Need Help From The Swifties
Topic 22286 | Page 1
I was in the same situation as you, not with a dedicated mentor, but my mentor didnt teach trip planning to me.
First and foremost get a truckers atlas to match the routes swift gives you to make sure you can take them.
The main macros you will use are 1 for arrival at shipper , 2 for loaded call, 3 and 4 if you have a load that has more than one stop, 5 and 6 for arival at final and empty call, 8 for home time, 9 to accept, counter, or reject a load, 10 to message planner to ask for load, 11 for when you get fuel, 22 when you are running late, and 34 to update pta/eta.
Basically everybody does those macros even on dedicated. Other ones i use/used are 7 for payroll to make sure my check is right, 30 for load offers (company drivers can use this macro dont let the terminal rats tell you otherwise), 31 to accept one of those load offerings, 40 when you need to pay a lumper fee (make sure to get some comchecks). I am leaving some out but most of the others you usually wont use or rarely use.
Ill give you a more in depth trip plan in a little bit. Im on my phone so its hard to type that up. Email me at jensendevan@gmail.com. Ill give you my number thru it so you call or text me when you need help. These first few months will break you, you just have yo push through. If i made it anyone can. Good luck!
Shipper:
The customer who is shipping the freight. This is where the driver will pick up a load and then deliver it to the receiver or consignee.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
32- daily vehicle inspection report. I do this at the end of my shift.
Did your mentor instruct on the load tab? Far right elog tab.
Elog:
Electronic Onboard Recorder
Electronic Logbook
A device which records the amount of time a vehicle has been driven. If the vehicle is not being driven, the operator will manually input whether or not he/she is on duty or not.
G town I don’t think so. What is that about ?
It's on the QC elog menu, a tab next to the approve tab. It will say LOAD. Press it.
Every time you are dispatched you must enter the trip number (on the QC preplan or paperwork you get at the window) BOL number and the trailer#. The from date will auto fill. To date may need adjusting depending how long the trip is.
If you drop and hook to an empty or loaded trailer, edit and append the new trailer#. Once you see it, will make more sense. Edit the existing load until your new trip/load is dispatched.
I enter my load tab data immediately after entering the mac-2. If you recall your paper log sheet, the trip info is at the top. Same info, different way of documenting it.
This is an easy ticket if DOT reviews your logs and the tab is out of date or blank.
Elog:
Electronic Onboard Recorder
Electronic Logbook
A device which records the amount of time a vehicle has been driven. If the vehicle is not being driven, the operator will manually input whether or not he/she is on duty or not.
DOT:
Department Of Transportation
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
Drop And Hook:
Drop and hook means the driver will drop one trailer and hook to another one.
In order to speed up the pickup and delivery process a driver may be instructed to drop their empty trailer and hook to one that is already loaded, or drop their loaded trailer and hook to one that is already empty. That way the driver will not have to wait for a trailer to be loaded or unloaded.
It's on the QC elog menu, a tab next to the approve tab. It will say LOAD. Press it.
Every time you are dispatched you must enter the trip number (on the QC preplan or paperwork you get at the window) BOL number and the trailer#. The from date will auto fill. To date may need adjusting depending how long the trip is.
If you drop and hook to an empty or loaded trailer, edit and append the new trailer#. Once you see it, will make more sense. Edit the existing load until your new trip/load is dispatched.
I enter my load tab data immediately after entering the mac-2. If you recall your paper log sheet, the trip info is at the top. Same info, different way of documenting it.
This is an easy ticket if DOT reviews your logs and the tab is out of date or blank.
Hey G-town, does the load tab not auto update when your dispatch information comes through? Mine always has, even when I did the Walmart dedicated. When I get dispatched, it automatically deletes all information from the old dispatch, and activates all information for the new dispatch.
As far as the macros I use, I always use 1-6, Mac 22 for running late, and Mac 32 for pre-trip. Mac 11 is actually no longer necessary for fuel, as the fuel optimization is calculated from your empty call (when you enter your fuel level in 1/8ths).
I use the dial-in app for home time requests and preplans.
Elog:
Electronic Onboard Recorder
Electronic Logbook
A device which records the amount of time a vehicle has been driven. If the vehicle is not being driven, the operator will manually input whether or not he/she is on duty or not.
DOT:
Department Of Transportation
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
Drop And Hook:
Drop and hook means the driver will drop one trailer and hook to another one.
In order to speed up the pickup and delivery process a driver may be instructed to drop their empty trailer and hook to one that is already loaded, or drop their loaded trailer and hook to one that is already empty. That way the driver will not have to wait for a trailer to be loaded or unloaded.
It's on the QC elog menu, a tab next to the approve tab. It will say LOAD. Press it.
Every time you are dispatched you must enter the trip number (on the QC preplan or paperwork you get at the window) BOL number and the trailer#. The from date will auto fill. To date may need adjusting depending how long the trip is.
If you drop and hook to an empty or loaded trailer, edit and append the new trailer#. Once you see it, will make more sense. Edit the existing load until your new trip/load is dispatched.
I enter my load tab data immediately after entering the mac-2. If you recall your paper log sheet, the trip info is at the top. Same info, different way of documenting it.
This is an easy ticket if DOT reviews your logs and the tab is out of date or blank.
Hey G-town, does the load tab not auto update when your dispatch information comes through? Mine always has, even when I did the Walmart dedicated. When I get dispatched, it automatically deletes all information from the old dispatch, and activates all information for the new dispatch.
As far as the macros I use, I always use 1-6, Mac 22 for running late, and Mac 32 for pre-trip. Mac 11 is actually no longer necessary for fuel, as the fuel optimization is calculated from your empty call (when you enter your fuel level in 1/8ths).
I use the dial-in app for home time requests and preplans.
Chris, that has never happened on any Pottsville PA Walmart account dispatch, not once. I wish it did. Interesting to see what Danielsahn checks-in with.
The data is already known, just in different places. It should autofill for at least the first trailer. The only issue is when dropping one trailer and picking up an MT under same dispatch. No way that could autofill. Same for backhaul.
So Bryan...check this. I might be completely wrong for OTR.
Elog:
Electronic Onboard Recorder
Electronic Logbook
A device which records the amount of time a vehicle has been driven. If the vehicle is not being driven, the operator will manually input whether or not he/she is on duty or not.
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
DOT:
Department Of Transportation
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
Drop And Hook:
Drop and hook means the driver will drop one trailer and hook to another one.
In order to speed up the pickup and delivery process a driver may be instructed to drop their empty trailer and hook to one that is already loaded, or drop their loaded trailer and hook to one that is already empty. That way the driver will not have to wait for a trailer to be loaded or unloaded.
What does MT stands for ? Lol my mentor would tell me to send for a MT move. And all this time I’ve been typing empty haha
What does MT stands for ? Lol my mentor would tell me to send for a MT move. And all this time I’ve been typing empty haha
Montana. Mountain. Mother Trucker... should I continue???
And of course eMpTy trailer.
Hahaha makes sense now lol
Are you ever in the chambersburg area? G town ?
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So I’m almost done with my mentor ( thanks God ) and he does dedicate routes. Basically all I ever done was chambersburg pa down to mount Crawford va. That’s really it. So no trip planning really. And we only use macros 0-6 and he does intermodal but when I get on my own I’ll be doing dry vans. Which idk why they put in intermodal? But anyways. I know when I get on my own I’m going to have trouble with trip planning and all my other friends said they use more macros otr. So basically can anybody help me out on going about trip planning especially if I have to go let’s say from Nc to California.
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
Intermodal:
Transporting freight using two or more transportation modes. An example would be freight that is moved by truck from the shipper's dock to the rail yard, then placed on a train to the next rail yard, and finally returned to a truck for delivery to the receiving customer.
In trucking when you hear someone refer to an intermodal job they're normally talking about hauling shipping containers to and from the shipyards and railyards.
Dry Van:
A trailer or truck that that requires no special attention, such as refrigeration, that hauls regular palletted, boxed, or floor-loaded freight. The most common type of trailer in trucking.