arriving early then billing waiting time by the minute

[hockeylover]

Help me out here... I am about to snap!

Hired driver is bringing back 20' of trlr. Gives me an ETA yesterday of " between 12:00 noon and 2:00 pm. I called the customer and had to leave a message with the vague eta.

Today the driver shows upo at 11:10 am , although he only calls me at 11:48 and says no one will unload him until thids afternoon. I call my customer and questerion her and she says. Well the workers leave for half hour lunch at 12:00 and will be back at 12:30 and will star him then. The carrier says now that he arrived at 11:10 am and is billing $65.00 per hour for each extra hour starting the clock at 11;10 am.

So what if the driver arrived an hour late, am i supposed to pay for waiting time in that case too.

Not to mention the customer paid a premuim of $600.00 more to get the shipment loaded with him, due to higher rates during produce season. (this I have no problem with, it's the well I told I would arriver between 12:00 and 2:00 so i was expceting to be unloaded the minute I arrive.)

My carrier being from Montrel surely knows the customer is entitled to a lunch like everyone else. Seriupsly have you ever called Montreal and tried to reach someone during lunch?

I feel bett already, just getting that out.


Hockeylover

 

[Michael K]

Here's my thoughts on this. If it was a set appt for noon and you have a load con stating that, than you pay detention from that point on. If your load con states nothing about an appt and is marked as AM or FCFS than you pay as of 11:10AM. On the opposite side if you have an appt that you and the carrier have agreed to and he misses the appt, than you don't pay anything.

 

[chica123]

This is a vague situation and as a carrier we can relate to it very well. Some of the readers might not agree with our answer, but this is how we deal with similar situations. If there is no set delivery appointment, we are happy to give customers/ brokers an ETA. This in our opinion is an ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL. This is to give the receiver and broker an idea of what time we can expect to arrive. Being that it is LTL, that time can vary for a number of reasons causing us to be either a little early or a little late. So we would expect the broker to do their part and inquire details from the receiver like is the ETA actually an appointment in disguise that is expected to be adhered to strictly, or is this a general window? Does the receiver close for lunch? If we are not given specific information to allow us to plan our deliveries, then we charge waiting time from the time we arrive at the receiver (usually allow 1 hour for LTL). :0)

 

[theman]

I actually agree with Chica.

If it's an FCFS environment, it doesn't matter what the ETA is, the time is based on actual time of arrival. If it's by appointment, it's a different story.

And if a driver doesn't show up for appointment, it's SOL.

 

[GSTRUCKS]

LTL Appts...

As a carrier we would do the same as Chica explained. ETA's are exactly that. If a broker asks for an ETA on a FCFS and then leaves us high and dry for waiting time I am pretty sure that will be the last move in this case. If it was an APPT, but based on the ETA you gave your customer of between noon and 2pm it doesnt sound like it is by appt. In general this is why I am sure alot more carriers are shying away from APPT LTL, if these D.C.'s dont smarten up they may not get any LTL freight (If all of us carriers were smart enough to get together and make a stand).... Lumpers, several hours to unload minimal amount of skids, and minimal rates... whats the point?!?!

 

[chica123]

I just wanted to add, with all due respect, that often times people forget to consider that the truck driver also is entitled to lunch. They do not always have a little mini mart stocked in their truck and so when they are delayed for a couple hours at one location, they may very well be (voluntarily or not) forfitting their own lunch break in order to complete their other deliveries for the day. It would seem reasonable to me that if the truck arrived at 11:10 the receiver should have unloaded the freight before noon anyways.

 

[theman]

Probably. The load confirmation should have stated that the customer is closed for lunch if they are ... that way the driver could decide to pick up before or after lunch.