Our Life on the Road Expediting Service Failure

xmudman

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
I'd think having an accident and having to swap out your load, would constitute a service failure . Happened to us twice last year. One was a slide off in SD; that was a lesson on how not to be cocky in snow. The other one was a deer strike. No (human) injuries, thank God.
 

FlyingVan

Moderator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
In my opinion, if your truck breaks down it is your fault. You agreed to deliver the load by a certain time and you did not because of your equipment. It might not be fair since some break downs you can't do anything about, but life is not fair either.

Now, if a driver does not communicate, it should be a much bigger consequence than a mere service failure.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk
 

xmudman

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Now, if a driver does not communicate, it should be a much bigger consequence than a mere service failure.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

I never saw the need to not communicate. I view us as members of a team, dedicated to getting the job done. Both of my fails last year resulted in at least some payment to the truck, although that is usually at the mercy of the broker. Going silent only hurts your cause, IMHO.
 

xiggi

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
In my opinion, if your truck breaks down it is your fault. You agreed to deliver the load by a certain time and you did not because of your equipment. It might not be fair since some break downs you can't do anything about, but life is not fair either.

Now, if a driver does not communicate, it should be a much bigger consequence than a mere service failure.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk
That's a tricky one, you have people who take great care of their truck and it's a breakdown that's not predictable. On the other hand there are those that have a blood policy, if the truck or Driver doesn't bleed they aren't spending a penny on it. It's because of those folks we all get service failures because it isn't dispatches job to seperate the two.
 

Moot

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
I consider not meeting a delivery time due to a mechanical breakdown to be a service failure as well as any incident that doesn't invoke the force majeure clause. I don't play Panther's Precious Metal Game. I don't care how a service failure affects my Precious Metal status. But I do take service failures personally! I pride myself in having only one service failure in 20 years in expediting. This is a business, not some grade school suck-up game to get a gold, silver or bronze star stuck on my forehead.

My service failure was mechanical. I was about 70 miles and an international border from the consignee with 10 hours until the delivery time. I was 3 or 4 hours late. My mistake was informing my carrier of the breakdown.
 
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davekc

Senior Moderator
Staff member
Fleet Owner
At one time they weren't common, but everything has changed that dynamic. The rate of pay verses investment all the way to technology and regulations has changed all that.
How so? Just one example would be trucks with any kind of DEF/regen system. Regulations forced systems into the marketplace that aren't currently reliable. Never have been. Sooo, any emission crap comes up and shuts the truck down, too bad. Just how it goes for both operator and the carrier. Any carrier operating in todays environment and cant figure that out, shouldn't even be out here.
 

Moot

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
I would consider a DEF/Regen failure to be covered under the force majeure clause. Government regulators enacted these regulations. In this country the government is God and the force majeure clause exempts carriers from acts of God. I run coolant diluted 50% with Holy Water. If I had a diesel I'd use nothing but Italian DEF blessed by the Pope. Can't be too careful these days. Dominus vobiscum and pass the pizza.
 
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