weekend dispatcher problem

i think i would keep going up the chain of command till i found someone that will listen.Have u tried a face to face with any of the people involved?

 

that sounds like Calvin in group D, lol. I had the same problem. Anything over the phone you can't really use as proof, even if it's recorded. Just make sure everything is on qualcomm. If he wants you to run illegal and you dont want to, tell him on the qualcomm you don't have the hours. What worked best for me was sending in a mac 15 right after my empty call, so they had it right there in their face how many hours you had. Maybe he just cant add, you never know. if that still doesnt work, go directly to the top, Rick Parks, he used to be director of fleet ops for group d, but now he runs the whole show. Real nice guy, he is always willing to talk to drivers on the phone. He'll get your problem solved fast, i guarantee it. either that, or stop running nights, lol.

 

Here's the gest of it. If you will do it, they'll let you do it. If you want do it, they'll tell you to do it. Messages sent on the Qualcomm are NOT SENT directly to USA Truck, rather they are sent to a third party in CA (I believe), recorded on thier mainframe, and relayed to the appropriate reciepent. What does this mean to you? Anything that you, or your dispatcher sends is recorded and CANNOT BE DELETED!!!! If you tell you're dispatcher you cannot safely/legally do that which is requested of you and they still insist, pick up your Qualcomm, send them a message stating that you cannot do this legally/safely, ask them if they still wish you to perform this task.

9 times out of 10, they'll back down. NOW, just to cover your %^&, in the morning (Monday morning if the weekend), call your FM and tell them what is going on with night/weekend dispatch. He/she will generally look back at the history of the messages and see what was said. This way, if it comes to a 'he said, she said' scenario, your FM will know what is REALLY going on and will be able to back you.

I don't know that this will work with just ANY FM, but I know that I've done this my share of times when I first started. Now my FM does everything in his power to keep me 'away from night/weekend dispatch'. Of course, he also knows that I will do everything in my power to get the P/U and del ONTIME so long as I am given the time to do so (i.e. not given 12 hours to drive 1000 miles).

Of course, if you're the type that does sit around alot (Dispatch notes that you're only getting about 1000 miles a week), you may end up with similar problems coming from your FM. Talk with your fleet manager and see if you can figure out where the problem is. You may find out that he can work with you to get fewer runs with more miles (less time spent at shipper/consignee) when possible. You may, however still find yourself with a few short runs from time to time as dictated by frieght availability. But, you should start to notice that your FM will do what he/she can when possible (as long as you make sure to get these loads handled in a timely fashion). At the same time, if you're simply not pulling your weight, perhaps this isn't the career for you. Sorry to be so blunt, but the company looks at it as a truck that is sitting around doing nothing when it COULD be running. Instead of making them money, it's costing them (fuel while idling, insurance, maintainance, etc)