ODFL | Call Ahead Trucking

SPAM

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Ladies and Gentlemen, I have a question that I need to pose to you all who are affiliated with O.D. and the way we do things. I do not wish for this to get confrontational at all and would like to assure everyone that I'm only asking this question because I don't know the answer to it. I run out of CLT and as most of you who are familiar with the CLT operation may know, we do turn runs and as a result of course, we are back home each afternoon. Usually, we average 450 to 550 miles on good days and that's great. What I am concerned with is that there are drivers who leave after me headed to the same destination who will call ahead of me to the destination terminal linehaul operations and line up another run from our destination and at times this has forced me to wait for another load even though I arrived at our destination first. This has also resulted in my having a shorter amount of miles for the day because I had to wait for the next available run which in some case has proven to be shorter at the end of the day. This does not seem fair to me. There have also been times that the destination terminal will give the longer miles to a combo driver and force us to run the shorter miles. I thought the road drivers took precedent over combo drivers when it came to the miles? Again, I'm not looking to kick off a fight here, I simply need to know if this is the way we operate on a daily basis and if I'll need to procure my plan to secure miles for the day in the same manner. Will someone please advise? Thanks.
 
Not SOP anywhere else I know of I think it would be a good time to ask your line haul coordinator, or T/M if this is how things are done.
 
Are you extra board or a bid driver... And line haul always trumps combo if you have hours, at least out west. I'd be asking questions!
 
start at bottom of your chain and go up till you get a satisfactory answer or results from the chain of command is my suggestion
 
Talked to the LHC about this today and I believe this issue is now resolved and that fairness in the process will be established. Thanks for the advice guys. O.D. is truly the best place I've ever worked for in the past twenty eight years!
 
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Talked to the LHC about this today and I believe this issue is now resolved and that fairness in the process will be established. Thanks for the advice guys. O.D. is truly the best place I've ever worked for in the past twenty eight years!

Im glad you got it worked out. I worked with people that would come just short of a accident to beat others off the yard. Thats a bad way to have to work. I'd hate to see that here.
 
When I ran line haul, I used to call ahead all the time and get set up on loads. I did it as a wild solo driver and as a team driver. If I was gonna be away from home I wanted to keep the hammer down and make some money. I had no control over what runs they actually gave me. I just told dispatch about what time I would be at the next terminal and whether I was pointed home or out to run hard. Dispatch would set me up on whatever they wanted. I dont see how this is unfair to anyone. I see it as a driver who knows how to work the system to make the most money.
 
When I ran line haul, I used to call ahead all the time and get set up on loads. I did it as a wild solo driver and as a team driver. If I was gonna be away from home I wanted to keep the hammer down and make some money. I had no control over what runs they actually gave me. I just told dispatch about what time I would be at the next terminal and whether I was pointed home or out to run hard. Dispatch would set me up on whatever they wanted. I dont see how this is unfair to anyone. I see it as a driver who knows how to work the system to make the most money.

I might be wrong, but this sounds like two different animals. I know our runs are longer out west and our X-board drivers do meet and turns. So most of the wild drivers bed down for their 10 when they get here. So "first in- first out" is used to keep order. Like I said before, a little different then out East where you guys hit 3 terminals in one night.
 
I see what you're saying Midnight Rider, but what is happening to us is completely different. The driver is behind me and calls ahead of me. That's the difference. I said we were in route to the SAME place and he was behind me. There is no need to call ahead because the destination terminal already has our ETA's set as we left our terminal via the gate transponder. There shouldn't be a need to "Work" the system. The system in itself would work fine if this particular offender that I speak of would stop calling ahead of me. No need for me to beat a dead horse here. LH has been notified and the LHC says it is being dealt with. That's all I can do from here.
 
Gotta side with SPAM on this topic;since both drivers have same origin should be "first in,first out" anything else reeks of favoritism.
 
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