Supposed non force dispatch.

BigWheeler · Apr 28, 2012

Charles D, you have a perfect mindset. Working together is always the best solution and it does benefit everyone, and overall that's what happens. It's cases like I have been privy to,that has totally marred my opinion of management and the lack there of that has allowed a " you will do what we give you or else" mentality at this company. I was shocked and discouraged.

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rodeojunkie · Apr 28, 2012

Charles D I like your thinking! I used to drive for one Michigan based carrier and we were never forced to take a load. On occasion I did turn down a load. I took a run from Denver to Dubois, Wyoming. The run offered a decent rate, beautiful scenery, and plenty of time to drive the distance. However, we used Nextel cell phones and I discovered when I delivered that I had no signal. I had to drive all the way back to Cheyenne wyoming just to get a signal (350 miles). The original run was only 450 miles so as you can see it was kinda a losing proposition. When the run came up again I turned it down and the dispatcher couldn't understand why. As drivers we need to keep an eye on our dispatchers sometimes too. Another time I was sitting at the pilot north of Kansas City when I was offered a load that was picking up in Topeka Kansas. It was Friday afternoon at 4:30
and I was @75 miles from the pick up. The dispatcher was giving me 40 minutes to get to the pick up and couldn't understand why I turned the load down. Needless to say...I sat in Kansas City for about four days til I got another load offer. Coincidence?

cheri1122 · Apr 28, 2012

Seems like choosing to contract with independent O/Os, then penalizing them for behaving as independent business people is the very definition of having your cake & eating it too.
If carriers book loads their contractors don't find acceptable [literally], then perhaps the solution is for the carrier to hire employees instead.
Problem solved - next?

zorry · Apr 28, 2012

I worked ten years as a union owner-operator. We were classified as driver /owners. It was great. High wages, best union benefits,and spend as much or as little as you wanted on your ride. We had forced dispatch because we were employees.(w2). We got truck rent on a 1099. Some guys had trouble understanding it at first. It was a win/win. We had to do what needed to be done. It was such a lucrative deal we had very few problems. The company only forced us when neccessary. We worked hard to protect what we and the company had.

cheri1122 · Apr 28, 2012

zorry said:
I worked ten years as a union owner-operator. We were classified as driver /owners. It was great. High wages, best union benefits,and spend as much or as little as you wanted on your ride. We had forced dispatch because we were employees.(w2). We got truck rent on a 1099. Some guys had trouble understanding it at first. It was a win/win. We had to do what needed to be done. It was such a lucrative deal we had very few problems. The company only forced us when neccessary. We worked hard to protect what we and the company had.

You and Charles have the attitude that makes for a successful carrier: common goals and mutual respect. Without that, neither side is satisfied, and turnover becomes ridic.
But that's just another 'cost of doing business' for some, and tax deductable, too.

x06col · Apr 29, 2012

rodeojunkie said:
Charles D I like your thinking! I used to drive for one Michigan based carrier and we were never forced to take a load. On occasion I did turn down a load. I took a run from Denver to Dubois, Wyoming. The run offered a decent rate, beautiful scenery, and plenty of time to drive the distance. However, we used Nextel cell phones and I discovered when I delivered that I had no signal. I had to drive all the way back to Cheyenne wyoming just to get a signal (350 miles). The original run was only 450 miles so as you can see it was kinda a losing proposition. When the run came up again I turned it down and the dispatcher couldn't understand why. As drivers we need to keep an eye on our dispatchers sometimes too. Another time I was sitting at the pilot north of Kansas City when I was offered a load that was picking up in Topeka Kansas. It was Friday afternoon at 4:30
and I was @75 miles from the pick up. The dispatcher was giving me 40 minutes to get to the pick up and couldn't understand why I turned the load down. Needless to say...I sat in Kansas City for about four days til I got another load offer. Coincidence?

Example one sounds like an equipment/tool problem rather than a dispatch problem to me. Besides, SLC would have been a better search for signal heading than Cheyenne.

Example two sounds like a failure to communicate or a didn't wanna. Appears to me it may have been a week end run that you prolly should have stood a little closer to the plate and attempted to modify the pu time or something rather than just refuse. Doubt if your four day "rest" was coincidence.

OntarioVanMan · Apr 29, 2012

Ya know a lot of talk on what should or shouldn't be....bottomline carriers don't negotiate contracts...they hand you one...take it or leave it....there is soooo much info on EO about the different carriers and how they treat O/O's, enough to get the big picture...There is no excuse for "I did not know"....Put your thinking caps on, read the archives here, ask questions, you'll get the picture....and the absolute worse thing you can type here is.."The recruiter told me"....you'll be laughed out of the room.....just the way it is....

davekc · Apr 29, 2012

Recruiters are only there for the "First" pieces of information on a carrier. They should not be there for the final decisions.

OntarioVanMan · Apr 29, 2012

davekc said:
Recruiters are only there for the "First" pieces of information on a carrier. They should not be there for the final decisions.

They are only one piece of the puzzle...until people stop signing on the line, carriers have no inclination to review operating procedures....You can see by the ads what their first solution is....Sign on bonuses....throw money at the ####### they buy that....

davekc · Apr 29, 2012

That is usually the biggest problem at many carriers including my own. The recruiting side is disconnected from the operational side. As operations sends people out the door from goofy game playing, the recruiters are throwing cash to try to subsidize it.
Some spend way too much time complicating the simple.

cheri1122 · Apr 29, 2012

OntarioVanMan said:
They are only one piece of the puzzle...until people stop signing on the line, carriers have no inclination to review operating procedures....You can see by the ads what their first solution is....Sign on bonuses....throw money at the ####### they buy that....

If one can refuse to sign a contract that takes advantage of them, they don't need the work.

OntarioVanMan · Apr 29, 2012

cheri1122 said:
If one can refuse to sign a contract that takes advantage of them, they don't need the work.

If someone is looking for the perfect carrier till they sign on....well....LOL..good hunting

rodeojunkie · Apr 29, 2012

X06col-
As far as example number one...the company I drove for stayed away from the northwest and rarely even ventured into or west of the Rockies so it wouldn't have made much sense to go farther west.
As for example number two....multiple phone calls were made to dispatch and the shipper to try and buy more time but to no avail. Besides, anyone should know that a truck can't go 70 miles in 40 minutes especially in rush hour traffic. That part is basic math. I should also add that these were both from the same dispatcher.

zorry · Apr 29, 2012

If you want the perfect company get your own authority and customers. As you grow you will understand why they did things they did. A lot of things are different from the other side of the desk. More different than most of you can imagine. I don't agree with a lot of what some carriers do. If you've been there you can understand some of it.

x06col · Apr 29, 2012

rodeojunkie said:
X06col-
As far as example number one...the company I drove for stayed away from the northwest and rarely even ventured into or west of the Rockies so it wouldn't have made much sense to go farther west.
As for example number two....multiple phone calls were made to dispatch and the shipper to try and buy more time but to no avail. Besides, anyone should know that a truck can't go 70 miles in 40 minutes especially in rush hour traffic. That part is basic math. I should also add that these were both from the same dispatcher.

Well then, seems you were already past your "zone". Contrary to popular belief, the hot spots are not hot everyday, and the cold spots are not cold everyday. Why not experiment a bit and expand your horizons. What about the equipment versus dispatch issue??

As for the second example.......info IS golden!!

x06col · Apr 29, 2012

zorry said:
If you want the perfect company get your own authority and customers. As you grow you will understand why they did things they did. A lot of things are different from the other side of the desk. More different than most of you can imagine. I don't agree with a lot of what some carriers do. If you've been there you can understand some of it.

Yep, a classic example not too far fetched would be....the "guy" that turned down the load in a former post was most likely mouthing that his Carrier didn't have any freight or,only cheap/chump freight while Charles was looking. Interesting viewpoints from each side.

rodeojunkie · Apr 29, 2012

I only turned that load down because it was physically impossible to get there in the time allotted by the shipper and they were not willing to expand the pickup time at all. And I did not bad mouth the carrier, dispatcher, or anyone else...I simply made them understand that they cannot wait until its too late to try and dispatch a load that would be impossible to obtain. As a driver, I knew better than to even try it in the first place. If they gave you 40 minutes to travel 70 miles would you waste the fuel to drive there and probably right back to where you were? Not if you were smart and had already talked to the shipper and they had informed you that they would not go 1minute past the pickup time...

OntarioVanMan · Apr 29, 2012

rodeojunkie said:
I only turned that load down because it was physically impossible to get there in the time allotted by the shipper and they were not willing to expand the pickup time at all. And I did not bad mouth the carrier, dispatcher, or anyone else...I simply made them understand that they cannot wait until its too late to try and dispatch a load that would be impossible to obtain. As a driver, I knew better than to even try it in the first place. If they gave you 40 minutes to travel 70 miles would you waste the fuel to drive there and probably right back to where you were? Not if you were smart and had already talked to the shipper and they had informed you that they would not go 1minute past the pickup time...

I am sorry, but if I turned down every load the time was like that I'd be sitting even more....the way of the CV.....