Turning Down Loads

I have driven for a very large carrier for 9 months. I had determined when I started that I would accept any and every load offering unless the appointment was so close that I assumed an error was to blame for my receiving of this load. It has happened. In my first few months of driving, I would listen to all the terminal rats talking about never getting miles, and then in same breath, list all the things he told his dispatch he would NEVER do. "Western 11 only, no NE, no LA, no states that have names ending with the letter 'A'." They told me I'd never get miles as a newbie with the company.

Well, I determined to go full George Costanza and made it a point to do the opposite of whatever these terminal rats were doing.

I've even done the little "favor" loads that are local deliveries in local gridlocked cities. Result?

$$$!

Very decent year So far and plenty of miles I've never begged for.

What are some examples of loads you accepted knowing they would be a nightmare?

What are some examples of loads you accepted knowing they would be a nightmare?

Anything going to the Minnesota Twin Cities from Illinois, when Wisconsin is hosting a baby shower for an unknown gender baby. You know, when you open the weather app on your cell, at 9hours and 40 minutes into your ten, knowing you're heading that way, only to discover that the entire route is covered in blue. and pink. and stripes of both... and there's that annoying little red triangle saying "Severe Weather Information"...

None. Just deal with it and learn.

The only one I've had that I was a little worried about was a load of pebble lime from ono, pa to a place on long island, ny. Getting wasnt bad cause I crossed at like 6 am but coming back over the GW was a treat. Drive time was so close I had to PC to my personal vehicle. It was a good pay day and helped dispatch out.

I'm with Big Scott ... on this one you got into the business to make money ...(i'm assuming) and the only way you are going to do that is keep the wheels turning....correct... deal with everything else that comes your way... doesn't matter what it is ... if you start say no to any load then the process has started... you will not stop... now i am not talking about loads you can't possible make it time... unless they tell you your the only one close to pick it up and then you will need to ask your company to reschedule the delivery date and time... there are solutions to every problem ... trick is know them ... learning them ... school of hard knocks ...

go to school ( school of hard knocks) make mistakes ... believe me you will make plenty of them ... i know i did get graduated .... from the ... you school above and you will be a much better person in the end of your career .... and you can say ... I gave it all I got ... no regrets...

you have come to the right spot ... keep asking questions ....

I have driven for a very large carrier for 9 months. I had determined when I started that I would accept any and every load offering unless the appointment was so close that I assumed an error was to blame for my receiving of this load. It has happened. In my first few months of driving, I would listen to all the terminal rats talking about never getting miles, and then in same breath, list all the things he told his dispatch he would NEVER do. "Western 11 only, no NE, no LA, no states that have names ending with the letter 'A'." They told me I'd never get miles as a newbie with the company.

Well, I determined to go full George Costanza and made it appoint to do the Opposite of whatever these terminal rats were doing.

I've even done the little "favor" loads that are local deliveries in local gridlocked cities. Result? $$$! Very decent year So far and plenty of miles I've never begged for. What are some examples of loads you accepted knowing they would be a nightmare?

Thanks. Good things to remember.

I'm with Big Scott ... on this one you got into the business to make money ...(i'm assuming) and the only way you are going to do that is keep the wheels turning....correct... deal with everything else that comes your way... doesn't matter what it is ... if you start say no to any load then the process has started... you will not stop... now i am not talking about loads you can't possible make it time... unless they tell you your the only one close to pick it up and then you will need to ask your company to reschedule the delivery date and time... there are solutions to every problem ... trick is know them ... learning them ... school of hard knocks ...

go to school ( school of hard knocks) make mistakes ... believe me you will make plenty of them ... i know i did get graduated .... from the ... you school above and you will be a much better person in the end of your career .... and you can say ... I gave it all I got ... no regrets...

you have come to the right spot ... keep asking questions ....

I have driven for a very large carrier for 9 months. I had determined when I started that I would accept any and every load offering unless the appointment was so close that I assumed an error was to blame for my receiving of this load. It has happened. In my first few months of driving, I would listen to all the terminal rats talking about never getting miles, and then in same breath, list all the things he told his dispatch he would NEVER do. "Western 11 only, no NE, no LA, no states that have names ending with the letter 'A'." They told me I'd never get miles as a newbie with the company.

Well, I determined to go full George Costanza and made it appoint to do the Opposite of whatever these terminal rats were doing.

I've even done the little "favor" loads that are local deliveries in local gridlocked cities. Result? $$$! Very decent year So far and plenty of miles I've never begged for. What are some examples of loads you accepted knowing they would be a nightmare?

I had been doing short runs around SoCal for a couple weeks. i took every load I could make on time and counter offered on the rest. I finally got an escape to Phoenix. I dropped my trailer and bobtailed to a truckstop to wait for my next load. I was pretty frazzled from several over night drives and frustrated by the shorthaul miles. The Qualcomm chimed with a load to SoCal. Nuts! I needed a catnap to clear my head, then I'd maybe call and respectfully discuss this situation.

A few minutes later my phone rings. It's a Phoenix planner. He wants me to pick up a load at the Phoenix terminal and take it four miles. It was a thorn in his side because it was already late. He told me the customer might reject it and force a reschedule but asked me to try. I said yes then I asked him if there was anything he could do to move me farther from California for awhile. He said if I would do this for him he would find something.

I tried, the customer said no, turn around and take it back to the terminal. When I returned I called the planner and told him. By now I was mentally prepared to respectfully make my case for a little better load offer just in case he left me hanging. He said thanks for trying and came through with a stack of loads that took me from Pheonix to Houston to Arkansas and points East. Along the way I got to bobtail about 500 miles to pickup a brand new trailer from the factory too.

Some lessons;

1. Don't argue with planners/managers/dispatchers, (or anyone else really). Their jobs are tough enough. They aren't the enemy, they're business partners.

2. Avoid making decisions when tired. Sometimes you need to but avoid it if you can. That 10 minute rest was enough to clear my mind before I even started mapping out what I wanted to talk about with my DM.

3. Patience. I did my job as they asked me to and waited for the better loads to come. The better loads DID come and I never had to have any awkward conversations.

Downtown Chicago local pickups and deliveries. Other honey-do's I take care of are going to a certain customer to hook my load, but before I do, I have a list of empty trailers other drivers have dropped, without opening the doors and sliding and locking the tandems all the way back. I'm asked to hook up to them, pull them out of the space so I can open the doors, slide tandems and put them back in the space. This place is so tight the trailer has to come completely out of the space to do it. Often have to crawl under the trailers to raise/lower landing gear. But my DM knows I'll get it done. This customer calls West Side and complains and they will not load trailers that aren't dropped per their requirements. I haul a lot of these loads (forklifts) to Miami, Maine, Virginia Beach, and other fun places, so it benefits me to make sure there's plenty of trailers ready to be loaded there. As a reward I get more than my share of these higher paying, higher miles, multiple stop loads.

This is all so motivating. I love this forum. I may need talked down from a ledge one day and I'll know where to turn! 😆

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Even the god-awful places can be fun depending on your outlook. Last week, I was asked to do a live load in Chicago.

Company supplied directions said I-94 exit for Western Ave, go south on Western, turn right onto Roosevelt Rd. Customer is one block on RHS.

My GPS said something totally different, but I was like okay, if in doubt don't trust GPS and follow company provided directions. It'll be fun, they said.

I do follow the directions. I'm sitting there blocking the street with my 4-ways on trying to figure it out. There's no company gate and a very derelict looking post office across the street to my left I am lost in the hood dragging a 53' trailer down a very active ghetto street. A very filthy, toothless, and undoubtedly inebriated mail man comes to my rescue. His uniform shirt was all buttoned up wrong. He almost fell out of his mail truck and staggered across the street and asked if I needed help lol. I thought, well how much worse could it be? So I told him what company I was looking for and by golly he told me exactly where they were located and a truck safe route to get there! And who says the US Postal Service gives terrible customer service hahaha.

I also let my DM know just how bad those directions had been, gave him some good ones and he fixed it in the computer system so hopefully I've spared another WST driver. That customer is located on Roosevelt road, but 5ish miles west of where I was. For those experienced drivers who do Chicago on occasion, you know where I was lol. Fun times indeed.