"Late" for an appointment at a FCFS Facility

About all you can do is play their game and get the broker involved.

I had a load I took into a warehouse in PA. Appointment was 10 am. I get there 930. Sit in a long line. Guard told me appointment is at 2 pm. Asked if I could park. He said no. Facility was small.

All I could do was leave. I roll 30 miles to service plaza. Call dispatch. They said customer was wrong, but go back in at 2. I go back in at 2. New guard said appointment is 8 pm. Had to leave. I had about 45 mins left on 14. Go back to service plaza.

Called dispatch. Told them the whole thing and I am out of time. Need appointment for tomorrow. They come back and say 10 am. Told them if receiver plays that crap again I was dropping at our drop lot in Carlisle. Ended up finally delivering the next day at 10 am.

Worse part about this was it was a drop and hook.

 

I make sure the ratecon has a POC and try to remember to call asap and verify its all accurate with pick and drop contacts. Lots of times me and a POC will rearrange a schedule that suits us both privately and it all goes fine.

 

I would have fell off the load and booked another one. If the broker lies then I’m not gonna feel bad about doing so as you gotta protect yourself and your time. Falling off would have put you in a position to then not had the problem at delivery either.

 

I was lied once by the very CH Robinson about FCFS in Granite City, IL. After sitting there for 5 hours, I lost patience and went to make my own inquisition and was told by the shipper that in a place like Kraft Foods, there is not such a thing as FCFS and that load was dropped by someone else and I was recovering it. The further implication could have been a long wait at that huge grocery warehouse in PA. I felt to be a victim of deception and bailed on them, letting them know that I would not wait there any longer.

I don't even feel any remorse nowadays to fall off their loads, or anybody else's for that matter, if I discover that there is anything fishy or not to my liking; even a day or two after I accept their rate con.

I do give them at least a day or two to recover it but I understand that this is a spot market and street fighting mentality applies here both ways, so if they can play their tricks on me, then I can do the same in return.

 

Brokers will lie like hell man. When it's a last minute load, and it might pay better than normal, and you have to take it straight through, those are the most dangerous. I had a load of milk from VA, I think Mt. Crawford. It went to Dubois, PA and the broker told me it had to go straight through. About 5 hrs driving roughly. I go to pickup that Sunday afternoon, and it was supposed to be picked up by someone the previous Sat night. I should have known it was gonna be a load from hell. They loaded quickly, but when I got to PA, they said it was supposed to deliver the previous Saturday night as well! I had to babysit that load for 2 days until an appt was available. Those "straight through loads" always make me uneasy.

 

From all the stories I hear, I’d never pull a refer unless it paid awfully good, like over double what dry van pays, because it seems like it takes over twice as long to deliver a load than regular dry van. Not counting the nightmare of trying to schedule loads in advance, having no idea if you’ll get unloaded in 1 hr or the next day.

 

Brokers will lie, but so will shippers and recievers and just as often. I have hauled several loads that the reciever didn't want to unload without an appointment or wanted me to wait, and a phone call from the broker got them on the ball pronto, I have also been stuck when it was the broker lieing or sometimes an honest mistake. I know I took a no tarp load once, I knew as soon as they started loading me that they were going to require a tarp. The forklift operator told me several times I could start tieing the load down, but I waited until he finished and ask if he was letting me out without a tarp. He came back with no way, and I then told him he had loaded the wrong truck, a call to the broker confirmed it was no tarp, but while 99% of their loads were painted or galvanized, the customer had ordered this one bare, and the broker was not aware of it.