Sitting

So, up until a couple hours ago I had a great week. In fact I was a little busier than I was comfortable with. Then I was sent to pretty much the most remote place we go to pick up a load that was supposed to keep me busy through Sunday (which was supposed to be my day off), but the shipper tells me that the load I came for was already picked up. So I call in and I'm told that there's nothing they can do, they remove all my assignments, and now I'm sitting.

Yeah, I know these things happen, but I can't help being a little suspicious. My manager asked me specifically if I would take this load even thought I might not get home on my regular day, and I was told that it had to be picked up and delivered the same day. Then when I was running late to pick it up and told him that I wouldn't be able to deliver the same day, he claimed to have discussed it with customer service (this morning) and that it would be OK. I talked to my manager at 5PM (as he was going home for the weekend), and the last thing he said was "make sure you update your NAT, I don't want you to sit all weekend". So now there's really no one to call (the night and weekend people can't do anything), and I'm not even sure anyone really assigns loads on the weekend.

So am I being paranoid? Would they really have any reason to give me a great week, tell me I'm doing a great job, then end it by making me sit all weekend?

Kurt is stood up:

The shipper tells me that the load I came for was already picked up.

Can't help you with the lost weekend. But your DM needs to at least pay you for a cancelled load.

Did the shipment get picked up by your company? Get the trailer number and the driver's name or truck number (it's on the signed bill the shipper has). If it's not your company, find out what company picked it up & let your DM know that.

Kurt is stood up:

The shipper tells me that the load I came for was already picked up.

Can't help you with the lost weekend. But your DM needs to at least pay you for a cancelled load.

Did the shipment get picked up by your company? Get the trailer number and the driver's name or truck number (it's on the signed bill the shipper has). If it's not your company, find out what company picked it up & let your DM know that.

Well, I'm getting paid for driving here, but it's only 67 miles from the previous load. It was a pre-loaded company trailer so no other company took it, and the place checks you in at the gate with a pickup number, so as far as I know they don't just let you take a different load without the company knowing about it. Also, this is the second time it's happened to me this week (at a different place). The first time they just removed that load from me and my next one was only 30 miles away anyway. But even that was a little strange, because I was picking up and dropping it at a drop yard 30 miles away.

Anyway, if they wanted to make me sit all weekend with no one to even complain to about it, they couldn't have a done a better job of it. Probably I'm just being paranoid. But I'm in a "home every week" position, so this really messes with my time off. I should be home tomorrow, and I don't have the truck set up to stay in it long term.

What company are you with? No company would send drivers out in a while goose chase like this - twice in a week. How far are you from home? (You said you're out at some far-away place.) You could deadhead , no business so you'll go home till they get you a load. And call tomorrow.

What company are you with? No company would send drivers out in a while goose chase like this - twice in a week. How far are you from home? (You said you're out at some far-away place.) You could deadhead , no business so you'll go home till they get you a load. And call tomorrow.

I'm about 90 miles from home. I know in the grand scheme of things that doesn't sound like much, but it's pretty much the north end of where we operate (the position I'm in, not the whole company). But that's a good point. It might be close enough to just go home and wait. But I know if I ask they'll say no, stay where you are.

Anyway, thanks for the reply. I guess I was looking for "you're being paranoid, these things happen" or "yeah, that's how they mess with drivers they don't like" or any other comments.

Only 90 miles? Go home.

Yeah I agree with Errol. If your less than 100 miles from home most companies in my limited experience will not have a problem with you just going home especially if you don't have a load and don't have a chance to get one til Monday. Just to cya you probably should tell dispatch.

Well, my last location was actually 115 miles from home, and I already drove 25 to get to a truck stop. But it's really less about what I do now and more about whether this could have been done to me intentionally. With this home every week thing, in the 3 months I've worked here they always had the weekend set and routed me home before they went home on Friday, so this is the first time I'm sitting with nothing on Saturday morning. I'm not even sure the weekend people are allowed to route me home. And I've been told that "self dispatching" is not allowed, and that was mentioned specifically in regards to people deciding on their own to go home.

Only 90 miles? Go home.

First of all let's be clear so as not to confuse other new drivers - the decision to go home is not up to the driver. You can't just say, "I'm only 90 miles away, I'm going home." You have to be approved for home time by dispatch. I know Errol knows this but I didn't want others to think the driver has the authority to make that call.

But it's really less about what I do now and more about whether this could have been done to me intentionally.

No, it certainly was not done intentionally. This kind of stuff happens pretty regularly at large carriers. You'll be given the wrong load number or wrong address. You'll be sent to pick up a load that was already picked up or isn't scheduled to pick up for a couple more days. This is just part of the confusion involved when several large corporations are all trying to coordinate their logistics.

in the 3 months I've worked here they always had the weekend set and routed me home before they went home on Friday, so this is the first time I'm sitting with nothing on Saturday morning

This has only ever happened to you one time and you're immediately paranoid that the company or your dispatcher is scheming against you? Man, take it easy already! Somewhere behind the scenes someone failed to do their job properly. Either someone at the shipper or someone at your company didn't enter the details properly and a shipment was double booked.

And when your dispatcher returns make sure you don't go blaming him/her without knowing the details of what happened. You might have the best dispatcher in the world until you cross that person and then you'll really find out what it's like when people are scheming against you.

Most of the time there is only so much freight to go around and any company is going to make sure their best drivers are taken care of. You want to make sure you're on that list. Not only does that entail being hard working, safe, and reliable but also someone who is easy and pleasant to work with. If you have a great dispatcher who is taking good care of you and you start throwing accusations the first time something doesn't go your way you might find yourself on the receiving end of a hard lesson on what it's like having a dispatcher that isn't taking care of you, ya know what I mean? So be cool about it. Assume it had nothing to do with your dispatcher and was simply a miscommunication somewhere along the chain.

don't go blaming [your dispatcher] without knowing the details of what happened.

I'm going to add this here because I got into a similar situation. I thought, similar to Kurt, I was getting skee-rooed by my Swift dispatcher:

As a shuttle driver, I go to the terminal , pick up the bills and get a trailer to take to a swap point. I exchange trailers with anther driver and return to my home terminal.

One night I go to the terminal and I'm told my load has been transferred to another driver, and my trip is cancelled! I was livid to say the least.

The next day, I called my DM , ready to give him a piece of my mind. But he first explained what was going on: If the shuttle route is short a trailer, Swift rotates the "out" among the drivers. It was my "turn". Plus, I was paid $100, about half my daily pay, for the cancellation.

So instead of arbitrarily losing a trip, I got half pay and got to stay home! The company wasn't out to cheat me, they were being fair to all the drivers.

Moral of this story: get an explanation from your dispatcher before you do anything crazy, like quit.