good drivers and "production" numbers

While I was with Swift they tracked a number of metrics to rate drivers. Whenever I had the chance I would spend time in the dispatch (aka Driver Manager) and Planning office, chatting and observing how they get things done. If a planner had a load needing dispatch they pulled up a map showing load location and available trucks. He'd click on an available truck icon and the driver's rating came up.

Now, put yourself in the planner's shoes for a moment. If you have a JIT load for a large customer are you going to risk giving it to a driver with low miles per week and only 90% on time record, or are you giving it to the driver averaging 3000 miles per week with 100% on time?

This job is a self fulfilling prophecy. If you are ready to roll the minute your 10 hour break is up and get the wheels turning consistently and then keep the left door shut, it's more likely you are going to get loads that require those traits. If you "train your dispatcher" how YOU like to run, then you'll run in that manner.

I heard the "I trained my dispatcher" phrase a lot in company terminals, usually in the same sentence and same breath as their #####ing about low paychecks.

"I never take a load to New York."

"I don't run at night."

"I never do JIT loads, too much pressure."

The list is endless. In my experience getting the job done seems to result in getting more loads. I can't imagine why a company would put up with slackers and give them more favorable loads, unless by "favorable" loads it means they never have to run at night, no JIT loads, etc.

 

A driver simply cannot drive the miles if he isn't given them.

A 90% record is better than say a 50% record of on time deliveries. Doesn't the load planner take into account traffic jams, construction, breakdowns as any of the reasons for only a mere 90%?

If not, then it seems to me the load planners are NOT doing a proper job themselves, and for the record, are any of THEM at 90 to 100%..????

And since you mention it was Swifty, I have no feelings that anyone in any part of any office dept, knows their collective arses from their elbow's.

 

The thread seems to have veered away from 'local' so I'll chime in.

I figure the most important thing for a driver is to be on time and to provide accurate eta's. I'm not a dispatcher but if I have a driver who can't make it on time and can't notify me well in advance if they're going to be late, along with an accurate eta (and a darn good reason for being late), that driver isn't going to be at the top of my list as one to keep happy.

 

In response to G. Anthony, I think the key to being 100% "on time" is communication. I had a 100% OT record at Swift. Was I on time according to the original dispatch 100% of the time?

No.

However, by updating my ETA and communicating with dispatch, customer service, and customers I made sure that everyone was in the loop in the event that traffic, weather, or breakdowns delayed my ETA after the original appointment. By communicating you help the customer plan their receiving or loading schedule.

Now I run flatbed loads to and from oil rigs. EVERY load is hot. Often there's a crew and forklift driver dispatched just to meet you. If your load is late a rig can be loosing 100's of thousands of dollars waiting for the bottom tools on your deck. Here again communication is key, but the margin for forgiveness is paper thin.

 

Yes, absolutely, communicate. God knows the times I had called in a problem, and dispatch works with it, no matter the situation.

I used to work for a company in Medway, OH. I was on the JIT dispatch board for GM. Wanna see the assembly line shut down..??

Was never late, and the company did not like it that I wanted off that board. However, I was only supposed to be on it as a temp, till they had a co-driver from my state finish his training, then we went OTR.

 

Trust me, when you've got a 40 drivers on your board, (driver manager) you have producers and non-producers and they are very obvious to know who is who. Talking about a bunch of drivers running the same lanes, the same times, the same freight, some can, some don't, some always do. The question is "What percentile do you fall into as a driver on a driver board?" And be honest with yourself.

Problem is, lots of drivers don't have any reference point to gauge other then their own performance, and many suck, but assume they're "average" or "above average"

 

I ran beer and food service local. With beer, you hit the grocery stores first, then the convenience store then the bars. Loooooooooooooooonnnng freaking days. They didnt care as long as your money added up (customers had to either pay you a check or cash for beer).

Food service was completely different. You hit the restaurants early. No restaurant wants a delivery during lunch. Get the restaurants out the way, then hit the deli's in gas stations. Much easier work, shorter days and better pay than beer. Hospitals were the biggest stops. The biggest hospital in town would take 3 53ft trailer loads of food 3x a week. Now, they paid us a flat hourly rate according to the route and $.15/case. The flat rate was sort of like how mechanics get paid...2.5 hours for this stop, 4 hours for that stop. So if they had the route listed for 10 hours and you finish it in 7, it worked out to be a higher hourly rate. Now some of the drivers would take the time listed to do the stop. If they finished early, they sit there. If that stop paid for 2.5 hours, they would sit there 2.5 hours even if they got done in 2.25 hours. Now, if you were late, they would ream you out. One driver did get fired for being chronically late. He had to pull over and sleep and would oversleep. He'd miss the restaurants before the lunch cutoff and the restaurants would refuse him after lunch and then call in and complain.

 

^^ Yes, time management and logging management is critical in many/most trucking operations. Not having a good handle on it can mean the difference between a guy getting it done every time, or getting it done some times. And in winter time in northern regions poor time management is even more debilitating.