Is this a dispatcher issue?

I do that. Take pics of the truck unit and assignments given. Been calling them out too on some loads.

The other day they had me going 700 miles in one day. I said no, I'm not doing it and it was changed.

Had Tewskberry working here as OM ( ) a while back. He routed me through Chicago into West Chicago for a pickup that obviously took extra time.

Then a day later I noticed he had edited back on driving hours, essentially making me drive more than 70 hours/week. I called him out on that and basically said don't do that again. He expected me to maintain 55mph into and through Chicago so as to have hours for another load.

Didn't happen. If you send me on time consuming routes, tine will be consumed and the next load thrown off.

 

What time did you pick it up? I think I could've gotten it there if I left Denver early today. It would be tight but doable.

 

Best thing you can do is communicate this in writing over the Qualcomm or whatever you have and give them your best estimate of when you'll get there, plus some cushion.

 

I agree with everybody else. Use the qualcomm to communicate in situations like that. Anyone can deny anything you claim they said on the phone.

 

Immediate communication is a must.

That's why receivers get mad at drivers for arriving late or at some places charge $450 late fees. Because they know the speed to get there should be 48 mph which is more than ample time.

If it was less, the driver never should have accepted the load. Take pictures of the assignment, call them up and say I'm not doing this. If you accept it, make sure they reschedule it right away and send confirmation to the truck unit. Take pics of that confirmation.

If there is an issue trying to deliver, use that in the future whenever given a late load/ or load with let's say 60 mph average through Chicago. 'Well last time this happened, and it won't happen again'.

That's for live unloads. Drop and hooks can have some leeway 6- 12 hours early or late depending on what you have, but they do need that product. Most of the time it gets broken down and put on other trucks. So being late you are keeping another driver waiting..

 

As long as you communicate and are not receiving blame for the loads not working out, it's kind of a good thing to be getting just in time loads. Means the truck is running more efficiently and they trust you to run them. Just keep a backbone and communicate any issues you see. Don't drive dumb or stress yourself out to the point its affecting your safety, and keep it rolling. Now if you're getting stuck with unpaid layover if an appointment is missed, such as Walgreens, then you have an issue at hand.

If the company is having trouble keeping customers from timeliness, I doubt they'd take it out on an efficient driver and hurt their already struggling capacity for their customers.

Keep your door closed, drive like a gentleman, and anything that doesn't work out is out of your control. Some overzealous CSR making false promises isn't your issue.