Comments on: Not Much Help For The Drivers

By: Rob

Rob — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 05:28:12 +0000

This is one of the things that drives me nuts. One load I had in TN, I was following the directions with no problem and when I got on the street the shipper was on I slowed down to a crawl so I would not miss it. Sure enough the building was behind another building and the sign was real small and partially covered and I spotted it right as I passed it. There was already a line of cars behind me so could not back up. Figured I would go ahead a bit and turn around, I was an hour early so no worries. Well there is not exactly a lot of places to turn a truck around in the back hills of TN. By the time I got back, I was late. Not good. From there on, I always call the customer as soon as possible to get directions. They are always kind and happy to give directions. Seems to work out the best.

By: Rick Huffman

Rick Huffman — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:23:10 +0000

I definately feel your pain as this has happened to me on numerous ocassions as well. But it isn’t just the drivers who are affected by bad directions that result in late deliveries. I’ve talked to sales people who say that, on average, it takes anywhere from 4 months to a years to get a new account up and running, but it takes less than 5 minutes to lose an existing account. This is why it boggles my mind that trucking companies do not take getting accurate information to their drivers more seriously. Yes, it’s true that the driver is the easy scapegoat, but it hurts the entire company when an account is lost for any reason. I have often sent updated directions in to dispatch only to find the old, incorrect ones still in the system the next time I’m assigned a load to the same place. I honestly don’t understand it. Even if a company blames the driver for losing an account… they still lose the account. Nobody wins.

By: Rhonda Jensen

Rhonda Jensen — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:29:42 +0000

Great post!!! My blood pressure was rising fast with this reading!! This happens almost daily to the drivers. What should have been an easy start to the day with plenty of time for delivery turned into an ALMOST LATE ARRIVAL which is always the drivers fault. It would also depend how strict the arrival times are as you will also find out that many times are just given to the driver and there really is not an APPOINTMENT time.

Many times the billing address(s) will not match local place. Directions may be given to main local building, but the load actually goes another mile down the street where you check in. This also causes delay’s and may make you “late”. So you learn to keep a notebook for directions/procedures/map drawing at the customer for future referance if you get another load to the place.

You may try reporting the changes in qualcomm so the ones with authority can update them, but I have found those people do not care and if you work for a big company, the policy was 3 drivers (at the one I worked for) had to report this before directions were changed!! This is not right and driver’s soon learned to not even try going thru all the hoops. And directions need to be more specific. Don’t just say turn here when street signs are hid in trees and etc.. Give a warning like 2 BLOCKS PAST GROCERY STORE, CROSS STREET IS 6TH. We are not in a car that can just turn around anywhere.

By: Ike Kendrick

Ike Kendrick — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:05:21 +0000

Great post. I was melting down right along side you as I read along. My question would be “How can you avoid this situation in the future?” Obviously you are on your own in a cluster like this. Although you solved a problem that was not of your creation I would think that these almost calamities should be avoided at all costs.
Once again great post and I hope to never participate in (but I doubt it) a similar experience.