What on earth is wrong with swift drivers?

I'm a couch trucker with a sofa sleeper

 

I've had a few like that, usually grocery places like Safeway.
Not very often, though.

I got to GM today to pick up some auto parts.
When I got there they asked me if this load was supposed to pick up yesterday... not a good sign.
And it had been scheduled for yesterday, but I got the load this morning shortly after I dropped my last one.
They got me right in and I was fully loaded with engines in less than an hour.

Sure, some places suck. But most only want to get you in and out as quickly as possible.

We are not the only people with time constraints, or schedules to keep. They do too.
Drivers show up early expecting to be loaded earlier, others show up late and want to move right in.
It is a tug of war on all sides, sometimes.

Me, I don't try to be early - and certainly not late. I try to be within 1/2 hour of the appointment time on both ends.
And it has gotten me a door ahead of those that did either many times, just because I had the appointment.

There are too many complaints about shippers and receivers simply because a driver tried to clock their own time, instead of simply following instructions.

Personally, I have had few problems in this area.

 

I find the toughest thing to deal with is interpreting the times the planner gives you. My last three loads have have had firm appointment times for drops. Those places never seen to actually care when you actually show up, within reason.

Sometimes it seems like Swift doesn't even ask the customer when they want the load. Sometimes the times don't make any sense and can cost us loads because you might have too long to get it there.

But I'm still learning how to navigate the entire system.

 

If the load is too tight on time you can adjust it using Mac 9.
If it has way too much time turn it down for just that reason.

Be careful about turning down a weekend load, even it has extra time on it. It's better to have some miles over the weekend, than none.

 

I had to use Mac 9 this week when I got stuck waiting 5 hours to get unloaded. Wasn't going to make next load's delivery appointment. Countered the load, they took it off of me. Ended up with one I could do.

I've also t-called loads when the delivery date got pushed too far out. It's all about working the system.

 

You hit the nail squarely on the head with that statement.

Knowing the system, and using it to your advantage, takes 90% of the stress out of this job.

 

There was a customer I used to go to almost every time coming off hometime. They were 700 some miles away and Swift always planned me on 2 10 hour breaks to get there. Every time Swift set it up as a live unload with a firm appointment time. So what I would do is arrive at the place and go off duty and check in. Just in case they would not take me early or off some service failure.I recall the first time I went there, they told me to drop it and leave, my DM was telling me to hook back up and back up to a dock lol. But every time they took it early and every time it was a drop not a live unload. Plus they would never release empty trailers in exchange. Every time it was a battle with the automated Empty Call, then a barrage of messages trying to get the Ecall fixed. Every time Swift would say, 'stay at the customer til resolved'. Then they would say, 'we need the phone number of theperson who will not give you an empty trailer' lol. The customer was sitting there rolling his eyes, saying Swift *knows* we don't give away empty trailers.

 

Interesting ... had one of those today and got the same response to my request I've gotten for the last 5 years ... "Fixed".

 

I've seen other companies drivers do this. Not just swift.