Question For My Fellow LTLers Or Anyone Really
Topic 29214 | Page 1
We aren’t ltl but we are crazy busy. We have more loads being requested than we can pull and customers are standing in line to get a truck. They seem much more cooperative in scheduling than normal.
Usually we slow down the entire 4th quarter, pickup a little in Jan then steady but not busy till april.
LTL:
Less Than Truckload
Refers to carriers that make a lot of smaller pickups and deliveries for multiple customers as opposed to hauling one big load of freight for one customer. This type of hauling is normally done by companies with terminals scattered throughout the country where freight is sorted before being moved on to its destination.
LTL carriers include:
- FedEx Freight
- Con-way
- YRC Freight
- UPS
- Old Dominion
- Estes
- Yellow-Roadway
- ABF Freight
- R+L Carrier
Are you guys insanely busy like we are?
Yep. I usually run flatbeds but was put on an account pulling dry vans for 8 weeks, 7 days a week. I've been running on recaps for the last three weeks. Today is my first reset in a month.
Blessed to be working!!
Dry Van:
A trailer or truck that that requires no special attention, such as refrigeration, that hauls regular palletted, boxed, or floor-loaded freight. The most common type of trailer in trucking.
Are you guys insanely busy like we are?
Usually we slow down from the week before Thanksgiving until 1st week of January. Right now we are so busy we are out of equipment and places to put freight. I've also seen more 3rd party TL companies in our yards than ever before they mostly use them to run freight across country as to not tie up trailers.
Some terminals are even making working on weekends mandatory with a revolving schedule.
I've been working 60hr weeks for the past month. Unusual for FXF as they pay us overtime after 8hr each day.
I was asking my boss just yesterday, "Aren't we supposed to be slow right now?"
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
We've been busy in my building and we were expecting to be slow. Dock workers are getting 4 hours of overtime everyday and they're scrambling looking for weekend volunteers. They put off opening linehaul positions because we're usually dead until spring. Not the case this year.
Linehaul:
Linehaul drivers will normally run loads from terminal to terminal for LTL (Less than Truckload) companies.
LTL (Less Than Truckload) carriers will have Linehaul drivers and P&D drivers. The P&D drivers will deliver loads locally from the terminal and pick up loads returning them to the terminal. Linehaul drivers will then run truckloads from terminal to terminal.
Glad to know we are not alone.
I'm going to work tonight but I only have 10 hours left for the week so I'm limited in what I can do, if anything as they might not be able to route me straight back to my terminal.
Hard to believe that it is so busy there might not be anything available for me.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
Glad to know we are not alone.
I'm going to work tonight but I only have 10 hours left for the week so I'm limited in what I can do, if anything as they might not be able to route me straight back to my terminal.
Hard to believe that it is so busy there might not be anything available for me.
Yeah it is. Last year at this time we made up for the lack of work by sending guys to FedEx ground. This year we had to tell ground we couldn't spare anybody. A part of that has to do with the amount of people that retired this year. With the COVID fear earlier this year some guys retired straight from the furlough and didn't return.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
OD SAC, CA terminal here. We are slammed as well. They are asking guys to work Saturday doing city deliveries. Having trouble finding dock workers since people would rather stay home and get paid and having a tough time finding drivers too. I'm the one who does the drive test for new hires and I haven't been getting as many as I used to. We are hiring about 11 contractors everyday to help.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
We are having a hard time finding drivers as well we are short at least 10 Linehaul drivers. They said they are going to take CDL B holders off the street and train them for a A license.
I passed by my terminal and saw they where working on a Sunday which I've never seen before, usually a few dock workers start around 8 PM on Sunday to set up for Monday morning P&D. My dispatcher even called me a little while ago and asked if I could work but it would throw my hours too out of wack for the rest of the week.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
P&D:
Pickup & Delivery
Local drivers that stay around their area, usually within 100 mile radius of a terminal, picking up and delivering loads.
LTL (Less Than Truckload) carriers for instance will have Linehaul drivers and P&D drivers. The P&D drivers will deliver loads locally from the terminal and pick up loads returning to the terminal. Linehaul drivers will then run truckloads from terminal to terminal.
Linehaul:
Linehaul drivers will normally run loads from terminal to terminal for LTL (Less than Truckload) companies.
LTL (Less Than Truckload) carriers will have Linehaul drivers and P&D drivers. The P&D drivers will deliver loads locally from the terminal and pick up loads returning them to the terminal. Linehaul drivers will then run truckloads from terminal to terminal.Dispatcher:
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 haven't noticed much of an uptick in refrigerated LTL for our customers but our store deliveries are an entirely different story. We've been HOS exempt since they rolled it out with the exception of about a month before covid started increasing again. At this rate I'll need to read up on what HOS regs are! There's only been a handful of times since March I've exceeded normal HOS. We've hired 7 new drivers in the last 2 months, including one that no call no showed his first day he'd be alone. 3 more are in the hiring process and they're going to be sending 2 current employees to CDL school in January. Keep em comin' I dont want to work sundays anymore!
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
LTL:
Less Than Truckload
Refers to carriers that make a lot of smaller pickups and deliveries for multiple customers as opposed to hauling one big load of freight for one customer. This type of hauling is normally done by companies with terminals scattered throughout the country where freight is sorted before being moved on to its destination.
LTL carriers include:
- FedEx Freight
- Con-way
- YRC Freight
- UPS
- Old Dominion
- Estes
- Yellow-Roadway
- ABF Freight
- R+L Carrier
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.New Reply:
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Are you guys insanely busy like we are?
Usually we slow down from the week before Thanksgiving until 1st week of January. Right now we are so busy we are out of equipment and places to put freight. I've also seen more 3rd party TL companies in our yards than ever before they mostly use them to run freight across country as to not tie up trailers.
Some terminals are even making working on weekends mandatory with a revolving schedule.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.