Feb 2020 in the land of the ONE!

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
At 0730 this morning, or as people here in St George, Utah (where I'm OOS waiting for a part to come in this afternoon) like to call it, OH FIVE THIRTY, I was jarred awake by a phone call, from a computer, that awesomely read to me out loud the contents of a freeform QC message (that also, of course, came in via the app) that told the critically timed tale of the infamous Michigan Frost Law.

I write about this here, now, more than 60 minutes later, because the phone call was so jarring that I'm still awake. Wide.

But wait! There's more!

At 0731, or as people here in St George, Utah like to call it, OH FIVE THIRTY ONE, I thoughtfully was sent an SMS Text Message containing the same exact information, word for word, just in case I missed it in the phone call or the QC message or the app message. I thought that was very thoughtful.

I want to thank the Lord One rocket scientists and engineers who spend the bulk of their time thinking on whether they can do something, instead of wasting precious moments trying to determine whether or not they should do something. It's that kind of process that gives us the awesomely thoughtful and generous implementation of technology.
 
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jelliott

Veteran Expediter
Motor Carrier Executive
US Army
All messages are sent at one time...clearly the sms text took longer to arrive possibly based on your location. We will never please everyone, but most all of the communication functions have come from driver suggestions and requests. Their is a lot of active discussion daily in the private facebook group on it. The frost laws are sadly not announced in advance and the fines can be thousands of dollars to an owner operator so yes we communicated that information to the fleet the minute we had it.
 
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Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
The message contents are irrelevant. Fleet messages are fine, regardless of whether they pertain to me personally. Don't really care when the messages are sent. Could be sent all at the same time or staggered in 15 minute increments. Couldn't care less. The issue is multiple, redundant messages sent to the same device. I don't do Facebook, because Facebook is evil, but I have talked with many people about this, and thus far no one has been able to come up with a reason or a need for multiple, redundant messages sent to the same device.

As for the phone call with the redundant readout of the same message, is that to help out our blind drivers? Our illiterate drivers? Our non-English reading drivers? Is a genuine question that, so far, no one has been able to answer.

Here's the thing. The phone call has to be addressed, answered, or you have to deal with the voicemail later. The text message has to be addressed, read and cleared. The app message has to be addressed, read and cleared. And the QC message has to be addressed, read and cleared. That's four separate actions required for a single communication. It's rude and inconsiderate.

The doubling up of the app and the QC, that's to be expected, as that's what the app is literally designed to do. But can you imagine the reaction from Admin or Operations if every time a driver emailed them about an issue, they received 4 separate but identical emails, all of which must be addressed in some way, even if it's just to delete them? I'm not suggesting that everybody should be pleased, or even that I be pleased, I'm just asking for a little Golden Rule consideration.
 
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jelliott

Veteran Expediter
Motor Carrier Executive
US Army
We will continue to review. Part of the problem is for instance the calls were created so that a driver didn't miss a message if they were driving. Also not every driver uses the app. Let me talk with everyone and see if we can possibly build a communication preference system by driver maybe??? On the positive side I would rather over communicate then under communicate.
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
Why not just send it as a QC message?
It is. So, for those drivers who don't use the app, they get it over the QC, anyway. An of course, the QC will read out messages to you audibly if you like.

Far as I know, they don't (or maybe even can't) send messages directly to the app. They send QC messages, and the system then pulls those messages from the messaging system to the app.


I can always block incoming SMS text and phone calls from that number, but I hesitate to do that in case there is a situation where a text-only message is sent, and it's not sent via the QC as well.
 
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jjoerger

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
US Army
I am home OOS. My truck is powered off. If it weren't for the app message or voicemail I would never have known the frost laws were in effect. Since my phone was on do not disturb I wasn't bothered by the call. It would be nice if the messages were sent at a reasonable time.

Sent from my moto z3 using EO Forums mobile app
 
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jelliott

Veteran Expediter
Motor Carrier Executive
US Army
Agreed. Exactly why drivers suggested all the different communication methods. Michigan gives no notice of when they put the frost laws in effect. But the fines are BIG! So we wanted to relay that information to the fleet as quick as we had it as it effects the Inkster Road entrance to the yard. They used to have to flip the signs on the roads and give you a heads up and then they decided to get rid of the signs. How drivers from other states are supposed to know is just unfair and ridiculous!!!!
 
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piper1

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
When you powered up your truck you would have gotten the QC msg no? If you completely power down your truck, like batteries unhooked for hours/days then I would think it prudent to maybe log in to fleet vision and look (if you didn't have the app). Pre app days I would do this, it's super easy.

I agree with Turtle. I have the phone number that sends the text messages and non load robo calls blocked. App, QC, text, robo call....very quickly the 'over communication' just becomes noise and gets ignored. Many of us will also get a voicemail alert and a voicemail to email alert.....So now I have 6 alerts telling me about frost laws (that happen every year) and whatever trailer(s) truckload can't seem to find.

If we have a QC that we pay for, send the messages there and the app, I imagine separating the 2 would be difficult. The robo calls for anything other than load offers IMO is not needed.
 

jjoerger

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
US Army
I don't know what the time period is, but I have received messages on the app that did not come through the QC once it was powered on. When I'm home I empty the fridge, turn off my batteries and try to forget about trucking until it's time to get ready to go back in service.

Sent from my moto z3 using EO Forums mobile app
 
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Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
I don't know what the time period is, but I have received messages on the app that did not come through the QC once it was powered on. When I'm home I empty the fridge, turn off my batteries and try to forget about trucking until it's time to get ready to go back in service.

Sent from my moto z3 using EO Forums mobile app
I can't remember the time period, either, but after a certain period of time, the message turns red online in Fleet Vision and shows as undelivered. But it still makes it to the app.
 

jelliott

Veteran Expediter
Motor Carrier Executive
US Army
Another day and another airplane! Keeping up the grind!



Sent from my iPad using EO Forums
 

jelliott

Veteran Expediter
Motor Carrier Executive
US Army
Fleet fact update: We are now at 18 full time people doing Load One sales! I am confident that is one of, if not the largest sales team in expedite! While companies are cutting sales with lower volumes I am taking the opposite position and we are adding!


Sent from my iPad using EO Forums
 
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