To you Fleet/Driver Managers here..

I used to argue with the guys in shop all day long. I've encouraged drivers to sit until repairs are made. There is never an excuse to exceed your HOS, ask some of my drivers. I would always ask them to shut down if I found they were not in compliance. I've had planners scream at me about not understanding how trucking works, and not caring about the customers. As far as I was concerned that wasn't my responsibility. Don't get me wrong, I don't think I was perfect. Far from it, there were some guys I just couldn't get along with. But you always try to keep the relationship light, otherwise it sucks for the dispatcher and driver.

 

Most likely they are getting pressure to "move this load". Always easier to gamble when someone else (driver) pays the price. Now, if DOT would take some fines out of the DM/Dispatchers paychecks........


I hope you get some responses from the DM side of the house.

 

Plain and simple reasons here Buckeye from many standpoints of view

1. they don't FORCE you to take the load
2. it usually isn't YOUR DM/FM that does the pushing or the retaliation...it's usually weekend or night dispatch.
3. load planners are usually the culprit when loads are dispatched out with little or no time to get the load to it's destination legally

Here's some facts I learned while at Celadon. I was "new" with the company and night dispatch got ahold of me when I had just dropped asking me to repower a load.

I had just enough time to do it ...or so I thought. I picked the load up and hauled my axle...from the middle of Kentucky and it had to be in Canton.....I got there but I ended up exceeding my hours by 1.5 hours....so I got dinged very mildly by it just lost my safety bonus for the month...no big deal really. But it was MY decision to move the freight NO ONE forced me...and no one lied to me.
Another thing that I learned near the end of my term there was that the load planners held on to loads until the last possible dispatch...that way there were not alot of drivers sitting due to early arrival and not able to get the load off the truck.
For some reason they wouldn't get you an earlier drop time...corporate politics I guess.

There is just this basic fact you have to remember you are in charge of the truck...you drive it not them...if you can't do it legally tell them......hopefully they will not punish you

 

From my experience it's just someone being lazy. They set up the appointment by email without a truck in mind for the load. When you pass it on that you can deliver early they don't even bother calling to see if earlier is possible. Maybe it's just my jaded point of view, it could be that they're over-worked.

 

Computers do a lot of load planning now, while companies continue to reduce office staff.

 

Very refreshing to see someone actually ask for a Fleet Managers point of view. I hope this gets lots of replys.

 

Couple of possibilities:
DMs might be incentivized with commission based on their efficiency (depending on the company), so they get paid more if the freight moves, regardless of the driver's hours.

It could be company culture that the HOS rules are stupid, and stupid rules are made to be broken. I know that might sound silly, but if the CEO of a small or medium sized company holds DOT in contempt, the mentality is going to trickle down...especially when most of the desk-jockey staff aren't former drivers.

It's easy to lose track of reality. On-time becomes the holy grail. OK, on-time delivery is extremely important to customer service...but they're still going to get their stuff even if it's an hour or two late. Sometimes I think that for the folks in the office, who work with numbers and faceless voices all day, punctuality is the most tangible thing they have. They don't benefit from closing the doors on 40k lbs of physical product, and then opening the doors on said product so the receiver can get it distributed or sold. They also don't benefit from some of the customers that look you in the face and honestly say, "Thanks for getting it here" even though you've repowered a load that somebody dropped the ball on, and the earliest you could get it there was 8 hours after it was scheduled.
The office of a trucking company is just imaginary land with paper and phones and emails. I've always told myself that's why the dispatchers get a little crazy.

 

we get more than a little crazy, well I did. It can put you in a tough spot, you get to be in the middle of two opposing forces. You have to pick and choose your battles, for me it was fairly easy. I wouldn't compromise on safety, it's better to get the load there tomorrow or with another driver than it is to put the driver and the motoring public in danger.