Load offers

[guest]

This question may test the forum policies a bit...as well as my ability to ask the question, but a friend and I were discussing the topic and I thought this would be a good place to ask about it. I'll just set it up as hypothetical situation, hopefully that will be best. I am hoping that this can be explained without violating the "no company policy" rules of this forum.

Let's say Truck A is located in Memphis waiting for a load, has been there 2 days. Truck B has only been there a few hours, but is also available for dispatch. The catch is, truck B is at a truck stop 1 mile closer to the pickup when the load offer comes in. Who gets the load?

I have tried to exaggerate this as I would think that with only 1 mile difference truck A would get the load since he has been there the longest, but...how much closer would truck B have to be before he was offered the load because he could get to it the quickest?

Thx,

 

[abcwine]

Well, it looks like I will handle this one. In this particular situation, truck A would definitely get the load offer first, since the vehicle has been sitting longer. One mile would not become a factor for vehicle B to get the load. Hmmmmmmmm..... what would be the distance to make a difference? There are a lot of variables involved in this one. If the load is called in and the freight is ready now and the customer is demanding the closest vehicle, we will usually search a radius and use about a 45 mile gage as a factor to use closest vehicle or most idle time. That is only for freight ready now and is extremely time critical! If it is more of a normal load, where freight may not be ready at time of call, the vehicle will be dispatched according to their idle time.

Hope this helps,

ABC

 

[JohnMueller]

Arky - Great question. Most companies have human beings deciding which truck is dispatched on each load - the dispatchers. These dispatchers are directed to follow their company policies when dispatching the trucks. This is generally supposed to be "First In First Out". The dispatchers also know that expedited freight commands a very high level of customer service which includes time sensitivity. The decision on which truck is dispatched on a particular load, in your "example" situation, would depend solely on just how time sensitive the load is. We know that most carriers provide a maximum 90 minute response time to the customer. This means that from the time a customer calls in a load, the carrier will have a vehicle at their facility in 90 minutes or less.
Should a distraught customer call because a plant is being shut down for lack of parts, a disptacher may decide to call that driver that is only one mile closer.

 

[guest]

Many thx to ABC and Hotfr8. Very good responses, exactly the info. I was looking for.

Thx again,