Extended forced layover-any recourse?

Meat plants need three sometimes to cut and load special order meat. It might need another three to get to the Port of New Orleans for export to the Europe or Africa. So that's 6 days from say Fort Collins to New Orleans all together. You need two to get close to dallas and a third or 4th day to NOLA.

We were told by a bunch of dispatechers to HURRY UP and race to the Americold in Salinas CA and we ended up sitting 2 and one half days 10 yards from the dock at which they were blast cooling produce pending picking from the fields prior to being loaded onto our trailer on the third day which has burned three days and nights staying precooled.

FFE did not pay us a #### thing in detention that week. But you can be Darn sure they got all of that Detention money which had to be around a thousand dollars if not more for what we put into that stupid truck with the fuel burned keeping it cool (about 70 gallons reefer, about 250 tractor...) and our two drivers skinny butts laying around sleeper watching vidoes until we got sick of it.

Its a rantish. rant. I dont think that load entirely paid more than round 800 gross to the two of us and needed 7 days all together to get it delivered. What a mess. Never. Again. I thought Associated was bad, Americold is on my *&^% list.

Oh yes indeed you will wait sometimes, that is where savings kick in. If you had 10,000 dollars like we did ready to go cash, there is no point in complaining about waiting. If necessary we could have waited approximately 14 months and two weeks into the 15th before running out of that money waiting. The world should stop before then I would think.

 

I'll bite, what does that have to do with sitting 4 days at a Target DC with two skids?

 

If we are using time itself as a form of currency, all this waiting is wasteful and does not produce a rich driver, a profitable tractor trailer and a freight business moving along nicely no waiting.

Im trying to illustrate that there is always some time lost somewhere in trucking. I have had a few pallets on the trailer like you do and what I usually ended up doing is stacking it next to the gate at he gaurdshack, here sign this. presto delivered bye bye.

They really hate it when I do. And some minimum wage rent a gaurd signs the paper work leaving that stuff to sit until Monday or something next to the gate. I usually end up getting blackballed and specifically checked against other drivers whose names are also blackballed not to deliver to that facility again.

I eventually solved my waiting around problems in trucking by seeking out companies like McKesson who loads, reloads and back to origin for drop hook and out again with a new load. That is the money, no more waiting around for me.

 

And I'm pretty sure we've got every one of their junky trailers! Holy cow those things SUCK! Feels like the wheels are gonna blow off- or you're gonna fall thru the floor when you're inside it

 

Please note, this is a Canadian driver. He can't just go to the yard and drop the two pallets.
Altho, it is his problem he was late to the Appointment for what ever reason so it is not Targets problem.
His company should have lined up a local cartage company to hold and then deliver the two pallets.
Then he would have been free to go to his pickup and load back to Canada.
Just piss poor planning on his companies part.

 

What his company could have done is taken it to the local LTL outfit, offload those 2 pallets at their warehouse and pay them to deliver it on the new appointment in 4 days, then charged that back to the broker/shipper. That would have gotten the driver moving again much more quickly and even if they never got paid for the storage and ltl delivery should have been far more profitable for all involved. But then, what do I know, I'm just a company driver and not one of those high-falutin CEOs.

 

I'm thinking he will learn to be on time from now on

 

You bet. I was raised that on time is late so to always be early to allow for the things that can happen. Im amazed by how many people think 5 minutes late is 'on time'.

 

They should have hired me for one of those High Faul'tin suit filling jobs that I know they have openings for. SO I can waddle onto th dock and accomodate you drivers right quick. I would make a very good suit, but only for one specific mission. Make drivers happy.