Covenant Dispatching - A Comedy of Errors

I have another thread in another section of the forum but I have decided to start a new thread here to hopefully give new Covenant drivers some kind of insight into the world of driving dedicated. Granted, my husband, known as Redcoat, should be the one posting to this thread with his first-hand account but he's not a writer and I think this is important enough to warrant my attempt to convey what really goes on out there when loads are dispatched. Hopefully those of you who are actually in the trenches will get the gist of what's happening and if you see a blatant error, by all means, call me out on it and I'll try to clear it up with Redcoat.

My husband started driving GP dedicated a little over a week ago and within the first week he got his first moving violation and a service failure (in the same day). It is my opinion that frustration and lack of judgement on his part contributed to the moving violation but total lack of communication on Covenant's part contributed to his service failure.

The thing that really irks me is how Covenant preaches about how they C.A.R.E. about their drivers which is a total crock of B.S. They really DON'T CARE because for every driver that quits in disgust or gets fired for not learning from their mistakes fast enough, there are three more new drivers in the pipeline to take that person's place. Therefore, why should Covenant bother to take the time to welcome a driver to a new division and to sit down with the newbie to outline how things work, what to expect, what is expected, and things to look out for that can cause problems with on-time deliveries. Just a half-hour of somebody's time can save a world of misinformation and miscommunication that wastes time and money.

This thread is going to be nothing but a time line of when jobs are dispatched and under what conditions (HOS left, mechanical break downs, trailer searches, etc.) The idea is to give newbies an idea of the kind of stress they will be under while trying to learn the ropes of running dedicated. It's like learning by electrical shock. Make the wrong decision ... ZZZAP! ... oops, don't do that again. Three shocks and you're dead so you better learn fast.

After last week's debacle, I sat down with my man (on the phone of course as I haven't seen him in over six weeks) and we tried to recreate when things happened. So the first week will be a little murky and there will be some gaps but after today, the times will be tighter so you can follow along better. I will give partial job numbers as it will be almost impossible to follow without them. All times are Eastern (Chatt. time).

Monday July 12th -- XXX1605. Redcoat is in Cedar Springs, GA, sitting in a staging area waiting for someone from GP to come out to tell him what the deal is. He arrived on-time for a pick-up but there is no load for him and they are checking. Four hours of sitting in the hot sun later (remember -- you can't idle) a man in a pickup comes out and tells him that the load isn't scheduled to be ready until Tuesday, July 14th. QC the dispatcher the situation and RC is told to head up to Albany to spend the night at a truck stop while they sort things out. RC gets there at 8:30 PM and calls it a night. 10-hour break makes him legal at 6:30 AM.

Tuesday July 13th -- XXXX199. Dispatch received 10:00 AM Pick-up Cedar Springs deliver W. Monroe, LA. RC leaves the truck stop, makes it to shipper at noon and is loaded at 1:30 PM. Pumpkin hour is 9:00 PM and he finds himself in Hutton, MS so he shuts down for the night at a rest stop. Legal at 7:00 AM the next morning. Load is due at the receiver by 10:00 AM the 14th.

Wednesday July 14th -- XXXX199. Load delivered on-time at 10:00 AM. New dispatch received while enroute to W. Monroe. DM calls RC on his cell and tells him sorry for the late dispatch and that the load is due in Texas by midnight, can he make it? RC tells him that as long as nothing goes wrong, that he would try to get it there. DM at that point knew the load was already late which is why he called RC on his cell. Mistake #1! Never answer your cell when it's the company but RC didn't look at the number. Thought it was me and just answered. New job is XXXX556 MT move from W. Monroe to Crossett, AR. Load scheduled for pick-up two days ago in Crossett on the 12th due in Claybourne, TX midnight on the 14th. RC leaves W. Monroe at 11:30 AM which gives him 12 1/2 hours to get this done BUT remember he started the day at 7:00 AM. Those of you doing the math can see the problem already. He was delayed getting out of W. Monroe because his trailer had leaked from rain encountered enroute and some of the paper on the load had gotten wet. Had to fill out forms for OS&D on the damage and that took almost an hour to sort out. Leaves W. Monroe at 11:30 and arrives at the shipper in Crossett, AR at 1:15 PM. Had to call break down because of the trailer leak so that took some more time. Leaves Crossett at 2:30 PM and makes it to Van, TX before he has to shut it down at 8:30 PM due to hours short of his destination. This is where Mistake #2 occurred. RC thought that since his DM had discussed the timing problem with him on the phone and RC had told him that he didn't think he could make it but that he would TRY, that his DM already knew what the reason was if he didn't make it. RC's mistake was in not following up the phone conversation with QC messages stating the hours issue for the delivery and that he'd discussed it with his DM on the phone. Without any QC messages about their conversation, the delivery was late and the GP dedicated manager chewed out the DM and sh#% rolls downhill. Legal at 6:30 AM.

Thursday July 15th XXXX556. Leave Van, TX at 6:30, arrive Claybourne, TX 9:00 (Dallas morning rush hour traffic). Late delivery. RC gets a phone call to find a fax machine so the company can fax him a service failure. They claim his lack of communication. RC is fuming. Tells them to fax it to him at Hutchins. He loses his trailer at the receiver and the only one there is one with a door missing. DM tells him to hook up and bring it back to Hutchins for repair. On the way back, RC finds himself in the wrong lane for a left turn. Everybody knows that finding a place to turn a semi around in unfamiliar territory is a b$#ch so he puts his left turn indicator on and waits for someone to let him make the left turn. Eventually a pick-up truck does and he makes the turn only to see bubble lights behind him. Cop says he ran a red light. RC said he was signaling to make the left and was waiting for clear traffic. Cop is unsympathetic. Said he was following him for quite a while because of the damaged trailer to see where he was going. RC is now spitting nails. His first ever moving violation in his LIFE. I told him that even if he'd made the turn under green, the cop probably would have busted him for an improper left turn since he was in the wrong lane. RC arrives at Hutchins at 11:15 AM. QC beeped earlier with XXXX251 pick-up load at the yard and deliver in Denton by noon that day. Problem is the trailer is in getting repaired and the shop says it won't be ready until 4:00 PM that afternoon. QC the DM to tell him about the delay. Hang around the yard for a while. Strike up a conversation with another GP dedicated driver who has the same DM. Man says the guy is a moron. Worst he ever worked with. Been driving with Covenant for three years and GP dedicated for almost a year. Clues RC in on some of the shippers/receivers. A shame you gotta get intel from a chance meeting with another driver instead of your own DM. Trailer finally ready at 4:00 PM and RC takes the load to Denton (again through Dallas rush hour traffic) and the receiver refuses the load. RC does not have an appointment. RC learns the hard way that he should have called to verify his appointment time before he left the yard. In the meantime, he had another job assignment that came across but it was deassigned when he had to take the load he was under back to Hutchins. On the way back, the A/C motor burns up in the truck and RC is fumigated out. The smell and fumes are terrible. He nurses it back to the yard with his eyes burning and puts it into the shop. Night shift gives him authorization to spend the night in a hotel. Hard days work for no money.

Friday July 16th -- Back to the yard early morning. Gets chewed out from his DM for spending the night in a hotel. DM says he doesn't need A/C. RC points out that the A/C wasn't the problem that it was the smoke and fumes from the motor burning up. So instead of getting an attaboy for not pulling over right there on the interstate and letting them tow the truck back to the yard (costing the company $800) he gets hassled for costing them $50 for a hotel room. Performed check call with hours remaining (7). Truck ready by the end of the day. QC beeps at 9:30 AM XXXX251 with load due for pick-up at Grand Prairie, TX 11:00 PM on the 15th (yesterday) scheduled for delivery at 5:00 AM on the 17th in Bossier City, LA. Leave Hutchins at 6:00 PM to look for a trailer. Found one at the third place he went to and finally arrived at Grand Prairie at 9:15 PM. Shipper can't find the load. Say it's the wrong job number. QC beeps at 10:50 PM to go back to Hutchins. RC will hit the 70-hour wall at 5:00 AM on the 17th. QC beeped at 4:30 PM with XXXX998 pick-up on 14th (two days ago) at 10:00 PM in LA deliver by 4:30 PM on 17th 400 miles away. RC briefly considers jettisoning his log pages for the last two days of wasted effort and calling it a reset but reconsiders after I talk him out of it. RC points out that he hasn't made any money in two days. I point out that is true but why do a company a favor that doesn't care beans about him and so I say f#$% 'em. RC does not confirm the load because he doesn't have enough hours. DM calls him on the phone and tells him to "find a way." Wants to know why he's out of hours since he "hasn't made any deliveries in the last two days." Night shift deassigns him from the load due to lack of hours. QC beeps at 9:40 PM XXXX622 for load pick-up in W. Monroe between 3-11 PM on the 17th scheduled for delivery in Zachary, LA by 20th 7:00 AM.

Friday July 17th. DM deassigns XXXX622. QC beeps at 9:52 AM with XXXX766 (again!) for Grand Prairie, TX. RC wonders if they have the right job number this time. In my opinion, there comes a point when you either do the DM's job for them or let crap get messed up due to their ineptitude. If this guy had treated RC like a real person, RC might be more inclined to check on things to help move stuff along. But since his DM is such a richardhead, he decided to let it play out. RC arrives in Grand Prairie, TX at 11:30 and guess what .. it's still the wrong job number and there is no load. They give him a visitor's pass to go to the main building to get things sorted out and he finally gets the correct job number BUT he doesn't have an appointment so they won't load him. RC goes back to the truck, calls for an appointment. Is told driver's can't make their own appointments that it has to be emailed from his dispatcher. RC QC's his DM to tell him to do his job (my words). RC waits .... burning through his 7 hours of time left. Security comes out to tell him he cannot stay and has to leave while he is trying to QC his DM. Nearest truck stop is two miles past Hutchins. Half hour later he is deassigned. RC heads out and then the QC beeps with XXXX145 pick-up in Denton, TX at 7:00 PM scheduled for delivery in Alexandra, LA at noon on the 18th 335 miles. Trying to get back on track ahead of the curve, RC makes a creative log adjustment while waiting in Denton for two hours to be loaded. Leaves Denton, TX at 1:30 PM and arrives in Alexandria, LA at 1:00 AM on the 17th. He gained back some hours at midnight and hopes that last hour won't be a violation. RC plans to check with logs on Monday.

And that catches it up to today. From now on, I'll have a more detailed post so you can follow it a little better.