Cherry Picking?

[GreyBeard]

Just what constituted "Cherry Picking"? Me and my Partener pick and choose our loads. We don't automatically take whatever comes over the QC, just because it is offered. Some offers we do jump on ASAP - those are the "no-brainers". Others we decline or refuse. Those mostly are the:
GARBAGE RUNS: dead head 120 miles for less than 200 loaded miles and with diddly FSC.
STAR TREK LOADS: 0 pieces 0 weight - must be them-thar Dilithium Crystals.
Pushy CSRs who are fishing for drivers (called Power Searching), who demand you commit to a load with only some sketchy phone info offered, they also refuse to send it via QC - their response to that is "I have the customer on line right now...do yo want the load????"
To which we respond :Send it to the QC" and in turn we get the response from the CSR "I don't have time for this" and they hang up on us.
Load offers that end us up in some black hole for days on end.
(Can you say - Shreveport, Laredo, Del Rio, Ontario, Seatle, Wichita?)
If dispatchers only new what drivers go through to make a living...

Just my 2 cents worth

Grey Beard

Might as well add 2 more cents...
What is it with dispatchers calling me "Hon, Dear, Sweety"? When call in I give my name and truck number, what is so difficult about calling me by name? To me it is rude, disrespectful and very unprofessional.

 

[davekc]

Only you know if a run is profitable for you or not. If something comes acrossed with 0 pieces or 0 weight, it is because a customer has booked a truck within certain perameters that your truck fits.
For example, a customer may just say, "send me a 16 footer, and my load is between 5 and 8 thousand pounds". That is why you would get that kind of information.
As for a dispatcher calling you, a customer may be on the line and wants unit availibility and a spot bid. Yes, their time is limited in that kind of situation. They are competing against other carriers.
They don't have time to enter all the data in the QC, and then wait 15 minutes as to whether you want it or not. Sorry, but the business doesn't work that way. Ask yourself in that situation if you were the shipper, how long would you wait for an answer?
Not sure if I helped you or not. But, it is what it is.








Davekc
owner
22 years
PantherII
EO moderator

 

[Tennesseahawk]

Sometimes cherry picking is good, sometimes it isn't. Sometimes it depends on the company you drive for, whether the place you end up is bad or not. Laredo and Del Rio... I'm there in a heartbeat. Usually I'll take a run and worry about getting out later, being that I rarely get bad runs. Hence, I usually turn down runs only for safety reasons... ie. I just dropped a load and need to sleep. I agree with you tho... I wouldn't take the 100 dh for 200 loaded either. I doubt anyone is out here for charity. And although it's usually good to take one for the team, it's not good to take one for nothin.

I've heard all the dispatcher gimmicks to get you to take a load, including "I've got the customer on the phone. Do you want it or not?" I have to say it's pushy, it's bull, and it's dispatching. They have a job to do, and they're probably graded on their percentage of accepted runs. They have to be salesmen. I don't blame them for twisting a run around to make it sound better, or promising to find you something out of no-man's land (tho they usually don't have the power). I try to do my best to see thru their sales pitch, and judge a run on it's merits and profitability. If I'm not sure of a run, I tell them I need a few minutes, and I'm usually given it. I don't appreciate out-and-out lying tho. Don't try to sell me something you don't have.

One of the best dispatchers I've had the pleasure of working with is on night shift. Her name is Julie. She has a sweet grandmother-like voice, and can talk me into just about anything. She is a dispatcher's dispatcher! I've turned down one load I probably shouldn't have, and felt like a scolded child for doing it. LOL

Welcome to the forum, Greybeard! Good post! I hope you'll share more experiences.

"If I claim to be a wise man, it surely means that I don't know." - Kansas

 

[cheri1122]

I always understood cherrypicking to mean choosing loads based strictly on the FS - turning down the low ones, waiting for the higher ones. I've always taken runs with low FS, because it evens out, when you get runs with a high FS. Lately, though, they're ALL low FS.
I hope dispatchers aren't really graded on the percentage of loads they get covered - whether a driver accepts or refuses a load should be based upon whether that run will make money, or not, and the dispatcher's sweet (or otherwise) manner shouldn't enter into it at all. If a load is clearly a loser, dispatchers can, and do, offer extra incentives to cover it. I admire nonprofit institutions, but can't afford to be one, myself.

 

[Tennesseahawk]

When you think about it, Cheri, any Billy-Joe-Jim-Bob can sell a Virginia to Chicago. The good ones can sell you a Cleveland to Morgantown, WV. It's all about salesmanship. The best ones get you to do things you would never think of doing. And I've done too many of those!!! :7 :7 :7

"If I claim to be a wise man, it surely means that I don't know." - Kansas

 

[are12]

We also pick and choose our loads. If we took everything that was offered us, we would not make any money. Learned that when we 1st started! We took everything they offered and we thought we were going to loose our shirts. Then I spoke to driver transitions and he told us to start picking and choosing our loads or we would not make it. Every now and then we will take a crappy load just to get into a better area but that is the only reason. We never cherry pick by the FS though.

We had a dispatcher call us the other night with a load that the DH was a little over 150 miles and the loaded miles were 76. When we turned it down, the dispatcher laughed and told us another dispatcher already told him we would turn it down.

In the past, I had a dispatcher get mad at me for turning down a crappy load and he tried to tell me that is the only loads they get out of the MI area- I know better than that. He kept calling back and arguing with me and had me so aggravated that I finally told him. "Listen, you do not pay our bills and I know how much we need to make and that is not it! And that we were not going to tie our truck up all day on a s**t load." He got so mad, he hung up and never called back.

So, I guess we are one of the teams that are cursed for "cherry picking".

 

[chuckwagon]

Cherry picking is what most of us do everyday - but then again if we had the ability or capacity to FORCE the carrier to pay us deadhead miles we would all be better off.

 

[cowboyz]

Well for what its worth. I went through the same thing when I first started, Thought I had to take every load I was offered. That if I did take all the bad loads they would remember and give me some great loads. Well I think all it did was give them a scape goat, Give it to Doug, he'll take anything . HAHAHA I caught on real quick, after pulling monies out of my pocket to pay the bills. So now I have a set rate that I go by, and if its not there then I dont haul it. I don't have to complain to anyone about it, I just don't do it.








Just Trying To Do My Part!!!

 

[cheri1122]

If I accepted every load offered, I'd wind up paying for the glamour of living in a van, (not even with the attraction of a nearby river, either), missing my home & family 9 days out of 10, showering in strange places, waiting in line at truckstops, (there ought to be a line on the logs for that, it takes so much time), hunting for addresses in the dark, on a 55mph road, all the fun we have, some days...It's a great way to make a living, but the fun won't pay the bills, sigh.

 

[romoore245]

We turn down our share of bad loads. We will run some just to keep the dispatchers guessing. As far as the pushy dispatchers go we have finally learned to stay friendly and say no thanks then just hang up before the next pitch starts. I have gotten the occasional call back saying "I wasn't finished talking to you!" I just remind them they have my answer. After dealing with Conway dispatchers being overly demanding, I catch myself waiting for Panther to say we have to run this or that. Even the worst loads they keep professional. Its funny they refer to it as cherry picking we all know how little the frupickers of America earn, pennies on the dollar. As OOIDA says
"No Cheap Freight"

 

[BigBuzd1]

My view here might be the "unpopular one" but I don't refuse much of anything.
I have done my fair share of "favors" for dispatch and will continue to do so. Since Aug, I have only turned down 1 load because the wife and I didn't want to go to Washington state. It was a ##### good run, but we had taken a load to CA a few weeks b4 and got stuck in L.A. for 5 days and didn't want to do that again.

No, I don't own the truck I am in, but the man I work for has told me and the wife in no uncertain terms that he absolutely loves the job we have been doing for him in the last yr, and just put us in another new truck.
Those "favors" that we do, DO get remembered by our dispatchers.
We don't get offered many crappy loads. But if we do...we just take the good with the bad.

Example...I did a load into NY...I hate, hate, hate going over the GW bridge and then into Manhatten cause I know the next load I get will be a crappy one into CT...sure enough, the next load we are offered is to CT. The dispatcher also notices we had been out for a month and offered me an EM home to FLORIDA if we did it! We were actually planning on staying out for another month, but I figured what the heck...OK. Well I am glad I did take the load and the EM, because when I got home, like I always did, I would take my mom out to dinner and for a ride in the truck...2 days later she cracked her head open on the floor in her apt and died. That was Aug 2nd.
If i hadn't taken that crappy little run I would not have gotten home to see her b4 her accident and would have kicked myself in the ##### til the day I died!
I might have gone off topic there a little but...

 

[TJ959]

I guess it depends on your company. My dispatch usually remembers when I do them a favor and they may save a really good one for me because I took that crappy load. We also have a few customers that give us a lot of business. I try to take their loads good or bad because they have so many good ones. Got to keep those guys happy. I guess I look at it like it's my turn in the barrel. As for the dispatchers that call you honey or sweetie. Mine don't, but after 60 you're grateful for those little endearments whether they mean it or not. Come to think of it .... Most of my dispatchers are male and if they called me sweetie I'd get a little nervous.

 

[Prarysun]

Personally I do not mind being called honey or sweetie or whatever. I prefer that to being talked down to or condesended to. I like when I am called by name also. Even on the QC when they use your name it seems more personal. I try and remember the dispatchers names as well and thank them by name when we are through I think they appreciate that. Re cherry picking, sure I think most of us do that. You can get caught up in doing short or "favor" loads and I think after a time, that label sticks with you and everytime an undesirable load comes up you are the first one to get called. I try and keep a standard that if I get a decent load, I will then do a short or more undesirable load after that. I try to be fair and it seems to work pretty good for me.




















Dianne

 

[cheri1122]

Sorry, Graybeard, I forgot to say "Welcome!" - which you are. I think after you've been at it awhile, you'll see that what you call Star Trek loads are ok - like DaveKC says, the size & weight are right. And you won't even mind dispatchers calling you pet names, unless it's a 'pet peeve' of yours, in which case you can send them a msg saying "You don't have to call me darlin, darlin" - but like TJ, I kinda like it - it could be worse!

 

[GreyBeard]

RE: Cherry Picking? / Star Trek loads

As for Star Trek loads:
we have gotten burned by them when we where stupid enough to accept them. When we had a single rear axle truck, we would get to the shipper and the load would be way too much for us. Can you say Dry Run??
Also we have gotten burned by over sized loads, we currently run in a tandem axles, roll-up door. We get to the shipper and he comes out with a tape measurer...yep..he requested a barn-door truck, CSR said "sure can...we'll send one out", we dead head to the shipper...won't fit!! WE argue with dispatch and later the CSR...no admits guilt...we get a Dry Run out of it.

Or when we where sent to pick up a load - we back up next to a 53 footer...I walk into the ware house and see them unloading it CSR duke it out, we then take part of the load (as much as will fit) and run like hell to the consignee.
The load offer was correct in amount of pieces, taken OFF the 53 footer, the weight was right for us, but the SIZE was wrong!!!

Dry Run due to CSR or dispatcher error is just another word for wasting a team's hours and fuel. Dry Run due to shipper or consignee error is just a pain...

As far as the "pet names" go, we contunuoulsly correct the dispatcher, but it is met with ignorance. When we tell them our names is not Honey, Dear or Sweety, they get indignant. When I tell our team leader about this he more or less blows it off..."they are young girls..." Being called Honey, Sweety, Dear after I have told you my name IS CONDESENDING in my book, along with being rude, inconsiderate and unprofessional.

Just my 2 cents worth

 

[LDB]

RE: Cherry Picking? / Star Trek loads

My dad told me not to worry as much about what they call me as if they don't call me in time for dinner. To some people, honey etc. comes as naturally as breathing and they often aren't even aware. I'm more concerned with their tone and truthfulness than vocabulary, unless it's vulgar or cursing.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA Life Member 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 5508, 5509, 5641
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
----------
Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

 

[Bugsy Siegel]

RE: Cherry Picking? / Star Trek loads

I do believe that if a company rep ever hung up on me for simply asking a question, I'd have to make a pit stop at HQ and have a few words with the boss.

There's no reason for a rude CSR or dispatcher. Like it or not, drivers make these companies money, not the office people (much to their dismay, I'm sure.)

 

[Turtle]

RE: Cherry Picking? / Star Trek loads

Honey, dear, sweetie, it doesn't matter. They're all friendly terms. "Thanks, honey" is no different than "Thanks, man" and I see no reason to get upset over it at all. "Thanks, buttmunch" is another story.

I thought Cheri picking was... wait, never mind. That's another story, too.

 

[davekc]

RE: Cherry Picking? / Star Trek loads

Based on your post, it appears you are giving load opportunities away on the premise that a few went bad. Depending on the carrier, that may not be the smartest move depending on several factors. That is just the nature of this business. Regardless of the carrier, I doubt this is happening on a regular basis, but it certainly does happen.
Also, unless you heard the conversation between the carrier and the shipper, it is hard to tell where the error originated.
Your other option is to consider a dedicated run pulling a trailer. No dry runs, and little interaction with dispatch.
Sometimes you have to look at the big picture, rather than a small part of it.
Businessman first, driver second.






Davekc
owner
22 years
PantherII
EO moderator

 

[cheri1122]

RE: Cherry Picking? / Star Trek loads

Graybeard, I don't know if you've raised any kids, but working with dispatch is the same in one regard: pick your battles. If you expend energy getting bent out of shape over every little thing, you will be too tired to fight the really important issues. Sure, they make mistakes, but not all that often, really. Do you never make mistakes yourself?
If being called pet names is that important to you, then go ahead & make a big deal over it - but remember, dispatchers are people too, and they'll use your name after that - when they call you, once or twice a year.