ebsprintin
Veteran Expediter
i don't like bologna.
hello june.
- Thread starter ebsprintin
- Start date
ebsprintin
Veteran Expediter
come on rain. cool off this parking lot. --eb
It's a pretty easy solution, since offering the load in the first place is also a manual process. If the load offer is one that is subject to a turn-down being recorded, don't even offer it if it's more than 8 hours in advance (24 on the weekends).
Then the next driver will say... I would have taken that load vs this one. If I was first up I should have been offered it. Or they would say we should have offered as they could rest or plan accordingly.
I have drivers that will have a no east coast message. They will complain when the truck next to them gets a load going east and they are still sitting there. I have heard yeah but I would have taken it since I was stuck or if I had known it was paying that I would have taken it. Honestly not every driver in our system thinks the same and most have their own system they use to operate with. It is hard to accommodate all.
Trust me. I wish it was that easy.
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ebsprintin
Veteran Expediter
i liked the system that took into account 24 hours out and no turndown. in our system i hedge against long pick up times by counter offering layover pay for the days i wait if the load cancels. if the customer accepts this i'm all theirs. this puts it back on them to not shop around on my time. this doesn't solve all the "darn it"s, but it covers me on one of the options of getting screwed. the other system i was in didnt allow this kind of flexibility. sometimes i've named my own layover pay or cancellation penalty. other times i've left it up to ops to come up with the rate. funny thing is that ops usually comes up with a better rate than i would have asked for.
eb
eb
ebsprintin
Veteran Expediter
another thing ive occasionally done when ive racked up a lot of dwell time is to purposely take myself off of "joe's list". out of service, back into service resets my dwell time to zero. it is a little counter intuitive, but it seems to take some of the pressure off of "get this unit moving at any cost". many of the desperation loads don't have the best rates, or they have other less than desirable traits. i tend to do the reset thing when i'm in a comfortable location where i don't mind sitting, when there aren't a lot of other vehicles to fall behind, or when i'm pretty sure there is good freight around me if i'm willing to wait. the regular paced load acquisition does tend to find the better quality freight, but having "that list" gives me the option to beat the bush in a frenzy or pull things back to the usual deliberate pace.
eb
eb
Aside from the fact that the next driver wouldn't even know about a load that wasn't offered in the first place, I'm not suggesting that loads more than 8 hours out shouldn't be offered at all, I'm suggesting that if they are going to be offered that far in advance then they shouldn't be subject to a turn-down being recorded if someone turns it down. Not even offering the load until it's closer than 8 hours is an easy way to handle that. Refusing a load that is more than 8 hours in advance isn't an unreasonable refusal, but expecting us to take it that far in advance, is. That's where common sense comes into play and the dispatcher simply not giving out the refusal that far in advance.
I don't know that loads are even offered that far in advance very often, so I can't say if it's a problem or not. But I do think a reasonable time frame should be in place. I have been offered loads on Friday night or Saturday for a Monday pickup. I've accepted them, mainly because being in a Sprinter I know that weekend loads aren't exactly a regular occurrence, so I figure if I accept it and it ends up cancelling I'm most likely in the same place I'd be if I was never offered the load to begin with.
The answer to that one is also easy. "No East Coast means No East Coast. Do you want to be listed as No East Coast or not? Can't be both at the same time."
I sure wouldn't put in much effort to accommodate stupidity. That's for Panther. They embrace that stuff. It's like these yahoos who drive Sprinters and think they're special... think they don't drive a cargo van, just because their cargo van happens to have more room for taller or longer freight than a cargo van. They won't take a "cargo van load" at a "cargo van rate." Puhleeze. They're **** stinks the same as everyone else. They ain't special.
The bigger we get the harder it's gonna get.Trust me. I wish it was that easy.
Last week they were shocked, shocked I tell you, that I accepted a really short load. I was shocked that they were shocked. Customers need freight picked up and delivered. That's what we do. We pick it up and deliver it. So I accepted it without question. It's what I do. That's why I'm out here. An hour and a half out of my day, I get some more money, the customer is happy, what's the big deal? If you don't want to run freight, go home.
Last week I had 8 loads plus a dry run. DH + Loaded = All Miles
22 + 48 = 70
7 + 74 = 81
104 + 200 = 304
13 + 756 = 769
20 + 0 = 20
11 + 607 = 618
30 + 134 = 164
9 + 60 = 69
55 + 258 = 313
That's 2244 miles
If I had cherry picked I'd have run those 2 good loads for 1387 miles, not messed with those short loads, and made about $1500 and thought I was smart. Instead I ran everything for $3828.16, and I know that I'd rather be lucky than smart, and know that I have much better luck the more loads I accept.
I've done the same thing, for the exact same reasons.
Same here.
I'll stick to the frenzy as well.....I've never experienced what EB was talking about...
maybe you parked on a hill and blood rushed to your head?>.....LOL
Well, I would respond in detail but I have to work in the morning, lol. As far as how does one driver know vs another... you guys often are parked together or talk on the phone. Trust me I find the fleet knows things sometimes before I do. The fact that our fleet for the most part is friendly and get along is generally a good thing. I prefer it and it has a number of times helped to correct situations were trucks were getting dispatched out of order for instance. (Which can happen after truck orders not used or other issues). So I think it is good. But, it has also come back on us with why trucks were not offered certain loads.
I agree with the no certain areas means just that. I am with you 100 percent on that one, but you would be amazed the calls and messages dispatch gets to the contrary.
Growth has it's challenges, but overall I think they have been managed pretty well. We have had some growing pains but I think we have continued to work through them and continue to try and improve. I look forward to us being a little larger so that we can have our own computer programmers. Many of the challenges have to do with having to use manual process which inherently are not a good solution in an operation like ours. Some of these things can possibly be overcome with some good computer programming.
The van vs sprinter thing has been a big challenge. Most of our cargo van loads would end up paying our sprinters about what our competitors pay their sprinters. Yet so many of our sprinter drivers will not take them. Customers and our sales team argues that we should just put cargo vans into the fleet to solve the problem. Not my preferred solution. But I am being put into a hard position. We can not lose customers by not fulfilling their needs. As well sales people are pushed to sell, and they are compensated to do so. Operations and the fleet not covering customers makes for unhappy customers and sales people. For the most part a van is a van. Having a larger capacity is like having a 53ft trailer vs a 48ft trailer. It creates opportunities and will produce a certain percentage of better paying loads, not all the loads will be higher. We are still talking to drivers and analyzing the data with our sales and operations team trying to determine what to do with this problem, stay tuned.
Everyone has a system. I sit at Isis and listen to a ton of different ones. I personally think none are perfect. I like simple, take the next load and go. Freight is not predictable. Take it and roll. Odds are you will get lucky as often as the guy who turns down lots and plans and strategizes all the time. IMHO.
I have a strange craving for a friend bologna sandwich, but I need to get some sleep. Night gang.
I agree with the no certain areas means just that. I am with you 100 percent on that one, but you would be amazed the calls and messages dispatch gets to the contrary.
Growth has it's challenges, but overall I think they have been managed pretty well. We have had some growing pains but I think we have continued to work through them and continue to try and improve. I look forward to us being a little larger so that we can have our own computer programmers. Many of the challenges have to do with having to use manual process which inherently are not a good solution in an operation like ours. Some of these things can possibly be overcome with some good computer programming.
The van vs sprinter thing has been a big challenge. Most of our cargo van loads would end up paying our sprinters about what our competitors pay their sprinters. Yet so many of our sprinter drivers will not take them. Customers and our sales team argues that we should just put cargo vans into the fleet to solve the problem. Not my preferred solution. But I am being put into a hard position. We can not lose customers by not fulfilling their needs. As well sales people are pushed to sell, and they are compensated to do so. Operations and the fleet not covering customers makes for unhappy customers and sales people. For the most part a van is a van. Having a larger capacity is like having a 53ft trailer vs a 48ft trailer. It creates opportunities and will produce a certain percentage of better paying loads, not all the loads will be higher. We are still talking to drivers and analyzing the data with our sales and operations team trying to determine what to do with this problem, stay tuned.
Everyone has a system. I sit at Isis and listen to a ton of different ones. I personally think none are perfect. I like simple, take the next load and go. Freight is not predictable. Take it and roll. Odds are you will get lucky as often as the guy who turns down lots and plans and strategizes all the time. IMHO.
I have a strange craving for a friend bologna sandwich, but I need to get some sleep. Night gang.
EB has a strategy when it comes to those hard decisions. Be proactive, not reactive. Very good post and way to handle the situation Eric. We think alike on this subject.
fr8hlr521
Active Expediter
So here is a newbie question...having seen this term, bumping, used several times throughout the forums, was wondering if someone would explain how it works. Would hate to inadvertently do that to another driver (might do it on purpose, though
). Thanks!Sent from my LG-E980 using EO Forums mobile app