So how do you get your trips, locations, and delivery times, BigRigSteve?

Since I am a company driver, the company tells me where the next trip takes me. I use a truck computer called QUALCOMM. It is the way drivers communicate with dispatchers, planners, safety, etc.

My company employs people that search out and find companies that need their products transported. Not being a planner myself, I am not sure how they go about finding my next load.

All trips sent on the qualcomm have pickup location, delivery locations, times, instructions, etc. I do not have any choice. All times are set by the customer. The shipper decides when to fit me into their schedule, and same for the receiver. Some trips are what we call JIT - (Just In Time) deliveries. JIT trips are for very time sensitive items as produce, meat, flowers, etc.

Though trips are handed to me, it's up to me to use my brain & do all I can to make it happen. I watch the weather & if a storm is behind me, I drive all allowable hours so I can keep ahead of it & drive dry roads. I try to pace my time to get through mountains in daylight, even if it means skipping a meal sometimes, I'd rather eat on the other side after dark.

If we are late delivering, some customers will take you later that day because they need the product right now. Other warehouses make you reschedule for the following day.

Other shipments are scheduled with plenty time to get to the delivery location. Sometimes there is even a day or two extra. Those trips are the ones that give me time to stop and photograph the places I go along the way.

No matter what the schedule demands, safety is what matters most. As the driver, I have the final say about stopping on account of weather conditions, need of sleep, etc., but it has to be a genuine concern, not laziness. Sometimes delays happen due to winter road closures, ice storms, or wind storms.

You most likely have seen me change trips suddenly, and swap trailers with another driver. That happens when something delays a driver (truck breakdowns or running out of legal hours) and if the load can still be delivered on time if given over to another trucker, they will keep it on schedule. Sometimes drivers will swap loads to simply aid in one of them getting to their hometown for home time.

Sometimes delays are due to shippers taking excess time to release the driver and loaded trailer.

No matter what is going on, SAFETY is priority. As for myself, and my company, we would rather be late than to drive tired, or illegally. Arriving later is better than never arriving at all due to getting in an accident on a mountain somewhere!

We do everything we can to arrive and depart as the customer requests. But out on the road, ANYTHING can happen between "here and there".