How do you guys actually get your load assignments?

For large companies the DM/FM only manage you after you have accepted a load. The planners match available drivers to loads. Customer Service or sales get involved only as necessary, but most of your communication is with your DM.

A good week at a Mega (for both driver and DM) is when you never have to talk on the phone. All communication is on the EOBR (like Qualcomm or PeopleNet).

For smaller companies it's more personal. Now I get a call with a load offer and once I accept it trip details come by text message.

 

I get mine via email, after getting off the phone talking with my dispatcher if I want to do the ld. or not

 

Live loads and unloads are often by appointment only, and the times are not adjustable.
Other loads, sometimes even live, have a window of time.

I can adjust the times with loads that have a window of time.

Sometimes the pick up time is set but the delivery has yet to be determined. It happens from time to time.
But when that happens the driver sometimes has some influence on the delivery time.

This is a very strange line of work in some ways.
Sometimes it is black and white, while at other times there are many gray areas.

Also, I do not choose my route.
As a company driver, the company determines my route and where I will fuel.
And that is also one of those gray areas.
I have chosen to bypass or go around that route for a better one, then simply call for a new fuel route when I am at where I would like to fuel.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Most times it works.

I know the system here where I work, so I can use it to my own advantage.
That is the key, in everything in life.
Know how the system works, and how you can work in it.
And how to make it work for you.

 

I get a peice of paper with a projected schedule & store list in my mailbox Friday for the next week.
It varies no more than 2 hours late from the scheduled DC departure.

Ups it was bids & they hand you a diad and you attempt all of the list then go home.

Otr it was sit around forever unless at a terminal then you walk in and say anything going to Canada? Its amazing how that line puts you from 18 on board to the guy handing you an envelope.

 

I get it sort of the old fashioned way, phone call and pen/paper.

 

Yeah, and my loads are 2-6 stops. 5 minutes later, I can use the Qualcomm again...

 

Stop thinking about miles, and start thinking about money. I earn more money from accessorials than I do from miles. If your company pushes miles as a way to increase your earnings, then perhaps you should be looking for another company. Work smarter, not harder.

 

I either have a preplan before I leave from the house on my back haul or I call when I'm empty or almost empty and get it over the phone.