Profound Differences

[ATeam]

This is a reply to CCDriver's post in the FedEx Custom Critical forum in which only FCC people can post (thus my post here).

CCDriver, your detailed post about the things FCC dispatchers do or are expected to do highlight the difference between that system and the system we immediately appreciated more when we changed from FCC to Landstar Express America.

The core difference is that at LEAM, the agent who books the load with the customer is the same person who books the truck for the load. The same person is talking to driver and shipper both so the attention to detail and courtesies you seek are more easily provided.

Another core difference is that LEAM trusts its contractors (BCO's) to talk to customers and do directly the load confirms. This made things so much better for us. We loved it.

Examples:

In our usual practice of confirming delivery soon after the pick up, we learned from the consignee that while delivery could not be completed until the morning, we could park at the dock and spend the night there. The dock was behind a locked gate and the consignee gave us the combination to the lock so we could let ourselves in.

It happened occasionally that the consignee would be working late and was pleased to accept delivery that evening instead of waiting to accept delivery in the morning.

It happened occasionally that a load was straight-through but the consignee told us that they were closed overnight and delivery could not be made until morning. That gave us time to sleep, do laundry or do whatever else made sense in the new schedule to use that time.

Shippers and consignees are usually delighted to provide very specific directions about the best routes to take into the plant and where to park. When needed, it was great to talk directly to people on the ground about such things. And we found that this was not at all unusual for the people at the docks. They are quite accustomed to taking confirmation calls from drivers.

New to the industry when we joined FCC, we had little occasion to question their dispatch system. We simply went with the flow and thought it normal that someone other than the driver would confirm pick ups and deliveries with shippers and consignees. It was quite something to see it different when we changed carriers.

 

[redytrk]

As a former O/O with FECC I know it is better to leave contact with the customer up to those who are trained with the diplomacy required. Granted most of us will say and do the right thing. Then there are the small percentage who would become argumentative and could destroy a valued account.
It would only take one of these experiences to cause LEAA to change the way they do things.

 

[ATeam]

As a former O/O with FECC I know it is better to leave contact with the customer up to those who are trained with the diplomacy required. Granted most of us will say and do the right thing. Then there are the small percentage who would become argumentative and could destroy a valued account.
It would only take one of these experiences to cause LEAA to change the way they do things.

Landstar has about 8,000 trucks on the road. Over the years there have been millions of load-confirm calls made by drivers to shippers and consignees. Nothing has happened yet that promped Landstar to take control of these calls. It is not likely that something will happen in the future that would prompt the same.

And it's not like FCC dispatchers are immune from making account-threatening mistakes. Once on a FCC load, we got notes over the Qualcomm -- BIG CAPS, lots of exclamation marks!!!!!!!! -- to have dispatch call ahead with an appointment number. Well, even though we brought these remarks to the attention of dispatch a day in advance, it was not done. And it turned into a big, big deal at the pick up.

When our truck arrived without an appointment number, it was a big deal because of the security procedures this shipper had. Before it was all cleared up, six people ended up interrupting their lunch hour, getting called out of meetings or coming out of their offices to join the growing group at the dock. Every time the next highest ranking person was called in, the same story was told; "FedEx sent this truck in without a number." For a full hour, we stood there in FedEx uniform, listening as our company name was degraded before one important person after the next as the group grew. It was one of the most embarassing incidents we had in our eight years with the company.

No driver reading the notes would have failed to make that call and thereby prevent such an embarrassing circumstance from developing, had the driver had the authority to make the call. But dispatch did fail ... big time.

I do not know if FCC lost the account over this but there is nothing magic about a trained dispatcher. If he or she is overworked and under-appreciated, errors will occur from that source too. Even good people have bad days once in a while.

 

[zorry]

Phil, I'm allowed to call most of my shipper's and receivers.

I'm sorry you never reached that level of trust with FDCC.

 

[redytrk]

Phil, I'm allowed to call most of my shipper's and receivers.

I'm sorry you never reached that level of trust with FDCC.

Good one!!!!!

 

[ATeam]

Phil, I'm allowed to call most of my shipper's and receivers.

I'm sorry you never reached that level of trust with FDCC.

You know better than that. You know full well that we were a top team at FCC and completely trusted by the company right up to the end, to the extent that the company vests trust in any driver.

But when it came to contacting shippers and receivers directly, and you know this too, it is the company that makes the confirm calls, not the drivers; unless something has changed recently.

Once the load is picked up and we had the bill of lading, phone numbers were often on the documents. But FCC seldom gave phone numbers in the load info and, more than once, dispatchers flat-out refused to provide the phone numbers when we asked. It was their job to talk to customers, they said.

Note that the compensation one makes on a load is often affected by whether and/or when the confirm call is made (detention time, dry run, etc.). Note further that the driver does not make those calls. Those calls are made by dispatch and so documented by the load confirm message that goes out.

Do you have "the authority" to contact a shipper or consignee directly at FCC? Yes, in one way you do. But do you have it in the way that we enjoyed at LEAM? Not even close.

When a consignee tells you that you do not have to be there until 08:00 because the plant is not open until then, but FCC's computer tells you that your delivery is confirmed for 01:30, what authority do you have to do anyting other than show up at a closed plant at 01:30?

When you call a consignee who tells you that Monday morning delivery will be fine, but your FCC dispatcher tells you that delivery is confirmed for Saturday at 03:00, what authority do you have to do anyting other than show up on Saturday at 03:00 and then sit on the load until Monday? What trust do you enjoy when the company insists that you drive straight through when your customers are telling you that all is well as long as you arrive Monday morning?

 

[teamjdw]

Lol@ zorry

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using EO Forums mobile app

 

[Daffyduck528]

We were told in orientation to never call the customer. If you needed to get in touch with them to call the dispatcher and have them talk to the customer or have a 3-way call with the customer. I did that a few times and the dispatchers made it pretty clear I shouldn't waste their time on such petty things and should call the customer myself. I guess I came in just in time to watch that fade away.

 

[Moot]

When a consignee tells you that you do not have to be there until 08:00 because the plant is not open until then, but FCC's computer tells you that your delivery is confirmed for 01:30, what authority do you have to do anyting other than show up at a closed plant at 01:30?

When you call a consignee who tells you that Monday morning delivery will be fine, but your FCC dispatcher tells you that delivery is confirmed for Saturday at 03:00, what authority do you have to do anyting other than show up on Saturday at 03:00 and then sit on the load until Monday? What trust do you enjoy when the company insists that you drive straight through when your customers are telling you that all is well as long as you arrive Monday morning?

I have never been leased to FCC but the above sure sounds familiar. Until a few years ago Panther supplied both the shipper's and consignee's phone numbers. Now if I want to contact either I do a Google search for the company.