Carrier Awards/Rewards

[layoutshooter]

Carriers need to understand that we are not trucks. We are people. We have lives. Many expediters are older. Older people tend to have a few more health issues than younger people.

They need to have some sort of "directional dispatching". We are changing our business model a bit due to the lack of help in getting home when needed. We will no longer take any runs out west if we have less than 4 weeks prior to having to be home. We have been "stuck" twice this year already. No more. I realize that there is not always loads heading where we need go but it would be nice.

Don't beg us to "help out" on a load that we really don't want, and then, forget we exist after we take it for you.

Follow through on what you say: if you say you will relocate a truck after taking a load, DO IT!! Another example: We once saw a small car following another truck from our carrier. I watched it for about 30 minutes and then called dispatch. It took them another few minutes to find that truck and confirm it was an escort. They thanked us for paying attention and said they would be sending something out to the house to thank us for watching and doing such a good job for them. It never came.

Let's get this straight. I don't need or ask for "special rewards" for doing what I should be doing, but, if you say you are going to do something, do it.

That is the biggest problem. The little things.

 

[jjoerger]

Carriers need to understand that we are not trucks. We are people. We have lives. Many expediters are older. Older people tend to have a few more health issues than younger people.

They need to have some sort of "directional dispatching". We are changing our business model a bit due to the lack of help in getting home when needed. We will no longer take any runs out west if we have less than 4 weeks prior to having to be home. We have been "stuck" twice this year already. No more. I realize that there is not always loads heading where we need go but it would be nice.

Don't beg us to "help out" on a load that we really don't want, and then, forget we exist after we take it for you.

Follow through on what you say: if you say you will relocate a truck after taking a load, DO IT!! Another example: We once saw a small car following another truck from our carrier. I watched it for about 30 minutes and then called dispatch. It took them another few minutes to find that truck and confirm it was an escort. They thanked us for paying attention and said they would be sending something out to the house to thank us for watching and doing such a good job for them. It never came.

Let's get this straight. I don't need or ask for "special rewards" for doing what I should be doing, but, if you say you are going to do something, do it.

That is the biggest problem. The little things.

I agree that there should be some type of directional dispatch for home time.
The way I see it, a truck could put in for a home time load after being out at least three weeks. This would make it fair to everyone.
It would not be to hard for the system to have a search criteria put in that would notify a truck if there were a load that they could make an ontime pick up that is delivering within a set radius of there home and offer it to that truck first. Similar to a <75 load opp.
I asked me brother who is a programmer with an MSEE and 30+ years of experience in the field if this would be possible.
His response was that a rookie programmer should be able to have something simple like that done in a couple of days including testing of the system.
This is 2010 afterall.

 

[Moot]

As an O/O I like to stay under the radar. The less carrier recognition I receive, the better. I just do what I do. An increase in RPM would be a nice form of recognition though!

We have a guy that has won a leather jacket every year for 100% no turn downs...wonder how much that jacket has cost him?

Early in my expedite career I won the coveted PBO Of The Month Award. Hey, I was a newbie and learning the ropes. This was a wake up call. I re-evaluated my business practices, made some corrections and never won that award again. I occasionally take a loser load to help out when dispatch is in a bind. But I don't make a habit of it and if I did I certainly wouldn't go public with it.

I do have 2 jackets. One from Con-Way for 5 years service. That jacket came with an increase in my percentage pay. The other jacket is from Panther (thank you Scuba) for 2½ years of service.

I was an employee of a LTL company that was big on the awards thing. I got a gold Bulova watch (gold colored) for 10 years safe driving.

The award I am proudest of earning is the WHITE SHIRT WITH THE MOST APPEARANCES IN 24 HRS. TROPHY.

I earned this award while running LTL linehaul. Our company uniform was a white shirt and brown pants. We were referred to as "White Shirts" by some and "Scabs" by others. Every night we stopped at a motel/restaurant for free coffee and day old pastries. The restaurant was closed by the time we pulled in so we hung out in the motel lobby with the desk clerk and a few of the waitresses. Usually we only stopped on the way to our meet & turn. Occasionally on the return trip someone would stop for a quick cup of coffee or use the restroom.

Some bizarre circumstances allowed me to stop in 4 times in a 24 hour period. The next night the ladies presented me with the WHITE SHIRT WITH THE MOST APPEARANCES IN 24 HRS. TROPHY. Yeah I know it's just an old bowling trophy draped with a paper shirt and pants, but it's the thought that counts!

 

[Steady Eddie]

Well, I think you all are doing a hail of a job!

WAY TO GO

 

[MissKat]

We are finding with our carrier (we wear purple) that the dispatch information in the last three weeks has been less accurate and more troublesome than in months past. We were "awarded" dispatches and start out to the Shipper only to get a clink or call that the load was really scheduled for 24 hours later. Twice in 30 days.

We also were chastised by a specialty area dispatcher for arriving at a shipper 50 minutes early - that we should have "known better" due to the department that booked the load. Hmmm, no notes on the dispatch identifying that department and its particular nuances.

Thirdly, a supposedly well meaning dispatcher LLP conferenced me with a shipper rep to give me directions to a downtown Philly location only to interrupt the man throughout the conversation to "write on the clink" what he was telling me to do. Still took me to the low overpasses. Then writing me up for hanging up and being argumentative - not with her, but with my co-driver who was trying to keep me from running over people while on the phone, downtown, etc.

We were told that same day that there are 6 new dispatchers in that dispatch center hired "off the street with no experience".

You can just about tell who they are by the level of paranoia they exhibit.

And all of you are correct - they have no idea what the job takes on our end - and it is problematic when the dispatch fails to give correct load info, bad directions, wrong times for pickup and delivery, etc. all the things that make our job just a wee bit easier.

Yesterday takes the cake, we were told that the new clink units are now sabotaging the system so that the info to the old units is challenged. For example, we sent the arrival at pickup dispatch and when calling in the depart, was told we could not possibly be loaded as the system showed us arriving in 10 minutes.

Kat

 

[greg334]

Kat,
the purple people seem to be the worst of all. They need to actually train their dispatchers and CCs a lot better. There is a great big disconnect with a lot of them but the excuse about the qualcomm is the best one I heard in a long time.

With that said, I want to praise John of Load One.

See John seems to be listening and what he just posted in the Load One forum is a great example of what I am talking about;

Effective today Load One owner operators driving cargo vans , sprinters, and cube trucks can now get free showers at Pilot with a minimum 15 gallon purchase vs. the normal 50 gallon minimum. This should help save you guys some more money.

This is a step forward, it shows a lot to many of us how easy it is to actually listen and act properly.

Thanks John.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

I know QS9000 is a load of crap...because with all the mistakes I don't think any carrier would hold onto their qualification IF they were noting all the errors in quality and filling out an incident report and as well a corrective action report every time.

Great Job there John..I am quite sure your drivers are thanking you!

 

[jelliott]

Ok, people are going to call me crazy now but we pay our contractors $250 for every perfect level 1 inspection. We have been doing this for the last few years.

 

[Brisco]

Ok, people are going to call me crazy now but we pay our contractors $250 for every perfect level 1 inspection. We have been doing this for the last few years.

$250 For a passed Level 1!! That's pretty cool............

In the "RV Transporting" industry we had several "Rewards" programs in play. (Incentives) $50-$75 for passing Level 1's, $20-$30 here and there for turning in a series of correct paperwork after deliveries, (not having to track down paperwork that should have been there in the first place), per mile rate increases after reaching certain miles without any safety violations, so on. It's almost standard across the board with all RV Transporting companies and most of the drivers like the "Incentives". I mean, passing a Level 1 on an outbound trip could easily pay for at least 1 tank of fuel. And when running for rates similar to what Expediting rates are, 1 free tank of fuel would be a great little bonus.

Only reason I brought this up here (RV Transporting) is because of an "Incentive/Rewards" program one large RV Transporting company had a few years back.

Truck Giveaway - Horizon Transport

I can't remember how drivers names were put into the drawings each year because I never contracted with Horizon. Went something like # of trips, # of safe miles, # of passed inspections, so on. When drivers qualified by passing what the criteria was, their names were placed on raffle tickets I guess and thrown into the hopper for the yearly drawing. Horizon gave away 3 trucks 3 years in row (04-05-06). These trucks were fully "Equipped" (Hitches-everything) to be put on the road to haul trailers the day Horizon gave the keys to the winner. We're talking probably $40,000 Plus for each truck.

Horizon stopped the program when the founder passed away and the son took over. (Son has ran this once great company into the dirt) Plus, 2007 was when RV's sales started to take a dive as did the deliveries, rates, and diesel prices started heading towards stupid highs. This program probably won't be back, but it was the highest "Rewards" program amongst all the RV Transporting companies during that time.

Now, do you guys think FedExCC, PII, Bolt, AHEM - LOAD 1 (HintHint) would create an "Incentive/Rewards" program such as this for their "Contractors"??? Could you guys see a nice little Sprinter with the Expedite Bunk installed sitting outside Bolts/Load 1's/PII's headquarters as an incentive to go "Above and Beyond" the call of duty???

Would be nice, wouldn't it.

 

[greg334]

But John how big is your fleet?

If you are paying them to reward them because you as a carrier have problems getting a grip on the runaway OOS issues, that's one thing but if you are already adding it to the concept "keeping them moving, keeps them happy" and actually practicing that, then it is a good thing.

You know that the little things matter.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

I mean an experienced dispatcher knows a crappy run when they see one...why not throw most of the money into it right at the git go..instead of all the crap they know is coming to get rid of it....some loads are just that bad....They can make the profit on volume that way instead of %age.

 

[greg334]

OVM,
So what is a dispatcher?

How many of them know what it really takes to actually manage the resources?

 

[jelliott]

We have good numbers for our equipment inspections and driver inspections. For me the goal was to KEEP the numbers good. Too often the only reward or incentive is to cheat the system. I think it is nice to be rewarded for doing the right thing.

 

[Bruno]

People who know me know I'm all about rewarding the drivers that do a great job. I have tried many things over the years to reward our drivers. No matter what you do someone finds fault with it.

 

[jelliott]

$250 For a passed Level 1!! That's pretty cool............

In the "RV Transporting" industry we had several "Rewards" programs in play. (Incentives) $50-$75 for passing Level 1's, $20-$30 here and there for turning in a series of correct paperwork after deliveries, (not having to track down paperwork that should have been there in the first place), per mile rate increases after reaching certain miles without any safety violations, so on. It's almost standard across the board with all RV Transporting companies and most of the drivers like the "Incentives". I mean, passing a Level 1 on an outbound trip could easily pay for at least 1 tank of fuel. And when running for rates similar to what Expediting rates are, 1 free tank of fuel would be a great little bonus.

Only reason I brought this up here (RV Transporting) is because of an "Incentive/Rewards" program one large RV Transporting company had a few years back.

Truck Giveaway - Horizon Transport

I can't remember how drivers names were put into the drawings each year because I never contracted with Horizon. Went something like # of trips, # of safe miles, # of passed inspections, so on. When drivers qualified by passing what the criteria was, their names were placed on raffle tickets I guess and thrown into the hopper for the yearly drawing. Horizon gave away 3 trucks 3 years in row (04-05-06). These trucks were fully "Equipped" (Hitches-everything) to be put on the road to haul trailers the day Horizon gave the keys to the winner. We're talking probably $40,000 Plus for each truck.

Horizon stopped the program when the founder passed away and the son took over. (Son has ran this once great company into the dirt) Plus, 2007 was when RV's sales started to take a dive as did the deliveries, rates, and diesel prices started heading towards stupid highs. This program probably won't be back, but it was the highest "Rewards" program amongst all the RV Transporting companies during that time.

Now, do you guys think FedExCC, PII, Bolt, AHEM - LOAD 1 (HintHint) would create an "Incentive/Rewards" program such as this for their "Contractors"??? Could you guys see a nice little Sprinter with the Expedite Bunk installed sitting outside Bolts/Load 1's/PII's headquarters as an incentive to go "Above and Beyond" the call of duty???

Would be nice, wouldn't it.

I looked at the site and that is a pretty nice incentive. I wonder if it was brand new? Giving away a sprinter would be pretty cool. Of course the straight truck and tractor guys might not find that the best prize. Years ago we did a 7 day all expense paid trip to Riviera Maya. It was pretty fun program and maybe something that we should look at doing again.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

OVM,
So what is a dispatcher?

How many of them know what it really takes to actually manage the resources?

At E-1 we don't have dispatchers...load planners...a better description might be load distribution...

Our customer service, NLM group, partners group, international group
all book loads...we have quite a few experienced people. average seniority is about 6 yrs...

but after the layoff last year we lost a few real good ones and now presently drivers are retraining the newbees to OUR way of thinking instead of the companies way...

 

[greg334]

Isn't load planners still a misplaced term?

How about load finder or load manager or truck coordinator?

OVM what's your dwell time?

 

[CharlesD]

I have a pretty simple reward program. You do a load and I pay you. Maybe I could expand on that somewhat.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Isn't load planners still a misplaced term?

How about load finder or load manager or truck coordinator?

OVM what's your dwell time?

Isn't that what I said in the last post? Maybe should be better referred to as "load distribution".

Dwell time? I have none...did a load overnight to NC and now under load going back to Toledo...

 

[OntarioVanMan]

I have a pretty simple reward program. You do a load and I pay you. Maybe I could expand on that somewhat.

CharlesD... Just great..the K.I.S.S. solution..
works best all around!!