Is it just me...

[JimF51]

Or does it seem that if dispatch knows you are trying to get home, especially if you start moving in that direction, that load offers cease to appear?

Since Aug., I've come home 3 times. Each time, I've made the whole trip without getting a single load offer, even though I'm still in service.

Puzzled.

Jim F

 

[teamjdw]

We have wondered about that ourselves.Once they know what state you live in,you won't get a load going there.We live in Michigan,we never get loads going there,but when i mention this too other Fedex drivers,they all say ,we go too Michigan quite a bit.Hmmm,any one else feel like they intentionaly keep you from getting load's going home?

 

[jjoerger]

We feel the same way. We live in Florida and have only gotten loads (that I can remember) to Florida 4 times in 2.5 years.
One time we did decline a load, the dispatcher called and asked why. We told her we were going to DH to Florida. 5 minutes later we got an opp going to Orlando. It was low paying but more than covered our expenses.
Usually when we are ready to go home we try to get within 500 miles of home. If we can get a <75 we will take it, do the run, go OOS and DH home. Then when we go back in service we usually get a run the first day.
We are currently at home with a <75.

 

[ATeam]

It's easy to form beliefs about dispatch and support them with selective memory. Drivers are fond of saying how the guaranteed way to get dispatched is to start a load of laundry, sit down in a nice restaurant or book a hotel room for the weekend. In fact, many have been offered loads after doing those very things. But they fail to remember the many times they have completed their laundry, meals and hotel stays without being dispatched. The other makes for better story or joke telling so that's the story or joke that gets told.

Part of getting dispatched toward home has to do where you live. After we bought a vacation home in Florida, I asked a friend who lives there how often the freight takes him home. He said about twice a year. I checked our run journal and found the same to be true. Over the years, the freight took us to Florida about twice a year. But it is all random. After finding this Florida fact to be true, we have been dispatched there or near there four times this year.

Our primary residence is in Minnesota and the freight takes us there far more often than we actually want to be home. Diane has had a series of dental appointments (braces) in the last couple of years that required several trips home that we would not have otherwise made.

When we wanted to get home, we sometimes found ourselves getting dispatched or laid over in the totally wrong direction or place. But at other times, the freight took us home exactly when we wanted to be there. Once, the freight took us not to the dentist office but past it on a cross country run and we were able to stop under load for the hour of Diane's scheduled appointment.

Over the years there have been several times when we have let dispatch know that we will haul loads in the direction home, or asked them for help in getting there under load. Those requests have fallen on deaf ears, which does not surprise us because our carrier does not have a directional dispatch system.

Dispatchers correctly point out that it would be unfair to drivers who have been waiting for freight to bump them to give us a run home, simply because we wanted to go home.

If you look at the trip maps I post on my web site, you will see the freight will take you home quite a bit if you live in the Northeast and never (at least this year) if you live in Washington state. If you pick a month and a state, and pretend you want to get there then, it's pretty much random that you will get there under load.

 

[JimF51]

It's easy to form beliefs about dispatch and support them with selective memory.

Well, in my case, it's not selective, although it has only been a few months.

1st time, needed to get home for just a weekend, to the the wife to see her ailing Dad in Ohio (she was in a cast and couldn't drive). DH from PA.

Next, wanted to time off so we could go away for a few days for our 20th anniv. DH from out near the outer banks of NC.

Last was for this past weekend. Have no holiday plans, so figured a quiet few days with the wife, then go back in service over the holiday, till Christmas. DH, in stages, from Indy.


...Dispatchers correctly point out that it would be unfair to drivers who have been waiting for freight to bump them to give us a run home, simply because we wanted to go home.

I know that's the FedEx reason, but if it's true, they are the only company I have driven for that thinks so. I might not have gotten home on an exact requested day, but never had a company not try and get me a load going somewhere near home. Granted, it behooves a company to do so for a company driver, since they are paying the fuel, but I've been a O/O and have driven for a O/O, and those companies worked to get you home, also. Never heard any driver say that doing so was unfair.

I know if I were sitting waiting for a load, and the truck next to me had less dwell time, but was wanting to get home, I wouldn't feel it unfair if they were offered a load towards home. I doubt it would happen very often, and FedEx could put a limit of, say, one request per month, or something similar.

Personally, I just think it's laziness on the part of FedEx, and one more indication of their not really caring about the people who haul freight for them. But that could just be my impression.

Jim F

 

[ATeam]

I know if I were sitting waiting for a load, and the truck next to me had less dwell time, but was wanting to get home, I wouldn't feel it unfair if they were offered a load towards home. I doubt it would happen very often, and FedEx could put a limit of, say, one request per month, or something similar.

I would consider it very unfair if events developed as you describe above. Let me cite a real-world example.

Diane and I were once in Phoenix at the Flying J with a bunch of other expediters. One team we knew well. They were from Florida and dearly wanted to get home for a reason they felt was important, I don't recall the reason.

Not being a fan of truck stops and believing it wise to sit closer to the zip codes where we have picked up freight before, we moved across town to wait there. It also put us closer to Tuscon than the other trucks and we reasoned that would give us an edge.

We were still driving across town when an immediate pick up load popped up in Chandler, where we happened to be at that moment. It was a high paying load going to Florida and because of our dwell time, qualifications, location, etc. the load was dispatched to us. This was under the old dispatch system where loads were offered to one truck at a time. Other trucks would not have seen the offer unless we declined the load.

Now. lets modify the circumstances a bit to say we got to our parking place across town and the other team would have had time to get to the pick up to snag that load to Florida. Say we had more dwell time but because the other team wanted to go home, they would be able to trump our dwell time and take the load.

This was a lucarative load. We are out here to make money. I would be very upset if we lost the load to another team's personal desires. Even if it only happened once a year, I would not be pleased to hand $4,000 of gross revenue over to another truck simply because that truck wanted to go home.

Such a system could open a can of worms. I could see it happen that Diane and I might have just been home in Minnesota for two weeks, that we got there on our own nickel, and now finding ourselves in California and trucks piling up, we use the home bump to snatch a load out from under other trucks because the load happens to be going to or toward Minnesota. We would use the system to get home but the real reason would be to get running again. Would that be fair to the other trucks that had more dwell time than us?

Diane just offered another example. Say you and another solo driver are in California. He has been there three weeks and wants to get back East. You normally avoid California loads because you know you can get stuck out there, but took one to CA because it paid oh so very well. If a load pops up going to Ohio where you live, who should get the load; the guy with three weeks of time on the West Coast or you who just arrived? How would he feel if he saw you snatch the load by using your home bump?

I have heard that Panther's program for getting trucks home is better than FedEx's. But notice the significant feature. It is a program where you find your own freight to get home and the carrier helps you book it. You do not go home under the freight on the Panther board. If you want a special trip home, you find your own freight and use the carrier's assistance to get it on your truck, get paid for hauling it, etc.

Diane and I get home as often as we wish by planning ahead and deadheading if we must. We do not expect help from our carrier and would not want to see a get-home program put in place that would take money out of our pockets by giving it to others who want to get home.

Newbies take note:

FedEx Custom Critical, an expedite carrier, has never been a company that has been much help, if any, in getting you home, especially if you are in a straight truck or cargo van. If getting home on a regular basis and not at your own expense is important to you, people considering carriers should choose one other than FedEx Custom Critical.

 

[davekc]

Phil wrote,

I have heard that Panther's program for getting trucks home is better than FedEx's. But notice the significant feature. It is a program where you find your own freight to get home and the carrier helps you book it. You do not go home under the freight on the Panther board. If you want a special trip home, you find your own freight and use the carrier's assistance to get it on your truck, get paid for hauling it, etc.

Just a FYI

Panther does give you that ability if you care to exercise it. They also have a home-time board. One can request a directional run home and aren't penalized if loads going another way are turned down. Don't want to add any more than that since this is in the Fedex forum.