LATE

You need to call your dispatcher now and tell him or her you are fixing to be late. Need to get a new appointment time to reflect your new realistic arrival time depending on when you will have hours again after 8 hours in the berth plus whatever hours you get back on your recaps until you have enough to drive legally to the walmart location to deliver.

If you show up late more than 15 minutes, they WILL KICK you OUT and tell you not to return until you have a brand new appointment time. That usually takes about 2 to 3 days roughly. It totally destroys your workweek and totally ruins your next loading plans and schedule and properly wrecks any other things you have going on if there are no day cab drivers or another driver or drop lot to take this load to. Making you baby sit the #### thing for all that time.

Call your dispatcher get a new appointment time. And do not forget this lesson, because every trip planning you do must include a very realistic arrival time YOU can legally do and must be equal to or earlier than what the dispatcher gives you. You can and will lose so much money when walmart kicks you out for being late.

Don't be late.

 

Don't ask whether or not you can make it, just try, because the peanut-gallery has 75 practically useless things to say about the situation, most of which are an attack on your aptitude or character.

Did I win something?
A cookie? I could go for a cookie right about now.... soft molasses... Mmmmm.

 

Good work.

Although it's a bit thin on the 14 you made it happen. Whenever possible, keep as much of your 14 "in your pocket" just for situations like this. Limit use of off duty once you have started your clock.

Being "hard up against your 14" will limit your ability to make good decisions. For example, if you have 35 minutes left on your 11 AND 35 minutes left on your 14 means you can't spend ANY time making a decision, like getting on Google Maps to check out local available parking after dropping your trailer.

On e-logs you really have to keep that left door shut to preserve as much of your 14 as you can. It will take a lot of pressure off of you at the end of the day.

 

In reguards to your last sentence,I got burnt cookies especially for you.

 

Im glad he made it.

I trip plan my loads at 35 mph average rather than 50 mph fleet average, toss in a day to load it. That way if a dispatcher tells me I need to be in Oklahoma City later today at 3PM from Little rock, I can tell him it's not going to happen, it's already 6 am, 9 short of the 10 I need to get to OKC. Then there is the loading which will eat up even more time. Now if that dispatcher wanted that load into OKC at 3PM tomorrow then sure, let's go. As long it loads today prior to 6 am in the morning.

I know you can get to Armarillo TX for a 500+ mile run in 10 hours, Remember that 35 mph average I plot runs in my head. Im already late to OKC today by 3 PM and not even loaded. Now if the trailer is dropped and waiting to be picked up with bills in the box I'll give it a go. But it will be close. I don't like being that close ever.

The harder and tighter the customers clamp down on being late, the harder I get than they are towards dispatchers on the phone offering me this run. I make sure there is time to do this before I say yes boss, I go now. Too many times Ive said yes boss, get late then get fired. No more of that. The harder dispatchers clamp down on drivers the more difficult to trap me on the 6 am audit that companies do against that day's delivery against the fleet average to find any number of trucks that are physically late against the 50mph avg speed as a early warning of pending trouble. Those drivers get the classic "Call me" messages on qualcomm sometime this morning so they have to explain why they are late and why they did not call in last night or earlier to make a new appointment for tomorrow.

That's how I understand companies work. So I try to solve the problem before that load ever gets late.

I refuse to let the logs and the HOS limitations become a emergency. If I have 11 hours to drive today Im more than happy to roll for 9 hours and look for a place to park. The extra two hours will be a cushion. That's all it is. I already put away close to 500 miles a day which is pretty much what the dispatcher wants. Usually 500 to 750 at most when you look at the 15 hours driving time availible to the truck that 24 hour working day including that sleeper break.

 

Super trucker gunner75, reporting for duty

 

And i, my dear, would expect nothing less from you.

 

I also have 2 month old nobake cookies for you.