Documentation is key...

Office views from the last 2 days driving through AZ and NM…

The pictures of the trailer loaded with every kind of vehicle secured to each other had so much going on I couldn’t help but snap some pics to try and figure that out lol The dude by the wicked painted van was super nice this morning as we were heading out of the truck stop, asked about the cargo we were carrying, he and his wife were out there doing the international “honking” symbol, and a few “hanging out the window while driving 75 mph snaps of course lol

Yesterday was a cluster of epic proportions that brought out the HBIC in me real quick and in hurry first thing in the morning LOL

This will be a long and detailed post, so make sure you are willing to commit a few minutes before reading LOL

So remember that little partial load we picked up along the way headed to Albuquerque? Yeah it quickly became a thorn in my side first thing Friday morning. Woke up in Needles CA after driving late into the night in a push to make delivery and began making my phone calls to work on getting the delivery set up, only to be told the receiving customer would only be open until 1pm due to the holiday, and we were slated for arrival between 5-6pm.

No schmoozing was happening so I went ahead and contacted the broker with the situation and request for layover pay, which is essentially additional money added to the original line haul fee charge when the delivery is delayed due to shipping/receiving issues and since she had set the delivery time in our rate confirmation, which is our legally binding contract to haul this load, it’s up to the customer or broker to pay for holding up our truck over the weekend..

The broker in turn contacts their boss who promptly responded with one of the most unprofessional emails I’ve ever received in my dispatching, nursing or trucking career, and I’ve had PLENTY of those! This particular email essentially blamed us (the carrier) for being 2 hours late to the pickup, not communicating, etc. Basically, told me “why should I contact my customer and ask for money when you messed up from the beginning…” and tried to make it seem like we were a “lazy, late carrier who guffed up the load” Oh did she pick the wrong woman to try pull that nonsense with, not today Satan, not today….

See I operate by the old school nursing methodology of “if it ain’t documented it didn’t happen,,” and baby, let me tell you I have over 20 years of documenting experience between police and fire dispatching, nursing and now trucking lol Sis knows how to paint that picture so I can recall EVERYTHING I’ve ever done on a call.

After reviewing my documentation of timestamped emails, notes and recorded audio phone conversations, I began my lengthy retort with an eloquently penned, “lemme lay out exactly what's been going on so you are on the same page, and get it right before you come at me with false info” response.

Y’all it was beautiful, 9 paragraphs of factual time stamped data, screenshots of maps sent to the broker to coordinate arrival, tracking link info provided proving we were on time and in the area, and fully recorded conversation clarifying explicitly what times and dates were agreed upon. And a full paragraph on how I, as the company owner, found the entire email to be incredibly unprofessional and the tone unnecessary. Oh it made my documentation specialist heart gleam….

So then all we could do was wait for the response…And hope I didn't piss them off lol

Now, in trucking, industry standard layover pay is typically $150 per day, and sadly it’s not uncommon for drivers to be denied that money they are owed, so I’m mentally preparing myself for a full on “nope, not happening, customer declined”, or worse “here’s $150, your out of luck for the weekend..”

Keep in mind, we are also still trying to make our way to GA to drop off this beautiful Mustang, so it’s pushing out our delivery time by days. Thankfully they understand the open delivery date, but still, I want our customers to receive their product in a timely manner, even if it is family lol

To my shocking surprise, I received a return email from “the broker boss” simply stating “after reviewing the information, I’m reaching out to the customer for layover request…” meaning they went through and listened to the audio files, reviewed the tracking info that proved we were not late, nor at any time did I miss an opportunity to communicate what was going on with the broker while the shipper was loading….

Complete validation that we did our job effectively and efficiently!!!

That email was followed quickly with another email “I’ve sent a revised rate con to include layover pay….”

Y’all they paid us an extra $1000… I don’t normally post figures for many reasons, but that is almost as much as we booked the short/small load for and is relatively unheard of in this cut throat industry.

I say all that to say, in this industry there is always stigma on dispatchers, their role and purpose, and overall necessity. I serve in our company as both the “boss” and the dispatcher, but in both roles I am the head advocate for my driver. And this particular situation proved the validity and necessity of having a solid dispatcher and advocate! No way was my driver going to be thrown under the bus and be made the be the person at fault in this…Nope. Husband or not, I’ll fight tooth and nail (professionally of course lol) for any driver running under my numbers or contracted to work with us.

The email conversation wrapped up with mutual respect and friendly conversation, including that they would love to continue to work together with us in the future, solidifying yet another good relationship within the industry. Man I love when things go sideways and we are able to clean it up and make it work out!

So if you are still reading this rambling of self validation lol We will be slowly making our way stopping at all the wonderful outposts so I can window shop and check out all the amazing Native American jewelry (remember I'm obsessed with turquoise) and trinkets along the way.

We'll be shutting down in Albuquerque in a crappy hotel (paid for by racked up credit card points because I’m el cheapo) for the weekend relaxing poolside for the holiday until our Tuesday morning delivery!

Hope everyone has a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend!!!

#myofficeview #stepdecklife #4thgenerationtrucking #viragotransport #ourreallifeintrucking #fightingforeverypenny