Do you get to choose your loads?

For me I 99% of the time go to the same 7 places, so it really doeant matter. It it is forced dispatch here. The good part is, when the dispatcher messes up, you still get paid. Today I went up to pick up a nonexistant load so on this trip I ended up with like 500 miles bobtail and 300 empty, so even though I didn't actually move any product anywhere I still got paid.

I have heard someone claim their company doesn't do forced dispatch for company drivers and brokers out loads that everyone refused, but I don't know how true that was.

 

I've heard about the days when even forced dispatch companies took requests every now and again (still waiting on that load to I80 Iowa ... :'( ...one can only dream) but now it seems that most forced dispatch companies will struggle even to fulfill ure hometime request. BTW op what's the nature of your question? I ask cause many ppl before getting into trucking believe its ...for instance; going to Chicago is not the way 4wheelers are capable of going to Chicago, 18wheelers are restricted to routes and the biggest pain in the butt; parking. That's something that many ppl outside the industry seem to overlook. Be safe!

 

And that's a thing that ought to be against the law. When I worked Interstate courier way back in the day I couldn't understand how a driver who was hired after me, kept getting the gravy runs repeatedly. After several months of this I started asking around and found probably about half the drivers were greasing the dispatcher on payday. Figuring the math, the dispatcher was having one heck of a payday.

 

I always take what is given to me, however there is a thing called "load preference" when sending your empty & avail. I like staying on I 40 lol

 

As other have said, "IT DEPENDS." You will see companies that advertise "No Forced Dispatch." And you will have recruiters tell you, We NEVER force a dispatch on anyone. Take it with a grain of salt.

An awful lot of drivers have turned down a run only to find themselves parked somewhere waiting to be dispatched with ANYTHING. A lot of the time, you are better off taking what you are given. You will of course, get some "bad loads." But you also will likely get enough "good loads" to make up for them.

Sure, a lot of folks go their entire career, limiting themselves. (I won't go to the North East. I won't go to California. I won't go through The Rockies, etc.) But if you want to really make money as a company driver, just take the load.

OTOH, if you are responsible for getting yourself out of a "dead zone," it might be worth your while to turn down a load. There are places where loads going in are plentiful, but to get back out, you will either have to dead head, haul for a whole lot less, or just wait for a good load to come along, and hope you can beat everybody else to it.

 

Everyone has some choice. Not much and there is always fallout. If you do not have a Hazmat endorsement, you won't be hauling hazmat. Most of the time however, it really doesn't matter what is in the back of the truck. You drive up front. To me the load is always something like, hearts and lungs for dying children. The load must get through.
Of course sometimes the load is 44,000 pounds so on those days the hearts and lungs are for really fat kids.

Dispatchers do not tell the drivers the entire plan. They sometimes like to let a driver screw themselves over. I watched a driver turn down a short run because she thought it was time for her to get a gravy run. I was next on the list. When I heard where it was going the first though in my mind was "We have a drop yard there. I won't be sitting anytime at all." Drop and hook, 125 miles away and then off on a non stop 1,800 mile run.

The really good gravy has some lumps in it.

 

Lol, well in that context, I hope you do!

 

Just trying to get a grip on how much freedom there is in a trucking job. I was hoping the loads would be visible to the driver (like listed on the computer or something), and it would be a first come first serve type of thing... Looks like that's not the case at all, but it's nice to know you can turn something down if you don't want it.

 

As was mentioned numerous times here, for the "typical company driver", the short answer is "no". However, back in my Knight transportation days, they had (still do) smaller satellite terminals around the nation and these were your assigned "home terminal". If you could manage to get to your home terminal and had a good work history and relationship with the terminal manager, often a personal visit to the office would yield access to a "variety" of available local loads that have not yet been entered into the national fleet dispatch system. (Holding for their drivers that may be in the area)

So, most of the answer will depend on your carrier and how they operate on a national level (out of the home terminal area) and how they may operate on a more local level if they choose to allow this or make it happen. Yes, this is "company politics" and all companies have this on one level or another.

 

That's a good idea, having a screen (the Qualcomm) where you get to "bid" on a load closest to you, manage your time better and avoid excessive down times, then you can have the boss approve or disapprove it depending on the company's needs cutting out the middle man (aka dispatch) sigh ... Only in a perfect world