Fined for delivery early

Every Lowe's store that I've delivered to had an appointment window of 2 hours. I asked a store manager about appointment times, and I was told that they'd unload trucks any time they arrive within the receiving hours. I was told that the windows were assigned to keep bottlenecks at a minimum, but there was no penalty for arriving outside of that window.

 

We used to have a customer like this. I want to say it was Target DCs. If you delivered early the manufacturer/shipper got fined and they passed it on to the carrier.

 

It is stupid but that's how some of the customers work... One of them is ABC SPIRIT WAREHOUSE. They will fine you if you get to them before your appt time.

 

When a truck driver is fined, is it the actual driver that gets fined, or is the truck driver's company that gets fined? If it is the actual truck driver, is he/she supposed to be able to pay the fine on the spot? If not, how much time is allowed for the paying of fines?

 

Companies have different reasons for discouraging early deliveries. A lot of times it has to do with limited parking disrupting other business neighbors. The receiver fines the company and the company deducts the fine from the driver's paycheck. A lot of times the driver simply doesn't read all the information. Sometimes it is a note on the BOL but it is almost always on the Qualcomm.

 

One wharehouse I deliver to has a stipulation,,,, you can arrive 15 minutes early, no earlier!

 

Rules are rules, we don't have to like them or agree with them, we do, however, have to read the rate con word for word and do what it says.

 

Cause some have to pay for detention if you're there over 2 hours.

 

Technically it's the carrier that gets the fine, either as a pass-thru from the shipper who got it first, or as a stipulation on the rate confirmation.

There are some places where it's collected on the spot. They'll usually unload you then hold your bills hostage until you pay. The carrier will either supply an express code/comchek or the like, or get one from their broker, depending on whose fault the fine is. Works just like late fines, lumpers, pallets, or whatever else you might have to pay for on site.

Any kickback on the driver is up to the carrier and would likely be done through a deduction on settlement. In my case, I'll pick it up even if the driver made a mistake. Something like this once in a great while isn't worth the grief and ill will to collect from a driver. Of course if they're just blatantly careless about it or do it more than once, that's a little different.

 

We deliver to a cold storage 42 miles from our yard 4-5 times a week. 25.00 Re-schedule charge is cheaper than 84 mile round trip the next day. They bill us weekly for the charges.