I Love My Company, But I Think It's Time...

Now I’m over 38,000 miles which translates into a little over 12,000 per month.

Nice BK! Way to hustle!

I just wanted to reiterate some of Brett's advice. Most people don't realize how important it is to build a solid relationship of trust with their dispatcher. A driver has really got to be at the top of his game consistently to establish and keep that standing. Those drivers get all kinds of preferential treatment from their dispatcher. It's extremely important that the driver maintain that trust through a continuous rock steady performance.

Then there's the relationship between the driver and the customers. We've all seen drivers go into check in trying to push their weight around and being almost abusive. Those folks never learn how to get unloaded early. I've had plenty of customers bump me up ahead of other trucks that were there before me. Why? It's simple. They know me. I've worked on establishing a relationship with them.

I catered a lunch for the receiving crew one time at a particularly difficult place to get unloaded. From that day forward I was like a hero to them. They would do anything to get me in and out ahead of the others.

You don't have to be a brown-noser, you just need to be understanding of their difficulties and do what you can to ease some of their stress. Be kind. Be helpful. Be patient. "Kill 'em with kindness." You'd be surprised how much they appreciate someone trying to be helpful.

I seldom ever deliver a load without first making some sort of contact with the customer. Many times I can get my appointment changed to an earlier time. Once that's done my dispatcher gets the next message with an updated PTA. That little trick alone has really pushed my income to above average for this career.

You can't just drive the truck and expect miracles to happen. You have to put yourself in position where things happen to your advantage. That is the art of success. Skills alone won't get you there. You have to practice the skills and the art if you really want to be a top producer out here.

Thanks Brett and Old School for your posts!

I sure feel like I am complaining.

Not at all. This is all totally legit.

I will hit 2,800 one week and then be under 2,000 the next. I have averaged 2,100 miles a week (information from my DM) since June

Those miles are terrible if your goal is to run hard and make as much money as you can without burning out. I mean, terrible. Most highly productive drivers shoot for 3,000+ miles per week. I used to average around 3,000 miles per week with a goal of about 3,200. I would be extremely unhappy if I had less than 2,700 in a week. It rarely happened, even when I ran regional and I was home on weekends.

I would focus on working with dispatch to get better miles if money is your main concern. I don't think changing companies will help because rarely will a company consistently just hand any old driver 3,000+ miles per week. You must have several things working for you:

• You must have a great dispatcher. Not all dispatchers are created equal. Ask your dispatcher where you stand on the board. If drivers are averaging more miles than you, ask why that is and find out what you can do to get your mileage up near the top of the fleet. Do not be shy about this! Tell him/her straight up, "I can not live on less than 2,500 miles per week. I must average that or more consistently. What can I do to get up there?"
• You must make all of your appointments on time. If you're late even 5% of the time, there is almost no chance you'll turn big miles. They simply won't allow you to haul their most valuable freight, which means the pool of freight you qualify to haul is less than it could be. You're missing out on opportunities. Get to the appointments on time.
• You must pick up and deliver early once in a while. You mentioned this already, and it's not easy, especially pulling reefer. But it's doable. If you can even move one appointment up each week, you'll make more money. If you can do that two or three times a week, you'll make a lot more.
• Find ways to get loaded or unloaded more quickly. Again, not easy, especially in a reefer. But there are always opportunities. I've watched guys walk into customers with boxes of donuts. Get creative. Tell a white lie if you have to. I used to tell customers, "Look, I totally understand you guys are busy, but I have another load scheduled after this one and if I miss it I'm going to lose about $300 this week alone. If you can do anything to get me out of here a little faster, I would be thrilled! If not, I understand and I appreciate your efforts. But I'd love it if you could!" Simple as that. Give it a shot.

You really have to hustle in this business if you want to turn big miles. You must learn how to work the system. You have to work the people at your company, workers on the docks, and even DOT officers once in a while. You must watch the weather, plan your trips around city traffic, and plan your fuel stops, scheduled maintenance, and personal affairs strategically.

Many times drivers have come here talking about changing companies because they're not getting enough miles, and we always tell them what I've told you. You must learn how to turn the big miles. They won't be handed to you. If you're not getting big miles where you're at, you almost certainly won't get them anywhere else, either.

I'm not against you changing companies in order to make more money. If you were turning 3,000 miles a week but found a better pay rate elsewhere, you'd be crazy not to take it. But I'm afraid you'll wind up in the same boat if you go somewhere else. I'd like to see you try to work the system and improve your miles here first. Once you've maxed out your potential at this company, look elsewhere, assuming you're okay with how everything else is going where you're at.

Alright, here is the skinny on my mileage history. It just so happens that I was talking to my DM about where I am in reference to the rest of the terminal. From January 2022 until June 2022, I was my DM's number 2 driver for miles driven over that period. I was in the top 10 among all drivers for the terminal. I had 73,800 miles, so averaging 12,300 miles a month and 2,830 a week.

My best week over that stretch was in April where everything lined up perfectly. I had a load from Streetsboro, OH going to Payson, UT. I left at 18:00 on Sunday, arrived at the receiver at 17:00 on Tuesday. I asked if I could be unloaded early since my appointment was not until 04:00. Receiver said they would see if they could squeeze me in. A couple of 20 dollar bills later, I was empty by 19:00. I had a reload scheduled for the next day at 10:00. The shipper was a 10-minute drive away in Payson, UT. I knew they closed at 22:00. I got over there by 19:30 and asked if it would be possible to be loaded early. They said normally their schedule is pretty tight and don't accept trucks coming in more than 1 hour early. But, this particular night, they had 3 carriers not show up, so they had workers who really needed something to do. They got me loaded by 22:00. The load was going to Wintersville, OH. I got there at 05:00, in plenty of time for my 09:00 appointment. That was 3,610 miles. It was Friday morning when I reached Wintersville, OH. Dispatch got me one more load for the week going from Streetsboro, OH to Vineland, NJ, adding another 515 miles for the week. That was a 4,125-mile week, my best ever. As for your suggestion in getting appointment times moved up, after I did that with the receiver and the shipper in Payson, UT, my DM told me that management doesn't like us doing that. They said that the workers at the locations may be willing to do it, but then management at those facilities doesn't like when things are thrown off schedule by intention. So, I don't try to change appointment times with shippers or receivers. I will show up as much as 4 hours early just to see if they will take me, but I won't try to leverage them to load me or unload me a whole shift early.

I have only had two loads that were late since I have been driving. Well, there have been instances where things happened beyond my control, like truck breaks down, highway shutdown while I am on it, and dispatch error. But, I had my first load that was late because I was still learning how to calculate the amount of time needed to get a load to its destination. However, dispatch told me not to worry when those two loads were late because the receivers still accepted the loads without rescheduling. Dispatch told me that means I was on time. So, I have a 0% service failure rate on all loads hauled. If I am ever late for an appointment now, it's because stuff happens that we can't control. All the trip planning in the world can't anticipate an out-of-nowhere check engine light that results in the truck going into derate. On that note, I have my truck checked out every time I pull unto the terminal.

From July 2022 to the end of the year, I had 56,160 miles, for an average of 10,800 miles a month, 2,490 miles a week. I would have more total miles, but I took off from the 2nd week of December until the 2nd week of January. I worked from July until December without taking any time off to be able to do this. So, my average miles were decent until basically around September. That put me at #8 among my DM's 35 drivers, as far as average miles a week and top 60% among the entire terminal. Oh, I do, in my opinion, have the vest DM at the terminal. But, I have only had one DM.

It's at that point that everything tanked for me. I am not doing anything differently. I call well in advance of reaching my destinations to provide an ETA. I give an accurate approximation of the hours that I will have remaining once I am empty. I call in at the time dispatch expects in the morning when I am needing to report ready for dispatch. I still end up waiting much longer than seems reasonable for load assignments. Just as an example: A few days ago I had a load going from Holland, MI to Streetsboro, OH. I called the morning of the delivery (drop and hook) with my ETA, which was 13:00. I call at 11:30 (before their lunch break) to inform dispatch that I am still on time to arrive at 13:00. When I called first thing in the morning with my ETA, I provided my anticipated remaining hours on my clock, which was 5 hours. I get to Streetsboro, OH just before 13:00 and before dropping my trailer, I call dispatch. I ask about my next load assignment. Nothing yet. I dropped the trailer and bobtailed to a place to park. I called again at 16:30 to check before they leave for the day. Nothing. Call in tomorrow morning for your next load assignment. I get my next load assignment at 13:00 the next day, a load that I took from Streetsboro, OH to Westfield, Ma for Sunday night delivery, only to be told by the receiver that the appointment is not until Friday night. Now I am taking the load back to Streetsboro, OH.

I will talk to my DM and tell him that I am capable and willing to run 2,500+ miles a week and that I need this as a minimum for income purposes. I get the feeling that the load issues that are having me sit too much are beyond dispatch control. The appointment time screw ups I know that dispatch has nothing to do with that. Dispatch doesn't do the load planning in assigning loads. So, my DM is really stuck in the middle. After talking to my DM, if it doesn't seem like any improvement can be made, I will talk to the operations manager. He and I get along pretty well, so he will shoot straight with me. I will be cautious in making any move to another company because I know that freight is slow, so it's possible that I am just caught up in the midst of my company feeling that freight sluggishness. I had already been thinking about the fact that I don't want to make a lateral move from one company to another and simply trade one set of discomforting issues for another set that I dislike more.

BK, as for your question regarding my percentage of miles that are at $.60, I am giving just a rough guesstimation, but I would say at least 80%, as an average. I mentioned that those miles are calculated quite liberally because the entire state of PA counts for the east coast CPM bonus. It's calculated by all the loaded miles for any load going to or coming from any state from ME down to MD/DE, to include DC and the entire state of PA. So, my load from Streetsboro, OH to Westfield, MA back to Streetsboro, OH is 1138 paid miles, all of those miles paid at $.60 PM.

Since they have me running to the Northeast so often, I wish they would just create a Northeast regional , put me on it and say that my CPM is now 60. Maybe I need to bring that up as a suggestion. The worst that could happen is they tell me, "NO."

Ryan, you sound like a highly motivated individual. I too push my loads, I also have a tremendous amount of time on the loads. Days on a 1 day load. I'm able to usually rearrange most of my customers to meet my needs. My TM, and DMs are aware of it and let me do it at will. There are a few customers I can't, and a couple that an early delivery is counted as a failure, it's posted all over my load assignment.

Most of the time, I squeeze out 2800 to 3100 mile weeks notwithstanding the disorder and chaos. I have one principal DM but 3 others that fill in. I know all of them and have done favors for them, mostly they know I'll deliver safely, reliably and most likely early, which gets them and account managers bonuses. I also get a lot of layover pay and I get a lot of beneficial and preferential treatment.

I'm currently sitting on a double T call load that is a hot load. The 2nd relay driver is 4 hours late to meet me. It throws my plan off and leaves me having to deliver this instead of T calling it again and taking the gravy load and getting out of here before an impending storm that's likely to drop 10 inches of snow. My DM knows that I will take the bullet on it and do it. I'll end up sitting as a result but they will compensate me nicely. I know they have my back too.

A lot of drivers would have refused this mess, but it's all we have right now. In fact my DM took it from an O/O and gave it to me to keep me running. They have a higher priority for getting loads usually.

The freight market is short right now, coupled with several severe storms, and a downturn in the economy to put it mildly, we're ending up with bizarre load combos, short runs, too much time on loads and such. My DM told me the bulk of his board was sitting, some on storms but others just didn't have work.

In other words, I'll take what I can get. The market will swing up again. It really bothered me about the time on the loads until my DMs explained that they were doing everything they can to keep their top drivers running. You may find similar circumstances at another company.

I'll ask some of our refer guys if they are experiencing it too, I have a hunch that some areas are. Our terminal in Fontana was completely full of tractors when I was there for a week. The TM said they had been short (on freight). Meaning a lot of drivers sitting. He smiled when I said I was staying busy.

I'm not saying stay or go, just know that you're not at the only company with chaos on the loads going on

As for your suggestion in getting appointment times moved up, after I did that with the receiver and the shipper in Payson, UT, my DM told me that management doesn't like us doing that. They said that the workers at the locations may be willing to do it, but then management at those facilities doesn't like when things are thrown off schedule by intention

That makes me laugh because every driver that moves their appointments ahead is told not to do that, but we do it anyways. People who work in offices, especially managers, love to have complete control of everything. In trucking, the dispatchers and load planners want everything to work out like a game of chess, where they have full control over all the pieces, and we're the pieces!

So they get nervous when they lay out a plan, but the driver changes it. Once they learn to trust you, they'll stop saying anything about it because you'll be more productive than most. It's amazing how much someone will learn to trust you when you consistently find ways to put more money in their pocket.

I would use word games to change my appointment times. I knew that if I called the customer and told them I was the driver, they wouldn't give much weight to anything I requested. But they give a lot of weight to the office personnel. So I would call the customer and say, "Hi, I'm Brett Aquila with U.S. Express. We have a driver coming in for an appointment later today, but we're in a bit of a pickle, and we'd love to move that appointment from 3:00 pm to 10:00 am so the driver can make another appointment later this afternoon. Would that be possible?"

They would say yes, nine out of ten times.

Hey, nothing I said was a lie. I just didn't tell them I was the driver. I guess they assumed I worked in the office. Whoops!

If I am ever late for an appointment now, it's because stuff happens that we can't control.

Are you sure? If I was late once a year for any reason, that was too often. You can't control everything, but you can control enough that you should be on time 99% of the time. Traffic, weather, logbook hours, and more can all be managed. Anytime you're late, look back on the previous 24 - 36 hours and ask yourself if you could have done anything different to make that appointment on time. There's almost always something you could have done.

So, my DM is really stuck in the middle. After talking to my DM, if it doesn't seem like any improvement can be made, I will talk to the operations manager. He and I get along pretty well, so he will shoot straight with me.

You're correct. He is stuck in the middle, and that's a perfect strategy. Just make sure you give your dispatcher a head's up before you talk to operations about it so he doesn't think you're going behind his back to complain about him. Let him know,

Man, I know you've done everything in your power to get more miles for me, and I appreciate it, but I'm going to talk to operations to see if I can get them to pull some strings. You haven't done a thing wrong. You're doing a great job. I just need someone with more authority to make things happen for me. I'll put in a good word for you.

That will keep a clear understanding between you and your dispatcher.

I will be cautious in making any move to another company because I know that freight is slow, so it's possible that I am just caught up in the midst of my company feeling that freight sluggishness. I had already been thinking about the fact that I don't want to make a lateral move from one company to another and simply trade one set of discomforting issues for another set that I dislike more.

2023 is going to be a mess, to put it mildly. The economy has already started circling the drain, and I think it's going to get far worse over the next 6 - 12 months. Always keep lobbying for more miles. Be relentless. When they give you the big miles, take advantage of it and make great things happen.

It sounds like your mileage hasn't been as terrible as you had thought, but you should average 11,000 - 12,000 miles per month pretty consistently. Keep your standards high, and keep holding dispatch to a high standard.

you're not at the only company with chaos on the loads going on

Is it possible we, in the trucking industry are about to see the disaster that results from decades of voter apathy?

7%+ inflation has to eventually cause a slowdown in consumer buying, which will cause a slowdown in manufacturing.

Is it also possible that many trucking companies (not speaking of the mega carriers) have ridden the gravy train of too-much-freight, they’ve never had to handle the famine side of feast-or-famine?

Just some observations. While I find a way to get by, at my current company, average miles have dropped over the past two years, many of our established customers aren’t using us as much, or at all. I’ve seen different plants shut down, move operations to another plant or scale back to skeleton crews. None of that being talked about on the nightly news. 🤔

Hang in there drivers!

Like you BK, my stint with Legends, in my new 2022 FL came with 2,648 miles on the clock. I put another 46,000+ on it, in my 4 months there. Bit averaged around 14,000 a month, because my route ran back n forth Calif-Tx/Ok just about 3,200+ miles RT. A lot of times I also would call a reciever to see if I could get in and drop early, no problem....Hearing and seeing how things back home, are "Circling the drain", haha I'm not missing that grief.....I kinda do miss driving with Legends, had I not already set in motion, mentally and reality of retiring young enough to enjoy life, I think, I would've stayed with Legends for many years (things remaining as they kinda were) People were great, DM's were good, pretty much left it in my hands doing what I had to do to get things done. Always kept my DM in the know of what I wanted to do, or if it was cool to do so.Pretty much kept me rolling constantly......Truly have to say trucking provided me with the biggest income of my life, turning wrenches NEVER saw north of $40k in a year.....

Ya'll stay safe out there this winter, and ALWAYS !! NO loads worth your life!

Brett, I really appreciate your feedback here. As far as the loads that I have failed to deliver on time, two were my fault because of rookie mistakes, one being my very first load and the other coming a couple of weeks later. I had another 3 that truly were outside of my control. One was because of an accident that shutdown the highway while I was on it. I didn't have the opportunity to give myself more cushion on time to account for such occurrences because it was a hot load when it was assigned to me. It was literally, pick it up, run as hard as you can and hope everything goes just right. Dispatch told me that there was no reason to worry about it, that it wasn't my fault that an accident happened while I was on the highway. No, I was not the accident. 😂 Another late delivery was because dispatch and customer service got the delivery times of two loads going to the same place mixed up. I followed the information in the load plan just as we are instructed to do. Dispatch acknowledged that I did my part in getting the load to the delivery well in time for the appointment time provided to me. The last late load was weather causing a driver bringing a relay load to me to be late. Dispatch told me to run it to the customer as quickly as I can and hopefully they take it. They customer rescheduled the load because of a missed appointment. Dispatch again acknowledged that there was nothing that I could have done to get it there in time. I am providing that information to say that I truly am a highly dependable driver whom my company knows will get the job done. It doesn't mean that I don't make mistakes. It means that I improvise, adapt, and overcome. When I do make mistakes, I have already given myself wiggle room so that it's not a service failure issue.