Swift-forced dispatch for company drivers?

No, not really. But if you turn down preplans for no good reason, expect to sit around a lot.

 

I've picked up mixed signals on this. At Orientation the DM that came in and spoke to us said nothing of forced dispatch. All he said was "It's up to you if you take a load or not- but if you constantly turn down loads you aren't going to make any money". (Makes perfect sense).

Then, when I was out training my mentor (an Owner/Op) said "Company Drivers are forced dispatch, you can't turn down loads".

If I had my Driver Manual I'd thumb through it to see if it's in "black and white" there. However, I'm at home right now and that silly binder is in my truck- 300 miles away at my home terminal

 

I don't think eliminating the pre-plan matters in regards to forced dispatch.

If you think about it, look at the options you are given as "explanation" for not committing to a load.

Hours Of Service
Home Time Request
Other: Explain, must call Driver Manager

I think if they just started sending dispatches out and saying "GO GET IT", there would be problems with drivers being unable to legally, and safely complete the dispatches.

I've been sent a few pre-plans that I could have in no way done... legally.


Your destination wouldn't happen to be LA would it? Last time I was down there I had to end up sitting for 24 hours because I wasn't informed, until I accepted the preplan, that the shipper would be closed during my pick-up window... . Couldn't try to pick up early either (preloaded trailer) due to HOS reasons....

 

I'm not entirely convinced that the planners that send out the pre-plans even look much at the Macro 10. There has been many a pre-plan that have come to my truck that indicate that perhaps they don't.

I can't say for sure though as I've never seen what a planner see's on their computer screen when it's time to send out a pre plan.

I think what it boils down to though, is that when it comes to declining loads merely because we don't want to go to a specific area- we don't have a lot of leeway as company guys. After all the company owns the truck, not us.

So though it may or may not be "black and white" policy when it comes to forced dispatch, I would wager that many DM's see it as being so. This is probably why your DM accepted a load for you.

 

If you were concerned about your available hours, did you tell your DM that? If they tried to force you to drive illegally, you can then go over their head on up the chain of command until someone listens. It is not Swift policy to drive illegal. I personally have never had a problem with this. If they do send a preplan I cannot do, I send the macro 9 reject it and check HOS. Then I put a comment on the bottom with a more specific reason (low on 70, won't work with 14, etc). Every single time I have done this, the preplan was removed.

I've also turned down preplans using the hometime request reason. Once I turned one down because I was sick and once because I was simply too tired. I've never been given a hassle over any of this.

It is not proper procedure for a DM to accept a load for you. As I said, go over their head. Call Phoenix if need be. No one can force you to drive if you are out of hours!!!