I agree that this seems to be an attempt to thwart the cherry picking or those who like to negotiate every load offer. To me it sounds like a lot more c-link beeps while I am sleeping and not even sure if I get the load....don't like it. Although I do need to read the entire plan in all fairness. I will have that sent to me Monday.
new dispatch system @ the fed
- Thread starter nightcreacher
- Start date
Suds43
Seasoned Expediter
Let me throw in my own two cents worth, let ya'll throw this one around.
Say truck 1,2,and 3 are offered the same load at the same time.........each truck is listed with #1 having 5 hrs. sitting, #2 having 4 hrs., #3 having 2 hrs. Their all sitting next to each other at the same place, so travel time/distance to pick up is nullified.
Truck #1 wants to negotiate a better pay rate for the load, which you can do at 'the fed', right?
But, #2 and #3 have already accepted the offer...........Don't ya'll think dispatch will tell #1 that they can take the load as originally offered or refuse as they already have 2 other trucks that will be more than willing to make the run with the original offer?
Sounds to me like you've lost some bargaining power in this situation. They've found a way to get around having to bargain with drivers on what each load pays...
either take it or leave it.........
Say truck 1,2,and 3 are offered the same load at the same time.........each truck is listed with #1 having 5 hrs. sitting, #2 having 4 hrs., #3 having 2 hrs. Their all sitting next to each other at the same place, so travel time/distance to pick up is nullified.
Truck #1 wants to negotiate a better pay rate for the load, which you can do at 'the fed', right?
But, #2 and #3 have already accepted the offer...........Don't ya'll think dispatch will tell #1 that they can take the load as originally offered or refuse as they already have 2 other trucks that will be more than willing to make the run with the original offer?
Sounds to me like you've lost some bargaining power in this situation. They've found a way to get around having to bargain with drivers on what each load pays...
either take it or leave it.........
arkjarhead
Veteran Expediter
That's what I trying to get at Suds, but you said it better than I did.
Suds, You are correct in the point you made about bargaining; But, given the scenario you mentioned, a dispatcher isn't going to negotiate with #1, when 2 and three have not yet been contacted. The bargaining doesn't start until 1, 2, and 3 have all said no. I think, in the past, it was better to provide a counteroffer when refusing a load. The dispatcher can then easily return to the lowest of the counteroffers, particularly if pressed for time.
bernieh48
Veteran Expediter
Well ok here's my 2 cents worth. After having been with FEDCC for over 10 yrs. What's to say that every time you accept a load offer that they come back and tell you that truck #1 already took it? If your always sitting nu,ber 3 or 4 on the board your chances are alittle less on getting the laod because the other trucks accepting it first. And also like DaveKC said. Seems to me a whole lot of sending info out to trucks when it's not needed. And yes the constant beeps would be very annoying. Some computers you can't turn the beep off and some people are light sleepers. LOL
Now there's a reason to avoid FedEx Custom Critical! Don't sign on with them...your Qualcomm will keep you awake with too many load offers!
Well sounds to me like UR all being forced to take loads or should I say accept loads by ur company then u dont know if yu get the load or not. Thats a crock of crap. I just cant believe UR all buying it. What do you want to bet they are going to then hit U with all the Cheap loads they have contracts for that they cant full fill.
I bet thats whats realy behind This big Dispatch Change Do ur selves a favor hand the company its you know what. Before it Breaks ya financialy.
NO Chains Allowed
ICEROADTRUCKER
Ridge Runner
Timber Ridge Iowa
I bet thats whats realy behind This big Dispatch Change Do ur selves a favor hand the company its you know what. Before it Breaks ya financialy.
NO Chains Allowed
ICEROADTRUCKER
Ridge Runner
Timber Ridge Iowa
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If your always sitting nu,ber 3 or 4 on the board your chances are alittle less on getting the laod because the other trucks accepting it first.
You wouldn't always be sitting 3 or 4 since if the other truck accepted you'd move up to 2 or 3 and then to 1 or 2 etc..
your Qualcomm will keep you awake with too many load offers!
If it's done right, it will work in 3 truck blocks, so you will be awakened with some offers you won't get to run but not as many as some are suggesting.
You wouldn't always be sitting 3 or 4 since if the other truck accepted you'd move up to 2 or 3 and then to 1 or 2 etc..
your Qualcomm will keep you awake with too many load offers!
If it's done right, it will work in 3 truck blocks, so you will be awakened with some offers you won't get to run but not as many as some are suggesting.
That is a very good point, Terry. Dispatchers don't have a lot of free time. We try not to waste it.
If we receive an offer that pays too low, we immediately decline the load. There is no need to mess around. We are proud of our acceptance rate, but if the load does not pay enough, maintaining good acceptance numbers is not sufficient reason to accept it.
If the load is otherwise worth taking, we send a Qualcomm message (not a phone call) stating the price at which we would be willing to take the load. We might get it or might not. If we get it, we get it at our price. And if we get it or not, we have not wasted dispatch's time or ours with less-than-direct communications.
arrbsthw
Expert Expediter
That's exactly what I was thinking.. folks will be too scared they will lose the load before someone else accepts it so....fedex will
now have more people taking crappy loads... without all
the negotiating that goes on.
If it works as suggested and they do take a "sub standard" load then shame on them. They have the same amount of time to accept or decline as before the change. They can accept or decline based on the same selection criteria they've always used in the same way they always have. None of that changes based on what's been presented so far.
As mentioned elsewhere, dispatch doesn't "make deals" with the first few trucks they offer a load to. They go down the list trying other trucks till someone takes it. This may get some trucks closer to first out a better deal than the old system. Here's how. There are 3 trucks available in Podunk. They need to cover a load. There isn't a lot of time to get to the pickup.
Old way. Offer trk 1. Wait for reply. Declined. Offer trk 2. Wait for reply. Declined. Offer trk 3, with time crunch now taking place, and offer bonus. Accepted. That used 3 time cycles and trk 3 got the bonus since they started at basic pay to trucks 1 and 2. Outcome, 1 and 2 got screwed.
New way. Offer trucks 1, 2 and 3 at base rate. All 3 decline. Offer trucks 1, 2 and 3 with bonus. 1 and 3 accept. 1 gets the run and the bonus since 1 is first out and 3 is third out. With the new system the load is covered in only 2 time cycles, again with a bonus, but this time going to the truck that was first out and should have gotten the right of refusal with bonus and wouldn't have in the old system. Nobody got screwed.
Of course it benefits the carrier as well as far as servicing the customer in less time cycles.
nightcreacher
Veteran Expediter
no bonus program at the fed,once in a great while,it may happen with one of the discount customers,but very rarely.Also,just because you accept,wont mean load will be yours.This wasnt to get drivers to take more loads but to get response quicker so customer wouldnt run to another company to have their freight hauled
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nightcreacher
Veteran Expediter
From what ive read in the letter,its not about accepting the load 1st,load still going to the 1st in line for it,just they will have the option to have two other trucks ready incase the 1st says no.
To us it is very simple if you do not want a load offer in the middle of the night and you do not want the beeps go out of service. In reality though how often do we get a load offer in the middle of then night? We have had very few. If we are offered a load opportunity and we do not like the pay we will refuse it as we do now with a counter offer. Then if the other trucks refuse the load the dispatcher will know our counter offer and if they will then offer us the load at the pay we want.
What I also see happening is often now even when we are in the truck we put ourselves on phone. Now I think when we are in the truck we will leave ourselves available on the QC so we do not get the calls.
We are really staying on top of what we can afford to run for and as this year progresses with the slow economy it appears as if the load pay could become even less even with fuel going up.
What I also see happening is often now even when we are in the truck we put ourselves on phone. Now I think when we are in the truck we will leave ourselves available on the QC so we do not get the calls.
We are really staying on top of what we can afford to run for and as this year progresses with the slow economy it appears as if the load pay could become even less even with fuel going up.
greg334
Veteran Expediter
I tried to put it like Ark put it, he hit what a few of us see it as. But really some of you are missing a couple things here.
First thing is there is a distinction between WG and surface.
then there is a distinction between the sizes and capacity of trucks.
What is assumed is all trucks are treated equal within the classes of trucks when discussing it. The FedEx system is really good in the first place and I grown to like it. I can tell you sitting there watching loads hit the system, there are really a lot of holes that should be filled first before something like this is worked on.
I read Phil's post about wasting the dispatchers time and I wonder how many offers that people get during the day to make a statement like that (not beating up on you Phil, I heard it before). I honestly don't care about their time because this is a business, not a hobby and their time is not as important as mine. If my routine is to ask questions and get accurate information before I accept the load, then they make money when I accept the load and their time is an investment in their paycheck. If FedEx feels that they are wasting their time calling people with offers, well then maybe they need to elminate the dispatching title and use something else.
I see this system was created to mitigate the lost time in the low offers from 'contracted' rates. They need to put a stop to the refusals for the $1.10 per mile rates. Ark is right, you will get a large group of owners who will start accepting things just because.
Oh and about this making deals crap;
I get begged to take a load which pays nothing. I try to get $1.10 out of them but they would rather pull a truck in from 350 miles away than give me the extra money, I am sitting right on the load. You tell me how this services the customer or is this a slight indication of what crappy offers I got, even being the only truck within 350 miles? The offer was for $.90 a mile
First thing is there is a distinction between WG and surface.
then there is a distinction between the sizes and capacity of trucks.
What is assumed is all trucks are treated equal within the classes of trucks when discussing it. The FedEx system is really good in the first place and I grown to like it. I can tell you sitting there watching loads hit the system, there are really a lot of holes that should be filled first before something like this is worked on.
I read Phil's post about wasting the dispatchers time and I wonder how many offers that people get during the day to make a statement like that (not beating up on you Phil, I heard it before). I honestly don't care about their time because this is a business, not a hobby and their time is not as important as mine. If my routine is to ask questions and get accurate information before I accept the load, then they make money when I accept the load and their time is an investment in their paycheck. If FedEx feels that they are wasting their time calling people with offers, well then maybe they need to elminate the dispatching title and use something else.
I see this system was created to mitigate the lost time in the low offers from 'contracted' rates. They need to put a stop to the refusals for the $1.10 per mile rates. Ark is right, you will get a large group of owners who will start accepting things just because.
Oh and about this making deals crap;
I get begged to take a load which pays nothing. I try to get $1.10 out of them but they would rather pull a truck in from 350 miles away than give me the extra money, I am sitting right on the load. You tell me how this services the customer or is this a slight indication of what crappy offers I got, even being the only truck within 350 miles? The offer was for $.90 a mile
Exactly right on both points!
I expect that most expediters have had times where sleep needs trump the need to be available for load offers. If that is the case, go out of service, turn Qualcomm off, turn your telephone off and get the rest you need.
If you are not too tired to drive and remain in service, late night offers are a fact of life in this business. They do not happen often, but they do happen. That is part of the job.
I think the point about late night offers was not that they happen or don't. The idea was that under the new system the number of evening calls could increase, because you are receiving " load opportunities", rather than load offers. Does not seem to be an issue unless you are in a crowded express center.
just my opinion
just my opinion