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R&L | why cant we fix line haul?

sapper

sapper

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If we were to impose cut off times for pick ups, I feel that we could better plan pick ups and get every body in by a decent time. This would allow out bound shift to properly load and depart runs when they are supposed to, not one to two hrs after schedule. Thoughts?
 
I see it being more of a staffing problem. Cutting the dock workers to 30 hrs
a week didn't help things at all. They are trying to move more freight with less
manpower & hours. What doesn't make any sense is holding them off til around
7 pm to clock on when they're overwhelmed with freight instead bringing a few men in
at 4-5 pm and break city trailers as they're coming in like they used to.

Conway tried enforcing a pick up cut time several years ago around here and they lost
a lot of freight due to it. Most shippers will just give the freight to someone else, instead
being told what to do.
 
Recap Slinger said:
I see it being more of a staffing problem. Cutting the dock workers to 30 hrs
a week didn't help things at all. They are trying to move more freight with less
manpower & hours. What doesn't make any sense is holding them off til around
7 pm to clock on when they're overwhelmed with freight instead bringing a few men in
at 4-5 pm and break city trailers as they're coming in like they used to.

Conway tried enforcing a pick up cut time several years ago around here and they lost
a lot of freight due to it. Most shippers will just give the freight to someone else, instead
being told what to do.
Click to expand...

When I was with American Freightways and then when they turned into FedEx Freight, we had cut offs and it worked but you had to have them from day one. You cant do things like R+L has done for so long and then suddenly decide you want a cut off. It would never fly with customers being used to stepping all over you for so long. In Hartford, Our biggest issue is getting our freight in on time from Jersey. Always late, every morning.
 
As a P&D guy I wait to get loaded in the mornings and don't get out the gate until 9:30-10 am. Then I'm stuck delivering stops that are not in my area before eventually getting into my area. Because of that I end up completely behind the clock trying to get empty and make my pickups before they leave. If that wasn't enough then I have to get that stupid 30 min break taken care of which screws everything up. My closest customer to the terminal is a 2hr drive where my furthest is 4 1/2 hours. I always end up bring back freight that is too late and sometimes that same fright I'll bring back another 2 or 3 days until I can actually deliver it before the consignee closes. Late inbound line haul and the numbers game have turned my route into a stress filled hell, I used to make it back well below 12 hours a day and now I fight as hard as I can to make it back before 14 hrs
 
Cromag said:
As a P&D guy I wait to get loaded in the mornings and don't get out the gate until 9:30-10 am. Then I'm stuck delivering stops that are not in my area before eventually getting into my area. Because of that I end up completely behind the clock trying to get empty and make my pickups before they leave. If that wasn't enough then I have to get that stupid 30 min break taken care of which screws everything up. My closest customer to the terminal is a 2hr drive where my furthest is 4 1/2 hours. I always end up bring back freight that is too late and sometimes that same fright I'll bring back another 2 or 3 days until I can actually deliver it before the consignee closes. Late inbound line haul and the numbers game have turned my route into a stress filled hell, I used to make it back well below 12 hours a day and now I fight as hard as I can to make it back before 14 hrs
Click to expand...

Same basic story as I have minus the long commute between the terminal and the stops. .
 
Local Terminals can't institute a cut-off time for p/u's on national accounts. That has to come from WIL. The short staffed docks hampered by the hours limits of the part timers are a big problem. A large part of the problem I see is the city drivers that return to the Terminal early are allowed to punch out and go home, when the drivers that return 2 or so hours later are the ones that are sent back out. Does not make sense to me. You create a difficult situation for the night time outbound by making their operation complete the job in a shorter amount of time. Does not always work, resulting in late departing night linehauls, which leads to late arrivals in the morning.
 
I agree that the 30 hr limit on part timers is hampering both out bound and inbound operations. We have a couple city drivers that work in bound every morning. Wouldn't it be cheaper to hire more part timers than pay top scale with benefits?
 
BIGFOOT said:
Local Terminals can't institute a cut-off time for p/u's on national accounts. That has to come from WIL. The short staffed docks hampered by the hours limits of the part timers are a big problem. A large part of the problem I see is the city drivers that return to the Terminal early are allowed to punch out and go home, when the drivers that return 2 or so hours later are the ones that are sent back out. Does not make sense to me. You create a difficult situation for the night time outbound by making their operation complete the job in a shorter amount of time. Does not always work, resulting in late departing night linehauls, which leads to late arrivals in the morning.
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I agree but the fact is, they don't institute cut offs for any customers. National or the occasional 1 pallet a month customers.
 
shadowr434 said:
I agree but the fact is, they don't institute cut offs for any customers. National or the occasional 1 pallet a month customers.
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We have cut-off times for a few customers in NOR. Not many, but I don't think there are many that need it. It seems to me the bigger problem is sending the drivers back out for those volume trailers to late in the evening.
 
BIGFOOT said:
We have cut-off times for a few customers in NOR. Not many, but I don't think there are many that need it. It seems to me the bigger problem is sending the drivers back out for those volume trailers to late in the evening.
Click to expand...

One thing's for certain. There is absolutely no damn reason whatsoever why guys that finish 2 1/2 hrs from the yard should have to do pickups 20 minutes from the yard.
 
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Sling Blade said:
One thing's for certain. There is absolutely no damn reason whatsoever why guys that finish 2 1/2 hrs from the yard should have to do pickups 20 minutes from the yard.
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One of our farthest peddle routes is usually one of the first back in the afternoon, he is first out in the morning. Based on time back with hours available, he may be utilized for pick ups close to the yard. Getting a city trailer to the dock at 7 pm vs. 10 pm makes the night time o/b that much smoother. Smoother night time o/b=less trailers late in the morning=less city driver out late. Easier to do with a smaller operation. WIL & NOR can be a challenge to stay on track every night.
 
BIGFOOT said:
One of our farthest peddle routes is usually one of the first back in the afternoon, he is first out in the morning. Based on time back with hours available, he may be utilized for pick ups close to the yard.
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You mean where there's likely half a dozen other guys that all start later?

Yeah, that's brilliant.
 
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