North by NorthEast by Choice - the saga of sadwar continues

As a company driver I've been on I81 more than any other highway... I'm over it and those never ending hills at 79000 pounds.

 

In Va and below Carlisle.

 

I go to NY and CT also

 

awww, gettin yankeefied? I'm tellin!!!!!!!!

 

Shhhh nobody reads my post so don't let it be known

 

I wish they would cooperate with me but it looks like they're too busy shining down on you Northeasterners right now... looks like I'll spend today getting new batteries and putting them in my truck instead.

 

Hello again sadwar! I commented on your last thread, thanking you for taking the time to post such valuable info about your experience as an IC in the Choice program. I will be joining the Choice program in January, after 7 months as a Schneider company driver. I have a question that I hope you or someone else here can answer. I was given a user ID & password to search the load board (but I obviously can't book loads yet). I'm pretending to book loads for the next few weeks, to get an idea of how well I will do. The pickup & delivery times on a given load are often windows (example 8:00-13:00), but some appear to be set times (example 14:00-14:00). In your experience, do those set times tend to have any flexibility at all, or are they usually pretty solid? Also, this may seem obvious, but if there's a trailer icon next to a load (indicating preloaded/drop), does that mean I would bobtail to pick up the trailer, drop it at the receiver, then bobtail to pick up the next load (assuming I chose only loads like that)? Thanks in advance for all input!

 

The fixed appointment times (such as one that shows a pickup time with a window of 14:00 to 14:00) can mean one of two things, and unfortunately the load board doesn't show which - either it is a set appointment to pick up a load (maybe the customer has limited yard space and needs it off the yard as soon as it is loaded, if it's a preload) or it is simply a "ready" time, meaning the load is ready at 14:00, or on the delivery end, it must be delivered by 14:00. Best to make a phone call to your ICA/ICR in this situation and they can check with customer service to see.

The majority of the time when you see a set window (again, say 14:00 to 14:00) for a live load, it is almost always a strict appointment. For drop and hook, most likely it is a "ready at" or "drop by" time, but sometimes they do have strict appointments as well.

When you see the trailer icon next to the load it simply means preloaded (or at least it is supposed to be... lol), or on the delivery end, dropping a loaded trailer. Before accepting the load, it doesn't specify bobtailing in or not, although in the remarks for the load, once you accept it, it will say if the customer specifically requests you to bobtail in. Always call on these, as sometimes you'll bobtail to a customer and the guard says "nope we're not letting you in without an empty." 90% of the time you will be expected to take an empty in to pick up a loaded trailer, that's one of the reasons why some customers like to use large carriers like Schneider because we have enough trailers to let them constantly preload trailers with their product. If we pull a load out and don't take an empty in, that throws things off. Sometimes you can get away with it, but usually not.

 

THANKS dfo! I should have known that most times you have to drop an empty & pick up a loaded trailer. But I'm so glad I asked. Wow, I don't have a ICA/ICR yet. I won't have one until after I go to orientation & get my truck, some time in January. So I can't call on these loads to get specifics. I'm searching the load board & putting loads on my pretend books, to see what kind of money I will generate, and what lanes I want to consider. I want to be as accurate as possible, but it's gonna be a little off if I don't know if an appointment time is solid or flexible. Oh well...