What are they thinking?!

[Suds43]

Agreed!

Personally, I believe that not only a nationwide cell phone should be required, but also a working headset should also be included in that requirement.

When everyone is wired, any company can set up an auto dialer system that will call the driver's cellular phone and upon answering a pre-recorded message can then activate and update the driver in safe manner.

QC's are very expensive items to own and operate. With the advent of Blackberry devices, and increase cellular coverage, it should not very much longer before carriers realize how cost effective cellular devices will improve everyone's bottom line.

Moreover, who wants to spend big money on a nice truck and then have somebody drill holes in it. Additionally, those holes markedly decrease the resale value of the truck!

Bro David,
It's also illegal in some states, Missouri for one, to talk on a cell phone while operating a motor vehicle. Usually never enforced though. That includes the new ear pieces, and head-sets.
My point: It's just as distracting to be talking on the phone while driving as it is reading the qual-comm.
I never answer the q.c. while driving, I'll let it beep until I find a safe place to pull off the road, and not use the shoulder. I never talk on the phone while driving......never. To distracting to me.

 

[dieseldiva]

I have often wondered about this as well.
Wouldn't it be great if a dispatch offer came across in say, maybe three beeps, a general
message such as safety in one beep. You'd be able to tell audibly if it was necessary to
read the message immediately.

I like this idea the best, seems the safest way to go.....Fed Ex, are you reading this???

 

[CharlesD]

I find talking with a hands free less of a distraction than talking to a passenger, but that's just me. I think if I had to deal with a QC, I'd have thrown the darn thing out the window by now. A phone seems to be quite adequate for conveying information and it's more cost effective as well, at least for drivers. I wonder how much money some carriers make in a year just in things they charge the drivers for. When I was doing courier work in Ohio, I had money taken out of each settlement for the Nextel phone and for the stupid uniform shirts I had to wear. We never bought the shirts, just rented them from the company. I could have bought a lot of decent clothes for what I paid for those shirts in the year I was there.

 

[EagleRiverWI]

I love the useless safety messages about thing I learned about 20 years ago in truck driving school.

 

[Fr8 Shaker]

If it's that much of a problem, call them and ask them what they want, then tell them to quit sending you unimportant messages while your driving. tell them if it's that important to just call you.

 

[jay shipley]

Dispatch called my cell last Saturday morning at 0530. "Hi Shawn, we were calling to see when you were going to get rolling on that load you were on."
I reply, "What load, the one picking up tomorrow?(Sunday)"
Dispatch; "No it p/u today and you need to get rolling on this load"
Me; "Could you please check the day the load picks up?"
Dispatch; "We're showing it picks up on the 24th"
Me; "What day is today then?"
Dispatch;"Today is the 23rd"
Dispatch; "Please disregard this call"
Me; "no problem" off the phone....thanks for waking me up at 0530 in the morning for nothing. Agggghhh!
This happens a lot w/ Panther.

I can top that one. We have 2 trucks...one of which I put out of service until further notice, due to a lack of a godod driver. But, we took our other truck and continued to do business. We were home, and, at 03:30, my phone rang, with a run offer from the company I had put the truck OOS with. Guess dispatchers can't read the notations put in front of them. As far as the QC is concerned.......there are companies that know how and when to use them, and those who simply keep throwing trash out there.....very annoying...never mind the "auto messages" that fall out when dispatch doesn't follow up and reset appt. times, etc. I now have a QC that reads your messages to you, at the touch of a button on the dash, and I don't have to push that often. Much more peaceful. Plus our company uses it wisely....and hires good people so they don't have to be micro managed on an annoying QC. I had an on and off switch installed with the other company, so they knew that was going to be an option, because they WERE annoying. Sometimes that happened too......turned it off, because they wouldn't stop the stupid. THEN they called.....no longer have that contract....no longer annoyed.

 

[Tennesseahawk]

If you need a babysitter, you're in the wrong business.

I hate to disagree with you, but at least 4 of the bigger carriers babysit. IMO, a large part of the reason they are that big is because most of their trucks WANT to be babysat. Daycare is alive and well in expediting.

 

[x06col]

And CharlesD, when you find all these git r done "adults" to lease on, please let me know.

 

[Falligator]

Just a figurative term when I refer to the qc as a "babysitter". Just what I was trying to explain is that I know Panther tracks my every move b/c they want to know what I am doing when I stop. I stopped to get a bite to eat once while I was on a load and Panther called me wondering why my ignition was off. There was no notations in the load about it delivering direct and I hadn't eaten all day long and I explained to them that I had to stop and grab a bite to eat. They told me to basically make it brief b/c the customer was looking into the load (even though I was well ahead of the delivery time) and wanted the load there as soon as possible. I told panther I would hurry, but they needed to notate that the load had to be delivered direct or should have got a team to run the load. I had already had 3 hours built into this particular load when they called. Nothing in the notes about delivering early or that the customer was really wanting this freight.

 

[Turtle]

They told me to basically make it brief b/c the customer was looking into the load (even though I was well ahead of the delivery time) and wanted the load there as soon as possible.

They always tell you that. Every customer we have always looks into the load, every one of them. <snort>

If you're not showing late, and the customer wants it there as soon as possible, meaning faster than 47 MPH, then tell dispatch that you're more than willing to try and get it there ahead of the contracted delivery time, but you want to be compensated for the extra effort. That'll shut 'em up.

 

[CharlesD]

And CharlesD, when you find all these git r done "adults" to lease on, please let me know.

Well, it's still just me at the moment. Anyway, I'm not really thinking about expanding right now with the way freight is. I don't need to try to do things too fast and get ahead of myself. When I get to that point, I want to keep drivers busy. It doesn't matter how driver friendly I am and what great rates I promise to pay them if they're not getting the miles. When I get more accounts and I start having more loads than I can handle by myself, then that's when I'm going to be looking for some of those elusive adults.