Email Idea

layoutshooter

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
The current text service will only tell you that there is a load offer on the C-Link and what number it is, nothing else.

It also only works if you are "C-Link YES" status.

I was thinking of when I went back in service when home, not the entire time I was there.

The voice is the biggest problem, these old worn out ears just don't do well with it!!
 

LDB

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
I didn't want to hijack this thread so I started a new one with my suggestion for the phone text message. Not everyone has access to computers all the time and I suspect a few don't even when at home. The voice never changes so it would be just as helpful while on the road as at home. Just another option to consider.
 

layoutshooter

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
I didn't want to hijack this thread so I started a new one with my suggestion for the phone text message. Not everyone has access to computers all the time and I suspect a few don't even when at home. The voice never changes so it would be just as helpful while on the road as at home. Just another option to consider.

NO problem, I LIKE options.
 

mhoy40

Expert Expediter
i knew i had read somewhere there was a text mess. service thanks for the details i was going too look it up but you beat me to it,i didnt know the details but knew the service was there.
 

jansiemoo

Seasoned Expediter
Clink is NOT always that fast either. We have the "beep" service on Mrs. Layoutshooter's phone. You know, it beeps to let us know there is an offer at the truck. We have documented several instances where we would get a "beep" on the phone and NOT on the Clink for as long as 23 minutes later. We have also documented the opposite problem, the Clink goes off and the phone does not. Not good. We are still trying to determine if the problem is in our truck or the system. We also are having problems with lack of response on offers. Often we accept an offer and NEVER get an answer, mainly when on the phones. It happened again today. We had to call in to see what the status of the load was. We did not get it.

It is just a suggestion for another option, mainly for at the house or in motels etc. Just something to think about.

We are often in the truck, and have noticed the delay as well- though not as pronounced as yours.
As for not receiving a response, we were once at home- ready to go and waiting for an offer- and received a text alerting us to a load at the truck. Our signal is intermittent, but it is always faster to check the truck than call in. No signal at the truck so we called. We accepted it by phone, got no response. A couple other offers came across after, so we obviously did not get it. That same load/same pro came over again, we accepted again by phone, no response. It was after 'normal' dispatch time, and we went to bed. Eight o'clock the next morning, we got a phone call asking why we hadn't left to pick up our load! That is when we found out if you have clink:ON it will NOT send you notification of accept/decline by phone even if you call in. It sure seems obvious to me now as I type this, but I was thinking that if I called in to accept/decline, it would notify me by phone- but computer does what computer is told, and it was told- clink:ON.
That night I had dreams of some MacGuyver rigged contraption to let me monitor when ANY message comes across the clink.
And then I just put clink:OFF and stopped complaining.
Sooo... this post wasn't to make me look like an idiot, but...

-Captain Obvious
 
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TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
jansiemoo

After meeting you guys all of the above makes perfect sense to me. Actually I can see how all of this played out and I have to admit I got a chuckle out of it.

Hope to see you guys at the Expo
 

usafk9

Veteran Expediter
Speaking of stats and beating another horse to death (the speed limiter), I was told that acceptance rates were one reason for the elimination of several of the axed contractors at year's start.

I was told this in another way during orientation.

A thought popped into my puny little head today, if the above is true:

As I'm fairly certain that all WG-ers were given an ultimatum to have their speeds limited for CA runs, that puts you all on a level playing field. However, several dispatchers I have spoken to, as well as other dry box/surface drivers are stating that their are few surface trucks that have had theirs limited. While that has been good for us in regards to the business we've been getting, I sometimes feel a little paranoia set in and believe I'm held to a part of the country to service those loads. (crazy, I know).

My question is this: If refusal stats DO matter, and we refuse a load going to the polar ice cap because of massive amounts of DH out, would we be penalized or not? The dry boxer who refused to limit is not penalized. Am I making sense?

Truth be told, I only limited to make Joe feel like part of a peer group once again. We're all castrated, Joe.


Kidding aside, anyone else consider this?
 

TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
From what I understand if FCC decided to clean house again many things are taken into consideration which could include refusals. I would imagine refusing all loads to Canada could be considered, refuse all short loads, late pickup and deliveries, and accidents. I would also think if there had been complaints about your truck or you from customers on your attitude or if you had people call in about your driving. I am sure service failures would be considered. I would think they might even talk to your CC to see how you treat personal in the office. I just do not see them taking it lightly to let anyone go in the fleet.
 

piper1

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
I'd think to stay healthy that there would be an ongoing purge of say the worst 10% or so, if normal attrition doesn't do it.

Hopefully they don't take too much stock in someone from the public phoning in to complain about an on-road action. It's just too **** easy for people to get ticked off/ offended (even if it's their fault) and pick up a phone and complain.
 

TeamCozumel

Seasoned Expediter
I don't know about anyone else but that "electric voice" that FedEx uses to dispatch when you are not on Clink can be very hard to understand. We have two options when waiting for loads. Clink or phone. It would be nice when at home to have a third choice, email. It is easier to read and therefor less chance of mistakes. What do others out there think?

So how would this work? Would you rely on a cell phone text message to alert you to look at an email?

Also, if email is a security issue why not have the load opportunity sent to the Extranet?

We would be fans of getting load opportunities via text msg.
 

mypie

Seasoned Expediter
Just a thought on this email offer idea:

Email can be seen by people who know what they are doing to hack into systems. The CLink (as I understand it) is secure. Even the government uses something like CLink in dangerous areas where messages can be intercepted.

Although the cell phone messages can also be intercepted they are not as specific as our load information on CLink. I could be way off base on this but I think doing these offers on Email would be a big security issue with our company.

I believe the company uses an IBM (Novell) system and security is a major issue with the "big blue" systems.

Now, who woulda thought that I would agree with anything that Daffy says. But, I completely agree . . . who'd a thought.

By the way . . . IT'S DUCK SEASON! :D
 

interstategar

Veteran Expediter
"A standard that is not announced has zero effect as a motivator. Contractors have now gone many months without knowing their acceptance percentages. Customers continue to be served. FDCC has not suffered because contractors do not know their acceptance percentages. Why should FDCC and its contractors continue thinking about this statistic at all? "

For me refusal percentages don't matter anymore since I get loads picking up 100 miles or more that pay less than the fuel and tolls to the p/u. I refused a bunch a of these and still made the won the 4 star program. Since they changed the dispatch system and methods it doesn't matter anymore, in my view.

As far as dispatching via emails I don;t think its a plus. Many times my cell will ring for an offer and I'll get on Fedex.com put in the load number and look at the load that way if I'm online, plus as previously mentioned what if your server goes down and you don't find out until later. If anything they would have to offer loads by email and cell phone, or email and clink just in case one of them is down for some reason. Atleast with their current system they have a better and quicker way of solving an issue with their phones and clink, then they would with a 3rd party internet server. The clink and phone system is more reliable, I think.
 

TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
Your refusals do still count and even though we cannot see them the office still keeps track of these.
 

XCountryTeam

Seasoned Expediter
I'm not sure what I think about the email idea.
My quick reply regarding our numbers. Getting all my information is very important to me. First off it isn't for the Four Star. Each of us owners are running a business. Wether is one truck or more. We have more than one truck. I want to know what loads the other truck (and our truck) refused and what the pay and miles are. I had drivers say they have received no offers, only later to find out they did receive a good load offer. (how, we happen to end up in the same place and I saw it on the C-link) When we owned our other business, I kept track of everything, what came in our store, went out, cost, damages and the list goes on. When things started to get slow I had Very good records of each week, month and year to review all of our stats to make a good business decisions. No matter what business it is, its important to keep track of all records, and each business owner should now where they stand each day, or weekly, monthly, quarterly. With the new system I should be able to see All of our numbers, what we accept, refusals, dry runs and the load and empty per mile information. If I see us or our other truck numbers going down I want to look at our stats to see why! If it due to, to many refusals I want to see it review them to see why. Yes, when you have other drives you should trust them, have honestly and each of us make good choices. But, running a business it is what it is and I want be able to see all the information regarding our trucks so I can keep our business running in the right direction and to see if we can do anything to be more productive to raise the dollar. I do not like not knowing where we stand.

Under the old system each year I also had to call to make correction on the information I seen in our numbers. Once we received a late, but we were 3 hrs early, I don't mind the new system (except when I see a great load and I don't get it,) I think is good to be able to service the customer as fast as possible this keep the customer with FDCC and keeps us moving. But, being able to see the errors this year calling and making the corrections immediately was impossible so I have no clue what our true number are. I do know that the number I was given was the lowest since we've been on with FDCC and it totally shocked me especially since we stayed out and only went home a few times compared to the prior years.

It would be nice to start the old system back up and run it with the new system together until all the kinks are worked out and keep it in place until all the information is able to be provided to the owners, CC and recruiters. This way there is a cross reference and a back up of the information. I have heard that FDCC is working on getting the number to show in the new system since it stated. I thought it would have been fixed long before know. I think being able to see all of our numbers is very important to our business. Well, it was a quick reply then as I typed, I keept going. Then I wasn't sure if I still should have posted under the "email idea" but it seemed to fit with some of the other post.

It just like when My husband says, Do you want to race?, and then he always says "I win" because he never tells me where the finish line is!
 

MYGIA

Expert Expediter
Owner/Operator
Your refusals do still count and even though we cannot see them the office still keeps track of these.

I think we all agree that they are. But I also think that we can agree that the system is flawed and the information is unreliable and inaccurate. Therefore, until is is corrected - properly and completely - it should not be a facotr of consideration at all. And then when it is, maybe it still should not be a meaningful factor given the changes in the economy and the often pathetic rates of load offers.
 
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