STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Dillydallying in Denver

September 24, 2008 on 10:17 am | In On The Road |

On Monday, I went to pick up that load to Bloomington, MN. When I was dispatched on the load I noticed that there was no way I could make the delivery date of Wednesday at 0530. The Planner in Fontana assured me that he was aware of the problem and that the load would be rescheduled en route. The facility was crowded, but I got loaded in about 2 hours anyway. Before I left, I gave the Planner my new ETA to the customer (Thursday at 1000), then began the trip. I drove without incident to Salina, UT where my 14-hours for the day expired.

Yesterday, Tuesday, the 23rd, I noticed that the delivery date still had not been re-scheduled. I contacted my DM, giving her the complete history. I then began driving for the day. About 4 hours later, I was notified that the load had been re-scheduled for the 29th at 0530. I immediately asked my DM where I could T-call the load. There is no way that I was going to sit for 4 extra days in Minnesota waiting to deliver. The only logical place to do the T-call was our terminal in Denver, and at the time, I was 4 hours away. Finally, just before shift change, the T-call came through. I finished the drive to Denver and did the T-call. There was no freight, so that ended my day.

Today, Wednesday, I received a PrePlan which picks up in Golden, CO and delivers in Elkton, VA. The problem is that I need an empty trailer, and I don’t have one. The Planner told me to try to find one in the yard. So far this morning, I have walked the yard twice, finding an empty trailer both times, only to find that the Planner had already dispatched it on another truck. My current status is that I’m waiting. I told the Planner that I was through playing that game (finding an empty trailer only to have him give it to someone else). I guess that when the pick up time becomes critical enough, they’ll find me an empty trailer like they seem to be doing for everyone else. If not, the load will not be picked up on time.

ADDENDUM: Nothing seems easy with Swift anymore. About 2 hours before my pick-up time, I received a series of messages concerning empty trailers. The first directed me to a customer in Henderson, the second said to disregard the previous message, and the third gave me a trailer that was the Denver yard. When I went to get the trailer, there was another driver hooked to it, just driving around in the yard. With what had been happening earlier in the day, I thought that they would contact that driver and tell him to drop it so I could hook to it. They had already dispatched we on the load, with that trailer. No such luck (I love consistency). They instead, sent me to another customer in Henderson for a trailer. By now, rush hour had begun. When I arrived at that customer, naturally, there were no Swift trailers there. After a while, they sent me to a customer in Commerce City. At long last, I finally found an empty. By the time I was re-dispatched on the load with the trailer I found, got the directions to the shipper, did the paperwork, and drove to Golden, it was 1700, two hours late for my scheduled pick-up time. It didn’t seem to matter too much to the shipper. When I checked in, I was told I was 3rd in line behind the truck already in the door, . Finally, about 2030, I was loaded. I drove to Colby, KS arriving about 0030, and stopped for the night. Having awoke at 0600, I was too tired to go any farther.