Average Wait Times

Truckingtruth hello I was wondering what's the average wait times at shippers and at stores? Who's the busiest company to drive for?

Ask Ken C. - he's the "wait" time champion, hands down

. . . actually, it is variable based on type of freight (produce or food stuff as opposed to dry good or, say, machinery), what kind of trailer (dry van, refer, flatbed, heavy haul, etc) and the receiver . . . right now the jury is still out as to whether it's Walmart, Americold, any of the big grocery chains, etc. . . . the absolute best shipper for refers is Costco - they have their system DOWN and really show up how inefficient the rest of the big box stores are . . . figure anywhere from 4 to 10 hours wait time for live-loads and live-unloads . . . D&H (drop & hook) should always be better but there are no guarantees . . .

Jopa

Who's the busiest company to drive for?

One of the biggest misnomers for people getting into trucking is the idea that some companies have a lot of freight and others don't. Let's be clear, all companies have plenty of freight to make the payments on their trucks. Therefore, overall, they all have plenty of miles available for their good drivers. All of them do. You're going to have regular ups and downs throughout the year at any company, but overall if you're doing a great job and you know how to get along with people you're going to get great miles no matter where you work.

But the opposite is true also. If you're unreliable, lazy, you don't get along with people, or you keep refusing loads for different reasons you're going to be sitting around doing nothing an awful lot. All of the best freight will go to the best drivers and the leftovers, if there are any, go to the guys at the bottom.

So when you hear someone complain that a certain company doesn't have enough freight available or they'll make you sit a lot, what they're really telling you is they weren't getting their share of the freight for whatever reason. Why? Likely a combination of work ethic and attitude. But it certainly isn't because the company doesn't have enough freight to keep most of the drivers busy most of the time.

Who's the busiest company to drive for?

One of the biggest misnomers for people getting into trucking is the idea that some companies have a lot of freight and others don't. Let's be clear, all companies have plenty of freight to make the payments on their trucks. Therefore, overall, they all have plenty of miles available for their good drivers. All of them do. You're going to have regular ups and downs throughout the year at any company, but overall if you're doing a great job and you know how to get along with people you're going to get great miles no matter where you work.

But the opposite is true also. If you're unreliable, lazy, you don't get along with people, or you keep refusing loads for different reasons you're going to be sitting around doing nothing an awful lot. All of the best freight will go to the best drivers and the leftovers, if there are any, go to the guys at the bottom.

So when you hear someone complain that a certain company doesn't have enough freight available or they'll make you sit a lot, what they're really telling you is they weren't getting their share of the freight for whatever reason. Why? Likely a combination of work ethic and attitude. But it certainly isn't because the company doesn't have enough freight to keep most of the drivers busy most of the time.

Hey Brett thank you for your response I see what your saying about it depends on the driver and his/her work ethic and so on. Have a good day

Ask Ken C. - he's the "wait" time champion, hands down

. . . actually, it is variable based on type of freight (produce or food stuff as opposed to dry good or, say, machinery), what kind of trailer (dry van, refer, flatbed, heavy haul, etc) and the receiver . . . right now the jury is still out as to whether it's Walmart, Americold, any of the big grocery chains, etc. . . . the absolute best shipper for refers is Costco - they have their system DOWN and really show up how inefficient the rest of the big box stores are . . . figure anywhere from 4 to 10 hours wait time for live-loads and live-unloads . . . D&H (drop & hook) should always be better but there are no guarantees . . .

Jopa

Hi Jopa, many thanks for the response so 4-10 hours that's a long time in my opinion but I'm sure some companies pay to have their drivers sit? I'm not so sure though. Have a great day :)