Covenant Dispatching - A Comedy of Errors

Funny story. RC ran into another Covenant driver today in W. Monroe (I think) and they got to talking about the "no idle" rule. She said that Covenant charged her $165 because she idled her truck and she told them to get her back to Chatt. When they did, she marched in there and told them where they could stick their fuel deduction and that they'd better give her her money. I guess having this big black woman go off on them rattled their cages because the next week that $165 was back in her check. RC said if they try that with him he'll just go find her and take her in there with him. She said she's been driving GP dedicated for almost three years now and that she has to run illegal all the time.

My man DESPERATELY wants to drop Covenant but so far no luck. He has two more weeks to go and he'll have a year under his belt and that's when I'm going to fire off an application to Maverick. RC wants to drive a flatbed. These are the companies who have turned him down so far for various reasons (not enough time with present company, not a student, not enough solo experience, not enough OTR experience, no flatbed experience, and on and on): TMC, Boyd Bros., C Bean, Melton, J&R Shugel, and Arrow.

I've just noticed that I haven't tried Western Express yet. Might give a recruiter a try on Monday even though they also seem to be on shaky ground.

 

Saturday July 18. Arrive at W. Monroe facility at 12:30 PM. Nobody in the office. RC and a Knight driver who arrived at the same time search around for their paperwork to find out where to put their trailers and where the loaded ones are. After locating the paperwork in a box outside the office (reminds me of arriving at campgrounds after hours...) RC finds out which dock the MT trailer needs to go to. He opens the doors, sweeps it out and then moves the tandems back before he backs it in. I ask why he has to move the tandems back and he says it helps to support the weight of the forklift when it's loading the trailer.

He finds the loaded trailer, hooks up, moves the tandems forward, pulls forward, goes out and opens the doors to check the load, closes the doors and locks it up. All this takes about an hour and a half. RC leaves the shipper at 2:00 PM. He decides that GP is cheap on signage when it comes to trying to find their facilities. This load is due in Zachary, LA by 11:00 PM so RC gets it there in plenty of time. When he gets there the woman in the office tells him they have no MT trailers available. However, another Covenant driver arrived and she told him he could have her MT as she was bobtailing home. A couple hours later he was ready to go and he leaves Zachary at 8:30 PM. He stops at 10:15 PM at a truck stop on I-55 because he's out of hours and beds down for the night. He is 30 miles away from the shipper in Monticello, MS. Legal in the morning at 8:15 AM with 8 1/2 hours of driving time left before he hits the 70-hour wall. Destination Doraville, GA. His paperwork says the load must be delivered by 8:00 AM but a message came over the QC to deliver by 7:00 AM "no exceptions."

Earlier in the day he QC'd the DM and asked if they took deliveries 24/7. The message he gets back is "not sure." Not, "Not sure but will check and let you know." Just plain "not sure" [and you're on your own to find out because we don't care about trying to help you out to make an ontime delivery in the amount of hours you have left] His paperwork states "Do not call the receiver."

 

Sunday July 19. Location: Monticello, MS. RC must make it to Doraville, GA by 4:45 this afternoon in order to get the load there before he runs out of hours. It is 9:30 AM and he is at the shipper going from locked gate to locked gate trying to find a way in. He has QC'd his DM asking if there are any instructions on where to go. Awaiting an answer. In the meantime he is wasting precious time mucking about.

QC beeps. They think it is gate #4. RC has been to gate #4 ... then #3 ... then #2 ... and gate #1 is where all the cars go in. That doesn't look very promising. AHA!!! A clue!! There is a sign on the gate telling trucks not to block the entrance. Ergo -- trucks must go in that gate. So he heads in gate #1 and finally finds the docks. It is 9:45. The trailer is docked and he is going to have his breakfast (cereal). He has a little less than 6 hours left to get the load to Doraville and he has a fuel stop in Alabama. He desperately needs a shower but might not have enough time to get one before he runs out of hours. Will have to see.

 

Sunday July 19 (cont.) RC stops for a meal and a shower in Meridian, MS. Fuels in Alabama and stops for the night at 7:00 PM at the Flying J in Temple, GA. Legal at 5:00 AM in the morning with 8 1/2 that he can drive before hitting the 70-hour wall again.

Monday July 20. RC is up at 4:00 AM, takes care of business and pulls out of the Flying J promptly at 5:00 AM after sending in his check call with 8 1/2 hours remaining for on-duty time. Arrives at the receiver at 5:30 AM (plenty of time before the "no exceptions" 7:00 AM rule) and is the 5th truck there behind two Schneider trucks and two others he didn't recognize. The man comes out of the office at 6:30 AM with all the paperwork and everybody has their appointment time ... except ... Covenant. Remember that according to RC's load dispatch it said 'Do not call the receiver,' so RC was not allowed to verify that he had an appointment. At 6:45 AM Redcoat QC's the DM asking about getting an appointment. QC comes back with "Hang tight." Well, RC can't hang tight where he is because there is no extra space at the receiver for him to stay. It is unbelievably tight there and they can't just drop the trailers because they are too heave for the yard dogs to move. RC has to do a blind-side back to get turned around to go back out the gate to park along the road. In order to get back in he will have to make a huge loop down the two access roads along I-85 to get facing in the right direction again. While he is waiting, RC sends the macro for home time. The DM asks when was the last time he was home and RC says June 1st -- which is off by a week. It was more like June 7th but still too long in my opinion. It's too bad RC is so short on hours where they can't get him home to reset.

RC has a discussion with the man in the office and the game plan is for RC to wait to see if somebody doesn't show up for their appointment in which case RC can have their slot. In the meantime, RC is wasting hours and making no $$$ and while he is talking to me another truck arrives so there are four trucks ahead of him and they take them 1/2 apart.