Covenant Dispatching - A Comedy of Errors

Wednesday August 5th (cont.) On the way to Port Allen, LA, the QC beeps at 1700 with xxxxxxx MT run from Port Allen to West Monroe to pick up a load and take it to Zachary. DM called RC and tells him to take his 10-hour break after the 0230 drop off time. This is where DM's seem not to have a clue of exactly how long it takes to do something. Keep this bit of conversation in mind.

Redcoat arrives in Port Allen, LA at 2200 however, the receiver is closed until 0230 (hence the 0230 delivery time). RC already knew this would be the case but decided to check out the situation anyway to see if there was anyplace to park nearby. The QC message said not to park on the side of the road or else be towed. However, when RC arrived, there were already several refer trucks there so he went ahead and got in line after signing up with the guard. He laid down for a while but sleep is difficult when you know that you'll be getting a phone call in the middle of the night to go unload. At 2330 a man comes out to wake RC up to tell him he has to move. This does not surprise RC as he half expected it but was hoping he could slide by. Dude was nice about it. Said that they have a lot of refer trucks that have to get in line and that is why they don't want any other trucks taking up the space. So he gets up and moves the truck down the road to a truck stop that he knew would be jam packed and ended up on the side of the road there.

Thursday August 6th. At 0330 his phone rings and it's the receiver telling him to come on down to unload. That takes until 0500. At 0700 the QC beeps deassigning him from job xxxxxxx. (W. Monroe to Zachary) RC goes back to the truck stop to try to get a couple more hours of sleep.

At 0700 the QC beeps with job xxxx381 pick-up in Zachary, LA on the 5th at 0700 and deliver to Mesquite, TX on the 6th at 0800. 407 miles. RC sends message back as cannot deliver on time (due to obvious reasons). DM calls him and asks if he can get it there by midnight. RC says yes and leaves the truck stop a little after 0700 to head up the road to Zachary. He gets the load and leaves there at 1030 which is when he starts his clock.

There has been too much fudge factoring going on and RC is not happy with it. But it's either that or lose a bunch of money....

I wonder if the DM's get a service failure for not getting jobs out to the drivers in time for an on-time delivery?

Redcoat has heard from Maverick. They pulled his DAC and there was a blurb on it from Arrow. Last year Redcoat went to Arrow's orientation and then Swift but was booted out from both. (See? He DID try to go somewhere else before Covenant!) When he showed up at Arrow's orientation, there were a couple dozen other guys there. On the second day, RC found out that they only had 4 slots open for drivers. Out of the two dozen guys at orientation, about 10 of them were experienced. Who do you think got the 4 slots? Yep. Redcoat made it to the 4th day with 1 more day to go and at the end of the day they cut him loose. No reason given. Sent him back to San Antonio. The next week he want to Swifty's orientation and they booted him on the second day. Said he didn't have his US license long enough. So back to San Antonio he came again. That's when he finally went to Covenant.

So, anyway, Arrow put this thing on his DAC that he was "dismissed." The Maverick recruiter called RC to get his side of the story. Now we are waiting to see if they will approve his application. They are waiting to hear from Arrow and will let us know.

Now all of you reading this thread can hang right along with us in the suspense....

 

Redcoat says he knows Sheffield. And he doesn't really follow soccer/football. He's more of a rugby person. But his most favorite sports to watch are basketball and NASCAR/Indy racing.

I think if you have ANY kind of work history (even in Ireland) and if you can actually come up with the name of a person to verify that you were, in fact, employed, you might have a better time of it than Redcoat did. All the companies need to do is VERIFY past employment and the easier you make that for them, the better it will go for you. Redcoat was hindered by the fact that he had taken an early retirement to France and before that he was self-employed. So he didn't have anything to speak of about working anywhere. We had to get three people who knew him to get notarized letters saying that they vouched for the fact that he had been retired. Some of the companies will accept these letters, some won't. According to DOT regulations, a notarized letter vouching for a driver's unemployed status is a suitable substitute. However, many companies have a policy in that they want an actual work history and not a notarized letter. This issue closed many doors for Redcoat when he was looking for a job after CDL school.

 

Rescue loads. I like that term Phroziac. One thing that would make all the difference in the world to Redcoat would be a simple thank-you. Just one kind word saying something like "Hey, I appreciate you busting your #%* to get this load there even though it was already late." RC says in all the time he has worked for Covenant, NOT ONCE has he ever had a DM that thanked him for getting a difficult job done. Just a simple mention of some kind of appreciation would go a long way to improve RC's attitude. Granted, we all know that this is a thankless industry but it really doesn't have to be that way.

When I was in the Air Force, I worked in maintenance (hydraulics on the C-5) and there were certain people in job control who were good and others who you just dreaded seeing them come on shift. The good ones knew they were giving you a nasty job in the freezing cold standing under an engine with the wind howling across the ramp. But they would send a heater out for you and maybe some hot chocolate to let you know that THEY KNEW it sucked being out there but that they appreciated you getting the job done for them. And then they would make it up to you later with some work inside the hanger on the iso inspection bird. That established a certain amount of trust. Then you had other controllers who everybody hated to do anything for because they tried to bully people into doing what they wanted and that's what I see the most of in this case.

Thursday August 6th (cont.) Redcoat leaves Port Allen, LA at 0930 for the short trip to Zachary. It is 1040 by the time he gets his trailer and gets on the road. On the way to Mesquite, TX the QC beeps at 1325 with job xxxx229 pick-up in Dallas, TX on the 7th at 0801 and deliver to Port Allen, LA on the 8th at 0801. This is another item for my future "Welcome to Dedicated" manual. What Redcoat didn't know when he first started is that certain times are codespeak for "anytime on that day." For instance a pick-up time of the 7th at 2359 is codespeak for "pick-up on the 7th by midnight" and a delivery time of the 8th at 0801 is codespeak for "deliver on the 8th whenever you can get there." He found this out by accident in a phone conversation with his DM's supervisor after a misunderstanding. Redcoat thought he was going to be late for a load that was due at 0801 and that's when the man told him that 0801 meant anytime on that day.

It sure would have been nice to know this bit of intel when he first started....

So Redcoat QC's back that, yes, he can get this load delivered on-time based on the times they sent him. He also has another job assignment that came over at the same time. xxxx945 MT move from Port Allen, LA to Monticello, MS for pick-up on the 7th at 0200 and deliver to Agusta, GA on the 10th at 1600. Obviously the pick-up time here is already out to lunch but Redcoat can still make the delivery time so he acknowledges this one too.

RC arrives in Mesquite, TX at 2030 and sends a macro 8 for load delivered. He got it there by midnight. By now he's hungry, tired, and dirty and he wants a shower, food, and sleep. He's thinking he can get to a truck stop, get things sorted and then leave in the moring to pick up the load and take it to Port Allen. Just then the QC beeps with a change to xxxx229. Instead of 0801, the times are changed to pick-up at 0700 on the 7th to be delivered at 0230 on the 8th. RC is annoyed at this because the last time he picked up at this place in Dallas, the load was supposed to be ready at 0700 and it was almost 1300 before he got out of there. It the same thing happens again, that will put him in Port Allen around 2100 or so and another screwed up night. But there is nothing to be done about it now and he tried so get some rest.

I have tried to convince him to blow off the no-idle policy when he's trying to get some sleep in the daytime and to run the A/C. If they try to charge him for idleing, we will take Rocks' advice and call safety.

Friday August 7th. Redcoat gets up at 0603 after getting about 6 good hours of sleep. He makes the 14-mile trip to the shipper and finds out that the load is actually ready, trailer all sealed and everything. This is not a GP load. It is a Coca-Cola run. Maybe that's why they changed the times. He gets out of there in record time and estimates he will get to Port Allen around 1600 which will give him JUST enough time to get in a 10-hour break before he gets the 0230 call in the morning to go deliver.

Again, I tell him to be sure to idle the truck to stay cool so he can get some rest.