On my way to work the other day, I was thinking about my yard check I do and why I do it.

Some of our drivers, perceive it as checking up on them, to see if they sealed (security reasons) the trailers, some perceive it as checking up on where they park, some perceive it as making sure they are wearing their safety vests while in the yard.

Then I asked myself the same question. WHY DO I DO A YARD CHECK? The answer is pretty simple. 2 fold really (1) Never ask someone to do something you would not do yourself and (2) When that panic sets in, in the dispatch office, as they cannot find a trailer or tractor or seal number, or some other such thing in the computer, I have the answer. I did the yard check. Within reason I should have answers. I should be able to see if our early delvieries will make it on time. I should be able to see if all the loads are here that should be every morning. I should be able to ensure that the information in the computer, is up to date.

However, what I do not do is update the computer. GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT. If I update our internal system, then the dispatch team (which I feel is pretty darn good), will not learn or make their own conclusions. They are always relying on me. No one has told me, I have to be in the office every day at 5:30 in the morning. Why am I? The old fashioned morals that my father instilled in me. Work hard, do what it takes, and go the extra mile.

Create and Follow a process. Of course it has to be a logical sequence. How do we arrive at a process. Well you may want to start at the end reslut and work backwards. That way, you know what the result is, and you can input each step to get there, arriving at the starting point.

Last week Ray Haight in this BLOG section printed a few of his rules. All make sense and all have merit in them. What however it still comes down to, is what is missing in business today. TOO MANY UNSCRUPULOUS BUSINESS PEOPLE, TAKING THE MONEY AND HIDING. Giving both carriers and Load Brokers a bad reputation. We both know, we both need each other. We all Need to kow however who they are. Who double brokers freight continually, etc.

There has to be a way to publish every company's name that bounces a cheque, does not pay within agreed payment terms, deducts money for claims off of freight charges owing (YES IT IS ILLEGAL), Do not want to pay Detention upon pickup or delivery, Expect not only 2 hours free time, but they expect the same 2 hours for 3 drops, which is now 6 hours free time. I think it is time some of these people, got out from behind the desk and worked free like a driver for 6 hours, and then complain about detention and waiting time. Certqainly in this industry, when the shipment picks up late or delivers late, there are a million and one excuses, least of which is the weather. What this industry does have to start doing though is also charging for delays at the border. Remember FELLOW CARRIERS, ALL WE ARE DOING IS TRANSPORTING THE GOODS. WE NEITHER OWN THEM, TAKE TITLE TO THEM, PREPARE THE PAPERWORK FOR THEM, OR CLEAR THEM. We need to be compensated for work performed. Whether a load broker or shipper agree or disagree is not the question any longer.

Permalink | Comments (0)

I thought it might be time to update and tweak Ray’s rules and once again and bring some order to 2010 before we get to far along folks. Some of you might not like them, but it might be because of YOU that they have to be imposed, so think twice before you send me any snotty e-mails please! I promise that if all goes well and everyone obeys the new rules we will all sleep a little better at night and there will be less stress and unrest in the industry. Here we go

Rule One: from this point forward all pure load brokers are to be abolished, the new rule stipulates that the maximum amount of freight any company can broker cannot exceed the amount that they actually haul on equipment they own and is licensed to the same company. Many of you load lizards have no idea what it cost to operate a tractor trailer and pay a decent wage, so you’re out, unless you put some skin in the game yourself.

Rule Two: EOBR’s (Electronic On board Recorders) will be installed in every Class 8 Vehicle whose safety record shows them in the bottom 20% of the industry. Everyone else will be left alone, why bother everyone when the 80/20 rule is in effect. 80% of our grief is caused by 20% of the fools in this industry. Oops this was the proposed rule before Crash and Public citizen I.e. the railways, sued FMCSA over it. If any among us think corporate greed doesn’t override the public good, just take a look at what the railways did here.

Rule Three: The current speed limiter law in Ontario will be repealed as it applies to all trucks and will now apply to all classes of vehicles and drivers on our highways. Any driver who has more than 2 speeding tickets within the calendar year or any driver found to be in excess of 30 km’s over the posted speed limit must have a speed limiting device installed in their vehicle. The same rational applies as rule 2, 80/20 we will straighten them out or kick UM out! As a side bar it appears as though we will have to mandate that the police actually watch the highways for these folks. But, you might ask, if we did this would we even need speed limiters at all, we might be digging to deep into the common sense answer, let’s not let that get in the way here.

Rule Four: All teams can now split their sleeper birth time in 4-5-hour increments anywhere in North America. These are the safest vehicles on the highways messing with them is one of the dumbest things that was done in the name of highway safety in recent memory and should be repealed immediately.

Rule Five: All driver training schools must teach a PTDI (Professional Truck Driver Institute) course which has been certified by PTDI or their access to government funding for their students will be declined. They will be audited to ensure they are teaching to PTDI certified course that this industry needs to ensure all new drivers are safe and that carriers can use them. Imposing Speed Limiters and EOBR’s on trucks when you can get an AZ or CDL for under $1000.00 is not making any more sense now than it did with the first set of Ray’s rules some years back. Am I missing something here before we are inundated with new rules let’s fix some of the busted stuff folks.

Rule Six: From this point forward there will be no free loading or unloading period! Giving 2 hours of a driver’s time along with $150,000.00 worth of iron is a habit from the past that some camouflaged shipper, made up to look like a trucker, came up with. I had a problem with my water softener some time back, it cost me $85.00 for the Culligan man to show up and for that I got 30 minutes of his time the next 30 minutes was going to cost me another $20.00 $105.00 an hour for the Culligan man, one fellow in a Chevy van, what’s wrong with this picture? I got the guy out in 30 minutes, for $105.00 an hour! How long would it take to get a load off if we were priced where we should be for man time and equipment, not long I bet?

Rule Six: The term lumper is now abolished, as is the practice of forcing a driver to hire labor to unload a load that they don’t own. The Ministry of Labor will investigate this practice whenever a complaint is lodged. These people are workers for the receiver who owns the goods and as such should be paid by the receiver as employees and receive benefits. Any receiver found using this practice will be made to personally hand bomb every load that arrives at their dock for a month, by themselves, and of course pay the truck and driver $105.00 per hour for unloading demurrage. They’d be dropping like flies; they’d have to install defibrillators on all the docks for the receivers.

Rule Seven: From this point forward drivers’ meals are 100% tax deductible to $100.00 per day max or per dium for drivers must match exactly the allowable per dium amount granted to all government employees. This one riles me how did this happen have you heard what some of these politicians expenses accounts are. Shame on them forever messing with this I would like to make a cute joke on this subject but this just ###sses me off, the nerve!

Rule Eight: Any driver found to spend an excess amount of time in a truck stop or driver’s room repeatedly and excessively whining will be forced to leave the room and counseling on that individual will be begin immediately. I don’t mind a good rant once in awhile, but driver please! Love it or leave it your killing me with the cow tears. P.S. it is also against the rules for those same folks to write me any cry baby letters or emails, hey there my rules right.

Rule Ten: The most important rule is in fact the golden rule of common courtesy and respect. Any shipper/receiver found to be demonstrating less than acceptable level of manners or reasonable facilities for drivers will be surcharged an additional $105.00 per hour as penalty to be paid in cash at the time of unloading.

Well that’s all the room I’ve got I do have many more rules that are just as important if you’ve got some that you think need to be added to Ray’s rules please feel free to post them right here on this blog. This is a work in progress!

YT
Rjh

Permalink | Comments (15)