Experienced Drivers, Did I Make A Mistake?

Went to bed about 930 pm last night. Got a call from a DM at 1145 asking if I wanted this load. I would have had to have left at midnight on 2 hours of sleep to drive 400+ miles to pick it up. Then it was from Oregon to Pennsylvania. I know the miles would've been GREAT, but I really didn't feel it was a good idea to push myself to drive 8+ hours on little sleep. DM said it was ok if I didn't feel I could safely drive it in low sleep, so I passed. As a rookie, should I have graciously accepted, or did I make the right call?

Lol, I did mage a mistake in the title....

I would say that not taking a load due to not being well rested is never a mistake no matter if you are a rookie or not. I know that folks say as a rookie driver you should take all roads, however this should be predicated to mean within reason to safety. Even your DM acknowledged that you had not had proper rest so to me it sounds like he was trying to get you extra miles provided you were up to it of course, this would have been different if you were well rested and said no though. I could be completely wrong on this but it just how I view the situation, to me though you made the right call for the situation.

How long did you have till you were supposed to pick up the load??? I would of took it and stopped along the way for power naps... But I don't sleep much anyway...

How long did you have till you were supposed to pick up the load??? I would of took it and stopped along the way for power naps... But I don't sleep much anyway...

I would have been really tight anyway. it was an 8 o'clock pickup.

Jay, I don't have to deal with this problem much being on a dedicated account and only having to deal with one dispatcher. I don't even get to experience those problematic weekend dispatchers or second shift folks. My dispatcher was on vacation last week, and he had my whole week pre-planned out for me with home time at the end of the week so I could get to my daughters wedding. (Man, I think I have got it good)

I don't see that you made a mistake. Here is my thinking: I think you know that I would encourage people to not reject loads, but that is in reference to your regular dispatcher. This sounds like a late night dispatcher that had a load available and he just found a driver in the area that didn't have a load so he gave it a shot. One thing to keep in mind is that it is okay to reject a load based on the fact that you probably won't be able to get it done on time, or based on the fact that it might not be safe for you to do it because you are legitimately needing some rest.

This situation is not going to come back and bite you, it was just a dispatcher trying to solve a problem, and he knew he was taking a long shot by asking you.

U done the right thing.

Agreed. You did the right thing. The old saying that no load is so hot that it needs to cool off in a ditch applies to late night runs too.

You did the right thing. Never risk your safety over money cause you might not be around to spend it if you do.

Now in the future you can try making a deal with dispatchers. Explain the lack of sleep or whatever it is that is making it unsafe to drive but offer up an alternative solution. Like adjusting the pickup time by a few hours so you can get your rest. If they really need that load covered and you are the only one in the area they will work with you on the pickup time.

But in the end never risk safety for a load.

It would have been a nice load, but I was in a dead sleep when he called and would've had to leave within the hour. I feel after all the responses I did the right thing. At least the layover pay will help offset some of the cost of sitting in Washington Saturday and Sunday.