I got a load out of Columbia, SC yesterday, as well. 72 DH (turned out to be 87 DH) for 315 loaded, but it took me to Montgomery, AL, where I could either sit along side the other van that was already there for a week or DH to Birmingham or Huntsville. Turned it down. They called me back half hour later and offered it again. I asked them to toss me some pocket change to help with the deadhead I'd have to do after the drop, and they agreed. So I took it. I had 87 DH on the front, plus 30 after my previous delivery, plus 100 after the delivery up to Birmingham. I asked for $25, which is plenty fair, I think. 11.5 cents per mile, didn't quite cover all fuel for the DH, but covered enough.
It was already gonna be tight if I had accepted it the first time, and by the time I accepted it the second time it didn't leave enough time to make the pickup. But with mostly 70MPH Interstate in front of me, I knew I'd get there between 10 and 15 minutes late, which I did. About half way there I got a call from dispatch, they were having trouble getting a ping on me and it looked like I hadn't moved on the load. I told them that I was still sitting at the truck stop, that my van wouldn't start.
Over the phone, even, I could see her eyes get really big and her jaw drop in utter disbelief.
"Just kidding, I'm rolling. I'll be there by 1610" tee hee hee
Couldn't resist. The previous morning, the morning the ice storm slammed into Greenville, SC I had an 8AM pickup for a 9AM delivery, 12 loaded miles, $50 mini. I get there and instead of once piece, 1800 pounds, it's seven pieces, 1800 pounds. I can only fit 6 of them in the van. Called dispatch and told them what the deal was, and told them that I could take all seven of them in two trips and have them all delivered by 0900. Total miles would only be 36, so it'd still be a mini. That, or they could send over a straight truck or something, and I could ice skate back to the truck stop. They said stand by.
6 hours later they call me and tell me to take 6 pieces over and they will dispatch another van for the 7th piece. The other driver turned it down, twice, and they finally offered him like $80 to take it. For 30 minutes work. Not bad. They paid me the $50 mini, plus 3.75 hours of $15 an hour detention (I can have that operation now), about $100 for 6.5 hours work.
And I'd have had all seven pieces delivered, on time, for the $50. Go figure.
This was on the heels of two day prior where I was dispatched 125 miles to pick up freight that didn't exist. Was shipped out a day earlier, and it took 3 hours to figure that out. And, as it turns out, it wouldn't have fit in the van, regardless (tho one can hardly blame Panther for that, except they freight and pickup time confirmation was never even attempted, but then again, apparently, confirmations from 3rd party customers never, ever, happen). Another 5 hours wasted.
Yeah, mistakes happen, but seriously, for a cargo van, non-existent freight and/or excessive delays over one hour at the pickup should happen once, twice a year, maybe. It's happening a couple of times times a month, and no one seems to care. My current success rate of finding real, actual, tangible freight at a UPS Freight terminal is 25%. The rest of the time it's simply not there for whatever reason. Freight-there, or not-there, can be determined by a simple phone call prior to dispatch by a CSR. But they don't have time for that. Their time is important. The driver's time, apparently, isn't.
If they paid the proper going rate for detention, then the current rate of frequency and time of detention would disappear within a week, and they're more many more hours available to actually haul freight. It's bad enough when time is recklessly wasted with a van driver, but at least my hours log isn't melting away.
I'm feelin' a little froggy today. :+
What happens if a big asteroid hits the Earth?
Judging from exhaustive and repeated realistic
simulations involving a sledge hammer and a
common frog, we can assume it will be pretty bad.
