Do you ever go "early" to pick up or drop loads?

Call and ask, worse they can say is no.

I do a lot of smaller places so I usually just tell them when I will be there

 

When in doubt, call ahead. I pull open deck and most often have a phone number for customers at both ends of the load. So I call and check if I can pick up or deliver early

 

Over time you will learn the places that allow early pickups and deliveries. With so much drop and hook today a driver will do a lot of dropping an empty trailer for a loaded one. The advice to call is wise but be advised some places won't come off those scheduled times. I remember some Walmart DCs would not let you in if you were 1 hour and 5 minutes early! Like almost everything else in this business after a few years you start to see this!

 

Always. I can either wait in the truckstop, or wait at the customer. 90% of the time it worked.
Just be careful of your 14.

 

Always call first, sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't. Its as simple as that.

 

At Prime we weren't allowed to go to Walmart early because they told us the company would get penalized, even though the DC would often let you right in.

Not sure if other companies had a similar restriction, but it would have been nice to drop early some of those times. All in the past now though.

 

Anything more than 1 hour early or 1 hour late to a Wal-Mart is considered a "Service Failure" by Wal-Mart... and its a $500 charge to the carrier. They may let you in, but then they charge the carrier.

 

It's very common, but it is best to call before you show up early. Also, be prepared to sit until your original appt time or later if you show up early, especially reefer.

 

yep.....they stared that about 3 or 4 years ago.