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Estes | Cut Times on bid runs

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steercrazee

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Why do the drivers get griped at if they are leave past their cut times because of them, but its ok to be an hour past your cut time or longer from the dispatchers or trailers not being loaded in a timely manner? Shouldn't this work both ways? Ive seen several drivers not getting out on a regular basis because their freight is not loaded or dispatch sent their loads on with another driver so now they are waiting to load another trailer or waiting for some to come in. If it's a bid run and time that's the same everyday. Maybe im missing something but it seems to me the crap always ends with the drivers in some or form.
 
It was even worse before self dispatch. Get out two hours late but the dispatchers would always dispatch you at your cut time in the system. Then you have inbound sups asking you why it takes you 6 hours to drive something that should only take 4. Self dispatch at least gives them an accurate departure and arrival time.
My terminal is so bad about getting drivers out that none of us actually show up before our cut times. Most start loading into the tractor when they're supposed to be rolling out of the gate and still have to wait for them to close down the trailers. The problem is that no one really cares about anyone else as long as their job is getting done and as long as the company doesn't have to pay road drivers detention time they'll never worry about getting drivers out on time.
 
M3ATY said:
It was even worse before self dispatch. Get out two hours late but the dispatchers would always dispatch you at your cut time in the system. Then you have inbound sups asking you why it takes you 6 hours to drive something that should only take 4. Self dispatch at least gives them an accurate departure and arrival time.
My terminal is so bad about getting drivers out that none of us actually show up before our cut times. Most start loading into the tractor when they're supposed to be rolling out of the gate and still have to wait for them to close down the trailers. The problem is that no one really cares about anyone else as long as their job is getting done and as long as the company doesn't have to pay road drivers detention time they'll never worry about getting drivers out on time.
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We were told we need to be at terminal early enough to do our pre trip and be ready to roll at cut time, so we show up and are just sitting in drivers room twiddling our fingers not getting pais until they finally give us our bills. Bad thing is you can't really log in early and do your pre trip because that starts your 14 and if they get you out an hour or so late and you have one of the long runs it puts pressure on you big time to be able to finish the run on. Im not sure they realize how much road construction and accidents affect our time on top of their delaying us. It's just crazy though if they do have you ready and for some reason you show up a little late shame shame shame you are a disorganized driver and know when your cut time is. This is trucking and the drivers are at the bottom of the hill and that's where the crap rolls to.
 
steercrazee said:
We were told we need to be at terminal early enough to do our pre trip and be ready to roll at cut time, so we show up and are just sitting in drivers room twiddling our fingers not getting pais until they finally give us our bills. Bad thing is you can't really log in early and do your pre trip because that starts your 14 and if they get you out an hour or so late and you have one of the long runs it puts pressure on you big time to be able to finish the run on. Im not sure they realize how much road construction and accidents affect our time on top of their delaying us. It's just crazy though if they do have you ready and for some reason you show up a little late shame shame shame you are a disorganized driver and know when your cut time is. This is trucking and the drivers are at the bottom of the hill and that's where the crap rolls to.
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If you show up and are waiting, log in since you are on duty not driving, why screw yourself? If enough drivers did that and ran out of time on the run and went to bed an hour from home management might get the message and clean up their act. The DOT laws are there for our benefit, not the company's. Use those laws when the need arises.
 
Kam2010 said:
Look at the cover sheet and see what time dispatch closes the load or loads. Upper top left of the page. I have caught them backing up the actual time, printed time, and had to have it changed. Don’t let dispatch manipulate the time and keep them accountable.
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Triplex said:
If you show up and are waiting, log in since you are on duty not driving, why screw yourself? If enough drivers did that and ran out of time on the run and went to bed an hour from home management might get the message and clean up their act. The DOT laws are there for our benefit, not the company's. Use those laws when the need arises.
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👍👍
 
There was a driver last week that showed up in front of dispatch window 30 minutes before their cut time and they did not give them bills till 10 minutes till said cut time . They were not told to hook and at this terminal if not told you don't hook or you get called in for that. They said they called dispatcher 30 minutes past cut time and asked what was the hold up then was told go ahead and hook. On way to finding trailers they saw yard hostler had the lead and dolly at that point. Finally hooks to trailers and finds problem with them. Gets said problem taking care of and leaves. Gets called in next day to explain why left so late past cut time. They explained and i guess things were ok after that. Dispatcher claimed they have to answer to their boss everyday for whoever is past their cut time. I was like they can't give us our bills 10 min till cut and we have to show a 15 min pre trip and get out on time and if something is wrong and has to be fixed there is no way. They see and know the bid runs and their cut times so why if you leave at 7:00 pm at least have you ready at 6:30 so you can actually do your job properly without having to sweat if you are going to make cut time according to their standards. I felt bad for the person doing they best they could with the circumstances that happened. Estes is starting to be all about numbers. The drivers have figured that if everything is where they are suppose to be by their numbers somebody in management must be getting a bonus the way they push the numbers especially since samsara was put in.
 
steercrazee said:
Why do the drivers get griped at if they are leave past their cut times because of them, but its ok to be an hour past your cut time or longer from the dispatchers or trailers not being loaded in a timely manner? Shouldn't this work both ways? Ive seen several drivers not getting out on a regular basis because their freight is not loaded or dispatch sent their loads on with another driver so now they are waiting to load another trailer or waiting for some to come in. If it's a bid run and time that's the same everyday. Maybe im missing something but it seems to me the crap always ends with the drivers in some or form.
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Circle the close time on the manifest and take a picture of every manifest on all late closes and one of your trip sheet every week so you can immediately point to your departure times if questioned. This shouldn’t be an issue, we can only do so much if the load closes late.
 
Triplex said:
If you show up and are waiting, log in since you are on duty not driving, why screw yourself? If enough drivers did that and ran out of time on the run and went to bed an hour from home management might get the message and clean up their act. The DOT laws are there for our benefit, not the company's. Use those laws when the need arises.
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That’s what I was about to say. Go on duty. If you run out of time and have to bed down and the return load doesn’t get there and enough drivers do this then it will change. Also on the employee engagement survey if enough of us started demanding we get paid for dwell time then maybe they might actually do something about it. After all, if a city driver’s load isn’t ready at his start time he gets to clock in, right? Why should we be any different. It will take a concerted effort on all our part to make it happen.
 
Songremainsthesame said:
That’s what I was about to say. Go on duty. If you run out of time and have to bed down and the return load doesn’t get there and enough drivers do this then it will change. Also on the employee engagement survey if enough of us started demanding we get paid for dwell time then maybe they might actually do something about it. After all, if a city driver’s load isn’t ready at his start time he gets to clock in, right? Why should we be any different. It will take a concerted effort on all our part to make it happen.
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There is a driver out of Knoxville that says their Charlotte run of 450 miles usually takes 11 hours most nights because of waiting. Ridiculous. I agree line haul drivers time is just as valuable as a city driver. like you said if enough drivers speak up we would get more done. They want us there early enough to not be late on our end then we should log in and be on their time. It seems at times little by little Estes is turning into O.D. Old Dominion used to be a great place and they started nit picking every little thing and started firing drivers over some of the most stupid stuff especially when slow. It created a revolving door.
 
steercrazee said:
There is a driver out of Knoxville that says their Charlotte run of 450 miles usually takes 11 hours most nights because of waiting. Ridiculous. I agree line haul drivers time is just as valuable as a city driver. like you said if enough drivers speak up we would get more done. They want us there early enough to not be late on our end then we should log in and be on their time. It seems at times little by little Estes is turning into O.D. Old Dominion used to be a great place and they started nit picking every little thing and started firing drivers over some of the most stupid stuff especially when slow. It created a revolving door.
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We have a run that goes from Athens to 141 to 041 to Birmingham, back to 041, bobtail to 141 then back to Athens. Takes 13 hours for 480 miles.
 
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