Planners, Dispatchers,Drivers Communication

CCDriver · May 17, 2014

Some things happening that make you just say Huh???. Be great if everyone was getting on the same page and working together.

I'm amazed that a fortune 400 company like Fed Ex has such easily fixed problems. From booking loads and not asking the right questions to just doing very simple check ins with customers.

I've had several shippers ask "What's going on with Fed Ex?". When I ask what in particuliar I'm hearing things like they used to check up with us and it isn't happening anymore.

We as drivers are expected to be prompt, understanding, proffesional. To do our job in a safe manner getting the load from point A to B and maybe C,D, and F occasionaly.
Why is it so hard to get dispatch to do a bit of work IE a call to check if a shipment might be ready before the given pick up appointment time.

Maybe they are overworked maybe Fed Ex needs to add a few more and lighten the load on them.

I was near my pickup the night before pickup was scheduled for 1700 the next day. I asked that they check and see if maybe they would be ready earlier.
Was informed the shipper was closed now but check with the morning crew.

So I checked with the morning peeps. Instead of making a simple call and checking I get the shipper set up the appointment at that time. Of course when I get there the shipment had been ready since the night before. Could of picked it up at 0800 been on my way.

This happens so many times to get to a shipper and at times they say "We have been waiting on you, last load of the day and we could of went home".

Also when we pick up at the same shipper over and over again why is it a big surprise when certain load numbers are needed but never included in our information?
Or when picking up 55 gal drums that no 48x48 pallets won't fir in a DR unit side by side. And no even if on a 40x48 4 drums overhang and still equal 48"x48".

We are in an industry when yes things will pop up from time to time but to keep making the same mistakes just seems absurd.

Just seems with a little thought and planning things could run much smoother and everyone Fed Ex, drivers, shippers, and cosignees would all have it better.

runrunner · May 21, 2014

Expediting has changed so much over the years. Dispatchers used to pay a lot of attention to detail,it was a part of the service provided. Part of the reason the customer paid more for the service. The intent was to eliminate mistakes. I guess cost cutting is the priority in today's world. The ole gray mare ain't what she used to be.

teamjdw · May 21, 2014

We had confirmed delivery for sat. No one there thanks for the 42 hours of d time we got. Extra $1564.00 is always welcome. We also enjoyed sitting at the Ontario petro all weekend with friends. Gotta love the fed. Left hand never knows what the right is doing.lmao

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interstategar · May 22, 2014

One a customer calls in an order, and it happens to be ready earlier, its up to the customer to let fedex know if its ready earlier than schedule. Sometimes the customer is on the delivery side and doesn't even know or ck if its ready early. Some shipper's do let fedex know. I've been on both sides of the coin. What you could do if your parked near a shipper is stop in early at the shipper and see if its ready yourself. I've done that, and just told them I was in the area and thought I'd just check. Nothing in our lease that says we can't do that. Doing that also give you a chance to possibly talk to the party involved who will be loading you when it is ready. For me, times I did pu much earlier and times was only ready at scheduled time. A few customers are real sticklers about coming in early but over time you can make a list.

Deville · May 24, 2014

You need to be pro active in every aspect of the load. The dispatcher/load planner is sitting in an office in an uncomfortable ergonomic chair that is causing scoliosis in some dimly lit room staring at a computer screen that is causing partial blindness, as he/she clicks through multiple screens to view multiple loads trying to type in load information while trying to ignore the shooting carpal tunnel pain in their wrists and still has too answer phones and balance the phone between the face and shoulder causing all sorts of facial and shoulder issues. Since it's so loud in the office the dispatcher can't hear anything so they are forced to turn the volume of the phone all the way up causing hearing loss.

All this person want's to do is count down the hours until they can go home and continue with their closeted alcoholism and wonder where their lives went wrong.

Then you call and in your dumb white trash hick voice ask her "well golly gee i'm here at the shipper can I pick this load up earlier?" To which the dispatcher wants to reply; HEY DUMB **** I'M BUSY HERE GO FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELF! But since we are all "professionals" you are given the standard canned answer.

iceroadtrucker · May 24, 2014

Deville said:
You need to be pro active in every aspect of the load. The dispatcher/load planner is sitting in an office in an uncomfortable ergonomic chair that is causing scoliosis in some dimly lit room staring at computer screen that is causing partial blindness, as he/she clicks through multiple screens to view multiple loads trying to type in load information while trying to ignore the shooting carpal tunnel pain their wrists and still has too answer phones and balance the phone between the face and shoulder causing all sorts of facial and shoulder issues and since it's so loud in the office the dispatcher can't hear anything so they are forced to turn the volume of the phone all the way causing hearing loss.

All this person want's to do is count down the hours until they can go home and continue with their closeted alcoholism and wonder where their lives went wrong.

Then you call and in your dumb white trash hick voice ask her "well golly gee i'm here at the shipper can I pick this load up earlier?" To which the dispatcher wants to reply; HEY DUMB **** I'M BUSY HERE GO FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELF! But since we are all "professionals" you are given the standard canned answer.

GOT A MESSAGE FOR A YA A PIC WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS PAY CLOSE ATTENTION. A salute to Military Working Dogs