Burned by an algorithm... Any recourse?

Chalk it up to the game. Crap happens.

 

Those "predictions" are about as accurate as Nostradamus, kind of in the ballpark, but rarely or ever correct.

 

You could tell them that you'd need to go 120 mph in order to travel that distance in 90 minutes. Maybe they'll "get it" then.

 

You should've called before you even set off. Had them change it before you left. That or tell them you can stop by a shop and have the truck turned up to 127 mph so you can 'not be late'.

 

didnt realize this was int he hotshot forum...my response is not applicable.

 

You could report the dispatch company to FMCSA in regards to "Requiring driver to violate speed laws" which would get their attention. Of course you would probably be looking for a new position in the meantime.
Best course is to chalk it up to a bad experience, then double check all dispatch times in the future and bring these wildly incorrect times to their attention before accepting the load.

 

I didn't know we had a forum for airplanes too.

 

174 in 90 minutes and snowing too. Does your truck have a Boeing badge?

 

I am offering you a bit of advice, but more so posting this for everyone who thinks they are slaves to the owner and the company the owner is contracted to.

You are the driver, no one can FORCE you to do something that can't be realistically done safely. YOU are in control of that truck, not the owner, not the company. If you think their numbers are off, then tell them they are off. IF you think that the work will take you two more hours to do the job, tell them or refuse the load.

As you mentioned and many think, you only have 15 minutes to get going - BS. YOU take your time, you plan your route and negotiate the time you need to get the job done.

I can't emphisize this more, many expediters think this is 1996 and the entire production line will be done if the pallet of junk that is on the truck doesn't get there in time. In my 3000 or so auto loads I had on my truck, only one of those loads were considered JIT - a production line was truly down (Chrysler Kokomo transmission plant) because the parts that they had were defective and I had 10 pallets of QC'ed parts ready to go. Out of the 2999 other loads, the company put the time limits on the load and even told me they were JIT but when I pulled into the dock, one of two things often happened, the first was it went into a staging area for the next days or a couple days later's use OR I would get the same comment "we really didn't need that until next week and no place for it"

OK got that.

here is a little suggestion - when you talk to dispatch, have your numbers on hand and tell them your figure is 186 miles not 174 miles and that is what you are going to use for the time, not 174 miles.

OK your decision, no one else's so tell dispatch what you are going to do - NOT why. If they give you grief than tell them you are in control of the truck, not them.

Well here is another problem, don't use their numbers. USE your own. If you say it is 186 miles, then using the 47 MPH rate, you figure that it will take about 3.9 hours to the pickup in good weather, with this weather, add at least an hour more.

Tell them that. Call dispatch, DON'T use the QC and have a conversation with the person sending you the OFFER.

Then you are on time.

In this case, I would have called right at the time the offer came in, talked to diapatch and broke down everything for them. Then when I left the shipper, I would have called them to adjust the time again and contact the customer telling then the eta. and called again if I ran behind from my initial plan.

Call Dispatch.

ALSO when dealing with weather, learn this phrase - Force majeure

This is important because if the weather is bad, you are either going to a shipper or have a load on the truck, you have to decide when you are going to stop to prevent an accident, injury or damaging of the load. If you in this case picked up the load, got 3/4s of the way there and could hardly move because of the snow, you could call dispatch and tell them it is too dangerious for you to contonue and you are pulling into a safe location until the weather is better. IF they give you crap about it, tell them that the contract has in it a Force majeure clause and you are evoking it. The owner can't do anything to you, the company can't do anything to you - you are in control.