Transfering load truck to truck

[Streakn1]

This was recently told to me by a friend that was offered the following and I would be interested in other's thoughts on this:

While they were enroute deadheading to Dever,Co dispatch sent them an offer. It was a transfer load which required they meet another truck in the Dever area early the next morning. The freight would be palletjacked truck to truck. Then they were to take the load approximately 500 miles to the delivery. The load paid $1.02 all miles. They didn't want the load yet dispatch indicated they really needed help with the load. Also there were no other trucks nearby. They began thinking maybe the truck had mechanical problems, or the driver(s) had an emergency or was sick. When asked why the transfer was needed they were told there had been a change in the delivery which conflicted in the original truck being able to stay on a WG pre-planned load afterwards that pays really good and that the driver doesn't want to loose the pre-plan. There was nothing mentioned by the dispatcher that because of the load requirements,only the original truck was able to carry it. They didn't take the load, yet they were left feeling were they wrong not to have helped. Especially given the circumstanses.

When I was asked what would I have done I simply replied, we have been in the same situation several times where our current load delivery schedule changed (no fault of ours) that cost us to loose good pre-planned loads. We were not as fortunate to have a transfer offered to us so we could keep the pre-plan, it would have been nice.

So, what is fair in a situation like this? Does the truck that has been so unfortunate to be put in this situation bite the bullet and stay on the current load, thus loosing the pre-plan? What would you do had you been the one asked to help especially when most of the miles have been sucked out of the run?

 

[raceman]

I may not be reading this right or it may be I do not understand the in and outs of what sounds like FECC but how much less than $300?
At $300 that appears to be $3 a mile and that seems like a money maker to me. If it was $250 the that is $2.50 a mile. Still seems like a money maker to me.

I am sure I am missing something but if not, based on those figures I would do it. But then again that is the kind of stuff I do everyday so it may not seem odd to me.

For clarification I have not done over the road expediting in about two years. I just haul paying freight so to speak.

Raceman
Dedicated O/O
OOIDA 741748

 

[Streakn1]

I don't know the exact pay amount other than it was less than $1200. With the deadhead from thier last delivery they said the load was paying $1.02 for all miles. It also delivered in an area they felt they would have to deadhead at least 400-500 miles out of for thier next load. I forgot to mention that.

I personally think for a team reefer unit as they are to sit almost 24 hours on that load knowing much better paying loads dispatch out of that area is not a wise choice. They said they got a much nicer paying load that same morning they otherwise would have missed. Sounds like thier gamble paid off!

Sorry I got the numbers wrong, New Years Eve, you know what I mean!!!

 

[slfisher45]

I am curiously perplexed by some of these Q & A's.
I don't know what you are referring to as a WG pre-plan for the company. I can only guess.
It must be a load a driver will receive if said driver takes the original load.
But, first of all, if someone is deadheading to a certain area and they are offered a job in that area, no matter how small the offer is, it might behoove the driver to take it to offset the cost of his deadhead.
Next: If a driver accepts a load and rolls to pick it up, that is a commitment, part of his contract, always remembering shippers cancell.
Next: A drivers commitment is to deliver on time.
Regardless of what changes the delivery time the commitment is there. That preplan thing is secondary. It could go to any driver available.
I would have taken the load to help out. As I said it would have offset my deadhead cost.
Paid miles are paid miles.

This is the part I don't get>>>>>>>>>>>>>> This from the origin of this thread,
"So, what is fair in a situation like this? Does the truck that has been so unfortunate to be put in this situation bite the bullet and stay on the current load, thus loosing the pre-plan? What would you do had you been the one asked to help especially when all the miles have been sucked out of the run?"

Bite the bullett and stay on the load....... You committed to the load stay on it.... Preplan is secondary.. be professional..
All the miles were sucked out... ???? The miles were driven by another truck that used their fuel, their engine. their tires, what is wrong with you people, if you put nothing into it you;ve lost nothing......... Plus if they would have helped, the other drivers would have made more money, switch drivers would have made money and the dispatchers would have remembered you helped.

 

[Streakn1]

9114 Fish

Your points are well made and have merit. I agree on the deadhead with this exception. In thier case they had deadheaded from central Montana to the point the offer was made (450 unpaid miles). Of course it was there choice to not take an authorized layover point. Like we have learned ourselves,not all layover offers are your best offer. I don't think thier choice to go to Dever was a bad one knowing what kind of loads one can get. But as they shared, to take the load would put them in another situation of having to again deadhead 100's of miles afterwards,authorized or not. We usually factor that into what a load offer is paying before we accept it, as they did. The money wasn't there in thier opinion.

I also agree with you saying why couldn't the pre-planned load be offered to the next availible truck if it met the load requirements as it appears they did? It would seem much more logical to me rather than transfering a load. Each time you move freight truck to truck don't you increase the risk of potentual freight damage (claims)?

I think alot of folks tend to be more willing to help someone thats broken down, sick, or has an emergency at home. Would those same people be as willing to help someone else make additional money, especially if they feel they will get the short end of the stick? Sadly, I think there would be less, not more volunteers for the later!

 

[greg334]

Maybe I am tired of all the fun on New Years eve but I would have told dispatch $1.25 (my minimal cost) all miles, not $1.02 simply because the offer for the other team was just that, an offer and I agree with 9114 Fish. Dispatch is doing the original truck a favor without having a real reason to do so.

I have lost a few pre-dispatched offers because of changes and almost sat in Memphis for the Christmas holidays due to UPS screwing things up for me. I am willing to go that extra mile for a customer but not for free.

 

[marvinkwagner]

I my self been in both situations,

1st the one where I had a load that was suppose to deliver at a said time when I took it then come to find out the load ended up delivering just one hour latter.

Now before the new delivery time was anounced I had been predispatched on a realy supper paying load.

Now get this because the 1st pushed out for delivery was confirmed 1 hour latter than orginal said.

well you guessed it I lost the realy high paying dispatch load oh yes
I asked for the load i was on to be reset back to the orginial but it was not going to happen then I asked for the predispacth pickup to be pushed out 1 hour but because of circumstances and contracts that wasnt happening.

Needles to say I ended up delivering at the orginal time that I had accepted but still lost the predispatch and by the way it was only 7 miles away from my delivery. Now get this I ran across the truck that got my predispatch they dead headed 500 miles to do the load.

need I say anymore.

any way,

Now at another time I also was deading and got hit with a load to help out another truck well I did it. It (Helped Pay my dead head and yes I had to end up deadheading 200 miles to get where I orginaly wanted to go but I did it. So ya I been on both sides of the fence and by the way the load only paid me 1.00 a mile but like I said it help get me to my destnation and in that case it help me.

The above was just a post on yes I have been on both sides of the coin and yes I know how it feels and Yes I did what I did. No regrets.



The only hard day was yesterday and that being Said FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION.

HMM

Figure out the rest and You know Who You are.

Have a Safe One

Kevin


.

 

[Tennesseahawk]

Plain and simple... if it benefits you, take the run. There ARE NO FAVORS in this industry. What you described was a favor. If he broke down, and they needed to transfer a load, that's a necessity. If a necessity puts you way out into nowhere at $1.02/mi, that, to me, is a favor. If it's that big of a necessity, they'll come up with the money to make it worth your while.

"If I claim to be a wise man, it surely means that I don't know." - Kansas

 

[nightcreacher]

Ok 1st thing I read was about w/g,therefore we have to assume we are talking about fed ex cc
Now I've got to say,I have been in a similar situation when I was an er unit,but I dont believe i read anything about the w/g truck being a refer unit
I have a hard time believing that dispatch would let them transfer loads, just because they didn't want to loose thier pre-plan,now with that said,the second truck is in the drivers seat for pay.If w/g needs this second truck,because the 1st truck is only w/g available,then that second truck has a lot of leverage,on pay.
Now on fed ex's side,if this other guy is just dead heading for a layover,myself,I'd be happy for any load to get me out of Denver,thats expediters nightmare to get loaded from.I wouldn't take a load to Denver,let alone dead head there.

Happy New Year everyone,leaving in 24 hours for Memphis,tn
I'll be at Pfizer 1800 tuesday night
Oh yes,dispatch will tell you, when you say they owe you a favor,there are no favors,as you are getting paid.(been there done that)
P.S
Fish I asumed you knew about w/g,guess not. if it were a w/g truck,and the other truck wasn't,the non pre planned truck could not do the load as they were not qualified W/G

 

[slfisher45]

Thanks Nightcreacher, Appreciate all your input. I drive for Panther and each company has their nuances not always familiar to new drivers.
About the favor thing: I don't give away money. I do have a feel for what's right and wrong. Taking the load off someones truck for what ever reason, if a dispatcher asks you, you have great leverage. As Nightcreacher said. I could have helped cover my deadhead, but not to Denver, unless I had originally been heading east. But then Panther probably would have paid my empty move there.

 

[nightcreacher]

Im sure the unit going dead head to Denver,was getting compinsation,myself,I would have never been in that situation.
I do some off the wall crazy loads for FECC,but you will never ever see me dead heading to Denver,not without a run number to pick up there

 

[ATeam]

In my view, when a contractor or driver accepts a lousy load backed up by a good one, all risks associated with both loads are also accepted, as are all obligations. Loads sometimes change because shipper and consignee needs or availability also change. The further out a pickup is from the current day, the more likely it is that the backup load will change. Once the freight is on your truck, THAT freight and THAT customer becomes your primary responsibility. If the backup load changes, that is your bad luck.

The contractor who sought to put a bad load on someone elses truck acted in pure self interest that did nothing for his or her carrier or peers. While it may be technically legal to do, that level of self interest crosses the line to the point of being selfish. It is not the kind of behavior that garners respect among dispatchers or peers.

There was a time when Diane and I would be pleased to accept a backup load as an incentive to take a lousy load. The problem with that is the pickup date for the backup load is a day or two ahead, sometimes more. That farther-out pickup date means the load is more likely to change. While we will still agree to backup loads, we no longer view them as reliable and we do not weigh them as heavily as we once did when they are offered in conjunction with a lousy load offer.

In other words, backup loads can change or disappear, such that the lousy load may be the only one you are left with. We consider backup loads, but with a wary eye.

 

[LDB]

I may have missed some of this but don't find enough details to make a definite decision. The load delivered in S.L.C. about 500 miles away or elsewhere and if so where?

Did the $1.02 all miles include the 450 or so miles they chose to d/h out of their own pocket or just the trip miles? I still don't know why they chose to d/h out of pocket to Denver but that was their choice. I don't consider those miles as part of the next trip because they were optional at my choice and not a required part of the next trip. If they were included then the trip paid much better per mile. If they weren't included the company needed to come up with more money.

Another option would be to ask the driver who will then be going for a very lucrative job to kick in a couple hundred dollars to make this work. If they really want to move on to the next job and it's paying as well as implied it would be worth it to him for the help.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA Life Member 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 5508, 5509, 5641
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
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Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

 

[Doggie Daddy]

nightcreature wrote:

fish I assumed you knew about w/g,guess not.if it were a w/g truck,and the other truck wasn't,the non pre-planned truck could not do the load as they were not qualified w/g.

This is not true at all,we(wife and I)are not w/g qualified but w/g uses us a few times every year when they get in a situation where they have no w/g trucks in a certain area.The only thing that we have above and beyond what a surface expedite carries equipment-wise are 10 pads.(there goes one of my secrets).

There are alot of things to consider on whether or not we would have taken this load or not.First off,the pay is lousy,($1.02 all miles)
but if you are trying to get back to where you have a chance to get a load and this will get you there then it makes sense to take it.I would at least try and get them to add more money to it,but like I said if it's taking us 500 miles from Denver and it was going to a better area then YES we would take that load.

I do agree with the people that said that this load is the responsibility of the original driver,and just because it will conflict with a pre-planned load in my oppinion that is not a valid reason to do a transfer.

 

[nightcreacher]

>nightcreature wrote:
>
>fish I assumed you knew about w/g,guess not.if it were a w/g
>truck,and the other truck wasn't,the non pre-planned truck
>could not do the load as they were not qualified w/g.
>
>This is not true at all,we(wife and I)are not w/g qualified
>but w/g uses us a few times every year when they get in a
>situation where they have no w/g trucks in a certain
>area.The only thing that we have above and beyond what a
>surface expedite carries equipment-wise are 10 pads.(there
>goes one of my secrets).
>
>There are alot of things to consider on whether or not we
>would have taken this load or not.First off,the pay is
>lousy,($1.02 all miles)
>but if you are trying to get back to where you have a chance
>to get a load and this will get you there then it makes
>sense to take it.I would at least try and get them to add
>more money to it,but like I said if it's taking us 500 miles
>from Denver and it was going to a better area then YES we
>would take that load.
>
>I do agree with the people that said that this load is the
>responsibility of the original driver,and just because it
>will conflict with a pre-planned load in my oppinion that is
>not a valid reason to do a transfer.

doggie,
if the load needed something other than your ten pads, or might of been a haz mat load such as radioactive,explosive,or even poison,w/g is not going to put that on a non w/g truck,and yes I know they do use non w/g trucks,but in this case,I found out both trucks involced were w/g,so myself,I cant imagine why the 1st truck was even offered the load,except maybe to get him to do the load that was getting him to Denver,in the 1st place
This senario isnt an everyday occurance,and I still can't immagine it even happened

 

[Doggie Daddy]

Well I agree that we won't be able to haul the radioactive and explosives loads for w/g,but the last w/g load we did haul was a haz-mat(poison)shipment.All I was trying to say is that when they get in a pinch w/g has no problem with using surface expedite trucks to GIT R DONE.:7

 

[Streakn1]

Yes, this is not an everyday senario at our carrier,thank goodness. This situation did occur the first week of 12/06. When I was asked should the load be accepted I advised that I personally would not have consider the load. In my own opinion, this was nothing more than a favor load to the 1st drivers for what ever reason of which I can find no valid one. It had no real negative impact on the customer or the carrier if the second truck refused the load. The freight would still be delivered on time, the other load would be covered.

As for unpaid deadhead, we personally take each situation separately. When layover points are offered that we feel are not our best option we will sometimes ask dispatch to authorize another location. If they don't then we have to choose to drive it on our own nickel. In some cases we include that deadhead into the overall pay thats being offered in the next load offer and others we do not. No matter what, we all have a bottom line per mile we can operate on and a time frame for sitting waiting on loads to be offered out. We feel its better to deadhead overnight to an area that has a known daily good paying freight base rather than to sit in an area that has little and low paying freight at best just because dispatch authorized it. Yes, the volunteered deadhead will bring the per all mile pay down on the good paying freight. In our case, most of the time we still come out ahead, sometimes we don't.

Regardless, an expense was incurred deadheading and the optimum thing is to try and recoupe all or part of that if you can.In thier case they were adding the 450 miles that they deadheaded but not the additional miles they felt they would have to deadhead after the delivery. Fair in my opinion.

We seem to do much better out of the Denver area than where that load was taking them, as has been the case with them. Guess we've all been lucky thus far.

Happy New Year to all! To all hope you have a prosperous 2007!:7

 

[nobb4u]

In reference to a W/G pre-planned load, we are never offered a good load if we take a lousy load. I would be willing to bet the reason the pre-planned load was not offered to the second truck and why the first truck was pre-planned was because of security clearances, especially in the region you are talking about, it is very rare to get a pre-planned load in this area unless it is one that requires clearances and most likely also continuous surveillance. Dispatch was probably the one offering the transfer because they had no one to cover the pre-planned. As I said these scenarios are based on my personal experience.