Rookie loads and dealing with dispatch

I'm a rookie with a mega and I would recommend focusing on your skills and what you can control, and proving yourself to the company. OTD is huge which may be part of the reason they are allowing you so much time. They know that it takes new drivers some time to accomplish various tasks beci of inexperience. I remember drop and hooking took me forever at first so I was allowing extra time in my trip plans and I always saved my last hour of drive time to find parking and get parked. Now I drop and hook in no time flat and I know how to get parked in a timely fashion. The last thing you want to do is to be rushing, especially when you are brand new. If you stay in trucking the experience you are getting will be worth way more money in the long run than what you are making now, in my view at least. I do my restarts on the road and I get plenty of miles however I do end up with some less than desirable loads. They give me way more short haul than I would like. As long as its more good than bad I roll with it and life is much better when I keep a good attitude however there are times I have to draw a line in the sand and say "no." As long as I am giving an honest effort and doing what is within my power to get the job done safely, I don't worry much about it. I also know what I average in pay per week so 1 short week isn't going to make a difference to me.

 

Also be prepared to fill some big shoes.

I showed up at dinner time on Friday afternoon at a mill near St Louis. NO body around. Sheesh. Walked about the property, find the ivory tower is still manned by a elderly suit. Told him this that and such goes on my deck pronto, you have anyone can do that?

He thought about it and said sure. If I can mind the flying steel with him on the machine. And what a machine, he aint touched it in 30 years.

We managed to put this that and such on the deck, more or less where they needed to be and rolling. Some of the securement was slack because it was a little bit over here or there or yonder on the deck instead of just this spot. For this that and such.

A mill. Empty just the two of us. Who had no right to do what we did. He built the bills and off we went. Never heard a word anywhere.

Now if I was just lazy... it might be monday before I loaded. Maybe.

Aint too far from some wonderful gals as I understand it. But I digress. I had my nose on the miles for the weekend.

 

Here is some more thoughts about maximizing revenue as a rookie with a mega, based on my two years with Swift.

Many terminals had boards displaying fleet averages. This is based on the 60 trucks or so each Driver Manager had. I never saw a fleet average above 2000 miles per week. That was a bit shocking to me, as I averaged 2500 miles per week right out of the gate. The question then becomes how do you rise to the top 10% of a given fleet and start making money?

First, communication. Call the shippers or receivers in advance and see if you can get in there early. No phone numbers on your dispatch? Use Google Maps and get it. Let your DM know your changes in schedule. That helps the Planners know they need to start looking for a load earlier.

Bubble Maps...at Swift many terminals had a "Bubble Map", showing the lower 48 with either green bubbles or red bubbles. Red bubbles meant that local terminal had more trucks than available loads. Green bubbles meant there were more loads than available trucks. The larger the bubble, the greater the disparity. I often "gamed" the home time request by picking a zip code for home time on the other coast, where there were large green bubbles, then once I got that long haul I cancelled my home time request.

Everything about how you roll is tracked. I often did meet and greets with DM's and Load Planners at terminals around the country. I remember watching a LP matching a hot load to a driver. He pulled up the load and a Google Satellite screen came up, centered on the load pick up location. There were a number of icons around it showing available drivers to take that 600 mile JIT load. He clicked on the closest driver, but declined to give him the load because that driver averaged only 1500 miles a week, had several service failures, and in the notes it said she refused to drive at night. He went through a few more options until he found a driver with 100% on time deliveries that averaged over 2500 miles per week. He was 60 miles from pick up.

Several times I arrived at terminals like Columbus, Lancaster, or Lawrenceville and had no outbound dispatch. Many OTR drivers #####ing about no loads. That's the time to walk in, introduce yourself to the Load Planners, and ask if they have any local loads they need to cover. Many a LP near fell over from shock. I would get a few loads on the day, delivering to locations better served with a day cab. Then I would get back to the terminal and the same drivers were there #####ing about no work...then surprise surprise I get a nice load offer to the West Coast. That was a LP's way of saying, "Thank You"!

Yes, freight is slow now. It's slower because of tariffs on imports and exports. It's also getting overdue for an economic correction. You need to be able to sustain the slow times and be able to run hard during the good times.

 

It is a EXCELLENT post.

I would only repeat it if I said anything about making yourself known to the various dispatchers for example in Lancaster. Just point to the pictures on their desk, say something nice and a small question, then they talk. They like it. Maybe ask you something. I usually had some pictures of what I do with the Company Truck on my land and that really make them understand me.

FFE was ST system with about maybe 6 cities, Phoenix, Sanfran, LA, Lancaster Texas, Chicago (This is the hot one...) Memphis in particular and Atlanta North. (Nice slow southern outfit.) And Salt Lake. Denver (Avenel NJ) as well. I can go on. But we made ourselves welcome and knew each of them a little bit. Not too much.

That helped alot with dealing with the work we did in our time there dating to middle of 2001. (That tells you I have been out of OTR a while. But was a trucking crew boss for auction years after.)

They could not fix everything. And sometimes there were problems. But for us Savings, patience and once in a while a solid polite no sir. When the situation is not suitable, not from greed but simple self preservation of our job. We were very careful with those Nos. Chicago was the first to pass us on to other Dispatch centers saying we are somewhat difficult. Oh really? They are nice people, asking about the kids and all what happened? Oh. No worries here or there etc. But we have been difficult. But very carefully.

We would have preferred not to be famous with the one Veep in particular. But eh.. stories come out of that. he was a good Veep. But Not someone you effed with. That's why he is the Veep.

Ive said enough. Lepton1 is a valued poster here. Balances out some of my stories.

 

Wow thanks to all for the abundance of responses. I appreciate the insight that all of your combined years of experience have to offer. If it had just been one week of slow loads, I wouldn’t have spoken up. I understand sometimes freight is slow, we’re positioned in a bad lane, or there just isn’t anything decent available. I kept my mouth shut for the first few weeks of it, even when they dispatched me on a 65 mile load that I had to wait 7 hours at shipper bc the broker gave us the wrong bol# and they wouldn’t release the load without it. I was running 2600-3300 out of the gate for the first month, wasn’t late on any of it, and then it just dropped off. 1500 miles, 1800 miles, 1600 miles. My savings will sustain me for a bit but medical expenses don’t allow “keep your mouth shut” to be a sustainable option for too much longer. I budget my butt off, don’t smoke, rarely drink, buy groceries and prepare food in the truck, etc, but I need to average 2000+/week to keep things going at home. I’m hauling reefer, not dry van, so I don’t think that should be an issue, especially given the company reputation for running long miles.

I may have paraphrased a bit earlier when talking about dispatch. My interaction with them was polite, civil, and calm, but also firm. I explained the situation, how it affected me, why that was a problem, and what I needed in order to continue. They seemed on edge but receptive. Got the new load offered a bit later. Made both stops of that load on time(75 minutes early on first stop). It had occurred to me while driving that this load was a test to see if I can handle it. By the time I got to 2nd stop, I had another load offered. 350 mile deadhead then 1450 miles to destination in 3 1/2 days. I’m happy with that and hoping they now understand how I’m able and willing to run.

I definitely agree with those that have said if you speak up, be prepared for the potential backlash, but don’t think any driver should be afraid of speaking up if their needs aren’t being met, regardless of experience. If you do, however, don’t be an ###. We’re all humans, even dispatchers. I get that they probably have 50 drivers to manage, and I was just a name on a page, but hoping this has made our relationship a bit more personal so we have an understanding. Time will tell I suppose. Once again thank you all for your insight, advice, and tips for maximizing potential!

 

Good for you. It sounds like you are doing things the right way.

Reefer should be insulated from economic downturns. People gotta eat. But your company needs to compete, so there may be variance due to losing an account.

The best thing is to get a good solid year or two with the same company before looking for your next step up. Job hopping won't really help in the long run.

Keep up the good work and keep us apprised of your progress.

 

There is one freight that just has to move. Two actually. Plasma and Medicine (High value Narcotics and so on.) 60 degrees reefer. With a whole bunch of tracking and eyeball in real time by what seems to be 1000 bosses intent on that freight not being stolen, late or lost.

It simply eliminates the waiting time. Ask your Dispatcher if they have any medicine accounts. America runs on it (As I do... ugh) but who knows.

 

No company choses to have the drivers sit.
If there's no freight, there's just no freight.
Nothing anybody can do about it.

Hang around long enough and none of this
Stuff will even bother you.
Be prepared for the slow time.
it's always right around the corner.

 

Another category of freight that must move is military. I sold my truck and trailer a few months ago and now I'm a company driver with a company that mostly pulls for the military. In a given week I can pull flatbed, conestoga, dry vans, cowboys, or step decks. My cab and truck are regularly subject to inspection.

I'm having a blast and making decent money.

Meanwhile there have been three drivers hired since I was, so I'm no longer the FNG. Two out of the three are making noise about "putting their foot down" 'cause they aren't making the big bucks.

Go figure. No matter how green the grass, some folks want alfalfa.