Questions on DOT Transportation

What do you want to know?

If you search them, I’ve posted tons of information, in the last couple months.

 

When drivers are on set schedules, they’re worked. They have more loads than drivers, which is why they contract out so much. But, if you sign-up for a schedule, you’re expected to work it.

What they say is what happens. Drivers are the ones who don’t meet promises. Drivers are the disappointments. Drivers are who always left me hanging. Never Dot or its staff.

Your schedule is your schedule. If you want to stay out, just tell them. There are 4X4 drivers who continue working past their 4. But, if you’re going to make a habit of that type of thing, you may as well just run open dispatch and not be restricted by your schedule. The less restrictions you put on them, the more work, and variety, they can offer you. My willingness to run wherever, whenever, is what allowed me to run big miles and see parts of the country I’d never seen, before Dot.

 

If you’re looking at Cambridge City, as a no-touch transfer driver, variety will be tough. Those drivers are primarily between Mount Sterling and points east.

 

Personally, I wouldn’t do 6X3, then. 6X3 is a rotating schedule, which means not having a dedicated customer(s). I’d do the traditional 5X2. Typically, 5X2 would have a dedicated customer(s) to start their week, with a fill-in(s) to finish the week. Cambridge City might even have drivers on dedicated customers, all week. Not sure. I don’t know how tight of a radius they run, which is what dictates schedules/customers. But, if you’re going to be throwing groceries, you want to be going to the same places, so you know their systems and you know their people. You need those relationships, throwing Dot loads. Trust me. If you know their deal and they know you, you’ll be in and out a lot quicker and easier, which means having efficiency working toward you earning more money. If you want to be earning $100K-$120K, you gotta’ be smart about things.

 

As a grocery thrower, don’t think about miles, at all. The money isn’t there; it’s in the multipliers. You have to look at the miles, stops, pieces, line items, and pallets. All those have a rate they’re multiplied by. Add all of it together and that’s how those guys make what they do. If you were no-touch, then, you gotta’ look at miles, stops/turns, days out, and detention, which is why I operated how I did. Multipliers.

Just don’t get discouraged, if it’s not as easy as you think it should be. That’s where the consistency of a dedicated route comes in. It’s easier to figure it out, with the repetiveness.