When I was a little boy back in the fourth grade I had a small problem getting to school on time. Oh it wasn't necessarily because I didn't want to be there or anything. (yea right) It was more because there were so many things to see and do on the way there.
I grew up in a then, small town where people knew who their neighbors were and most were pretty friendly. For an 8 or 9 year old boy it was paradise. Man, I had a stream to explore and farmers fields and barns in all directions. There were trees to climb, rocks to throw and animals to chase in just about any direction you could turn your head. These things made getting to Mrs. Cambell's fourth grade class nearly impossible to say the least. My friends and I would hop on our bikes in plenty of time and head that direction but for some reason that ole' clock just seemed to turn a little faster than our wheels did.. Kind of like trucking I guess.
Well good ole' Mrs. Cambell had usually been quite forgiving on these occasions which were more numerous than I will write here because my kids may be looking; but on one particular day she'd finally had enough. She had myself and the two other kids I was with sit down in front of and facing the class. She then proceeded to give us all a lecture about time bandits. (My term, not hers.) It was real embarrassing. So much so that I don't recall most of the lecture other than the fact that I can tell you without a doubt that her method worked. To this day I would rather be a half hour early for any appointment than to be ten minutes late. The message she gave was simply this. When you do not value other peoples' time as highly as you value your own time then you are no better than a thief.
I work strictly a local route now. My time while I'm working is pretty valuable because there are so many people waiting for me. I often have 10 or 12 stops that must be delivered before noon and I don't have time to mess around. If something happens and I get held up then I can be locked out of a store simply because there is no one left to receive me. This creates an expensive hardship on me and my company because I will then have to find time during my route the next day which is not in the same area, to deliver those products.
A few days ago I was trying to make my third stop on a route in downtown Salt Lake City. As I pulled up, there was a Dick Simon truck in the dock but just as I was rolling in, the driver walked out to his truck and climbed in.. I thought great! No wait time. Well I pulled forward past the dock to give him room to pull out and then I sat there, and sat there and sat there. I couldn't see the driver around the corner of the building where I was parked. My trailer and part of my tractor were visible to him so he knew I was waiting for the dock. Thinking he must be having trouble I walked to the back of my trailer to see if he needed help. He was doing his paperwork. I folded my arms and waited. Finally just as I was about to go ask him to pull out he looked up at me. I nodded greeting to him and he just leaned over to put his paperwork down on the floor. I nodded again and walked back up to my cab. Well, five minutes later he still hadn't moved so I walked back again and this fool had his brief case on the steering wheel doing something in it. This was a little more than I could stand so I started walking towards him. Just then he sat the brief case down and released his brakes so I shrugged it off and went back to my cab.
Well he pulled up all right. About 15 feet so he could MOSEY slowly back to shut his doors. Now I don't know about you but if there is a truck waiting for me, I always clear the dock to shut my doors and catch up my paperwork. His trailer was empty so he had no reason to fear theft or damage. I released my brakes and rolled back just a couple of feet to remind him that I needed to get in. By the time he finally got back to his steering wheel I was fuming. I didn't have a C.B. or he'd have got an earful. I decided against going over to talk to him mainly because I was in too big of a hurry.
So what does this super trucker do? He crawls back in his sleeper for several minutes only to crawl out munching on a sandwich.. I could no longer resist. I jumped out of the cab and stepped over to where he could see me then held up my arms in question as to whether he was going to ever clear the dock or not. He held his arms up the same way to me and just kind of sneered at me. That was too much and I headed towards his truck. FINALLY he started to pull away before I got over there, though not without yelling something out the window about showing a little patience.
If I could have caught that driver I would have lost my job, possibly got hurt and very likely would have ended up in jail because I was mad enough by this time that I would have tried to wring his neck. A solid half hour to clear the dock when you know someone is waiting is just a little bit ridiculous.
As the day wore on and I thought about it a little more I started thinking about the hard lesson I learned in Mrs. Cambell's fourth grade class and then I started thinking about this industry and how I wish Ole' Mrs. Cambell, God rest her soul, could give that same lesson to the majority of the people who always seem to end up being the captains of our industry.
If you really sit down and think about it this industry is infested with time bandits and though most of us have not been able to put into words what it is exactly that causes the biggest problems in our chosen profession it has got to be, without a doubt the myriad time bandits we deal with every day. These may be your dispatcher or terminal manager or safety director or D.O.T. inspector or anyone else you have to deal with. All of us are guilty of it at times but some are guilty of it all the time. And the sad thing is, there is really no way to deal with it other than by moving to another company which for whatever reason has convinced you they won't steal your time.
When a dispatcher is sitting in his office on the clock and telling you to call back every hour to see if he found the load yet, he is definitely stealing your time. When you are forced to take an extra run when you should be headed home, or attend some bull#&*! mandatory meeting on your day off, they are stealing your time. When a shipper or receiver expects you to do their work for them or hold their hand while they do it, they are stealing your time. As far as the D.O.T. inspectors go I can honestly say that the high majority of them are legit and doing an honest job but, there is always that 10 percent who through sarcasm, innuendo and just plain rudeness make it very clear that their primary objective is flexing their badge and stealing your time and money just because they can.
So are there solutions? Yes, for most of it anyway but we'll probably never see them. Ideally our bosses could solve these problems themselves without external intervention. They can accomplish this by reprimanding and getting rid of dispatchers who can't do their jobs correctly, legally and professionally. Now admittedly the world is not perfect. Deals fall through, plans are changed and there is just no way to be perfect all of the time. Still, if they would take the time to listen to the drivers and keep an eye on things it wouldn't be very difficult to find and remedy the reasons for their high turnover and bad reputation among drivers.
Also some meetings and classes could be video taped for a driver to watch at home. Getting them to watch it could be remedied by offering a bonus to compensate them for their time if they can pass a written test on the subject before they head out on the next run. The bonus should at least equal what the people got paid who attended the meeting. If those people didn't get paid either then that is a major problem right from the beginning. If the meeting is necessary for a business to conduct itself then that is a business expense and unless the employees are partners who share in all of the profits and benefits that the other owners share then their time must be compensated. A professional Doctor, Lawyer or Plumber is not expected to work for free. Why do so many people expect professional drivers too?
Driver load, unload, count and or standby should be charged to the shipper at a rate equal to double what the average lumper would charge for the same job. This will quickly put the responsibility of freight handling where it should be, with the shippers and receivers. If the driver ends up doing the work anyway then he should be paid a minimum of 80% of whatever the shipper/reciever was charged for his service and he shouldn't have to argue, wrestle, or fight to get it.
Anyway I better get off this subject before I get myself in trouble. You hands take care and drop me a line sometime. Try not to steal anyone else's time either. You hate it when it happens to you... Take care.... Keith