While Waiting For Next Load
Topic 25909 | Page 2
Just arrived at 90 (receiver). Sent FM message saying I should be unloaded by 13:30 and that I'll need to go to a truck stop b/c I'm out of hours (coming off a split to get me here). Gave a PTA between midnight and 01:00. Hopefully something will be available. In retrospect, I could have sent a message a few hours ago, when I stopped for fuel, with an eta.
Fm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.
I generally try to milk as much time possible sliding my tandems back and doing "paperwork" as humanly possible while waiting for a new load. We dont usually do preplans so sometimes it takes awhile. I got lucky today my beer delivery has onsite parking and they didnt mind me waiting.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
In the event I don't already have a preplan, I use trucker Path to find the nearest truck parking, or ask the place where I am at, is a close place. There have been a few instances where I went in the opposite direction, but those miles were added into my dispatch. They understand that happens sometimes, and make sure we don't have any dead miles.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.New Reply:
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Usually I either have a preplan or I receive one while I'm at my unload. On the occasion that I've sent my departure msg and still don't have a preplan and I can't hang around at the customer, I'll head to the nearest truck stop. Preferably one with a washout. Don't sit on the side of the road. It's not safe and you could get ticketed. Sometimes it ends up being the wrong direction, but thats an acceptable risk over sitting on the shoulder somewhere.
My last load was GA to MN, as I was delivering I was happy to get a preplan from SD back to GA. Now I've been sitting at shipper in SD for almost 24hrs after my appointment, waiting for this load of lovely meat combos.
Sometimes preplans work in your favor... Sometimes they don't.
Shipper:
The customer who is shipping the freight. This is where the driver will pick up a load and then deliver it to the receiver or consignee.