The same thing just happened to me on Friday. I am under a load from Eclipse Expediting and my engine in my straight truck blows on I-77 around midnight. I call the company and tell them I will try and get a rental. Saturday I find out I cannot get a truck until Monday morning and since it is due Monday morning, of course they want to get another truck out there to transfer the load (Heaven forbid a load is ever late in this business!!!). The load is light boxes we loaded by hand and can be transferred by hand. When the other driver gets there, he is scared to death to unload it because he feels my truck is too close to the highway. So Eclipse wants me to pay for the tow to a truck stop so this other coward can transfer the load and get the $1,600 I was to make on the trip. After I first told him to kiss my a**, I said if you want it towed, YOU PAY FOR IT. I was willing to get a rental Monday and do it but to some of these expediting jerk-offs who think their precious load being on time takes priority over everything else, that was not acceptable. As it turns out, he never paid for the tow in the first place and unloaded it right there. I lose a truck, the $1,600 for the job, $236 in gas I just put in the thing, $70 for a taxi to the nearest hotel, and $153 for 3 days in the hotel and this clown expects me to pay for a tow so some other person scared of his own shadow can make all the money when I drove 1/3 of the way. By the way, he let me go after this because I would not kiss the king's a** as if I was his employee in the first place. Did I also mention he said he was going to call the police if I did not comply which I cannot repeat on here what my response was to that. What you have to understand to a lot of these expediting companies (not all) is that their entire ideology is based on that load getting to its destination on time. There is never a valid reason in their peanut-sized brains for a load to not be on time probably because they have never been behind the wheel of a commercial truck in their life . They want you to sit around and wait while they BID on loads with 100 other people, nickel and dime the price down as low as possible and then think you are flying a jet to get there instead of driving a truck. They may not come out and tell you to violate HOS regulations but certainly look the other way if it happens. If your truck breaks down, if you have a family emergency, or you drop over from cardiac arrest, that load takes priority over everything. I am sure many of you have heard the stupidity some of these companies tell you like "THE GM PLANT WILL SHUT DOWN IF YOUR LOAD IS NOT THERE." Personally, I now do 75% non-expedited loads now. You may not make as much money, but you do not have to deal with bidding on loads (that concept I will never understand), people calling you 24 hours a day to check on the load, or demands that you violate HOS or we do not pay if it is late. You know the price of the load, if you want it and it is still available, it is yours. No waiting around so these morons bid the price as low as possible and give it to the lowest bidder, even if it is a monkey behind the wheel. Again, not all expediting companies have this simplistic, simple-minded approach, but there are quite a few that do.
Abandoned
- Thread starter DieselDriver
- Start date
This clearly will come as a shock to you, but the business of time-critical and time-certain expedited freight transportation pretty much lives and dies with delivering the freight at the promised delivery time. It is the primary reason the expediting industry exists in the first place, and it's the cornerstone of what we do.
runrunner
Veteran Expediter
Yes they do
There are many reasons why carriers insist on keeping it in place, not the least of which is the fact that regardless of whether an individual shipment is time-critical, expedite carriers are rated, in no small part, on their promised on-time performance. That rating affects many things.
Me too. I got mad bills to pay.
Don't hold your breath. Of course, there are times when a deadline absolutely can't be made. It will happen to the best of us. However, all I can see Subzero doing with that attitude is to get his contract terminated. He thinks that because his present "employer" isn't in expedited that it won't happen there, but the first time he tells his new dispatchers what to do with themselves and where to do it, they'll let him go.
I wasn't there so of course I didn't see the situation, but--- the other driver might have been right. Shifting a load from one truck to another on the side of the road just might not have been safe. You may have to maneuver the good truck so it faces the wrong way, then back up to the crippled truck, shift the load and then re-maneuver the truck-- possibly in traffic, possibly in poor weather or at night-- to get it aimed right and getting under way. If you don't maneuver the truck, then you have to hand carry several packages the full length of the truck, possibly on the traffic side. Unless you're on a quiet country road that has five cars a day on it, this could be asking for trouble. I wouldn't want to try this on an Interstate. The idea of being towed to a safe place for the transfer makes a lot of sense.
That depends on the carrier you are leased to and the amount if information about loads that carrier and its dispatchers/agents are willing or allowed to share.
After Diane and I changed carriers, but continued to haul much of the same freight for the same customers, we found that a whole lot of that freight was not emergency or hot freight at all. There are emergencies and there are made-up emergencies. When you gain the ability to talk directly to the shipper and consignee, the number of made-up emergencies declines to zero.
I would agree with Phil on this. Much is fabricated madness so drivers always feel a sense of urgency whether it is there or not.
With regards to towing, one has to understand what it costs and build that in to your rate. If you are running around for a dollar a mile in a straight truck, you don't have that accounted for.
Tow rates really very. Usually major dollars. Wallet might melt if at certain places on the east coast.
If new and don't know, call around in different parts of the country and ask for quotes. It will be quite an educational experience if it is a straight or a tractor.
One of those "live by the sword, die by the sword".
With regards to towing, one has to understand what it costs and build that in to your rate. If you are running around for a dollar a mile in a straight truck, you don't have that accounted for.
Tow rates really very. Usually major dollars. Wallet might melt if at certain places on the east coast.
If new and don't know, call around in different parts of the country and ask for quotes. It will be quite an educational experience if it is a straight or a tractor.
One of those "live by the sword, die by the sword".
You are missing my point. To some of these companies, THERE IS NO VALID REASON A LOAD CAN BE LATE! If some of these clowns wake up, get off their recliners in their home offices, stop trying to undercut each other for pennies per mile with this kiss-a@@ bidding, actually got themselves a CDL and put themselves behind the wheel once in their life, maybe their unrealistic view that a load can never be late even if the world comes to an end would change. Also, since when am I supposed to pay for a tow for some other scavenger to get paid for, especially when I went 1/3 of the way and get nothing. I am not an employee nor am I a slave. There is a difference in doing a job for someone and letting then take advantage of you or letting them try to intimidate you. As you see with Diesel Driver, these flea bags will lie straight to your face to make you do whatever they want. If you are killed in a truck accident, that load better not be damaged or late. I have my own authority and insurance so I do not have to lease on with one carrier who is going to tell me who I can and cannot work for . I recommend all you guys in ST and TT do the same. For the $300 you spend, you choose what loads you want and from who. Some expedite companies let you do this if you want to only expedite but when you start picking up non-expedite shipments and not having to deal with this dumba@@ bidding crap or having someone want an explanation as to why you got a meal, it is well worth it.
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zorry
Veteran Expediter
I agree with Phil and Dave that all hot loads are not hot. Recently I turned down a load and told dispatch that part of the problem was I could come nowhere close to the requested 10 am pick-up.
Dispatch responded that they had until 9 PM to load it.
This was an artificial rush. If i could run 12 hrs earlier into pu, and then into delivery, I may get another load on that week which helps both me and my carrier.
What I meant was I didn't think a driver would often know if a load ordered for Mon will be able to arrive Tue without causing a problem.
Dispatch responded that they had until 9 PM to load it.
This was an artificial rush. If i could run 12 hrs earlier into pu, and then into delivery, I may get another load on that week which helps both me and my carrier.
What I meant was I didn't think a driver would often know if a load ordered for Mon will be able to arrive Tue without causing a problem.
You missed our point. Keep talking about the people you drive for/represent like this, and you won't have to worry about it anymore. My advise to you is to stick a sock in your tater trap right now. It may come as a surprise to you that company hiring managers actually read this stuff. If they connect what you wrote here to you, you're finished before you ever get started. If you already have a gig and the outfit you're presently with reads this stuff, they just may decide they don't need you representing their company.
Believe me, if I were the head honcho at a company you were applying to and I had just read what you just wrote, I'd have to be a mug if I let you represent my outfit at a shipper or a receiver.
Oh--- for what it's worth the people I presently drive for have driven trucks. They're not just "armchair philosophers".
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We're not missing your point. We're hearing it loud and clear but simply do not agree.
This is expediting. Contracts that carriers make with shippers include penalties in the form of price reductions if the freight is late. While there are many reasons that a load may be late, it does not matter because the financial penalties still apply (force majeure excepted). Companies promise to deliver on time. None have a 100 percent success rate in keeping such promises, but all expedite companies try to get as close to 100 percent as possible.
In a breakdown situation, they will be far more concerned about taking care of the customer than they will be concerned about taking care of the driver. It costs them nothing to leave you alone in a ditch to solve your problems. It costs them plenty to have freight delivered late.
That's not to say that carriers are uncaring. Many grateful expediters have publicly expressed their gratitude here in the Open Forum for the support their carriers have provided in distressing situations. Still, if a truck breaks down and the driver is safe, the carrier's focus will be to protect the on-time delivery. And understandably so, I believe.
BigCat
Expert Expediter
If there are other ways to get load there on time companies will go that rate at your cost. You had to be towed anyway, not like your going to leave your blown up truck on the side of the road. If they promise the customer a time they do what it takes to get it done. It has nothing to do with bidding pennies lower than other carriers.
Honestly your bad attitude had a lot of influence on the carriers decision to terminate you.