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TForce | Service performance

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old overniter

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Read a couple of posts that I would like to explore.. What is the actual on time performance of TForce ? Use to be that Industry wide less than 98 % was substandard.
Of course there were many " adjustments " that could be made to generate those numbers . I realize that efficencies are always a issue to make the most profits. Same for any business. No outbound Supervisor ? Who makes sure Hm is handled right, stacking , load to ride etc. etc. Who does the training and is held responsible ? Maybe done with a Leadman in a really small facility but anything more than a couple oubound doors and that is trouble in my opinion. I thought , based on the UPS parcel performance, that what could be gained in LTL efficenicies was already done ? Hope for some of your opinions and thanks.
 
i don't know-----our outbound persons are very good and don't "need" an "outbound supervisor" and can do it better than any "outbound supervisor" ive seen, and maybe that's why we don't have an "outbound supervisor" anymore?
 
Now, this maybe going off on a tangent, but to help your outbound crew:

When you get back to the terminal and you are putting your pallet jack/handtruck etc back, make it easy for the crew:

Like put the dock plate up
Clear the trash and junk and empty pallets out of the way so that they can get to your pickups easy
Unstrap everything
Move any bringbacks out of the way

The idea is so they can just drive in there and pick it up with the forklift. No need to get off and move stuff out of the way or restack anything.

i don't know----maybe this is another good reason NOT to have an outbound supervisor-----because when you actually LIKE the people you are working with, you are more likely to want to help each other out? i'm not saying all supervisors are DH's, but you know what i mean......
 
On time? Spare me. I'll explain. bear with me.

We will be empty at such a time on such a date usually Sunrise. Everyone from the Shop Tire Boy all the way to the vice poohah of operations knew it. They get a printout at 6 am every morning on the entire fleet currently on the road. Most of the trucks ON TIME do not get any attention. But the number that are LATE? They get a call me on satellite message. Some will see today as their last day because they are late.

Then wait hours for dispatch to come up with a load. By the time they get it passed to us we have to deadhead 200 miles to get it and already 4 hours late. so much for that. Not to mention already having a arrival delivery date and time thats already busted.

Why?

No one asked us when can we drivers get there. So eff it. Deadhead, load, get legal at the cat scale square away the fuel and fixies and roll. She will get there when she gets there. They already know damn well we are late. Days ahead of time sometimes.

Get there late.

Get hooked into the VP of operations into the yard and then demanded to explain ourselves with the service failure. I would respond that his entire dispatch will need to answer that same question before you get all the way down to just us peons who have to schlep this late ship from the start to finish.

They sometimes turn purple and other interesting colors.

When I started this business there was no such as late. California due in 9 days monday AM? Sure you betcha.

Now due in California in 50 hours from Avenel Jersey with blood plasma containers? Its already 20 minutes late however what shall we do stuck in a 63 mph truck.

We solved that problem by omitting one of two fuel stops. Usually memphis. We skipped mempis and arrived in Holbrook with dry tanks. Thats 2100 miles. And 40 minutes saved. Arrived 10 minutes to the good.

And the people rejoiced.

Bleah. 10 damn minutes in a valley girl filled beach bum land? Spare me.
 
O.K. I thank you for the replies so far. I need to clarify what I mean by On Time Service. I do get the Dispatch /Driver issue however. Specifically what I meant was the amount of shipments delivered on time. Pickup 100 shipments what percent actually make the standard advertised days for delivery ? I'll ask for more input but add another topic. In many of the posts , that vary in content, I see VP of Operations mentioned in unpleasant terms. Nature of the Beast but how many of THEM actually make the cut personally. Turnover, new names and a revolving door ?
 
old overniter said:
O.K. I thank you for the replies so far. I need to clarify what I mean by On Time Service. I do get the Dispatch /Driver issue however. Specifically what I meant was the amount of shipments delivered on time. Pickup 100 shipments what percent actually make the standard advertised days for delivery ? I'll ask for more input but add another topic. In many of the posts , that vary in content, I see VP of Operations mentioned in unpleasant terms. Nature of the Beast but how many of THEM actually make the cut personally. Turnover, new names and a revolving door ?
Click to expand...
I believe with covid delay they all show on time. They have been using covid delay for a while now. As far as actual service time, I am not sure, but it has to be high 80's or better. Freight levels much lower than a year or so ago.
IMHO of course.
 
old overniter said:
O.K. I thank you for the replies so far. I need to clarify what I mean by On Time Service. I do get the Dispatch /Driver issue however. Specifically what I meant was the amount of shipments delivered on time. Pickup 100 shipments what percent actually make the standard advertised days for delivery ? I'll ask for more input but add another topic. In many of the posts , that vary in content, I see VP of Operations mentioned in unpleasant terms. Nature of the Beast but how many of THEM actually make the cut personally. Turnover, new names and a revolving door ?
Click to expand...
There are some who have earned my undying love and respect because they knew what I was fixing to do with that rig and load before I asked them about it. Ahead of me in a way.

Not very many.

Most of them on down would hand you a load, hang up the phone and call it a day, and thats that. Whatever problems you have now or after is your problem driver. If you dont take care of it properly as the agent of the Company you no longer work there.

Once in a great while Ive had situations where dispatch did not do good and THEY were hauled in to lose their jobs over it. BEFORE I lose mine. And the People rejoice.

Years ago I interviewed for a dispatcher position in a local OTR outfit. I understood the game and I understood what they do and so on. Thats not the problem. The problems came out unexectedly when the interviewer asked me to play a role on a pretend phone at the driver calling in a problem with the load serious enough to put our bottom line at risk.

What I responded after learning the sob story and true extent of the ficitious disaster on the other end for the scenario, what came out of my mouth was plain speaking.

The problem with that kind of plain talk is the 20 to 30 year olds in the outer office heard me and I finished up the sentance by booming at the phone.. WTF DO YOU MEAN YOU DONT KNOW DRIVER!? *&$

The interviewer fell over laughing. Eh the situation was sorted more or less. That was not the problem. I passed.

What I did not pass was the 20 and 30's out there, i

There are drivers and there are dispatchers. God help us all Why?

Both have to operate on half assed information that is inaccurate or obsolete or changed by weather conditions or some other issues and no longer valid for the today's situation to be on time or late or whatever. Its all a guess and a prayer that everything might go well.
 
maxicoze said:
Now, this maybe going off on a tangent, but to help your outbound crew:

When you get back to the terminal and you are putting your pallet jack/handtruck etc back, make it easy for the crew:

Like put the dock plate up
Clear the trash and junk and empty pallets out of the way so that they can get to your pickups easy
Unstrap everything
Move any bringbacks out of the way

The idea is so they can just drive in there and pick it up with the forklift. No need to get off and move stuff out of the way or restack anything.

i don't know----maybe this is another good reason NOT to have an outbound supervisor-----because when you actually LIKE the people you are working with, you are more likely to want to help each other out? i'm not saying all supervisors are DH's, but you know what i mean......
Click to expand...
hey, we had a guy that would "straighten" out the dock as you say, spruce things up, tidy up a bit, empty the trash, etc...all in the good name of "overtime pay"...what a nice guy!
Company or $ in mind...our thoughts were on the $ ...
 
Hey, if you don't count the pickup day after 1300, don't count the workdays (weekends),
weather delays, driver shortage delays, everyone should be at least 102% on time!
 
maxicoze said:
Now, this maybe going off on a tangent, but to help your outbound crew:

When you get back to the terminal and you are putting your pallet jack/handtruck etc back, make it easy for the crew:

Like put the dock plate up
Clear the trash and junk and empty pallets out of the way so that they can get to your pickups easy
Unstrap everything
Move any bringbacks out of the way

The idea is so they can just drive in there and pick it up with the forklift. No need to get off and move stuff out of the way or restack anything.

i don't know----maybe this is another good reason NOT to have an outbound supervisor-----because when you actually LIKE the people you are working with, you are more likely to want to help each other out? i'm not saying all supervisors are DH's, but you know what i mean......
Click to expand...
So basically do anything we can so you don't have to get off the forklift.
 
maxicoze said:
Now, this maybe going off on a tangent, but to help your outbound crew:

When you get back to the terminal and you are putting your pallet jack/handtruck etc back, make it easy for the crew:

Like put the dock plate up
Clear the trash and junk and empty pallets out of the way so that they can get to your pickups easy
Unstrap everything
Move any bringbacks out of the way

The idea is so they can just drive in there and pick it up with the forklift. No need to get off and move stuff out of the way or restack anything.

i don't know----maybe this is another good reason NOT to have an outbound supervisor-----because when you actually LIKE the people you are working with, you are more likely to want to help each other out? i'm not saying all supervisors are DH's, but you know what i mean......
Click to expand...
You left out.....
Check to make sure there is propane in tow motor and Change tank if below a quarter tank...

Sweep out trailer so forklift operator doesn't have to run over wood scraps..

Unload trailer so outbound doesn't have to....
 
ABF381 said:
You left out.....
Check to make sure there is propane in tow motor and Change tank if below a quarter tank...

Sweep out trailer so forklift operator doesn't have to run over wood scraps..

Unload trailer so outbound doesn't have to....
Click to expand...
You also left out,
Have a cold or warm drink, for the dockman, depending on what time of year it is.
 
maxicoze said:
Now, this maybe going off on a tangent, but to help your outbound crew:

When you get back to the terminal and you are putting your pallet jack/handtruck etc back, make it easy for the crew:

Like put the dock plate up
Clear the trash and junk and empty pallets out of the way so that they can get to your pickups easy
Unstrap everything
Move any bringbacks out of the way

The idea is so they can just drive in there and pick it up with the forklift. No need to get off and move stuff out of the way or restack anything.

i don't know----maybe this is another good reason NOT to have an outbound supervisor-----because when you actually LIKE the people you are working with, you are more likely to want to help each other out? i'm not saying all supervisors are DH's, but you know what i mean......
Click to expand...
Visitor line driver. Work our outbound. I like your input, but realistically, P&D guys can’t dispose of used shrinkwrap, cardboard, pallet pieces at (commercial) delivery point dumpster? I guess if they can’t Pro every side or strap freight…not like they’re hourly(I literally only work outbound to get out on time for a 3 stop, 550 run).
 
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White said:
Visitor line driver. Work our outbound. I like your input, but realistically, P&D guys can’t dispose of used shrinkwrap, cardboard, pallet pieces at (commercial) delivery point dumpster? I guess if they can’t Pro every side or strap freight…not like they’re hourly(I literally only work outbound to get out on time for a 3 stop, 550 run).
Click to expand...
wow...Liked your reply very much! Makes way too much sense...
 
old overniter said:
Read a couple of posts that I would like to explore.. What is the actual on time performance of TForce ? Use to be that Industry wide less than 98 % was substandard.
Of course there were many " adjustments " that could be made to generate those numbers . I realize that efficencies are always a issue to make the most profits. Same for any business. No outbound Supervisor ? Who makes sure Hm is handled right, stacking , load to ride etc. etc. Who does the training and is held responsible ? Maybe done with a Leadman in a really small facility but anything more than a couple oubound doors and that is trouble in my opinion. I thought , based on the UPS parcel performance, that what could be gained in LTL efficenicies was already done ? Hope for some of your opinions and thanks.
Click to expand...
Great question, that is one change the industry has seen over the years. The definition of on time, everyone seems to have their own spin on it.
That is why many well run companies no longer accept carrier dats for on time. They measure it themselves via Four Kites or a similar program. This way every carrier is judged using the same methodology,
That ends any 'adjustments' that carriers could make and all competition is equal.
 
White said:
Visitor line driver. Work our outbound. I like your input, but realistically, P&D guys can’t dispose of used shrinkwrap, cardboard, pallet pieces at (commercial) delivery point dumpster? I guess if they can’t Pro every side or strap freight…not like they’re hourly(I literally only work outbound to get out on time for a 3 stop, 550 run).
Click to expand...
There are certainly guys who don't do their own house cleaning.
I don't give a ::shit:: about them. Our dock guys just push their trash into the front of the trailer. I have literally seen 4 foot high and 3 ft long of trailer space piled with broken wood and trash.
I'd be willing to bet the same guys who don't clean up there own trash, don't wash their hand after taking a dump.
 
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