question

i had a anti-idle truck like yours. i had 2007 386 pete. had same problem, somebody showed me independent of my company at truck stop. if i push the button that set cruise control to bring rpms up or down. of course the company did not tell us this. and i have had my DM screw me over more than a few times. but when i find my DM not getting me the miles i need. i would send him a reminder message hey i got a house to take care of and i cant do it this way i need more miles. that week would suck but next week would be better. DM's test you to see how far they could push. i was in ms delivering load at wal-mart dc i had to park at gas station. i cut my truck off came back it would not say a word. called into shop they sent road side out they thought automatic it was my batteries but it ended up being starter. my DM promised me to bring me into yard. if i forgot to idle up my truck so it wouldn't die. i had to get between my tire and frame and beat on starter. that is embarrassing in fuel island a 80000lb truck want start just because of 100lb starter. i ran my truck like that for 2 1/2 months. when i reminded DM he would say ok, ok. i got him good they sent me to Decatur, il to deliver to CAT there. the yard is bout 75 miles away. i called in and night shift said come to yard because i was fussing. i used my girl card LOL!!! on beating on the starter. when my DM got in he sent me a angry message he said i was 150mi out of route. and i politely reminded him what he been promising me. best i could get was AWE no apology. its defiantly a chore driving but more times than not its enjoyable like when i used 2 see men jerking off while driving i didn't know it was that popular when men drove i thought it was funny then u get the school bus full of kids and the ones in cars want u to blow horn for them. i carry a supper big teddy bear strapped in my passenger seat. i would often hear drivers on CB say hey star ill be your teddy bear LOL!!!! its a cool job

 

Back to the original content of this thread, and some of the responses. Oh yes, there's nothing like a dispatcher, and that's what they are, no matter what the name of the day is, telling you "You can't get rest, you pick up 5 hours, or whatever, tomorrow, keep running, while they go home every night, eat a good meal, pleasure their wife or watch tv, sleep in their bed, ect...During this time you may be running, waiting for a midnight PU or Del that is behind schedule.

They will go home on Friday for the weekend to do what they want, BBQ, fun on the lake, or whatever, but you have 6 hours you pick up Sat, and 5 Sunday, so keep on running for weeks on end with no days off. These a000holes don't care one bit about you, and really don't want to know you. All they want is a paycheck and their time off, which you provide by not having a home life, not being home, and working 7 days a week, every week on recap. You don't need time off or to go home, you're a scummy truck driver that has sucked up the bull crap shoved down your throats that trucking is a "lifestyle", and you have to stay out months at a time to make any type of a living.

Todays trucking makes me sick, and also that everyone either believes the BS shoved on them, or feels they have to be treated this way in order to feed their family and keep a home is disgusting. Not so much for most drivers (except the ones that spout the new crap as gospel), but that this industry has sunk to the sorry sickening, sucky so called profession it has become.

Any time I think about getting back into this all I have to do is read post on this forum and know I would rather clean out septic tanks with a shovel and no boots than have to do what many are doing today.

I know this is crass and rude, but all I read about is mis-treatment from non-caring companies upon lied to newbies that are desprately trying to keep a roof over their families heads, but not being able to because of the lies, or of the hobo drifters with no home that believe to be a truck driver you have to stay out two months at a least and say this is a way of life, like it or leave it.

Every day I think trucking can't get any worse, but every day I am proved wrong. The trouble is, I'm afraid it's only going to get worse. I never in my life would have believed this country would devolve into what it has become in my lifetime.

 

Or you can stick out your 1 year and move on to a company that treats you better... GTI has an all APU'd fleet (ok almost all), IDC let's you set a reasonable schedule. Each company has it's warts and one of Swifts warts was the "meat in the seat" attitude in my experience.

 

I graduated from my "trainer" DM a few months ago, then noticed I was getting a steady diet of 200 mile loads for a while with my permanent DM. I sent him a friendly Qualcomm message noting my average miles per week seemed to have dropped significantly and I'd hoped to hit my goal of at least 2500 miles per week with him. I followed up with a friendly chat on the phone, letting him know I'm all about "running and gunning". Since that conversation two months ago my average miles are over 2500. Since my last home time (10 days ago) I've been dispatched on a 1950 mile load and I'm in the middle of a 2000 mile load (3 stops) right now.

I did make a point of getting to the terminal to do a face to face meet and greet a couple weeks ago when I took my home time.

I think part of any business is all about building personal relationships. Be positive with your interactions and work together with your DM and planners to serve the customers. That can go a long way to building trust and getting those cherry dispatches that are "mission critical" for certain customers. I have to admit that especially during my solo days with the "trainer" dispatcher it got to be trying with all those short hauls with live loads and unloads. I think they see that I can handle any situation and are willing to give me the better loads with picky customers.

 

All I know is that out of the Fontana terminal, when I tested out of my mentor/trainer's truck they assigned me to a "training DM" for the first 3 months solo. After 3 months I had a review when I took home time and was told I now qualified for a full time DM.

I've heard that in some terminals the DM's can be .... less than helpful... and lord knows I've had a few issues with DM's on the night shift or weekends that don't understand the basic laws of physics ("uh... exactly how am I supposed to pick up a load at noon and deliver it at 09:00 on the same day?")... but I'll say that my permanent DM has been golden. He's not a hand holder, but between the planners and the DM they seem to know how to maximize use of my 70.

My training DM took time to call me several times during the 3 month period to go over some basics about Qualcomm procedures and make sure I was comfortable "working the system". She was good as well.

I know during our orientation we were told that if we have any issues with a DM we can ask to be reassigned, and go up the chain of command to see what can be done. If you really haven't hit it off with your DM and don't see any light at the end of the tunnel it might be worthwhile to try that, or even try changing home terminals.

 

Here's the thing ... if you have burned 68 hours of your 70 over the last 7 days, you should have at least 2500 miles to show for it and closer to 3200. Every time I've burned down all my hours in a week, I've had over 3200 mile to show for the week. I've done it doing long hauls, I've done it stringing together as many 8 loads in a 7 day period and I've done it some of this and some of that.

Also if you've been sitting at a shipper for 6-8 hours, then you should be getting 4-6 hours of detention pay.

Take Lepton's advice .. build a relationship with your DM. It's on you. If you haven't met with him, do so. Taking an adversarial approach will get you nowhere. With Swift or anywhere else for that matter.

 

I'd certainly emphasize that concept that taking an adversarial approach is the wrong thing to do. You should look to learn from your DM how to help work within the team to get the job done for the customer. I came back into this field after working for three decades in other industries that hired trucking, shipping, and air freight to move our goods. Therefore I came back knowing how "stuff" happens that can throw shipping schedules out of wack and create headaches for my brokers, and I'm POSITIVE I was responsible for more than one trucker's headache.

From that background and from working in and owning businesses that had multitasking up the wazzu and deadlines to meet, that the DM job is a hard one. I certainly wouldn't want to be handling dispatching 60 truckers, especially when my DM is logging 70-110 phone calls a day from his truckers (that's a fact)... phone calls that take time and he's got a LOT of issues that come up each day for several of the truckers that also eat time... you get the point.

Learn how to work the Qualcomm system as your primary means of communication. Use the Freeform message instead of making phone calls. IF you don't get a timely reply and you've been sitting for an hour or two waiting for a dispatch (for example) THEN make that phone call. Often your dispatcher will have been distracted by a distraction that took his attention away from another distraction and you may have fallen through the cracks. Lay off the phone as much as possible, use Qualcomm. Thank him when you are running well, let him know he rocks when you are running and gunning. Ask about shipping windows for pickups and deliveries. if you can get there early and set an earlier PTA, then do so. Use the Mac-34 to set your PTA or to double check the time of your PTA.

Learn the system, learn what your DM is up against. He's working with planners that actually give him the loads to give you, and he's working with customer service reps (CSR's) whenever there are issues with a customer that needs responses from a customer. He can't do it all himself, he's working within a team. The pressure on a DM is enormous. Respect that.