Layover Time
- Thread starter jes10rog
- Start date
Jes: there are too many variables for anyone to give you a black and white answer. Expedited loads have more layover time as you've heard. Being the ambulance type service of the freight industry, we have to wait on the customer to have a great enough emergency for him to pay the premium tariffs this segment of the industry demands. There are some dedicated runs performed by a handful of drivers of some companies, and there are regular shipments routinely carried by all of us but for the most part, we wait on the loads. Some of the variables are your location; truck size; number of available trucks in same area; hours of service regulations, for solo drivers particularly; and, time of month, quarter or year.
We have waited several days, in the same location, for a run offer, mainly, because we chose to stay there for personal reasons. Otherwise we would relocate after a day or two to get to a better freight area. Other times, we had one run after another for several days with minimal down time between runs.
Expediting just isn't the same as the main segment of the freight industry, but properly performed, the personal and financial rewards added up at the end of the year can far exceed that enjoyed by our colleagues in other areas of trucking.
We have waited several days, in the same location, for a run offer, mainly, because we chose to stay there for personal reasons. Otherwise we would relocate after a day or two to get to a better freight area. Other times, we had one run after another for several days with minimal down time between runs.
Expediting just isn't the same as the main segment of the freight industry, but properly performed, the personal and financial rewards added up at the end of the year can far exceed that enjoyed by our colleagues in other areas of trucking.
I would say my average L/O was around 24 hours.
Lawrence,
Expediters Online.com
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Lawrence,
Expediters Online.com
Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine
-----------------------------------------
Thanks For Visiting EO!
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Please Help Us Get The Word
Out About Expediters Online.com!
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For a solo, the average wait time would be less than 12 hours Weds. thru Friday. Sat. thru Monday it's slow for solo's, if you don't get a load by Friday nite... usually... then plan on being "freightless" for the weekend. Weds. thru Friday are the busiest days for a solo - teams I have no idea. I know teams have a much better chance for loads Friday thru Monday - and they're typically longer mileage runs too. I've waited as much as 3 days (solo driver) for a load...
However, bare in mind it's got "alot" to do with "the area of the country you are situated in".
There's some cities you simply do NOT want to be in for the simple reason that no freight seems to ever leave there. Usually what I find is that the areas of the country you'd least expect to be busy with freight (in and/or out) are the area's that usually are just hopping with activity.
The tiniest of towns can have the most activity - and also the other way as well.
Birmingham is busier than Atlanta, Atlanta is busier than Baltimore, Peoria, IL is busier than Nashville (sometimes), Louisville and Lexington KY are always busy - I-75 and I-65 corridors are always busy north of I-20/I-85 area's. Charlotte, NC is busy area's as well as most of Ohio and anywhere around Detroit is busy.
The South is not Expedited Freight. Expedited Freight is the Steel Belt (Great Lakes Region) and Loredo/Brownsville, TX to Detroit and vice versa. Ontario's main busy area's are Toronto - if you don't get freight out of Toronto area's or between Toronto and Detroit for the weekend - make yourself comfy.
The 2 (two) Main Factors that effect wait time "for a load" is:
Are you a Team or a Solo?
What part of the country are you in?
Next remaining factors are:
Do you have a 2 axle rig or a 3 axle rig?
Are you semi truck or straight truck?
Are you Cargo van/Sprinter or Straight truck?
Do you have a Pallet Jack? <important and worth the investment for a straight truck operator - in my opinion that is.
Do you have lift gate if your a straight truck?
What size box do you have? Because a 16 foot box and a 22 foot box will get different loads... and the same loads... but... of different weights.
Example, you could have 2 straight trucks, both are 22 foot cargo boxes, however, one has 3 axle and the other has 2 axles. The load is 8 pallets of textiles at 12,300 lbs. Maybe the 2 axle rig can only handle 10,000 lbs.? Guess who gets the load? In a case like that, maybe they need a team to do the run, but if those are the only 2 trucks in the area for 300 miles, then if the truck that can handle the load only has a solo - there's a good chance he'll get, for time reasons. He can start truckin' with the freight and bring it to a team once he's at his 11 hours - or another solo. it's better to move the freight than to scratch heads and try to figure out how to move it.
Another example, the load is 1,200 lbs., it's a piece of equipment for a trade show that's 1 foot wide - and 20 feet long... the 16 foot rig "could" get it from a weight standpoint... but it's not long enough to hold the load.
Where you at?
Team or Solo?
That's what dispatch looks at 1st.
Can your rig handle the weight is 2nd.
What do you have for available hours? (they look at this for solo's- in some companies anyways).
Hope this helped. Later, Bob
However, bare in mind it's got "alot" to do with "the area of the country you are situated in".
There's some cities you simply do NOT want to be in for the simple reason that no freight seems to ever leave there. Usually what I find is that the areas of the country you'd least expect to be busy with freight (in and/or out) are the area's that usually are just hopping with activity.
The tiniest of towns can have the most activity - and also the other way as well.
Birmingham is busier than Atlanta, Atlanta is busier than Baltimore, Peoria, IL is busier than Nashville (sometimes), Louisville and Lexington KY are always busy - I-75 and I-65 corridors are always busy north of I-20/I-85 area's. Charlotte, NC is busy area's as well as most of Ohio and anywhere around Detroit is busy.
The South is not Expedited Freight. Expedited Freight is the Steel Belt (Great Lakes Region) and Loredo/Brownsville, TX to Detroit and vice versa. Ontario's main busy area's are Toronto - if you don't get freight out of Toronto area's or between Toronto and Detroit for the weekend - make yourself comfy.
The 2 (two) Main Factors that effect wait time "for a load" is:
Are you a Team or a Solo?
What part of the country are you in?
Next remaining factors are:
Do you have a 2 axle rig or a 3 axle rig?
Are you semi truck or straight truck?
Are you Cargo van/Sprinter or Straight truck?
Do you have a Pallet Jack? <important and worth the investment for a straight truck operator - in my opinion that is.
Do you have lift gate if your a straight truck?
What size box do you have? Because a 16 foot box and a 22 foot box will get different loads... and the same loads... but... of different weights.
Example, you could have 2 straight trucks, both are 22 foot cargo boxes, however, one has 3 axle and the other has 2 axles. The load is 8 pallets of textiles at 12,300 lbs. Maybe the 2 axle rig can only handle 10,000 lbs.? Guess who gets the load? In a case like that, maybe they need a team to do the run, but if those are the only 2 trucks in the area for 300 miles, then if the truck that can handle the load only has a solo - there's a good chance he'll get, for time reasons. He can start truckin' with the freight and bring it to a team once he's at his 11 hours - or another solo. it's better to move the freight than to scratch heads and try to figure out how to move it.
Another example, the load is 1,200 lbs., it's a piece of equipment for a trade show that's 1 foot wide - and 20 feet long... the 16 foot rig "could" get it from a weight standpoint... but it's not long enough to hold the load.
Where you at?
Team or Solo?
That's what dispatch looks at 1st.
Can your rig handle the weight is 2nd.
What do you have for available hours? (they look at this for solo's- in some companies anyways).
Hope this helped. Later, Bob
BigBusBob
How often were you using your pallet jack. I can see it being a big advantage to the single driver. Not sure on how much it would benefit a team. Do you really get many loads were it is requested by the customer. Can't remember if you had a lift gate?
How often were you using your pallet jack. I can see it being a big advantage to the single driver. Not sure on how much it would benefit a team. Do you really get many loads were it is requested by the customer. Can't remember if you had a lift gate?
Hi Dave, the pallet jack was not really "requested" by anybody - where it helps out in my opinion (with Panther that is) is on truck to truck swaps.
With a Pallet Jack on-board...
You don't have to hunt down a switch dock -
just go to a parking lot in a truck stop or vacant shopping center near the Interstate and "do it to it".
The time you save is worth the pallet jack investment.
Think about the time you put into finding the switch dock, finding an actual dock to go to once your there... The time for paperwork, the time you spend getting out of that switch dock and back to the interstate.
The pallet jack can help you get loads because PII may send you a load on the qc or may call you on the cell and say "hey we got this load but aren't sure if there's gonna be a forklift at the other end - so we're lookin' for a switch dock for you near the drop"
At which point you can say "I have a pallet jack onboard" then Panther will say "YAY!!!!" and you can rejoice in knowing that perhaps after one load (esp. in team operations) the pallet jack perhaps "might have" just payed for itself.
I had a lift gate, but rarely used it, a lift gate is used only when you don't have docks at either point or both points - p/u and/or drop.
I would often tell/remind PII on the qc that I had a pallet jack on board and I could go bumper to bumper and solve their problems quickly. That makes it easier on them and quicker for me - I just saved myself the time of mapping out a switch dock in downtown Indianapolis. Instead I can run to the T/A and find my fellow PII driver and within 15 min. to 30 min. roughly both of us are done.
Now whats your average time you spend in finding a switch dock and then leaving it with/without your freight? much more than 20 min. no doubt.
I remind PII on the qc of my capabilities - it lets them know what types of freight the rig can handle. Special Services knows... but regular dispatch usually does not and/or forgets. By letting them know what I can handle I'm basically "advertising" myself and marketing myself to a larger variety of freight and or locations.
I had a handtruck and moving dolly but never used them - well I did use the handtruck to assist in slight lifting/moving of pallets sometimes- which was nice.
Well, thats all here... Later, Bob
With a Pallet Jack on-board...
You don't have to hunt down a switch dock -
just go to a parking lot in a truck stop or vacant shopping center near the Interstate and "do it to it".
The time you save is worth the pallet jack investment.
Think about the time you put into finding the switch dock, finding an actual dock to go to once your there... The time for paperwork, the time you spend getting out of that switch dock and back to the interstate.
The pallet jack can help you get loads because PII may send you a load on the qc or may call you on the cell and say "hey we got this load but aren't sure if there's gonna be a forklift at the other end - so we're lookin' for a switch dock for you near the drop"
At which point you can say "I have a pallet jack onboard" then Panther will say "YAY!!!!" and you can rejoice in knowing that perhaps after one load (esp. in team operations) the pallet jack perhaps "might have" just payed for itself.
I had a lift gate, but rarely used it, a lift gate is used only when you don't have docks at either point or both points - p/u and/or drop.
I would often tell/remind PII on the qc that I had a pallet jack on board and I could go bumper to bumper and solve their problems quickly. That makes it easier on them and quicker for me - I just saved myself the time of mapping out a switch dock in downtown Indianapolis. Instead I can run to the T/A and find my fellow PII driver and within 15 min. to 30 min. roughly both of us are done.
Now whats your average time you spend in finding a switch dock and then leaving it with/without your freight? much more than 20 min. no doubt.
I remind PII on the qc of my capabilities - it lets them know what types of freight the rig can handle. Special Services knows... but regular dispatch usually does not and/or forgets. By letting them know what I can handle I'm basically "advertising" myself and marketing myself to a larger variety of freight and or locations.
I had a handtruck and moving dolly but never used them - well I did use the handtruck to assist in slight lifting/moving of pallets sometimes- which was nice.
Well, thats all here... Later, Bob