A Place for FFE Drivers to Keep in Touch

sounds like your dm isn't doing the job roadrunner . but the facts are we have more going in to the se/ne than we have coming out . that's why they deadhead you so much in those areas and theres a lot more brooker loads that we get out of there too . kllm has a bigger presence in the south and southeast that's going to help us a lot ,the chicken plants aren't any better than the beef plants as far as having a load ready but kllm has a lot more than just chicken down there . from what I hear kllm load assignment system is better than ffe (surprise lol ) not as much wasted time plus the detention pay will make it not matter as much. a lot of planners wont answer their phone which is annoying but I useually write something around 6am to the area planner I am in the morning I make my delivery it seems to help -- something short and to the point . trailer maintenance by drivers is terrible and its the companys fault . if you get a trailer with 3 bad tires . no tail lights and a bad reefer the company doesn't trace it back to the guy that dropped it off that way .

 

I interchanged a trailer a week ago and the driver that I did the interchange with refused to get a bad tire replaced. I got it replaced and I called my dm after she back from lunch and told what happened and that delayed me two hours on thiz time sensitive load. She called that driver and gave him a new a hole and it was one of own drivers.

So far the longest deadhead I had was 500miles for a 1000 mile loaded run. It was worth it. But buckeye is correct; you have to contact them early. But my dm is pretty good at keeping me rolling.

 

Before I started leasing, I talked to many L/O's that said the way to keep moving was to call the planner a few days before dropping to
find a preplan. I doubted this, but I kept hearing it over and over. When I first started leasing, Tim C. kept me moving. Then, when I moved to my permanent DM, I started slowing down. At that point I started contacting the planners. I have no issues with Texas or West, it's just the east planners. I even talked to Brian R., and he confirmed that L/O's call the planners to arrange their loads. He even printed out a current copy of the planner map and handed it to me. Some of the planners go out of their way to help, and others, not so much. Here's my problem. When we go through orientation they tell us that we will get load tenders and they will try to keep our deadhead miles under 10 percent of the total miles. I know nothing is perfect, but I also know when the planners aren't even trying to give us choices.

Here's an example. On July 3rd, around noon, I was in Palmyra waiting for a load. Out of the blue, with no phone call or anything, I get a preplan for a load that picks up in Delware at 1300 on the same day. I send a message asking if they will let me arrive late and I get a response, "They usually let us load late." I read the trip information and it's a CHR load. That already tells me it's gonna be a pain. So, I call CHR and they won't talk to me because I am not the driver assigned to the load. Apparently the load had been assigned to someone else who gave it up. No one bothered to tell me that. The whole story would take a very long time to explain, but eventually I called the shipper and found out they were closing at 1500, and they would not open again until the 5th. I had to find out all of this on my own. The load would have been a good one; it went all the way to Oregon. The problem was that, even if I had been able to pick up the load on time, I still would have had to IC it with a team to make the delivery. My issue is that the planners need to call before they try to pass stuff off like that. I'm also getting tired of dropping in an area with lots of freight but still being required to deadhead out of there.

I try to work with the planners, and I even do favors. That's going to stop though if this keeps happening. I know I sound negative, but I really am not. I'm just trying to find out if the problems I have having are common or it's just me.

On another note, it's day 4 of the flu and I think I will be able to drive tomorrow. What bothers me the most is that I have so little contact with other people, and I use hand sanitizer all the time, but I still got sick. It's the first time since I started driving, so I guess that is pretty good, but 4 unplanned days off really sucks.

 

It has totally gone down hill fast for me another week I brought home another $350 plus another one of my dm's quit so I'm on my 6th or 7th dm in 12mths time. Every couple mths they change my dm without any input from me I just get a p- net message about the change.

They have kept me in tx for over 2wks now just bouncing me around in circles without any real miles I've kept my mouth shut so I know I have'nt pissed anyone off. The worst was the other day a maybe 300mi load from Waco to CVS in Conroe appt at 06:00 at the dock at 05:30 and 6hrs later I was unloaded.Then back to Baytown to Plainview where I sit now because no mt trls maybe 3pm they say, plus there is maybe 6 other ffe drivers also waiting.

I just want to get home so I can mt out trk and turn it in at this point , if I don't get moving soon I've thought about just bobtailing back to Lancaster and turn it in but I'm afraid with the holiday coming up I won't be able to get a rental car to haul my stuff home with.For me the last 3-4mths have been getting worse and worse thinking that after my year was up it might get better, no such luck.I came out here to at least make some money but at this rate I'm starting to go in the hole its turned into a joke.

 

I cant remember the last tender I got with 3 choices on it --- maybe march --- its obvious the planners don't like to do it -- when I was on ernies board he never wanted us preplanned because he thought we got better loads when we were empty --- so I wrote the area planners the morning I was delivering to where I wanted to go ---- this actually worked good --- april through june I needed to get home quite a bit (drive byes ) so I would just let them know what I wanted and 80% of the time I got what I asked for . for example if I was in Denver I would write , I prefer a load going to the east coast if you have one and something ready now ,cant afford to sit so if you don't have something I will take anything -------- well 10 minutes later I got a preplan for a 2 stop load in New York City -- and a note trailer is loaded and ready --- nyc is not ideal but got me home for 16 hours --- from new York I wrote keep me north of I-70 if you can ---- they gave me a Hershey to Edwardsville --- so another night at home -- mostly when I don't care about being home I just try to get me something as far away from the meat patch as I can get -- I have wrote that twice to planners --- first time I got a seattle the next time I got a Dundee --- I try to stay out of the meat plants as much as I can useually get 1 or 2 per month . meat loads suck because they are heavy and waste time . to much time waiting for the load and most of the time you have to much time to make your delivery . hopefully things will be better after this kllm deal goes through . if we get detention time it will make those 6 hour unloads a little easier to take . There also is a pattern of ffe messing with the drivers at 10 months to a year -- happens to much to be a coincidence --- run you like crazy until you get 10 months and then the last 2 months before your years up the trips seem to get shorter and the bs gets worse -- then after your year it suddenly gets a whole lot better -- I think they want to see if you are going to quit and they want you to get mad and quit before your year is up so you still owe that money -- not so much a starve out ,but its close

 

kllm also has a structured mileage rate so short trips pay more --- we have that but its for ltl loads not truckload

 

I send messages to all the planners before I drop. Some have no issues and try very hard to get me what I want. The problem I have is with the northeast and southeast planners. They don't seem to give a ****.

Also, ***WARNING***, stay out of Laredo if you can. There is some sort of strike going on, and freight is really slow to cross the border. I am at the Laredo yard right now and there are only a few trailers. Normally this place is packed. I am 11th in line right now. I will probably be here all weekend, which really sucks because I have already taken 4 days off because I was sick.

 

I got a call at 630 this morning from a planner. He offered me a load from LaPorte, TX to Port Allen, LA, just so I could get moving again. I had to bobtail 330 miles from Laredo, but I was grateful. Right after I accepted the load, another planner called me and offered me a choice of two loads so I had something behind this one. I have to say that some of the planners are awesome, others, not so much.

I was told there were 20 trucks in Laredo waiting for loads this morning. The strike must be at a Hershey plant somewhere in Mexico, because meat is still going south and we have some Wrigley loads coming north. I hope the strike in Mexico isn't messing up the Hershey loads in Edwardsville and Pamyra.

 

The strike explains why I lost my come off hometime load. Deadhead of 400miles to Laredo to go to Detroit. Got stuck with a Baytown to Plainview load. Now that I am done driving for the day; time to relax by playing some Dead Space on the PS3.

 

I have been stuck in Cali for 2 days. Miles have dropped hard since they put me on a new board. Trying to stay positive. At least for my trainees sake.