Linehaul Bids and the 10 Hour Break

I get the feeling this person running the bid process doesn’t understand how difficult it is for some people to get properly rested when working nights. If I weren’t able to convey this to them in a professional, reasonable manner I would feel compelled to call them midway through my night shift to discuss it further. They will either understand your point of view or be completely pissed. Either way you will get their attention. If they still won’t budge hopefully those in the safety dept would be willing to help them figure out a better process for the companies night shift drivers to bid.

 

We can either bid by proxy or we let our linehaul manager know we will accept a phone call on our break. It's so irritating when an entitled guy holds up the bids because he refuses to answer his phone on his break or turn in a proxy sheet. If I were the manager and I didn't get a proxy or you won't answer the phone then I'm putting you on the extra board.

 

I assume that is why many companies put bid sheets up. If you don’t sign the bid sheet you don’t get one. It is clear cut what jobs you pick in what order and what jobs you have the seniority to get. Generally they left the bid up for at least a week and would only call drivers off work for vacation or illness who wouldn’t have an opportunity to see the bid. I think in the Ops case his employer only called during the day. Having to keep a phone in the bedroom all day waiting on a bid wouldn’t allow for much rest for some people who receive a lot of calls.

 

When they had a huge number of jobs open at once they would do 25% of the board on a certain day then on down the line on different days. That way the bottom of the board didn’t need to bid 100 jobs. Seemed like an orderly way to do things.

 

For those who sign a bid sheet, how does that work when there’s dozens of runs to choose from? Wouldn’t it just be a mess of a bunch of drivers signing bids that they have almost no chance of getting?