"Favor" Loads . . . You know, Idiot Loads!

mypie · Apr 27, 2009

You know em. We all get em. They're the ones that just don't make sense $ wise, DH wise, time wise, etc. You turn em down on the C-Link, you turn it down a second time, then you get the inevitable "can you do me a FAVOR?" call. You have the sweet voice asking you why you turned down that load and you forget to pull that load offer back up as you're speaking to the sweet voice, so you forget the 10 reasons that you were rotflol at the offer. If you accept it, you know you're gonna regret it every single time. But, somehow, you have a weak moment and do it anyway. Then you hang up and you pull up the C-Link and you have the "awe crap" moment as you see that once again you are living to regret accepting the "Favor Load".

So how stupid is the run? Tell us. Tell FedEx.

ihamner · Apr 28, 2009

Re: "Favor" Loads . . .

Relax Mypie and take a deep breath. It's okay, really. Just look at those loads we all do once in a while as "okay, this is better than a relocation and it might put me in a great position for the next load."

bubblehead · Apr 28, 2009

One has an incredibley sweet voice unless you turn her down then she sounds just like lLnda Blair, see link below.

YouTube - Linda Blair Head Spin

YouTube - EXORCIST PEA SOUP

BEARTRUCKER · Apr 28, 2009

Or, after you've explained to them IN DETAIL, why the load doesn't make sense in any way, shape or form...they respond with "So there's nothing we can offer you?" And you resly with a paid layover option of your choice that DOES make sense ...and they curtly respond with "well, we CAN'T do that!".

BEARTRUCKER · Apr 28, 2009

Of course it does work sometimes....When we where with the cat, we got harrassed about a real sucky load. We would have landed in boo-foo, so they asked "What would it take?" We said (as a double dog dare), a paid EM home (something like 250 miles). The disp says hold on, 4 seconds later, "Sure, we can do that!" Of course we said send it over the QC and THEN we'll respiond via the QC. AN THEY DID!!!! We laughed about it all the way home.

Wingnut · Apr 28, 2009

My favorite is when dispatch calls me to say that truck # so & so won't help them out on a load & is there anyway I will force them to take the load 'cuz they're the only truck around and they really, really need my truck to 'help' them out. I politely inform them that I don't micro-manage my teams or force them to take loads that they deem unprofitable. That it's up to the drivers as to which loads they accept & don't accept BUT I would gladly contact that truck & ask the drivers what amount of $$$ they'd do that load for and would be the negotiator between the two. When I call dispatch back with the offer, 9 times out of ten dispatch says that they can't pay that much. Oh well.......my drivers have done more than their share of 'helping out' on loads for dispatch and have not gotten the 'help' back in return on the occassions when they needed it. Now my drivers won't 'help' unless the price is right.

aileron · Apr 28, 2009

I was young and stupid once and did my share of 'favors'. They got me once when I did not know that if it is not on the qualcomm, it never happened.
My last favor I did for them was about 2 years ago, when I got screwed because of their fault for their favor, and they refused to help me in this. I was out of service, my van was parked in Vienna, VA (close to DC) at my friend's house and we went to Virginia Beach. I get a call from them with a load from Culpeper, VA to Asheville, NC. Told them I am not interestd, I am at the beach. 10 minutes later they call me back that I am the only van in the area and they really really need my help. Well, we negotiated a little and came to an agreement. I told them if they move the pickup time since I am 200 mi away from my van and 30 mi (what they told me my van was away from Culpeper) that I will be able to get there in 4.5 hours. They called me back with the ok.
Now the interesting part, when I get to my van, I see that I was actually 60 mi away from Culpeper, not 30. Their C-Link showed them that I was somewhere else, not my fault. Called them right away to give me an extra hour so I can be in time which they did, but they still charged me with a service failure.
I called the cc, then Contractor Relations and I couldn't get them to remove the service failure. Their reasoning was that I told them that I will be there at that hour and I wasn't, but they couldn't comprehend that I said that hour based and the info that they gave me provided to them by the faulty c-link. All they told me was that the service failure stays.
Told them right then that all they are doing is shooting themselves in the foot, since that was the last favor I did for them, and it was. Think about it, out of service, enjoying my day at the beach with my friend that I haven't seen in a long time, and I go help them out on this load, and as a result I get a service failure, because of their antique qualcomm (that i am paying a lot per week also), and they will not remove it.

I got a few other calls, and as soon as I hear one of the keywords 'favor' or 'honey' or 'help me out' I politely tell them that I don't do favors any more and tell them why.

Interestingly enough, that load from Culpeper was a Panther load, so I guess Panther didn't have any vans in the area either. They almost didn't give it to me since it said Panther in their paperwork and they couldn't get in touch with anyone.

bubblehead · Apr 28, 2009

aileron said:
I was young and stupid once and did my share of 'favors'. They got me once when I did not know that if it is not on the qualcomm, it never happened.
My last favor I did for them was about 2 years ago, when I got screwed because of their fault for their favor, and they refused to help me in this. I was out of service, my van was parked in Vienna, VA (close to DC) at my friend's house and we went to Virginia Beach. I get a call from them with a load from Culpeper, VA to Asheville, NC. Told them I am not interestd, I am at the beach. 10 minutes later they call me back that I am the only van in the area and they really really need my help. Well, we negotiated a little and came to an agreement. I told them if they move the pickup time since I am 200 mi away from my van and 30 mi (what they told me my van was away from Culpeper) that I will be able to get there in 4.5 hours. They called me back with the ok.
Now the interesting part, when I get to my van, I see that I was actually 60 mi away from Culpeper, not 30. Their C-Link showed them that I was somewhere else, not my fault. Called them right away to give me an extra hour so I can be in time which they did, but they still charged me with a service failure.
I called the cc, then Contractor Relations and I couldn't get them to remove the service failure. Their reasoning was that I told them that I will be there at that hour and I wasn't, but they couldn't comprehend that I said that hour based and the info that they gave me provided to them by the faulty c-link. All they told me was that the service failure stays.
Told them right then that all they are doing is shooting themselves in the foot, since that was the last favor I did for them, and it was. Think about it, out of service, enjoying my day at the beach with my friend that I haven't seen in a long time, and I go help them out on this load, and as a result I get a service failure, because of their antique qualcomm (that i am paying a lot per week also), and they will not remove it.

I got a few other calls, and as soon as I hear one of the keywords 'favor' or 'honey' or 'help me out' I politely tell them that I don't do favors any more and tell them why.

Interestingly enough, that load from Culpeper was a Panther load, so I guess Panther didn't have any vans in the area either. They almost didn't give it to me since it said Panther in their paperwork and they couldn't get in touch with anyone.

Preaching to the choir as far as airleron goes but fot the rest of you keep this in mind when that sweet voice calls;

YouTube - Linda Blair Head Spin

mypie · Apr 28, 2009

We were on our way home. When we were only miles from our house we received the load offer. It was RadMat and paid nada - we turned it down. They sent it again when we were only 2 miles from our house - we turned it down again. We stopped at the Post Office and I ran in to collect the mail from our PO Box. That's when the call came and honey got it.

We know it was a well planned setup, because they had hand picked the dispatcher to call us. This particular dispatcher had set us up with 2 really decent back-to-back runs. But, this wasn't even that dispatcher's department.

Honey was weak. He didn't know how he could possibly turn this dispatcher down after what the dispatcher had done for us. WE WERE 1 MILE FROM HOME! By accepting this load offer we needed to leave right away to go to the airport and meet a chartered plane.

We flew down to the airport, arriving within minutes of the pickup time, and nobody knew anything about our shipment. After wondering around the building and asking everybody about the plane and the shipment and just when we were going to call dispatch - a guy behind the fence on the tarmack said "Oh, I know about that. Yeah, the plane hasn't even taken off yet." So, we parked on the tarmack and waited for 2 hours for our plane to arrive. Once the plane arrived and we were loaded, it was a short run to delivery.

Once we got checked in and past the first level of security, we got through the gate, opened the doors and backed to the dock. That's when the guy said, "Oh, no that doesn't belong here. You need to take that into the plant. Go and back up behind that semi and go into security. We'll get you in." So we closed the doors and backed up behind the semi, where there was an 8" broken sign post sticking out of the asphault - we ran right over it blowing out one of our rear tandems. 2 hours later we finally got cleared through level 2 security and were assigned an escort to ride with us in our truck. We drove around the plant and parked to wait for the signal to proceed to the dock. 3 hours later we were finally waived into the dock and unloaded.

Of course, our first stop had to be to get our tire replaced. And, the run $ didn't even cover the cost of the tire!

This "Do me a Favor" 2 hour run turned into a 9 hour run with a blown tire. We swore that we'd never do anymore favors.

Well, . . . I was doing laundry . . . and honey was in the truck . . . and he turned down the load . . . and he got the "favor call" again. I don't think I'm gonna leave him alone ever again to answer the call.

BEARTRUCKER · Apr 28, 2009

My partner and I have a deal. Yes, we trust each other's judgement, BUT we both occasionally get "road brain" aka a case of the DUHs. Unless the run offer is a no brainer, we discuss EACH offer. When one leaves the truck they take the primary phone. So if we get a run offer, the phone gets the SMS and the truck gets the C-Link. We then call each other and discuss it. When ever we get those "personal calls", the phone gets put on MUTE and we discuss it. Even if the dispatcher is trying to rush us with "I have the shipper on the other line...do you want this load?" WE DISCUSS IT.
When we where green we took a crap load because we where WOWED BY THE MILES and didn't do the math and check out the rate. We learned and addapted and survived.

TeamCaffee · Apr 28, 2009

We do not do favors for anyone that cannot return the favor. When you finish that favor load and call in to the same dispatcher who asked you to take the favor load you will be hung out to dry.

FCC is trying very hard to put a stop to this very situation. We are not out here to do favors we are out here to haul loads that make sound business decisions and we need to look at the other end of the load and see where this favor load will be leaving us stranded.

We have not been asked to do a dispatcher a favor in a very long time.

nightcreacher · May 4, 2009

if your getting paid its not a favor.when you do the load it was your decission,it either worked or didnt

mypie · May 4, 2009

nightcreacher said:
if your getting paid its not a favor.when you do the load it was your decission,it either worked or didnt

I disagree. You have turned the load down twice and the dispatcher calls and asks ". . . will you do me a favor," or ". . . what would it take," or "you're the only truck in the neighborhood and we have to get this load covered" or whatever - it is a favor load. There is no way you would have accepted this load and tied up your truck if you didn't have a dispatcher on the other end of the phone telling you some hard luck story and promising you the world. That is a favor load. Of course, you're getting paid. We don't just drive trucks around the country for fun, like Forrest Gump liked to drive a lawnmower around the college campus and said that they didn't have to pay him for it because he had enough money.