Would You?

What do "T-called" and "repowered" mean, please?

Sorry Stacy, we forget that we gave our own little language in our sub-culture.

"T-called" is a term referring to dropping a loaded trailer at a terminal (hence the T) and it may sit there for a few days until another driver who is available in the area can take it to it's final destination. These can also be dropped at a drop yard or sometimes even a willing customer with trailer storage areas. But we still call it a "T-called" load.

"Re-power" is when an available driver gets assigned a "T-called" load to deliver it. They are "re-powering" that load with their power unit, or what is normally called their truck, or tractor.

I was actually baiting him a little in the hopes that he would come up with the answer

Sure didn't work. He doesn't seem interested in engaging in this conversation at all. He just wants to say, "My company does dumb things for no reason" and that's that.

See, people often don't realize that it takes a lot of ambition to make things happen for themselves in this industry. You can't just sit back and wait to be handed everything. You have to make phone calls to customers to push appointment times forward. You have to show up early to appointment times to try to persuade the dock workers to get you finished sooner. You have to continuously request more freight and better miles from dispatch. Once in a great while you might even have to speak with an operations manager if dispatch says they've done all they can do and it's out of their hands.

If you're one of the top drivers then you simply have to take the approach that you're not going to settle for anything less than top miles. That doesn't mean every single week is going to be 3,200 miles. But you should have no problem averaging 2,800 - 3,000 miles if you've proven over time that you want it and you can handle it.

I've known tons of drivers over the years that would rather dictate the terms of their employment than to get great miles. They'd rather complain than work together with someone to get problems solved. They'd rather blame others for their woes than take it upon themselves to make better things happen.

Everything is done for a reason. If things aren't being done to keep you moving then you have to figure out what's going on and fix the problem. Maybe freight is slow. Maybe your company changed software packages. Maybe your dispatcher is dropping the ball. But most of the time the problem is with the driver. Either the driver isn't flexible, reliable, and motivated or simply isn't communicating their concerns to dispatch properly.

Jim, we have a ton of people here working for Swift and somehow this only seems to be happening to you and no one else, and you don't know why. Old School tried to get you to talk about it and figure it out but you're more worried that Dan isn't sweet talking you. You avoided engaging in any conversations that might lead you to a better understanding of the situation or help us diagnose it for you.

There are people like Old School who will dig and scratch and claw for more miles, more opportunities, and quick solutions to obstacles in his way. He'll get to know dispatch, he'll call ahead to customers, he'll sneak in during the night to make sure he's first in line to get unloaded. He literally does anything and everything he can possibly think of to get as many miles as possible in each week.

Very, very, very few drivers are like Old School. Even those that are fairly hard working people don't have the wherewithal to find creative solutions to keeping that truck moving. It's not enough to just be capable of moving a lot of freight reliably and staying on schedule. You have to lobby. You have to make phone calls. You have to show up early. You have to tweak every moment possible out of your logbook. You have to continuously push everyone around you and exploit every opportunity to make things happen for yourself.

Jim, I don't know you. But you are not at all striking me right now as the type who is making every possible effort to turn as many miles as possible. You went more out of your way to complain about your company and about Dan than you did to explain your problem or engage with Old School about it. To simply say, "Well my company keeps pushing back my appointments times and I don't know why and that's BS" doesn't help a thing. You haven't presented any more information about it either.

Are you calling the customers to see if you can move the appointment up?

Are you pushing dispatch to get that load off you to get onto something else?

Have you spoken with your dispatcher's boss or the operations manager about what's going on if dispatch says there's nothing they can do?

Have you tried just showing up to the customer early to see if they'll unload you anyhow?

Where is the desire to fix this situation and get more miles for yourself? I'm not hearing it at all. I'm hearing complaining and I'm seeing what appears to be you throwing your hands in the air to say "I don't know what the problem is but it isn't me" Again, that doesn't help anything.

And the big question - have you been making every single one of your appointments on time? Every single one?

Serah has only been with the company running solo for five weeks and she's getting great miles and T-calls on loads with extended time on them. In fact, she's the one who started this conversation to find out what the best strategy is for getting more miles. That's what I like to see. I like to see people who are actively looking for solutions instead of complaining or pointing fingers or throwing their hands in the air and giving up.

Sorry Stacy, we forget that we gave our own little language in our sub-culture.

"T-called" is a term referring to dropping a loaded trailer at a terminal (hence the T) and it may sit there for a few days until another driver who is available in the area can take it to it's final destination. These can also be dropped at a drop yard or sometimes even a willing customer with trailer storage areas. But we still call it a "T-called" load.

"Re-power" is when an available driver gets assigned a "T-called" load to deliver it. They are "re-powering" that load with their power unit, or what is normally called their truck, or tractor.

To add to what Old School wrote...

On the Walmart Dedicated Account we occasionally will repower a load en-route. This is usually done at a store by way of a trailer swap. The events that typically causes this is some sort of delay; either road closure or a breakdown. It's all about available hours.

Here is a recent example...

I was at one of our vendor backhauls called Johanna Farms (dairy products) in Flemington NJ, dropping an empty; picking up a load of yogurt, cottage cheese, sour cream...etc., when I got a call from one of the DM's requesting that I repower a store load at the Phillipsburg NJ store. The trailer was headed for a final delivery stop north to Hackettstown NJ. I had plenty of hours to swap trailers with the driver who ran out of hours due to a breakdown and I was within 30 minutes of Phillipsburg. Since my full trailer backhaul of dairy wasn't required to be back to the DC until the next morning, yet the load waiting at Philipsburg had a delivery time in Hackettstown of 19:00, it had to get done by that time or risk a Service Level Failure.

I was actually baiting him a little in the hopes that he would come up with the answer

Sure didn't work. He doesn't seem interested in engaging in this conversation at all. He just wants to say, "My company does dumb things for no reason" and that's that.

See, people often don't realize that it takes a lot of ambition to make things happen for themselves in this industry. You can't just sit back and wait to be handed everything. You have to make phone calls to customers to push appointment times forward. You have to show up early to appointment times to try to persuade the dock workers to get you finished sooner. You have to continuously request more freight and better miles from dispatch. Once in a great while you might even have to speak with an operations manager if dispatch says they've done all they can do and it's out of their hands.

If you're one of the top drivers then you simply have to take the approach that you're not going to settle for anything less than top miles. That doesn't mean every single week is going to be 3,200 miles. But you should have no problem averaging 2,800 - 3,000 miles if you've proven over time that you want it and you can handle it.

I pretty much did this last week. While I was on my way to California, I remembered that I had a pm window opening on the weekend. Called up my dispatcher and asked if there was a way I could be sent up to our terminal in Gary IN, about 2000m out, for a pm and a 34. Kept giving constant updates on how much time I had on my 70, came to a point where it was impossible, tried to lobby for Indy, lost too much time in Denver so that was out. Was on my way to KC, remembered we had a small terminal in Edwardsville IL, suggested that instead. I had the time, by about 2h, so I was worked that way. Ended that week with 3.8k miles with a pm and a 34.

TL;DR, communication gave me miles.

TL;DR, communication gave me miles.

Communication and the creativity and perseverance necessary to find a solution. You didn't just sit back and accept the status quo. You didn't quit the fight when plan A or plan B didn't work out. You stayed in the fight and kept after it until you found a way to make it happen.

That's exactly what we're talking about. You have to have that fierce determination to keep those wheels turning. You have to be super ambitious. You have to try everything you can think of.

Your motto should be, "There's gotta be a way" and as they say, "Never give up"

I can seriously remember seeing this poster for the first time. It was hanging in the office of a customer I was delivering to. It really did have a significant impact on me and became an instant favorite of mine for all time. It's almost comical how much I've thought of this over the years: