Question about winter driving

[TeamCaffee]

Not that I know of Linda.....E-1 did not..neither do we....always been a bit of an issue to get that time back...


3 pm pickup....by the time you are loaded and secure load and get rolling you are 15 - 20 minutes behind and throw in at least 1 fuel stop of 20 min...you are 40 minutes behind...and we haven't even mentioned if the timing is such you hit a major city rush hour...

That surprised me that most do not have the 15 minute window to get rolling. We do not call in for our departure call until we have the freight secure and we are ready to roll. We still get the fifteen minute window as often we still have to go through security to get back on the road or we are waiting on an escort to leave the property.

What speed are you dispatched at? We are dispatched at 47 mph and as long as we keep the drivers side door shut we often have more then enough time for traffic as well as adverse weather conditions. In the winter if we know there is a storm in front of us we push pretty hard before hand so we have extra time to maneuver through the storm and not have the customer waiting on their freight.

This year with the automatic chains I think we will even do better. I hope no more getting stuck in truck stops that have not cleaned their lot.

Carry extra water and food along with a good supply of blankets for just in case.... Plan ahead and watch the road and other vehicles when driving. If the road looks wet and no road spray is being kicked up by the cars passing you, you are on black ice.

 

[ATeam]

Landstar uses 45 m.p.h. I don't know what time if any is allocated for loading and unloading. Arriving a bit early for a pick up or delivery is not the mortal sin it was at FedEx Custom Critical. (Exceptioins for certain kinds of loads)

Regarding chains, company guidance is to consider stopping before driving in conditions where chains are required. They don't require you to stop but there are zero brownie points to be earned if you chain up (or deploy automatic tire chains) and proceed. You are not alone out there and the other guy's winter driving skills, or lack of them, matter too.

To the extent that it matters, you will be praised more at Landstar for playing it safe and delivering late than you will be for proceeding through a chains required area, even if you feel you can do so safely.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

What OVM?? Load-1 wants you to drive 12 hours straight through?

of course they do....

 

[purgoose10]

Landstar uses 45 m.p.h. I don't know what time if any is allocated for loading and unloading. Arriving a bit early for a pick up or delivery is not the mortal sin it was at FedEx Custom Critical. (Exceptioins for certain kinds of loads)

Regarding chains, company guidance is to consider stopping before driving in conditions where chains are required. They don't require you to stop but there are zero brownie points to be earned if you chain up (or deploy automatic tire chains) and proceed. You are not alone out there and the other guy's winter driving skills, or lack of them, matter too.

To the extent that it matters, you will be praised more at Landstar for playing it safe and delivering late than you will be for proceeding through a chains required area, even if you feel you can do so safely.

I understand the safety aspect and I know the Landstar aspect, but. I would love to see someone in Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr not chain up and wait out a storm running the northwest. I ran Cabbage pass, North Powder, 4th of July on line haul for more than 7 yrs, you get into a good storm and stop, you'll be stopped for a long time. There were several nights where chaining 4,5 and 6 times a night was not uncommon. I used to love hearing guys on the radio, "I've never chained up back in Pa" Well it's a little slicker in the Northwest than the northeast. But like they say be safe. Never drive beyond your experience level. No freight is worth losing your life or killing someone else.
A tip for the less experienced running the northwest. The dry air and sun melt the ice in the day, but in the evening that dry air pulls moisture from the asphalt and that's where your black ice forms. If you look at the asphalt you can see the ice sickles forming and rising straight up. So you get a false sense of "oh it dried up today so I can run now. Surprise surprise. Don't crash in the northwest and not have chains on in chain up conditions. The minimum fine like in Or is $1,000. They are serious. Another is they don't salt in the northwest and west, they throw cinders and sand. Hard on windshields.

 

[MissKat]

Ahh purgoose. So true. Don't forget ladd and meachum....arghhh

Posted with my Droid EO Forum App

 

[leezaback]

Life before load

 

[purgoose10]

Ahh purgoose. So true. Don't forget ladd and meachum....arghhh

Posted with my Droid EO Forum App

Oh yeh I just include meatchum with cabbage since they are kind of tied together and yes Ladd memories. Pulled triples through that stretch 3 trips one week, 2 the next, 500+ miles a night. I was a lot younger then, but I sure do miss those mountains. I send a truck up just north of Elgin Or every 5th weeks for the fish a game department. Elgin is 30 miles north of LaGrande, to a fish hatchery at Looking Glass. I always run team with the driver just so I can go back and see some friends. Pretty country in the spring and summer, kind of rough in the winter but still great country.

 

[mcavoy33]

he is new....what does brutal mean? I talk to some smaller carrier guys and the times are like a 60-65 mph pace....not good

I work for a small carrier and I've felt the same way OP has at times when I was in a cv. But not all the time, only on the shorter loads. On anything over 600 miles, its always pretty much at 48 mph. Which gives me time to sleep if I need to.

But on the shorter runs, 300-600 miles, a lot of the time, we are given a time that it needs to be there. Its not no 48 mph, its not 65 either but its why I always feel rushed having only a 22 gallon tank in the sprinter. It means I have to fuel up twice and that 2nd 20 minute break always puts me close to being late.

I don't really consider 48 mph average runs as hot freight, or next morning delivery, but when I have dispatch calling me and checking how far I am. But maybe thats why they get paid higher rates and can afford to rent Enterprise Trucks with no sleepers and pay for hotel rooms for the drivers every night.

 

[cheri1122]

Having to make up for lost time can make drivers take risks they shouldn't - even just a speeding ticket, and maybe CSA will make everyone rethink the wisdom of that. It is totally unreasonable to 'start the clock' on transit time when arriving at the shipper - even 15 min is insufficient in most cases, when 45 min is about average time to get loaded, secured, paperwork checked, and ready to roll.
On the subject of winter driving, the fact is it takes longer, and I've never found a carrier or dispatcher who had a problem with that, because they keep an eye on weather and road conditions too.

 

[TeamCaffee]

Arriving a bit early for a pick up or delivery is not the mortal sin it was at FedEx Custom Critical. (Exceptioins for certain kinds of loads)

Mortal Sin? Maybe you are talking about a division in FedEx Custom Critical and not the whole company?

We are often several hours early to pickup or to deliver and have had no problems.

I can only speak for how we handle a departure call when we leave a shipper. The load is secure and we are in the truck ready to roll when we make the depart call. If we are in bad weather when we make the call we let the dispatcher know at that time.

The fifteen minutes does not start when we arrive at the shipper it starts when we make our departure call.

 

[Jumbuck]

Not that it has happened (yet) but is there anything a company can do to you if you are late because of bad weather? Hey...I told you I was new. I mean can they fire you or make your life miserable if you can't meet the schedule?

 

[jjoerger]

If they do you need to find a different company.
Most companies safety department and safety policy is that safety comes first.
You are the Captain of the ship. You have to make the decision if you can drive safely. Everyone's skills and experience levels are different. Better to be late than not get there at all.

 

[ATeam]

Not that it has happened (yet) but is there anything a company can do to you if you are late because of bad weather? Hey...I told you I was new. I mean can they fire you or make your life miserable if you can't meet the schedule?

In both this thread and the "serious help" thread that you also started, you seem to be far more worried about being late than most if not all expediters. Where does that come from, exactly?

It's simple. Most expediting companies put safety first. They plan loads at 45 - 50 m.p.h., and if that is not enough because of bad weather, construction delays, traffic delays and other such things that lie beyond your control, the procedure is to notify dispatch and dispatch will change the delivery time to allow you to safely complete the trip.

If that is not the case with your company (which company is it, by the way?), quit and find a carrier that puts your safety ahead of their other priorities.

Expedited freight is sometimes called fast freight but do not confuse that with fast trucks. It's fast because the freight goes dock to dock or door to door with few if any stops along the way, not because drivers put the pedal to the metal.

On your end, time management is important. If you pick up a load and then head off to do your laundry, eat lunch, go to a movie, get your oil changed, or do some other such thing that may make you late and result in a service failure, that would be on you.

In expediting, when you are on a load, your job is to pick up and deliver it safely and on time. Everything else is secondary (exceptions of course for medical emergencies, family emergencies, etc.).

 

[davekc]

I think I would go with the Turtle quote.
"slow and steady wins the race".

Professionally secure and drive the freight to location safely.
There isn't any freight worth crashing or having a fatality over.

If the customer wants it faster, then happily tell them air freight options are available.

 

[Turtle]

That surprised me that most do not have the 15 minute window to get rolling.

What speed are you dispatched at? We are dispatched at 47 mph...

I don't know if it's "most" or not, but I'm beginning to wonder if all the Alliance members aren't booked at 50 MPH and have no 15 minute window. Both of those things are, IMHO, ignorant and a little retarded. It's completely ignorant to figure loading time as actual driving time, because you're not driving. 15 minutes to get loaded is about average, but that's 15 minutes you lose in driving time when it's not accounted for.

15 minutes isn't much, but several of those add up. for example, many carriers use 45 MPH for routing, which is the ideal speed for both safety and to account for the unexpected, and then when it gets there early all the better. Panther books at 47 MPH, which is a little tight, but still not bad. What's 2 MPH? Well, at 60 MPH it's 2 minutes every hour. That adds up.

A Load 1, and I think several other carriers, it's 50 MPH. The difference between 50 MPH and 47 MPH is three minutes per hour, which doesn't sound like much, but after 5 hours of driving the difference between 47 and 50 is 15 minutes, and it takes about 15 minutes for a fuel stop, or to take a safety break, to pee, or to inspect cargo. At 50 MPH you don't have the luxury of time to do any of that. 50 MPH encourages speeding, frankly, in order to make up that time to fuel and what not, and it's retarded, because not only does it not give you the time to perform the necessary things while en route, it has zero accountability for the routine delays of traffic and construction. There's also the lower MPG factor which comes into play when you must drive faster to meet the schedule.

Some carriers not only book at 45 or 47 MPH, and have that 15 minutes to get loaded, but if the routing takes you through Chicago (or Cincinnati, Louisville, Charlotte, Atlanta and a few others) during the day, an extra hour is booked into the load. Same with a border crossing, one extra hour. Loads into Manhattan or Long Island are often given an extra two hours.

The 15 minutes to get loaded and the 45 or 47 MPH routing time not only removes a lot of unnecessary stress on the driver, which is inherently safer (not to mention will almost certainly result in lower CSA 2010 scores), but it also dramatically reduces the chances of having to communicate a problem to and/or disappoint the customer.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

That was one of my points about the 50 mph standard...

How much resources goes into customer service having to call a customer and say we are running late?....That just makes us look bad and the carrier did that themselves....wouldn't 45-47 make more sense and NOT have an embarrassing moment?

Then ya got newbees out there in bad weather thinking they HAVE to make that time window.....with CSA looming I'd think a SMART carrier would back off on the times....

 

[Jumbuck]

No, Mr. Madsen it's NOT the company putting the pressure on. As I said it's ME. I am new and I thought I have to keep up with the seasoned Vets. I KNOW that's stupid! It IS stupid but that's just how I am until I learn better (which I never seem to do). On-Dekk transportation has NEVER put any pressure on me...expected or implied. I'll just have to settle down and relax. I will but it takes time. You know how it is when you're new! You want to make a good impression and you don't know any better. Thanks for post!

 

[ATeam]

I'll just have to settle down and relax. I will but it takes time. You know how it is when you're new! You want to make a good impression and you don't know any better. Thanks for post!

You have a point there that illustrates well something I have said before. Seasoned expediters tend to forget what it is like to not know the basics. Once the basics are mastered, you tend to take for granted that everyone knows them.

I am remembering now exactly the dynamic you point out. We were highly stressed on our first loads exactly because of what you point out. We wanted to make a good impression.

It was interesting to learn early on that we made a great impression when we went out of service between loads to get some needed sleep. Thinking work was the best, we were surprised at the positive feedback we got from everyone (fleet owner, dispatch, fellow drivers) for stopping to sleep.

It will be the same for you. While it may seem important early on to get the load through on time no matter what, safety is far more important. You will receive more praise for slowing down or stopping to stay safe than you will for getting a load delivered on time.

If you are going to be in a hurry for anything, be in a hurry to be safe. Whatever the safe thing is, don't wait. Do it now.

 

[Jumbuck]

Thats EXACTLY what I was trying to say, Sir. Thank you. BTW I LOVE reading your blog...Please don't stop.
Jumbuck

 

[Rocketman]

45 mph is by far the best. It gives you some time to work with. We are dispatched at 45 mph and most loads, you have a cushion of 2 hours or so. If the shipper takes too long to load me, I'm not at all shy about asking for them to bump the delivery time up to account for the time spent getting loaded. It's not my problem if they take 45 minutes or an hour to load me. I guard that cushion time that the 45 mph dispatch gives me.

Another thing I do is ask for it immediately when I make my loaded call. Most of the time (even when the p/u and delivery times are not as critical), dispatchers will enter the load into the system at the standard 45 mph starting from the pickup time. THAT particular dispatcher knows that the times can be adjusted without any problem. I've found that there is a lot less drama involved if you can get all the details sorted out early on in the load. Once the dispatcher who your working with goes home and the next shift comes in, all they know is what they see on the screen in front of them. They don't know that you were delayed at the shipper, they don't know that the delivery time isn't critical. All they know is that your delivery time is 6am and your running late. A little bit of communication at the beginning of the load can keep the drama level down for the night.

I don't always get what I ask for in these situations, but most of the time I do. A lot of the p/u and delivery times are not actually that critical. The ones that are, they will be happy to tell you. If the exact time isn't critical, then it's usually pretty easy to get it adjusted.

Someone said it earlier. Communication, communication, communication!