How Do I Proceed?

My load planner really doesn't look at my Availability. I'm at my 02 and I have 6:00 on my 14 hour clock and after this I have a 99 that'll take about one hour to get to. Then I wait for a few hours while they unload me again. I assume ill have 3:00 on my clock at my 99 departure. Then drive back to Dallas for a trailer washout because I'm carrying turkey and its bloody.

So as I guessed yesterday, ill have about two hours when I'm all done. I set my PTA to 4/18/0600. Now I just got a load to CO that has to deliver by the end of tomorrow. That's 700 miles in one day. So now I have to pick up the load today and do what I can with it even though my PTA is set for tomorrow. The load was supposed to be picked up yesterday but wasn't. If I do this load I have to use all my hours I have and that'll making going home a pain since I'm due for home time in a week.

What do I do when my availability is completely ignored? Reject the load? I wouldn't mind doing the load but if I do it I guarantee I won't make it to home on time (wedding, I must be home on time!) and it'll be harder since ill kill my hours. I also doubt I can make it on time considering these two hours will be spent stuck in traffic.

Don't accept a load that you can't make within the time they give you. It sounds like the planners are stuck with this load and just want to push it off on somebody else. We have the opportunity to tell them what time we can be there and they might send it back with the adjustment. There is almost no way for a company driver to hit 700 miles a day, it took me every minute of my time and a 15 minute break or two on paper logs to hit 713 and that is doing 67 all day.

My load planner really doesn't look at my Availability. I'm at my 02 and I have 6:00 on my 14 hour clock and after this I have a 99 that'll take about one hour to get to. Then I wait for a few hours while they unload me again. I assume ill have 3:00 on my clock at my 99 departure. Then drive back to Dallas for a trailer washout because I'm carrying turkey and its bloody.

So as I guessed yesterday, ill have about two hours when I'm all done. I set my PTA to 4/18/0600. Now I just got a load to CO that has to deliver by the end of tomorrow. That's 700 miles in one day. So now I have to pick up the load today and do what I can with it even though my PTA is set for tomorrow. The load was supposed to be picked up yesterday but wasn't. If I do this load I have to use all my hours I have and that'll making going home a pain since I'm due for home time in a week.

What do I do when my availability is completely ignored? Reject the load? I wouldn't mind doing the load but if I do it I guarantee I won't make it to home on time (wedding, I must be home on time!) and it'll be harder since ill kill my hours. I also doubt I can make it on time considering these two hours will be spent stuck in traffic.

Hey bud, start speakin Engrish.. 99, 02, PTA..you gotta remember..some of us ain't even sat in a rig yet..and here you are using all kinda technical terms on us..

Don't feel bad, Guy....This old chickster didn't understand any of that stuff either....All my logs have been on reconstituted trees, and they were fairy tales at that...

Sounds like some of the same terms we use @ Prime. 02 is his first drop, 99 is the second.

PTA (projected time of availability)

Hope this clears things up for all you non QUALCOMM folks.

Ernie

Thank You Ernie...I knew you would be gentle with this old Chickster....

What do I do when my availability is completely ignored? Reject the load? I wouldn't mind doing the load but if I do it I guarantee I won't make it to home on time (wedding, I must be home on time!) and it'll be harder since ill kill my hours. I also doubt I can make it on time considering these two hours will be spent stuck in traffic.

Here's how I would look at your current situation:

For you: You know you really need to be home on time. You know you're about out of hours and taking this load might screw you up. Then again, maybe it won't.

For your company: They're being pressured to get this load picked up. It will hurt their service record if they're late. So even if you pick it up and then park two miles down the road, that's perfectly fine. As long as it's picked up and off their property everything is good from the customer's standpoint.

So if you can do them the favor of picking it up and then stopping at the nearest truck stop with it for repower to another driver, then that's the way to go. Just tell them in no uncertain terms that if they don't get you home on time in return for the risk you're taking to help them out, they're going to owe you big time and you're gonna be p****d off royally.

They're kinda stuck in a spot and so are you. If you can get that picked up, they should be able to make sure you're home on time. That's how great drivers and great dispatchers work together. They know they can count on each other. Not all dispatchers are trustworthy, and neither are all drivers. Once you establish your reputation as an awesome driver then you can make it clear that you'll settle for no less than an awesome dispatcher that you can count on. This is the type of situation that really shows you how good the people are that you're working with.