so who has the problem here?

I've yelled at dispatchers many times,its all good,lol.Yes its still raining.Was going to run solo today for the first time doing asphalt but my dispatcher called an hr ago and said the load has been cancelled so here I am back on the forum,lol.[QUOTE="semi" retired;4174424]Ha, no wonder there's such a high turnover rate for dispatchers. A while back, someone was asking about starting a dispatcher service, and I tried to tell them, they get all the crap from everybody. BTW, still raining in Iowa, hey? I have a friend that runs a dozer on that new wind farm project in Ft.Dodge, and he's off yesterday and today too.[/QUOTE]

 

If I'm late for any reason I'm usually pretty humble. As they say, you'll catch more flies with honey than vinegar. I did see a guy the other night that exercised way more control than I would probably been able to muster. He was 30 minutes late for his appointment and the line to get in this place had to have been at least 20 minutes. I was in the security office and I heard the receiving supervisor tell the guard that anyone over 10 minutes late would have to reschedule. They made this guy leave which I thought was straight BS given the line of trucks they had.

If I'm on time I try to be patient but I will raise hell if it's going to affect my other deliveries or my next load. No amount of detention ever covers what I lose if I have to spend an extra day delivering or miss a pick up and have to lay over.

 

I think part of the problem is in most cases the receiver has not paid for the product prior to it arriving on his dock ... Take a look at how the ups guys deliver small boxes to places, they show up, everything already paid for, you want it or don't you? No? Ok, back to the warehouse it goes ... they don't waste any time ...

 

Agree! Just try to learn how to deal with them!

 

From the time I arrive, we give 2 hrs free, after that it's $75/hr, if I'm out of town, I get 30% of that $75. Hmm, 5 hrs of detention @ $75/hr = $375. I'll take my $112.50 + my regular delivery rate and catch a nice nap.

 

I don't think this is a good question, Milkin. What difference does it make, who's doing the asking? One thing I remind myself in situations like this: if I run 100 trips, there's going to be some that I don't like, some that are better than I hoped for, and most will be more or less OK, in and out in 2hrs or less. There's always going to be something. 7 hrs is longer than I ever did, 5hrs was my max. The company I lease to has a pathetic detention program, $12.25/hr after a 2hr wait, starting at hr 3. I don't even put in for it, usually. It's not often enough that I'd look to like, Marten or somebody with good detention pay. I prefer better customers to better detention.

 

I normally don't have any issues with receiving. The only time I got an issue was at a Home Depot DC. The guard tells me to put my load on x row, and to pick up an empty on an specific location and number. Fine I drop the load where they told me and pick up the empty that they told me snd head to the gate. I then was told that management told them that the load should be on y row instead of x, and that I was not allowed to leave unless I moved the trailers. On top of that I had to do a U turn on a reduced space to go back, since the guard didn't allow me out where the U turn was easier with more space. So I called my dispatcher, told him the situation and that I refused to move the trailers, I said that they got no legal right to hold me against my will and that I was gonna go back to the gate and if they didn't let me out I was calling the police for unlawful detention. The dispatcher offered me money to move the trailers, which I refused to take, I told him my rights where more important than whatever money he offered, and explained him that this was free america not communist Russia, and that I called just to let them know the situation beforehand. So I head to the gate, and the guard aske me the new location of the trailer, I said nothing have changed and I need to get out. That guy was piss, and said a lot of things except that I was beautiful, but let me out and didn't need to call the police.

If the guard would have told me we made a mistake it goes on this other place can you do as a favor and move it for us, I would have done it, but as it was I didn't.

 

Look you have to be smart ok. Next time tell them, "Man Im sorry I was late but take as much time as you need. Im out of hours and cant go anywhere anyway so Im just going to get in the cab and sleep." That way they will think they can screw you by making you leave and drive over on hours. They will wait an hour or so to get you over real good and then kick you out. Should take them about 2 hours to get you in and out, which is good considering you were late.

 

Let's put this in context of a shopping experience. I'm sure you might have gone to a store, bought something, gone out and realized you bought the wrong thing and go back in to exchange it for what you wanted. How would you feel if the store refused to allow you to exchange it?

While you certainly won the battle, did you win the war? By this I mean did your actions make it more or less likely that your company will be able to retain the contract with Home Depot?

Being "free america not communist Russia" has nothing do with it. Being in a highly competitive service industry has everything to do with it. Generally speaking escalating a situation to the point that considering calling the police isn't going to help you or your fellow company drivers the next time that contract goes out to bid. They may even have an early termination clause in the contract in the event that enough incidents like yours are documented.

From the sounds of it the guard's attitude was less than favorable. The trick is to be able to handle that situation with professionalism and without confrontation.

 

I agree, Lepton. In my career I moved lots of wagons, for nothing, as I knew it would keep everyone happy, especially the next person from my company that came along. At the time, you may think they don't care, but they do, even if they don't say so. What do you think will happen the next time this person goes there, or a different driver from that company, will get screwed around and won't know why. Think of the guard view, probably deals with that all day, wouldn't it have been better to leave on a good note?