Solo Driving: Worth it?

I can't speak for that guy, or the company.

But I had a casual conversation with my dispatcher the other week. She claimed we had a guy on our board that WOULD NOT run more than 300 miles a day....period.

Many of the horror stories are caused by the driver themselves. Others by dysfunctional companies. You just have to sort it out. And the only real way to do that is work for them, sadly.

 

I'm not a dispatcher...but I can address that.

If a driver is consistently late. He'll eventually be terminated. If they keep the driver, which some do, they'll put him/her on "slow boats to china" for loads.

Sometimes, it's a logistics issue. The driver being in a bad area.

Other times (and you'll see hell freeze over before they admit it) dispatchers or load planners dislike a driver, and try to starve them into quitting.

And then, there is the famous wait for the money dispatch. They get you into an area with LOTS of freight. But it won't even cover the cost of fuel. So you sit.....waiting.

Companies SAVE money by letting you sit, rather than taking freight at too cheap a rate. It's the nature of the beast.

 

In the majority of the larger operations, dispatch doesn't handle this, per se.

Dispatch sends a list of trucks in a load planners area.

A load planner shoots a list of loads available within an acceptable distance of you, then your dispatcher tries to hook you up with the best possible load.

Your dispatcher may have to put you on a load that needs moving immediately. Or they may be given some leeway. They are not the one who decides this every time. They're the ones that get the angry phone calls from drivers though.

Just because you are sitting in NYC looking at a Tucson, AZ load. There may be a load going to Miami, then a secondary load going to Tucson after you're empty.

Either scenario will have a high probability of some wait time while in Tuscon. Which would you rather have?

While you're thinking about that. Keep in mind, you WILL NOT be able to see the follow up load coming out of Miami, to Tucson.

IF your dispatcher has the experience and the foresight. You move along rather well. And you both make money.

Keep in mind....#### happens. A million things can go wrong within an hour. And have you taken off of a preplan.

 

Do like I used to do...
Sitting empty in NJ I would ask do you have a TX load.
She would say I'll look, then magically I got a TX load.
That doesn't always happen, but if it's there why not give it to me.
Work with your DM and things happen.
Like miles and hometime.

 

Work it any way you want. Sometimes a gentle push on the qualcomm is all it takes.

Your dispatcher has enough going on already. I prefer to hold that phone call until I'm ready to put a size 12 up somebody's ###.