Too Dumb to Retire

I know the old saying, “You can always tell if a dispatcher is lying if his lips are moving”. But contrary to popular belief, dispatchers are human. They do eat, sleep, have families and have a job to do too, other than give drivers a hard time.

Years ago I used to do some orientation and my last bit of advice was to walk our new hires to the office where the dispatchers were located and said, “these people are dispatchers, their nickname is ‘god’, they will make you or break you”. “If you make your pickups and deliveries on time, cause no claims or damage, they will start moving your name up the list to where the good trips are”. “If on the other hand you give them a rough time, they will put your name at the bottom of their list, give you the worst trips they can find and hope you quit”.

It’s a simple concept, but that’s the way it works in real life. The driver and dispatcher work as a team. Once a dispatcher feels comfortable with a driver and knows he can depend on you, you’ll be pre-planned on trips and your life will be a whole lot easier. Instead of you having to wait after delivery for the next load to come open, which will result in wasted time for you and the company, you’ll be on your way and putting money in your pocket as the miles click away.

Don’t forget, if you think your dispatcher(s) are giving you a hard time, do you give your dispatchers a hard way to go too? Refusing a load or making pickups and deliveries between partying or playing video games in the truck stops doesn’t make life easier for dispatchers either. They also get misinformation and grief from shippers and receivers too. Many of your loads are handled through brokers, and they’ve been known to stretch the truth a little too. Brokers have been known to double book a load with two different trucking companies, and the first one there gets the load. The brokers butt is covered but both the driver and the trucking company are left out in the cold. A shipper will call the trucking company and say he has 10 loads on the dock ready to go. When you get there you have to wait. You’re on you way with a “just on time” delivery and you have a flat tire and miss your appointment. The receiver is on the phone screaming at the dispatcher for his shipment and even though the delay is legitimate the dispatcher has to put up with the SOB on the other end of the line.

Are all dispatchers great to work with? Of course not, I’ve worked with some that have caused me to wait and lose income and I’ve worked with others who have made me a lot of money. You try to minimize the turkeys and built a relationship with the good ones. I can hear the cynics in the crowd saying that means kissing butt, call it what you will, but in reality it’s building a trust that means a lot easier time for you in the long run. Let’s try this analogy. You’ve heard race car drivers praise the relationship between a crew chief and a driver for a winning combination, and you know the teams who do poorly when that chemistry isn’t there.

Here’s another point to consider, if you think you and your dispatcher(s) don’t get along, the problem might be found if you look in a mirror.

Enjoy the day

Geezer

Category: General

I love to play with numbers. I’ve heard there are 1.4 million Class 8 trucks on the road. That’s a lot of heavy iron moving around the country. And we burn a lot of diesel fuel, about 100,000,000 gallons a day. (That’s 100 million). Figure the price of fuel and we contribute quite a bit to the economy, let alone state and federal agencies who grab about a third of the take. We hear day in and day out from the politicians, who do nothing to resolve the problem of supplying our needs, that we need to conserve, we need to find more efficient ways to cut back on our demand for oil. OK, I have a suggestion. Shut the engines off if you don’t absolutely need to have them running.

At any time I go into a truck stop, and depending on the temperature, anywhere from 30% to 100% of the trucks are idling. Question. If the temperature outside is above 40 degrees and below 70, why do the engines need to be running? Personally if the temperature is between those parameters I prefer the engine off, I sleep better. If I have to park beside a running reefer, I’ll nose into a parking spot so I don’t have to listen to it.
I understand some people get used to a running engine to sleep, I used to, but now I enjoy the quiet.

As I mentioned, I like to fiddle with numbers. So here goes. Let’s say that any given time 10% of the nations trucks are idling and they will burn about 0.8 gallons per hour at about 800rpm. That will work out to about 112,000 gallons of fuel being used every hour.
Let’s say a driver takes his 10 hours off duty, (which we all do of course) then over that time 1,120,000 gallons of fuel are needlessly burnt. Figure we will run 6 days a week that will work out to enough fuel to power a truck for 3 and a half years. I’d love to have someone pay my fuel bill for that time.

That’s more than a few drops in the bucket and a lot of fuel saved, which this country seems to be in short supply of right now. So here’s the question. Do you absolutely have to idle when you are shut down? It seems to me that Trucking Companies, ATA, OIDA and anyone else would champion to help save fuel.

Enjoy the day

Geezer

Category: General

Yes, I'm a certified GEEZER. I'm 72 and still not smart enough to retire. One of my daughters says I'll retire when they pry my cold stiff fingers off the steering wheel. That could be. Truth of the matter is I can't retire. I've tried it twice and each time I drive everyone around me nuts and my wife suggests (that's putting it politely) that I get out of the house. I'm driving her crazy.
The dear lady who shared the driver seat with me for a number of years can't drive anymore and frankly I think she enjoys not having me around to get under her feet.

Someone told me that I'm now old enough to drive a Buick or a Mercury Grand Marquis. Heck, I'm only 72 and certainly not as old as those old farts who hog the center lane on a 6 lane at 10-15 mph below the speed limit.

So once I get this thing figured out, I'll add some more from time to time. The Good times and those infrequent not so pleasant times. Actually I try to maintain a positive attitude as it sure beats the alternative.

Stay well, keep the rubber side down.

Enjoy the day

Geezer

Category: General