HOS???

Close. It was on the other cold blooded reptiles; the dot.

 

Well I can't just go off and do something else for a couple hours, in case I get notified, yes I pretty much have to be by the truck because it comes through on the Qualcomm. If I left like that and came back and there had been a dispatch they would be like WTH why haven't you left yet. But then again I'm with one of the hovering parent newbie companies, lol.

 

At Swift we always received a text message notifying us we had a load offer. If I was away from the truck, like on home time, I could simply call my DM and ask about the load and have them accept it for me.

 

Oh, well that's not quite how mine works, it's forced dispatch, not an offer. I think they have notifications but I've noticed it doesn't always come through so not sure I would trust that.

 

Ask your driver manager or dispatcher if they can accept a load for you while you are away from the truck. They should be able to do that.

Technically when you start with Swift it is forced dispatch, but you still need to review whether you have the hours to deliver on time. I started out by accepting loads with modified times and the system would take the load off of me. After talking with my driver manager he recommended to call and ask what the pickup and delivery windows were, then accept the load "as is" and modify my ETA after loaded. They have a computer generated schedule that may show a tight delivery, but the customer doesn't require it. Or it may be a load I have to sit on for a day or two, then I could request dropping the trailer at a terminal along the way and get another load to keep running. They also have an option to select from up to three loads if you achieve Platinum status.

 

Wow, I wish my carrier was like that. Mine is forced dispatch no matter what your hours say (they look at your hours when dispatching to you). Then when you can't make the tight schedule they adjust along the way to make it look like you're still on time. They never tell you the actual window they agreed to with the customer, so sometimes you're in the dark about whether you're pissing them off having to call the customer or they're just changing the eta within the window.

So anyway, no there is no accepting a load for me, they dispense to me and that's that, lol.

 

I don't do "forced" dispatch. 99.9% of the time, I'll run what they've got for me...but if it doesn't pay or if there's too much bull excrement involved, they can find someone else to run it or get more money to make it worth my time and effort. Been at this game far too long to waste time running for nothing. Show me the money. If the money is right, I'll run any load anywhere it needs to go. I don't do "per mile" pay, either...only percentage based or hourly pay rates.

 

Heh yeah, I have an accept button but if I don't click it, the load doesn't go away. And if I call, the load very rarely goes away.

As far as who knows what delivery times are.. that's a mystery to me. I just finished a load that had a noon appointment time to get loaded and a drop window all of next day. 700 miles. Well, after a crazy hunt for an empty, there was no way for me to get there at noon. Called and said I'd be 2 hours late. Dispatch couldn't careless. I get there and the people at the small plant were very surprised that I was showing up a day early but luckily load was ready.
Got to drop off at 1300 the next day. Walk in and they tell me I'm a day late.....
Go figure

 

Yes I'm wondering if that's why a lot of people leave this major carrier, because the force dispatch and then also want you to log your hours in a certain way so you are doing swing shift whenever they want. That can get real crazy as I found out at first, but now I'm using the service rules to kind of force a certain daily cycle so I'm on duty for a similar shift each day. And they are pushing back on that saying I shouldn't start my day until they decide to send me a load message. And I'm saying that once my 10 hours is up and I'm up and ready to go for the day, that should be "on duty" as far as the statute reads, because I'm waiting for a load, and that's specifically stated in the statute as on duty. I agree if I was choosing loads that would be a different story.