What is L Call?

I like talking with Laura as well.
We are like brother and sister.

 

Yup, that's it.

And I hope you don't get a service failure for getting to the pick up a bit late.
It can happen when you accept a load that is based on Plus1 times, even if the customer gave a wider window of time.
I am not being sarcastic, but totally serious, when I ask you...
Do you even know what I am talking about with Plus1?
Do you know how to properly use the Mac 9 to adjust the pick up and delivery times?

Because many new Swift drivers don't. They are in the dark because they were never trained in such matters.

 

She calls me mister Patrick and I picture her saying that wearing only a.......it's kind of warm in here suddenly.

 

You picture her saying that wearing only...
You or her, wearing only...?

And that would be REALLY funny if you were actually speaking with my sister. It would provide YEARS of fun at her expense.
Hey, Laura, what were you wearing when...
Hey, Laura, what was he wearing when...
Hey, Laura, was it getting warn in there when...
???

 

A follow regarding the Plus 1 system. When you are offered a load it goes through the Plus 1 program on the computer to estimate the fastest time you can pick up and deliver the load. Even if the customer has a wide window for pickup or delivery the planner can't adjust the Plus 1 times. Planners and DM's are often as frustrated with the Plus 1 system as drivers.

When you get a load offer with tight times OR with too much time the first thing to do before accepting the load is call your DM and ask, "What are the windows?" Often there is far more leeway than on the load offer. I would simply accept the load "as is", without adjusting the times because frequently if I accepted the load with time adjustments it would remove the load from me (frustrating for all involved). Simply accept the load, then make your time adjustment on your loaded call, which will then ask you to send a Mac-22. The reason for being "late" is the customer window is "until midnight" or something like that.

If you have a longer haul with a live unload (no drop and hook) that has an appointment with too much time, then call your DM as soon as you are underway and explain you will be a day or two early. Ask if there is a terminal along the route where you can t-call the load. I did this quite a few times. Another driver will be assigned the load to make the appointment and I could grab another load and keep the wheels turning.

 

By the way, the "Plus 1" means they are trying to get drivers to deliver one more load each week. The additional load means additional income and revenue.

Another thing I used to do, and still do now that I moved on from Swift:

If I have a load with an appointment for a live unload that has too much time I call the customer. If I don't have the customer's number on the dispatch I find it with a Google maps search. I call as soon as I know I have a good ETA. "Hi, this is Lepton1 with Swift, inbound with a load from Dufus Products in Delaware. I understand I have an appointment to unload tomorrow at 10:00 pm, but if you can work me into your schedule I can be there anytime after 7:00 am."

Frequently customers will take you early. I had some that told me to open the doors, put the seal in the back of the trailer, and park it in dock #3 for the night. That way I take a 10 in the dock, get woken up when the forklift hits the trailer for the first pallet, then get to log both delivery and pretrip at the same time. Every time you can log two on duty activities at the same time saves time on your 70.

Once you have a green light to arrive early communicate that to your DM and the planner ASAP. IIRC that is MAC-34. That way the planners have you visible earlier than your original projected time of availability. It's all about communication, keep everyone on the team up to date, either late OR early.

Did your trainer introduce you to the Bubble Map? It's a great tool, especially when you reach Platinum status and can select from up to 3 load offers. Whenever you are at a terminal go inside the dispatch/planning area. Big flat screen monitor on the wall with the US map has either green or red bubbles. Red means that planning area has more available drivers than loads (you will be waiting for a dispatch) and green means they have more loads than drivers. The bigger the bubble the greater the disparity.

Meet and greet the planners and dispatch in the terminals. If you happen to get stuck at a terminal with a big fat red bubble, don't sit in the terminal commiserating with other drivers that you aren't making any money. Go talk to the planners and ask if they need any local deliveries covered. While other drivers sit for days making nothing, you can make a few hundred bucks doing local deliveries and then magically get a sweet 1500 mile long haul (yes, the planners do reward those that help the local backlog).

 

When u are load at shipper, u must send load call (L) to dispatch

 

Why not just call your dispatcher, instead of getting 100 different answers? All companies have different Names for macros

 

True. However Thull has been pretty actively posting regarding his experiences training and going solo with Swift. Those of us that are or have been with Swift helped him out.

Your advice to call when in doubt is good advice for anyone.

 

True, but Thull was asking what it means when you DO the loaded call and THEN get a reply that the load has "already been L-Called".