How do they schedule loads?

When I take a load that is tight, I tell them right from the get go that I might not make it.
Then it's on them and I can relax
I don't wait til 4 hrs before the appt to tell them I'll be late cuz then it's on me.
Grocery warehouses are places you don't want to be late.
It's like a mini Armageddon
But once you get there an hour early, they'll ignore you for two.

 

Based almost entirely on customer demands. ---- It is a customer driven industry.

One customer wants to get the crap off their dock by the time more crap arrives; another customer needs to fill the shelves because they are empty.

One customer will not pay his workers overtime; another customer likes to get out of the office by 3:00pm.

One customer only loads between 10:00am and 2:00pm ; One likes all the incoming loads to be waiting by 4:00am.

One customer loading crew arrives late after a night out on the town; another customer has the unloading crew leave early to hit the bars. ---- It is all by customer demands.

Now you may think some computer program or some smart guy correlates all the customer demands, real world traffic, weather, unforeseen events, driver wishes, desires, and needs and comes up with some schedule to maximize efficiency. Many of the mega-crap companies even lead drivers to believe that very thing. Of course that does not happen ever.

What really happens is much more simple. One shipper decides when he wants to get the #### off his dock calls his consignee and asks when they want it. Of course their either wanted it yesterday or don't want it at all. So they pull a date and time out of their ### that sounds good and shop that load to load brokers, load boards, or direct trucking company contacts. Now everybody in the supply chain should have the same ability as the truck driver to trip plan that load. You will find that almost never happens.

Instead, you will find a lot of times a load is late, sits until stall, or lands on one truck or another, is because as that load sits no one wants to take responsibility for it. The broker wants to dump it on some company at the cheapest price he can. The company won't take it until they see dollar signs. The trucking company planner won't move it until he has a truck in the area that doesn't cost him deadhead miles. And the driver shouldn't take the load until he has an agreement with his company on a time that is satisfactory to all parties involved. That can be the hard one. You can about guarantee everybody else in the supply chain did not do their due diligence in trip planning that load to find out if it is doable or efficient. Instead the goal of all parties involved is to dump that load and it's accompaning service failure on a driver that is to stupid or lazy to trip plan and is too much a wimp to stand up for himself.

Most dispatchers don't know ####! Consider dispatchers, like recruiters, the used car salesmen of the trucking industry. Their goal is to get the freight on the truck driver first. Delivering the load on time is a secondary consideration. Important, but secondary.

Most dispatchers could not plan a lunch trip to the local Starbucks without screwing it up. That is the truth. The number of dispatchers that can trip plan can be counted on one hand. As such, it is made the driver's responsibility to trip plan, and govern the loads he agrees to. It shouldn't be that way, everybody else in the supply chain should have those skills and take responsibility, but it way to easy to dump that responsibility on drivers.

 

This is a guess what I think companies do.They look on load boards to see what's available in the area where the driver is at.If it pays good the company then calls the broker.The broker then faxes them a confirmation sheet with all the load info which includes the time the driver needs to be at the shipper and receiver.If you're too tired or maybe sick you need to tell your dispatcher long before you're scheduled to pick up or deliver that load.So dispatch can find a driver to cover the load.Otherwise dispatch may have to cancell the load which makes for a very unhappy broker.You do not wanna make it a habit of cancelling loads because you're too tired,it could ultimately cost you your job.

 

And woe be unto you if CH Robinson has your #
They'll call you half way through your break to ask where you are with the 32,000pnd load that they really weighs 46,000.

 

I got sick twice from the TA learned my lesson never to eat there again.But it doesn't take but an hr tops to feel better. One good throw up and you're as good as new,lol

 

^^ You don't say. Dishonesty too. Misrepresenting a load, why I never.

 

They get drunk then throw a dart at a map on the wall blindfolded lol

 

While I was with Swift I quickly learned that the Plus 1 program was just that, a computer program that initiated loads and times. The program is frustrating for drivers, but equally or more frustrating for planners and driver managers.

My DM coached me to simply call and ask for the REAL windows for pickup and delivery. Often a tight window for delivery had NOTHING to do with actual customer requirements. A hard 6:00 am delivery could actually deliver any time before midnight. At other times an appointment for a live unload was simply a first come first served warehouse.

Communication is the key. Always keep your dispatch advised so they can plan your next load and keep the customer advised of your ETA.

 

The day I believe a CHR BOL is the day I buy that bridge
Even if the shipper tells them it's gonna be 46k, CH will sell it to your company as 38k
When picking up a Robinson load, I don't hit the dock until the shipper convinces me it's gonna be legal.