Forced Dispatch / Rejecting Loads

As a rookie what are the disadvantages to rejecting a load and what are the disadvantages of forced dispatch?

As a rookie what are the disadvantages to rejecting a load and what are the disadvantages of forced dispatch?

When you reject to many loads you sit! I've never rejected a load but when you reject one you go to the end of the line, I'm sure you get the picture on how that can hurt your miles in the long run. Also by rejecting loads you're doing yourself a disservice by not challenging yourself and learning by situations you're put in.

What DRIVER said. As a rookie, you don't have enough seniority to reject anything during a period when you're supposed to be proving yourself as a "go-getter."

-mountain girl

How bad is driving in NYC? haha

What DRIVER said. As a rookie, you don't have enough seniority to reject anything during a period when you're supposed to be proving yourself as a "go-getter."

-mountain girl

That's right.

How bad is driving in NYC? haha

If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere, New York, New York!!

How bad is driving in NYC? haha

If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere, New York, New York!!

sorry, had to do it! I would rather drive in the city, (use to deliver to a shop at the corner of 2nd St. and 52nd) rough roads (always fixing? something) but Long Island sucked! One long a*s road that went forever with no numbers to tell you where the heck you were!

How bad is driving in NYC? haha

Horrible! Seriously.....horrible. Personally that's the only place I ever dreaded going and if I went back on the road today I would make sure I went with a company that didn't require NYC. Now if you went there enough you would learn it pretty well and it wouldn't be all that bad other than the traffic, just like any city. But learning that place is a nightmare.

As far as forced dispatch....you don't want to refuse loads. Now refusing a load because you don't have the hours to make it legally is not what most people are referring to when they refer to refusing a load. They mean turning down a load they could do legally but don't want to. You don't want to do that.

See, the thing is...companies have to deliver all of the freight they have, not just the freight drivers feel like delivering. So if someone is the type of driver that only wants to do what they feel like doing they're putting dispatch and the other drivers in a terrible position. And as you might expect they'll be certain to return the favor. You're going to get lousy miles and you're going to spend an awful lot of time sitting around truck stops complaining that there's no freight available. But in reality, the drivers who are willing to do whatever job needs to be done are staying so busy they can hardly beg for a break.

What you want to do is trade favors. When you get a couple of lousy runs, let dispatch know, "Hey, I'm totally cool with doing these but that's a couple of crappy ones in a row. How about tossing me a bone next time! I've earned it" That's how you do it. Now of course that doesn't mean every time you do a lousy run they're going to send you 2,400 miles across the country on a vacation. But overall you should always be able to get solid miles and make good money. You'll get a mix of runs - some great, some awful - but that's how it goes. The drivers who understand this do very well at any company they work for. The drivers who don't will be miserable anywhere they go.

When I get loads I don't like, which is rare, I just suck it up and do it. No sense in belly aching about it. I take it and run head first to get it done and out of the way. I have extra miles and more positive experience out of it.

All spot on advice. I have been in dispatch and watched first hand what happens when people turn down loads for no good resson, only a poor excuse. They sit as Brett said. I have talked with certain drivers who are so picky it makes me wonder how they make any money. The dispatchers get real tired of that stuff real quick. I do whatever they want as long as I legally can. I do just as Brett said, I will mointor the next few and each time my dispatcher has made it up to me. Gotta strive for that good proffessional relationship with your dispatcher. I did a planner a favor last week and he gave me 2 back to back great loads, and I didn't say anything except ok no problem it will be there. That was the very first time I ever had a planner call me directly. It was a hot load and he even added money to the load. I noticied later he had done that.