Not really you have to look at there POV. They book loads by what there computers show is showing ic or company.. If they over book now they need to sell that load to another company to haul it.
I been hit on the back of the hand too. When i was off for 17 days my DBL called me. She wanted to know if everything was alright with me. I think she was spying on me lol.
How? Would u rather they have no idea when your going to b back to work and have no freight for you? They book freight by what drivers are available in the area. If u don't like them prebooking your loads there's always going out on your own and deal with brokers.
Like DFO said, they can book all the freight they want in a certain area all they like, but I may go 200 miles in the opposite direction to get a load. Just because my NAL is at point A, doesn't mean that's where the load I choose will be at point A.
Now I do like that you can update it from your computer now since I park about 5 miles from my house.
I saw a load near Des Moines ia going to southern cal paying $1.77/mile. Wanted to book it but it doesn't pick up til Friday. So I searched for freight in reverse and found a chain of 6 loads that led me to the load I wanted. I booked the 6 loads and then when I went to book the 7th (the load I wanted in the first place) the system blocked me because it set my nat to a stupid time in the future. I went on crossroads to update my nat and it literally took 15 seconds to change it so it really isn't a big deal. The only problem you'll face if the nat menu sets you eta to some time in the future, which in that instance you have to call in and have the office correct it if you don't have access to your truck. It's pretty common for drivers to complain about operations screwing things up and making things harder for the drivers. In this instance it's probably good to realize that by having inaccurate nats we're making their jobs harder
yeah well if there's ZERO drivers ready to work in Nebraska say tomorrow then the load planners don't need to waste their time looking for freight in a region for zero drivers and can focus where there's an undersold market instead. It's not a perfect system but it makes sense.
If you update your NAT from the crossroads mobile app it takes like 7-10 seconds. You have three options. Your last drop point, your home, or Charlotte.