Prime Fleet Mgr Issues

So... Sitting in Punta Gorda FL about 13 miles from the Sam's Club DC. Left Clayton NC with a load for the DC yesterday morning at 6:30am. Approx 26 hrs travel time counting mandated breaks. I was told to provide an ETA when I was able to do so with some accuracy. Drove about 3 hrs to get an idea of average speed with my light load and as I pulled into a truck stop to send the msg I received a QC msg with a 5:15am appt time. Not possible. I sent a response reminding them an ETA had been requested. So far no new appt has been set. Called my FM to check and he would not speak to me. Once on another load with refused freight for Walmart in VA he had told me to "just show up and see if they'll take it". We all know how well that works with Walmart... I have not been told this is a service failure and it should not be. Prime's trucks will not run fast enough for me to make the appt time I was given. I just cannot handle petulance from someone like this. Anyone ever have a similar situation? Do I need to consider requesting a different FM?

So you're sitting 13 miles from your destination thought now (2pm) and you cannot make a 5:15 a.m. appointment tomorrow morning? Or did I miss something?

So you're sitting 13 miles from your destination thought now (2pm) and you cannot make a 5:15 a.m. appointment tomorrow morning? Or did I miss something?

Possibly 05:15 today, Thursday. Mark has driven dispiritedly yesterday and today, and is now waiting for a new delivery time because it was not possible to make 05:15. I'm guessing, but Mark doesn't want to arrive at the DC just to be turned away because he doesn't have a delivery appointment.

Well for starters most dispatchers hate phone calls. They prefer to communicate over Qualcomm exclusively unless it's an emergency or something rare and complex. I have heard of dispatchers that prefer using the phone, but that's quite rare.

But this kind of stuff seems normal. You just have to work through it. I mean, we can't tell what's going on or who's fault anything is from a few sentences. But it normally takes a few months for a driver and dispatcher to get to know how the other one works. In this case if they give you an appointment time you can't make then you have procedures for that. Every company is a bit different. But normally you send in an ETA and shoot a message to dispatch letting them know the situation and that's all you can do. If you can't physically make an appointment time your truck's time and location is being tracked and your logbook hours are available. So if they try to give you a service failure and you contest it, management should be able to look things up in the computer and know within five minutes if you could have made that appointment time or not.

Google maps says Clayton to Punta Gorda is 745 miles, 15 hours @ 50mph direct. Add 10 + 1 (pre-trip & 2 breaks) = 26 as Boss said he drove. That ETA of 5:15am can't be the next day (Thu).

I'm teapot confused because it's only a 750 mile drive

Ok so my typing sucks today. I'll just say I'm glad I don't have a governed truck lol.

Ok so my typing sucks today. I'll just say I'm glad I don't have a governed truck lol.

Show off!

Glad I don't have to deal with Walmart DC's anymore. He won't make it past the guard shack without an appt😰😰

So you're sitting 13 miles from your destination thought now (2pm) and you cannot make a 5:15 a.m. appointment tomorrow morning? Or did I miss something?

The appointment was for THIS morning. Apologies if I was unclear.