No Loads For You….

What a direct reply of a situation. Out of curiosity do you know what your carriers contract with that customer states regarding detention?? You must to know that you get detention after 2 hours. Also you must have seen it in writing to be so definite.

4 hours detention must be a sizeable amount to warrant you getting so “mad” about. What maybe 100 bucks or so??

I ‘m also wondering why you would go through multiple people about it, instead of dealing with one person, and I guess it was the last person’s lucky day to be last in line, but reap your anger.

Yep companies are just out to rip drivers off for 100 bucks or so at a time. Maybe if it happens again filing a theft report with local law enforcement would be appropriate.

Based on your last post I think I can see why dispatch is appathetic toward you. Maybe I’m wrong but I would think having a good working relationship with dispatch just may be worth far more than 4 hours of detention on 1 load.

Carry on…

Precisely why I chose to never be a trainer.

Precisely why I chose to never be a trainer.

Think about the special challenge experience you're missing!

So William... how’s your approach been working for you so far? I see and understand way more than you realize...

You’ve gotten some great advice here...

Obviously you know better. Good luck.

William I’d like to suggest taking a hard look at how you interact with your driver management, especially as you move forward with perhaps a different employer.

There is an old saying, somewhat Biblical in nature that states:

“You reap what you sow” If you are interacting with your management and dispatch the way you have come across here... it’s no wonder they are not attempting to work with you.

My approach to trucking has always been, and always will be to treat others the way you want to be treated. With respect and a professional attitude. Especially with individuals who are responsible for managing driver operations and evaluating performance. They can either enable your success or hinder it.

I can recall countless times when this professional approach has been rewarded with a choice run or additional money for doing something extra.

I’m offering this advice from experience (9 years in trucking and 60+ years of life) because I’ve seen what can happen to drivers who project a negative/hostile attitude. Typically they are met with indifference and at times completely ignored. No, I’m not suggesting to kiss management’s ass... just consider adding a little finesse and basic kindness to smooth your obvious hard and sharp edges. Understand you are one of many drivers they are working with. Set yourself apart in a positive way... not a negative one.

The results might surprise you. Maybe not with the current employer (nameless?), but certainly looking to your future.

Hope you think about this, turn the focus on you.

Good luck.

This is certainly noble and sound advice and not anything that I’m going to dispute or argue about. Because you’re spot on and correct. But I don’t think we’re quite comparing apples to apples in our analogy here. When you approach dispatch for something like say detention pay. This is a very 2+2 = 4 situation. It’s not an evolving situation, it’s not a debatable situation, it’s not open to some kind of analogy. The company policy is if you sit at a shipper or receiver with an appointment time for more than two hours you are put on detention pay. So if I sit at a shipper or receiver waiting to Get loaded or unloaded more than two hours past my appointment time I’m to start getting paid, correct? Last time I sat for six hours which basically was the entire afternoon. I put in for my four hours eligible detention pay. It was ignored. So I pick up my phone and I called. I get to listen to the huffy and heavy size on the other end about “OK I’ll tell so-and-so and will get it in for you”. Another day goes by, the PO for the approval of detention pay never comes through. I send Another message. No response. Another half a day goes by and I’m growing frustrated. I’m getting irritated. I pick up the phone. I remind them again on the phone. Yes at this point I kind of have a sarcastic tone. Who wouldn’t? This is not a mistake at this point this is intentional. The dispatcher I get this time tells me so and so will send that right over to you within the next half hour. By this time I’m done for the day. I take my 10 hour break and go to sleep for the night getting up the next morning and still it’s not there. I called again. This time Im mad. I ask you once again, who wouldn’t be? I’m literally being ripped off by dispatch. A few minutes later the approval finally comes through for my four hours of pay.

I don’t feel like I need to be ultra nice at this point. When dealing with things like this. You’re probably correct I might get further licking their boot in a situation like this. Maybe cracking a joke or two. Trying to buddy up and be their friend. But when someone looks at me square in the face four times and tries to rip me off? I’m just not gonna be able to go there. I’m going to call them out on it. The way I see it is I’m doing my job. They need to do their’s.

Interesting thread. Just about every time I get in my head about loads, it usually resolves itself. Ive learned to keep my mouth shut and my bugger pickers off the keyboard and it works out just fine. A lot of times its how I look at the situation that makes a huge difference. The last week, I kept thinking that the company was being really persistent about sending me up to Rapid City SD. Its not that I mind loads up there, I just dont have much experience and there was weather coming in. I really wanted some nice cushy southern routes as I have home time in the south coming up (even though I just took a week off and went to France). In my mind, I had it made up that my terminal manager and dispatcher hated me because Im the new guy and that they wanted me to drive in the worst possible weather to toughen me up. Thats how we taught new guys in the trades.

I kept my mouth closed though and just said "Ok, No problem" on the loads. I did very politely say that we had weather coming in and I was concerned, due to my lack of experience, but would choose the safe path and do whatever they needed. Definitely not what I wanted to say, especially after hauling a light load for them several times in a row through wind storms the previous week or two.

Turned out that I ended up talking with my terminal manager as she was running dispatch over the weekend. She thanked me profusely for taking the route(s) and explained that she felt I always make really safe and sound decisions, that she would pay me for sitting and that the reason she wanted me to take the route is that she valued my judgment in when to shut down and take it slow. Some or more of our drivers might not necessarily be as cautious and communicate as much as me. I am very cautious, Im very inexperienced but I hope to stay that cautious even when I do gain experience.

As far as detention pay, Its a give and a take. I have plenty of times where I dont even ask for it, its not worth it. Id rather use it when its a big one. In this case, I had a Budweiser load that they never put together right before sitting out due to weather on this load. I very politely asked my DM if he could help me out with that and left it up to him. He promptly answered I got you 250.00 for that, that work? A couple days had gone by. Hes busy, Im busy. Crap happens. I dont take offense at it.

On the "dispatchers are busy" idea, it came up in class today that dispatchers at Veriha are each handling ~40 drivers. If you do the math, that means I'd get at best 10 minutes a day of their time, and 5 would proabably be better. If I take up any more than that without a damn good reason, then I'm the selfish whiny *******.

William, hi.

I’m green behind the ears and do not have anything specific to your situation, as I am not even a noob, but in the gathering info stage.

That said, I do have a tale. Also—I sympathize with your plight, being so near home and sitting at a closed terminal , with no stores nearby or anything to do for fun has got to be maddening.

However, I too think your salvation lies in looking at it differently. I know that is hard to truly do when you are worked up, and from experience. I’ve lost focus and got hung up on things more than once as well. I suppose we all have.

Here is what helped me, during those times I was still able to breathe and see the bigger picture.

Full disclosure: When I was as worked up as you are now, I just made a complete a$$ of myself and lived to regret it.

Many moons ago I was given an opportunity at a manufacturing plant. A management track if I could hack it. It was salary and paid $5 per hour. I was required to work minimum 50 hours per week. That meant I did not get paid for those last 10 hours, or any of the +10 I felt I needed to put in.

Everyone told me I was stupid for doing it. They pay you 💩 and make you work for free! Why do you put up with it? They are using you! Taking advantage of you!

Perhaps for a short while some of the higher-ups were. I don’t think so, but who knows?

The point is. That job opened every door that ever opened for me in all the years since.

That experience was a stepping stone. The first step in a much larger journey. I may have had to work many hours for free, but what I got there was priceless.

When I am sane, I know everything is a stepping stone.

Take a deep breath. Try to see it differently. Maybe this isn’t the best company in the world, but the experience you get there is valuable. Someday you will be needing a reference for that brand new dream job too.

So once you are calm, and back at the terminal, go apologize to the dispatchers. And mean it. Make yourself mean it. Maybe buy them flowers too, send them from out on the road with a thank you note.

A coworker did that for me once. The flowers. We had had a hellish month. She was of higher rank than me, like a bear, and tough as nails. She bought me flowers and a card. I cried. Right there in my cubicle in plain view of my all-male team. Then I found her, hugged her and cried some more.

Office people are people too. Everyone needs to hear “good job” every once in a while.

It is 17 years ago now that she brought me the flowers. I still tear up about it. She will forever be special to me.

Try to eat the crow and be as nice as you can. Even if you despise them. Be nice not because they deserve it, but because you are a class-act, and this is just how you operate no matter how mean everyone else is.

Last; on the fishing boat, you sucked up to the cook and the laundry guy. Pi** off those two, and you’d go naked and hungry.

That dispatcher is your cook. You need to make friends even if they cannot cook an egg.

Remember—stepping stone! Good reference for the next one!

And last—I do not judge you, (nor do I believe the others do). I’ve been known to be a hothead myself. Put my foot in my mouth. Flown off the handle.

Been EMBARRASSED as hell when I came to my senses.

All the best to you.

Lil’Red

On the "dispatchers are busy" idea, it came up in class today that dispatchers at Veriha are each handling ~40 drivers. If you do the math, that means I'd get at best 10 minutes a day of their time, and 5 would proabably be better. If I take up any more than that without a damn good reason, then I'm the selfish whiny *******.

It's not your fault if they make dispatchers take too many drivers.

You do not need more than 10 minutes per day with a dispatcher.

I know that may seem implausible right now... but you’ll see how that plays out soon enough. A word of advice when communicating with your driver management/dispatch; use your electronic device to record requests and status. That way there is a record of the communication.

I wasn't complaining or saying that was improper. I'm sure they know what they're doing personell-wise.

It was just a farily stark realization for me of exactly where the bar is and what expectations I'll need to meet to fit into the system. They've already pointed out the timeliness/recordkeeping/myriad other benefits of the electronic communications.