Missing Appointments

One of the nono's in the industry.

After the delivery in Dayton, TX I went into Houston and picked up a load of Budweiser Beer from Anheuser-Busch. It was going to the distributor in Little Rock, AR and needed to deliver the next day, Monday, before 2 pm. Not really a problem, I had plenty of time. Just so happened, a really bad snow storm clobbered northeast Texas and Arkansas that evening.

I ran into it in Jefferson, TX between Marshall and Texarkana. Nothing but really slick ice. It took 2 hours to travel approximately 50 miles. I pulled into a weigh station in Queen City, TX south of Texarkana at 10 pm and just went to bed. I figured I would be off my 10 hour break at 8 am, and be able to deliver the next day before 2 pm. Gave me 6 hours to go 170 miles. Next morning it was just snowy slush by time got off break, the curve ball I got was I had a flat on the trailer. I called breakdown and they went through 6 tire companies before they found one that would come out, and that wasn't until around 12:30pm.

I made sure dispatch knew I could not make the appointment and why. This absolved me of being guilty of a missed or late appointment. Not late if valid reason and you make sure dispatch knows what is going on...all the time...called COMMUNICATION. This is something that dispatch only uses one way. I don't get this in return. They figure my needing information is not necessary. Like...do you have any loads? how long you want me to sit here double parked waiting for you to tell me something? can I move somewhere else? HEY YOU STILL UP THERE? All communication being done with the Qualcom satellite system and not on the phone, and them never answering a question, you wonder sometimes.

Got to a truck stop around 5 pm that evening, about 36 miles from the customer. Seems I-30 in Arkansas was nothing but ice. Traffic was at a stand still and there were about 10 trucks for every 1 auto on the road. Once I found a parking place in the very rear of the truck stop, I went in and ate. Place was so crowded it took 1 1/2 hours to get back to my truck. They had closed the interstate and trucks had flowed into the place and you couldn't move. All the aisles and spots were filled.

The next morning I lucked out and got out a back way after some trucks beside me took that path out. It was a little dirt road that went out through a pasture to the service road. There was still ice on the road but I made it to the customer in a little over a hour. There were seven trucks there ahead of me waiting to unload too. Seems they were closed on Monday because "they" couldn't get to work.

It took 6 hours to get unloaded and then went over to Stuttgart, AR and picked up a load to Hannibal, MO, no problems with the roads by then. From Hannibal I picked up a load later that night out of the same plant going to a grocery warehouse on the west side of Minneapolis, MN. Then at 1 am the next morning I traveled out about 100 miles west of Minneapolis to pick up a load in Sleepy Eye, MN (who names these towns) going to Green Bay, WI on Friday. Next morning picked up a load down the street from where I delivered going to Galesburg, MI. Then into Battle Creek, MI 14 miles away to pick up some rolls of paper going to LaPorte, IN 115 miles away and delivered that afternoon.

They deadheaded me from the northeast corner of Indiana all the way to Indianapolis to pick up a load sitting on the yard there going to Pacific, MO and I got over within 60 miles of St Louis, MO that evening. Was another load of rolled paper.

After that load was delivered the next morning, I was sent to our drop yard in East St. Louis, IL to wait for a driver bringing in a load to be delivered in Madison, WI the next morning at 4 am. He was bringing up the load from Tulsa, OK. Well, the information I got was he would be there at around noon and was asked if I could get the load there on time. I asked if the customer had overnight parking and they said yes. The reason for that is there are no truck stops in Madison, if I could get into the customer that evening before I ran out of hours for the day I would be there for ontime delivery the next morning.

I had until 9 pm that night to get there, if I got the load by noon I would not have a problem making it. That took in to account the following.: it was 360 miles and I could in normal conditions make the trip in 6 1/4 hours driving. I needed 1/4 hr. to fuel, and there was a snow storm brewing from northwest Illinois on into Madison. To be safe, I needed 7 1/2 to 8 hours to make the customer. If the driver got there at noon I would need 1/2 hour to swap out and had about 1/2 hour left to play with.

This is what I took into account when dispatch asked if I could cover the load. At 1 pm the driver had not showed. I sent 2 messages to dispatch beginning at 1:15 pm that we were going to have trouble if he didn't show. Finally they told me he should be there about 2 pm. I told them right then I could not make it on time. He showed up right at 2 pm and they offered me the load. I again told them it wasn't possible for me to get there on time. I was going to be forced to take a 10 hour break before I got to the customer because he was late. Leaving at 2:30pm I would have 6 1/2 hours to make the customer. In dry conditions I might have tried it, knowing the weather I told them no way. I KNOW how long it takes me to get somewhere, I KNOW about adding a little time to take care of the unknown. When dispatch asks me for an ETA, I take all of this into consideration and add another 1/2 hour to it. This driver's estimate of arrival was off 2 hours on a 7 hour trip. It cost them an on time delivery. The driver told me when I asked him, "I wasn't that far off". Dumb..s!!

For me, I got another load of Bud out of St Louis that night. It was supposed to be ready at 9pm, wasn't ready until 2am. That was ok, because it gave me time to get my 10 hr break in while waiting and got detention time to boot. I delivered that load in Batavia, OH with a 2 pallet drop in N. Vernon, IN. According to the load information I was to drop the Indiana pallets on Wednesday and the rest of the load in Batavia on Thursday morning. The Batavia customer called dispatch wanting to know if could get the load to them the same day, and dispatch asked me. The customer closed at 3:30 pm. With good conditions, I figured I could probably be there at 2 pm. I told dispatch 3 pm. It gave me time to play with and didn't raise expectations. Made it there at 2 pm, everybody happy.

To end up they gave me a load out of Keebler on the east side of Cincinnati that was supposed to be preloaded and ready to go to deliver to Montgomery, AL. It wasn't. They load the trailers at their plant and bring them to a drop lot where we are waiting on them. They told me at the drop lot it wasn't even scheduled to load until 7 pm. It was currently 3 pm. My load info told me it could be picked up from midnight until 7 pm that day. More detention and I'm in the sack. I am currently in Montgomery and delivery appointment is at 2 pm today.