Impossible Dispatched Loads. How To Handle It?

Well I’ve been three months at my new (five years OTR experience) company now and overall I like it with the exception of one thing. Every load is a hot load and the back loads that my dispatcher gives me…well about 75% of them are mathematically impossible to get there on time. On the day I deliver a load for example I’ll have an 8 AM delivery. And then he schedules a pick up time for the next load at say 4 PM. Well if I was starting my day where I was picking up the load I could make these loads. He’s not calculating in the fact that I’m using up most of my 14 between these two appointment times. And the load is super tight to begin with. This makes them impossible. I immediately recognize this and call it to his attention. I don’t know if the guys picking the fattest paying load off of the load board and not really looking at my numbers but every single time it’s impossible. And then it goes like this….I send him a message telling him how it’s not possible to run the load on time. He never says he’s going to fix the load or cancel the load or change the appointment time, it’s always well let’s wait until you’re closer to delivery and see how you’re doing. And I’m like screaming in my brain dude it’s not happening. This is simple math a fifth grader can do. Well so far he’s gotten away with these late loads. And then my four years of previous truck driving I’ve never had a single light load. So this is new for me. Up until last week I’ve always been able to finagle with the receiver to get in and still get unloaded. And then it finally happened.I told him it would never be on time, tells me to run it anyhow, and when i arrived, basically the receiver told me to go fly a kite. They aren’t gonna unload me for four days.and my dispatcher is acting like he doesn’t know this and being coy. I have a point when things start to boil over for me and this just might do it.

My first question is, what is your company policy on split sleeper berth?

My trip planning always includes longer drive days at the beginning of a run, so I have wiggle room for things that inevitably go sideways. Quite often, on days where I am delivering and then picking up on the same day, I'll do the delivery, turn and burn to get to the next pickup (or as close as possible) and do the short off duty stretch (good for road laundry) or the long Sleeper stretch, that way I preserve my 14.

Right now, on this delivery, I ran into a slow down that delayed me enough to make a 10 impossible before delivery. (Very strict no more than 1 hour early delivery.) I do have enough for an 8 in SB, will drive the 9 miles to my delivery, where historically I haven't been unloaded in less than 2.5 hours, thereby I'll complete the split, and get back my full 11/14 clock, minus the 9 miles to drive, and the on duty time dealing with paperwork and getting into a door.

Well I’ve been three months at my new (five years OTR experience) company now and overall I like it with the exception of one thing. Every load is a hot load and the back loads that my dispatcher gives me…well about 75% of them are mathematically impossible to get there on time. On the day I deliver a load for example I’ll have an 8 AM delivery. And then he schedules a pick up time for the next load at say 4 PM. Well if I was starting my day where I was picking up the load I could make these loads. He’s not calculating in the fact that I’m using up most of my 14 between these two appointment times. And the load is super tight to begin with. This makes them impossible. I immediately recognize this and call it to his attention. I don’t know if the guys picking the fattest paying load off of the load board and not really looking at my numbers but every single time it’s impossible. And then it goes like this….I send him a message telling him how it’s not possible to run the load on time. He never says he’s going to fix the load or cancel the load or change the appointment time, it’s always well let’s wait until you’re closer to delivery and see how you’re doing. And I’m like screaming in my brain dude it’s not happening. This is simple math a fifth grader can do. Well so far he’s gotten away with these late loads. And then my four years of previous truck driving I’ve never had a single light load. So this is new for me. Up until last week I’ve always been able to finagle with the receiver to get in and still get unloaded. And then it finally happened.I told him it would never be on time, tells me to run it anyhow, and when i arrived, basically the receiver told me to go fly a kite. They aren’t gonna unload me for four days.and my dispatcher is acting like he doesn’t know this and being coy. I have a point when things start to boil over for me and this just might do it.

A couple of questions:

1) You mention that starting your 14 at a certain time prevents you being able to successfully deliver these loads. Are you pausing your clock via split sleeper provision?

2) Is your dispatcher having you relay loads like this to other drivers?

My first question is, what is your company policy on split sleeper berth?

My trip planning always includes longer drive days at the beginning of a run, so I have wiggle room for things that inevitably go sideways. Quite often, on days where I am delivering and then picking up on the same day, I'll do the delivery, turn and burn to get to the next pickup (or as close as possible) and do the short off duty stretch (good for road laundry) or the long Sleeper stretch, that way I preserve my 14.

Right now, on this delivery, I ran into a slow down that delayed me enough to make a 10 impossible before delivery. (Very strict no more than 1 hour early delivery.) I do have enough for an 8 in SB, will drive the 9 miles to my delivery, where historically I haven't been unloaded in less than 2.5 hours, thereby I'll complete the split, and get back my full 11/14 clock, minus the 9 miles to drive, and the on duty time dealing with paperwork and getting into a door.

To finish up the delivery load I had to drive 2 hours and then do my 8 AM delivery. 8 AM delivery got unloaded at 10 AM. Drove another 90 minutes to the shipper for my next load. That load, loaded at 4 PM. That loads appointment time was for 7am the next morning! And it was 686 miles. So there is no time to squeeze 10 hours of break time in there. Basically you would have to have your full clock from the time you’re loaded and drive straight through to the delivery to make that load work. And even then at 686 miles, you’ve got a hope there’s no major delays. Absolute total impossible load. And so now I get to sit for four days! Not acceptable to me! Especially when I told the guy this.

Problems with dispatch again? We tried assisting you more than a year ago, but I don't have anything this time. Good luck.

My first question is, what is your company policy on split sleeper berth?

My trip planning always includes longer drive days at the beginning of a run, so I have wiggle room for things that inevitably go sideways. Quite often, on days where I am delivering and then picking up on the same day, I'll do the delivery, turn and burn to get to the next pickup (or as close as possible) and do the short off duty stretch (good for road laundry) or the long Sleeper stretch, that way I preserve my 14.

Right now, on this delivery, I ran into a slow down that delayed me enough to make a 10 impossible before delivery. (Very strict no more than 1 hour early delivery.) I do have enough for an 8 in SB, will drive the 9 miles to my delivery, where historically I haven't been unloaded in less than 2.5 hours, thereby I'll complete the split, and get back my full 11/14 clock, minus the 9 miles to drive, and the on duty time dealing with paperwork and getting into a door.

To finish up the delivery load I had to drive 2 hours and then do my 8 AM delivery. 8 AM delivery got unloaded at 10 AM. Drove another 90 minutes to the shipper for my next load. That load, loaded at 4 PM. That loads appointment time was for 7am the next morning! And it was 686 miles. So there is no time to squeeze 10 hours of break time in there. Basically you would have to have your full clock from the time you’re loaded and drive straight through to the delivery to make that load work. And even then at 686 miles, you’ve got a hope there’s no major delays. Absolute total impossible load. And so now I get to sit for four days! Not acceptable to me! Especially when I told the guy this.

So you tell dispatch to set up a relay. You don't create a monumental crisis out of something that really isn't anything. When given such a load, you inform dispatch "I won't be able to deliver this load in time without running illegally." You then ask, " Do you still want me to pick up this load?" If told to pick up the load, you then ask, "Where should I take this load for a relay?" Or, you can say, "with my time for driving available, "I can get to xxx location (pick a place with truck parking along the route to the destination). See, the way you are complaining, you seem to have a "lone wolf" mentality. You are probably reliable in getting from pick up to delivery in a predictable manner. What you don't seem to be doing, based on your question and follow up post, is being a team-player. You are not the only truck with a driver available to move freight, which means just because you pick up a load doesn't mean that you have to be the one to deliver the load. Basically, you need to communicate with your dispatcher and accept what your dispatcher says when you give the information. Truthfully, it's a reasonable response for dispatch to say, "We'll see how far you get," when informing dispatch that you don't have sufficient time to make the delivery. In other words, dispatch is telling you that the company can't miss picking up this load, and once you have started moving with the load, dispatch can then work on changing the appointment time or arranging a relay. You are not helping the matter by complaining about it. This falls under, "Do your job and let dispatch do their job."

Part of starting with a new company is discovering all the details about how they run their company. If you've done this job for more than a week you know there are a lot of important details about an employer besides, "How many cpm?". While using a 7/3 or 8/2 split may give you a saving throw some of the time it won't fix the problem.

There are only two questions that matter:

a) Is there a way to make them change and realistically plan your trips so you're not up against the clock every day? Is there a driver advocate or terminal manager with an open door policy you could hash this out with? If they are unable or unwilling to help change the situation, see question 2.

b) Are you willing to live with it? If they aren't willing or able to change then you may need to find greener pastures.

Some of the things I've seen at a new employer:

Every trip something is seriously wrong with the equipment - axle seizing on the trailer, no trailer brakes, dolly catches fire. EVERY TRIP!

Report to the terminal to meet with trainer for a check ride, get assaulted by a security guard.

Do a pre-trip and fail the trailer because the mud flaps are digging into to pavement and the pins won't move. Call dispatch to let them know there's a problem, "Not a damn thing wrong with that trailer, roll it!" Not gonna happen. Two days of arguing later they send out a service truck. After de-icing the airlines they remove more than a gallon of water and ice from the air lines. Once the airlines are cleared there's an ABS light. When they crawl under the trailer to replace the ABS sensors they discover that the brakes and rotors need to be replaced...