Do all planners have big heads??

[Kevin0915]

This is my second problem with a planner in the past three weeks. The first problem was when I just left Cleveland to Toledo, stopped to fuel and clean out my trailer as it was needed to go into a soup company. Find the trailer is not food grade, so i ask for another trailer. I'm told the nearest one was back in Cleveland, 2 hrs+ away. I responded, "that is the closest one?". To that i'm told 'yes'. I advise i had just fueled in Toledo and that our New Boston terminal was 45 min away. make that long story shorter, I decide to head to New Boston, while en route, i'm told not to go there. Bummer....by the time i get that message, i'm already there.

Fast forward to today. I get to Columbus, OH. Drop a load off, and before i get it dropped I get a preplan for a load picking up at the Columbus terminal headed for Monee, IL for a 6a live unload on the 28th. Heading back out of columbus, i get another preplan. This one picks up at our Gary, IN. terminal, headed for west chicago. (about 55mi to travel). I decline it, because i wont be ontime to P/U (guessing it will take me an hour or more to get unloaded) not to mention by the time i DO get to P/U, that will leave me 90+ minutes to travel 55 mi in rush hour traffic to get to a live unload by 10:30a ??

what part of that do they not understand??? I cannot safely travel 55 mi in downtown chicago in 90+ minutes smack in the middle of rush-hour. Not to mention after i declined the load, the planner accepted it for me, and put it back on my truck. I responded with a message saying "I DID NOT ACCEPT THIS LOAD......" and gave them the reasons why i did.

Why are there planners who think they're god? or think just becuase they have the magic wand for loads, they think they're over the driver?? this smells like a power trip once again. Told them once i got stopped for the night that i cannot safely deliver this in the time allowed. If they didn't seem to understand, that maybe i'd be better served to call Phoenix safety department.

[SickRick]

Why are there planners who think they're god?

You'll be PRAYING to whatever GOD(S) you pray to, to GET A LOAD - after P.O.'ing your DM/Planner a sufficient number of times.

Does the expression STARVED OUT ring any bells for you buddy? Which company are you planning to INFLICT YOURSELF UPON after the current one is done leaving you sitting MT in a T/A for a week?

Rick

[BanditsCousin]

You can run 294 out of Gary and get to West Chicago in reasonable time, but you played it safe.

[Kevin0915]

You can run 294 out of Gary and get to West Chicago in reasonable time, but you played it safe.

thats just it, i was playing it SAFE, but aparently that is secondary to hauling freight. I've been in rush hour chicago traffic before, and KNOW that if you average 20 mph, you're doing good.

i found its 55 mi from gary terminal to w chicago. seeing how they left me 90+ minutes (maybe 2 hrs) to get it there, i dont think i could make it and still be on time.

as far as sickrick goes, my DM and i get along great, he keeps me rolling and wouldn't DARE pull this crap on me. its always the weekend planner/driver services i'm having issues with. thats why my DM knows to try to get me planned thru the weekend so i dont have to wait on them to find me a load. it wasnt a matter of 'finding' one for me. They were keeping me rolling. had a PP before my current load was empty. they just tried to sneak one on me that was questionalble. Instead of putting the customer first, giving the load to a driver sitting in Gary who could be out the door with it by 7a and have all the time in the world to get it there ontime, they would rather leave it on me after i've said i cannot do it. go figure.

guess my next call is to safety in phoenix.

p.s. not to mention, i take the load, i do my 'running late' macro, and i still get knocked with a service failure? ... you're kidding, right?

[dle]

You got hit with the service failure because you did accept the load knowing that you could not meet the time requirements. If you accept the load, you acknowledge that you can make the p/u and delivery as scheduled - ok. When you use the late macro is after p/u and things happen to make the delivery late - they told us that during orientation.

Thankfully our dm and load planners tried to get us loads that would carry us through the weekend.

BTW, it took you this long to run into this situation. And you are complaining. Consider yourself lucky.

[Kevin0915]

You got hit with the service failure because you did accept the load knowing that you could not meet the time requirements. If you accept the load, you acknowledge that you can make the p/u and delivery as scheduled - ok. When you use the late macro is after p/u and things happen to make the delivery late - they told us that during orientation.

Thankfully our dm and load planners tried to get us loads that would carry us through the weekend.

BTW, it took you this long to run into this situation. And you are complaining. Consider yourself lucky.

I actually never accepted it, and the question wasnt about 'what happens if i get a service failure'. You need to re-read my OP. I never accepted the PP. I declined it. Then the planner resends it back and accepted it for me. I explained twice, and sent an email to my DM saying that although my 730a PTA was a 'good' PTA, it was still impossible for me to accept the load and honestly say it would be on time.

I was declining the load because i DIDN'T feel i had enough time. Eventually, after going empty, I drove back over to the Pilot, and sat till my DM came in at 7a. Because of when i got off the road, my 10 hr break wasnt up till 8a anyway, so when i went MT, i showd my PTA as 8a. I had sent a couple messages asking on the status for this load, cause i had never got an "unplanned" message, so i assumed it was still on me.

My DM comes in, tells me he has messaged the planner for a PP, and within an hour, i got a Costco load. I asked about the other load, and he said it was taken off me. That is good to know, but would like to have known it was removed when it was actually removed, instead of it being in the back of my head, annoying me for the past 5-6 hours going down the road.

[Kevin0915]

You'll be PRAYING to whatever GOD(S) you pray to, to GET A LOAD - after P.O.'ing your DM/Planner a sufficient number of times.

Does the expression STARVED OUT ring any bells for you buddy? Which company are you planning to INFLICT YOURSELF UPON after the current one is done leaving you sitting MT in a T/A for a week?

Rick

and i just love how it is clear you are dying to see me fail. Guess what, BUDDY, swift haters for the past 10 months have been saying that to me. saying i won't make it 3 months. blah blah blah, swift will go under, blah blah blah.

guess what, pally......i'm still here. I know i'm one of the best on my DMs board, thats why he keeps me rolling. I've only got issues with a few planners on the weekend cause they get all butt-hurt when i dont let them go on their power trips on me. Starve me out? hardly. i keep rolling. I had a drop-n-hook the other day in our Gary terminal. all the while, i heard 10-15 drivers b!tchin' cause they couldn't get a load. How is it i'm kept rolling and they end up sitting???

[cdswans]

This is my second problem with a planner in the past three weeks . . oh, boo hoo, woe is me, po po piddaful me . . all the while, i heard 10-15 drivers b!tchin' cause they couldn't get a load. How is it i'm kept rolling and they end up sitting???

Ya see, Kev, some beeches deserve the beatin'.

[VPIDarkAngel]

I've seen that kind of crap before and here's a simple answer. When they look at a driver's available hours, they don't always get an accurate idea of how many hours said driver has. I realize that y'all still run paper logs, but I reckon (Correct me if I'm wrong here) that y'all keep dispatch somewhat informed on how many hours you have left to run. Also, when you declined the load, was there any field to outline WHY you couldn't pick up or deliver on time?

[Syncrosonix]

i've noticed the *nice* people in gary don't really care if you have the hours or not. they'll keep pressuring you to take the load. i had a situation with them last year about it. they kept pushing a load i didn't have the hours for. even my driver manager was PO'ed at them for doing it. i declined the damn load a total of 15 times before they finally stopped. i was also sent wonderful anonymous messages from those nameless heroes.

[VitoCorleone99]

I'm not sure how your planning and dispatching routine differs from ours, but the information that comes through on our pre-plans is usually only a sliver of that which is relevant to the load. Maybe a load needs to pick up between 8am and midnight on Monday and deliver between 8am and midnight on Tuesday. We'll be told that it picks up at 8am Monday and delivers at 8am Tuesday. They give us no information about 'windows' or any of that. So, at first glance you think there's no way it will work. Then, after confirming the assignment, you find that you're actually expected to pick up by 10am on Monday and deliver by 9pm on Tuesday (or whatever alternative scenario your hours would allow).

Perhaps that's what the planners were doing with you or perhaps it's just a matter of them not paying attention. I have no way of knowing. I just know that, for 3+ years, it has been my practice to accept whatever they send me and then keep my hours updated in the computer system along the way. Until last week (September 22nd to be exact), scheduling problems had never been an issue as long as my available hours had been reported every morning. Since that one instance, it hasn't been an issue either. (I'm dropping off a load tomorrow that didn't exactly go according to plan, but it's not my problem.) The desk jockeys do what they do and I do what I do. Everything seems to work out.

Of course, it may simply be that the planner in your case couldn't add. We've all seen that every now and then.

[jonp]

I ran into alot of this at a couple of carriers including Swift where I drove for 3 years. Yes, I had pretty good luck with swift except for the WEEKEND DISPATCHERS. I think it has a lot to do with companies putting people on the weekend when the freight is lower to learn the ropes. They do stuff that they just don't realize they should not do. Many load planners have never driven a truck or have never been in the area of the country that the load is so do not know the traffic patterns. some do, of course, have a god complex. As for the dispatch putting the load back on you when you declined it...you should have stopped and picked up the phone at that point after doing what you did and sending the message so there is a trail. Never accept a load if you can't do the pick-up or delivery on-time. Send a message saying that and asking if they can change the times. If they can't don't go get it to avoid the service failure. If you have been into the customer alot and know that they have leeway in the times you might go and get the load but let the planners know on your qualcomm that you will not make the p/u or delv times although you are willing to go and get it anyways. CYOA is the name of the game here.

While at Swift many years ago the company bought out Best West. I was in Calgary and a dispatcher from there sent me to get a load north of there going to Salt Lake. I told him I didn't have the hours to make it as the load was several hours north of me and I would have to take a break before delv. I got in a terse argument with him about hours etc....anyways I went and got the load and stopped in Calgary on the way south and told him I couldn't make it again. He responded that he took me off of the load and I was to take it to Sweet Grass, MT and relay it to another driver and he would not respond to another message from me. This was on a Sunday. So, since I was taken off of the load I dropped it right there in the parking lot of the truckstop in Calgary and parked next to it since I wasnt moving any load I would not get paid for which was what it sounded like to me. Screw him. The next day I got with my dm and he laughed and said not to worry about it. I left a qualcomm trail a mile long that I couldnt get the load, I was taken off of it, etc....The company talked to that clown about how he treated drivers too.

[nctrucker1]

When I was with swift, the dm i had wanted me to go an hour and half out of my route to fuel at a terminal. I told him that did not save fuel as well did not make sense, besides, I would not get paid any extra for the extra miles. I left swift after that load was delivered. I could see how things were gonna be with them.

[Kevin0915]

I did get a phone call from my DM yesterday saying that if they ever tried that again, to remain professional, and have them call his cell on the weekend thru memphis (think that is where the weekend driver managers are based for me anyway).

In the Mac 9 to accept or decline a load, there are 3 reasons given available to accept for not taking a load. 1) Hours of Service, 2) Hometime request and 3) Other. Then there is a line below that saying "reason:" and another note saying "If other, must call driver manager".

But here is the thing i could not understand. Okay, my PTA is set at 07:30. yet the window for p/u ended at 07:30..............35+ miles away. WTF??

anyway, i hope that planner got into trouble....probably not....but we'll see how this weekend plays out.

[b00m]

Yeah,

That's the reason i hate it swift and their dispatch.Plus, those dispatchers don't have the slightest idea on how to do their job right.Then, for all this BS you don't even get paid,it happened to me too when they routed me to fuel in their long beach ca terminal and put me out of hours,out of route and not being paid on the extra miles.I can say there was a lot of free work with swift,with this being the reason i let them go,after a month otr.

Best thing you can do is let them go,if every driver wouldn't take their BS, this industry would be quite different.

Just my 2 cents.

[zipy46]

Have you ever been in a dispatch office and overheard dispatchers and drivers going back and forth on the phone ?

I did just the other day...it was a riot

Great Dispatcher Quotes:

1) "What ?...what do you mean you don't have the hours ?...I know more about logbooks

than you ...and I don't even drive!".... CLICK !

2) "Late ?....what do you mean Late?" ..... No...no...no... you move the fuel stop back to 0300 and you will be able to deliver on time".....

3)

I will post more as i catch them

Trucking companies are nuthouses

[Double R]

i hope that planner got into trouble....probably not....but we'll see how this weekend plays out.

My guess. You will be sitting all weekend. Although dispatchers(planners) can be stupid and have no clue of what goes on outside their desks, never p%ss off the hand that feeds you.

[Kevin0915]

My guess. You will be sitting all weekend. Although dispatchers(planners) can be stupid and have no clue of what goes on outside their desks, never p%ss off the hand that feeds you.

eh...screw em. i'll just be sure my DM has me planned thru the weekend, or be sure to have me close to home, cause i'll deadhead there and sit. I didnt pack enough clothes in my bag to go on that power-trip with the planner.....

[rkeck]

I'm a driver but I can sympathize with planners and fleet managers and Customer Service Reps. In these tough times, corporate offices are handing down demands to cut costs WHEREVER POSSIBLE, HOWEVER POSSIBLE. And this often translates into cutting MT miles and getting max equipment utilization, period. This is hard to do AND consider practical matters as well.

Try and imagine looking at a screen that shows 45 MT trucks within 50 miles of a load that is approaching too late for on-time delivery pickup ... and all of these drivers want to go home or an 1100 mile run, and don't want the "crap" loads. I know drivers always say "dispatchers and planners should spend a month in a truck in the real world" and this is true, but by the same token, drivers should spend JUST ONE DAY in a planners or dispatchers world, in this poor freight climate, while shippers are looking for any excuse to drop a carrier to bring in another cheaper carrier, because shippers have all of the leverage now and carriers have to literally beg for freight and can't afford any "screw-ups" ... shippers don't care what a driver's log situation is, and planners and CSR's are very aware of this.

I'm not siding with the planner, I'm just saying, today, it is tough for all jobs within large and small trucking businesses.

[jonp]

I had a number of run-ins with weekend dispatchers. Be polite but firm. One of their favorite tricks was that my dm would set me up on loads for the weekend and around 1800 or so on Friday I would get yanked off of them and be given crap loads. Happened too often to be coincidence. This happened not only at Swift but a large number of times at Roehl which is one reason I am no longer at that company.

Schneider load planners don't pick up stuff either. When we get sent a load we estimate how long it will take to do the route and deliver it and then send in the hours remaining on our 14hr and 11hr clocks so they can plan a 2cd load on us. The times will vary due to the driving times but since we go into the same places all of the time we are usually within 15min on our log. The 14hr, of course, does not change. Week in and week out I will be sent a 2cd load that delivers past my 14hrs sometime up to an hour past. This week my 2cd load delivered at 0445 and my 14 was up at 0400. I pick up the phone and my boss takes it off of me. Happens all of the time.