Weekend Loads and What You Need to Know

When you're doing loads on the weekends, you need to double-check everything twice. You need to confirm the Broker's personal cell phone number and ask for an after-hours phone number and an after-hours email address. Moreover, you need to ask for the Shippers or Receiver's after-hours number as well. If you're going to do weekend loads you're really, REALLY going to be on your own because it's going to be TWICE as likely that you're not going to be able to get any help from a Broker or Carrier Sales Rep during the weekend. So, when you’re booking weekend loads you need to politely ask the person who's giving you the load for these additional contacts because, for example, if you're at a Shipper and no one is there to check you in and load you, or maybe the pickup number isn't working, you have got next to zero chance that the Broker is going to answer the phone to help you if you need assistance. So, get yourself covered on all sides when booking the load so you are properly prepared to troubleshoot these kinds of problems as they arise. This way you can stay on schedule and not run into delays. 

I'm not joking. You'll probably have to learn this lesson the hard way and experience it firsthand to realize how incredibly important these details truly are. I've seen it over and over again where a truck is scheduled to go pick up a load Saturday evening and arrives to the shipper and no one is there to check the truck in to get loaded. Well, if no one is there and you're calling the Broker to inform them that no one is on-site for the pickup and they’re not answering the phone, the truck is stuck in a tight spot. If you wait at the shipper for 4 hours and leave because no one is answering the phone or emailing your back, you, the truck, have still accepted the load and are responsible for the shipment because the load has been "tendered" to you. So if you leave the shipper even under these circumstances the Broker can still put a Carrier411 review against your Trucking Company saying your truck was a no-show for a weekend pickup. This is not a joke, this happens every weekend of the year. 

You need to be prepared, so ask for additional contact names, phone numbers, and email addresses when you're booking weekend loads. It's always better to have more phone numbers to call than too few just in case you need help over the weekend because you probably will. Again, be polite and ask the person who's giving you the load for these additional contacts and it might just save you a BIG headache.