Comments By N/A

I see where you're coming from, but I don't understand how a daily planner or daily driver manager can easily put things into motion for you, but you have six or seven people in that office every night who can't do the same.

When you send them a message,they see everything you're doing on that computer screen. They see the order, the truck, the driver number, all of the information they need to see what they need to see...

And when you tell them the order # you are on, as well as where you are in the Macro section, and they don't put two and two together, especially when they received the empty call from the last order... come on, driver.

Common sense. That's all I want them to have... you can make all t he excuses you want for them, but the ones I've had to deal with so far aren't the brightest. Sending you to the shipper to pick up the empty, the same place you're picking up the load? I think that maybe you've not dealt with them enough? If you're a solo driver, I highly doubt you deal with them on a daily basis, but I do.

We make .14cpm teaming and our best pay so far was $450 net.

That's pretty bad, but there is light at the end of the tunnel! Some companies will buy out your contract, others just pay more (Swift, US Xpress, Interstate), but it all depends on you and what you want to do.

The money looks good, but I hope you don't get paired with a 300 mile a day driver!

Heavens no! My co-driver does 500-600, same as me, per day. Of course, the mileage per driver really depends upon what your day consists of... pickup, delivery, live load/unload, waiting on a load, looking for a trailer, etc...

Yeah... dispatcher sees I've got four runs from the planner accepted. They see the PTA. They receive the empty call, which means "I'm ready for the next dispatch." They see me telling them my location, where I am, what I've done, and what order # i am currently driving under. --- yeah, they're dumb.

Brett, you're completely right. And, of course, I can only speak as a Swift driver on nearly all matters of this career so far.

And it's funny tha t you mention new drivers expecting a hand out, because I've ran into a handful across the states within my own company who've only been out here for a few months, and claim to get between 800 & 1500 miles every week.

In my mind, something doesn't seem right. They're either not hustling freight or they're never on time... it's all that I can think of really.

OTR is a hustle.

Hahaha

Yeah, that's my point, Errol.

Sometimes you get called in to get your oil changed. You come in with an empty, but they wewant you to disconnect he empty before bringing your truck into the shop... that happens... and when you go back to get your trailer, its gone.

By the way, this is why they make kingpin locks lol

Well, you cats must be lucky, because I ran for 30 days straight, and sat at a darn terminal every Saturday and Sunday.... and I'm a team driver! Hahaha but I have learned

These folks are sort of like your ordinary drive managers, only way, way dumber than your drive manager. I don't mean to be harsh, but allow me to give you a real-life scenario of how dumb they really are...

We have a pick-up at Amazon. We don't have an empty trailer. Guess where they send us!? To the shipper (Amazon) to pick up an empty trailer! Did we do it? Heck no! Why pick up an empty trailer in the same yard we are picking up our load? See the stupidity yet?

Another real-life example would be actually doing their job.

As I've mentioned before about getting weekend runs from the area planner, well I did that. I'm on a run one Saturday morning, started my second run of the day, and I was never dispatched. Yeah, you see where this is going...

I said, well, the dispatch directions aren't in my qualcomm. Screw it, I'll type them in from the orders we received. Well, I did that, sent in my "arrived at shipper" and "loaded" calls. They were both sent back saying something about the previous load I had, which is a clear indication that I am not dispatched on this run.

Giving the weekend personnel the benefit of the doubt, hoping they're not really this stupid, I send them a message that says "I have arrived at shipper. I am loaded. I am headed to the scales." And, get this, they respond, "Cool. Thanks for the heads-up." Seriously? Yep.

I make it to the smallest little Pilot in West Virginia, scale the load, and send another message. "Scaled the load. Weight is evenly distributed. I'm headed to the reciever." And what do they say? "Thanks. Drive safe."

Hahahahahaha

I get to the terminal to drop my trailer, because I wasn't delivering this load to a consignee. So, the t-col person says, "I can't take this load from you because you were never dispatched. I'll have to call your terminal and have them dispatch you." That's the darndest thing. So I have to wait there about 45 minutes for these people to do that.

Now, I really like my terminal and drive manager, but the weekend warriors aren't too bright. That's all I'm saying here. Should I really have to tell them to dispatch me? They know I've got four runs to make back-to-back. Once I've sent in an "empty" call from one load, the next load should be dispatched to you immediately, or at least for the time you've set your PTA to be... but they're not that bright. And they don't take hints.

These are just two very small examples of the weekend crew, but other drivers have had even worse experiences. I'll let them tell their own stories.

My drive manager wanted me to take a run from Ecru, MS to Rochester, NY, but also wanted me to pick up from the shipper, then wait (approximately 7 hours) for him to come into the office the next day so that we could review some things together. Okay, I've got this run, if I wait for him, I know for sure that I'll be late for delivery. What do you do?

You simply ask a question. "If I take this run, I won't be able to meet up with you in the morning because I'll be late if I do. Do you want me to accept, decline, or counter this load offer?"

That's all it took. He must have had some insider information, because that load was late, and nobody gave two flips about it. Not Swift. Not the receiver. Not the yard jockey. Hahaha...

My drive manager told me the hardest thing he gets the new drivers to do is ask questions. For some reason, new drivers don't ask questions. This is how so many new drivers get screwed out of good runs, and screw up their service times. New recruit, always ask questions if you are unsure about anything.

If your drive manager gives you a hard time about any question you ask him or her, call the fleet or terminal manager (driver manager boss), and ask them. Don't be afraid of anyone in that office. They go home and drink everynight, if they want to, but we ain't got that luxury.