Based on recent events, there’s no doubt that winter is officially here. This is the time of year when Schneider shines as it pertains to temperature control best practice advocacy and working with our customers to protect their freight from frigid temperatures. How does that affect you as the driver?
1. Enabling customer-to-customer communication
A great success thus far was the temperature control symposium we held during the fall of 2014. Twenty customers and several vendors came together to share best practices that work for them in protecting freight from freezing or spoiling. By learning from their peers, our customers are able to ship freight confidently and more cost-efficiently, which leads to fewer headaches for our drivers.
2. Freight consistency through following best practices
One of the big changes we see when customers take the proper steps to ensure freight safety from extreme temperatures is greater freight consistency. When customers don’t follow temp protection best practices, freight can arrive damaged, leading a load to be rejected. The driver then has to file a claim and must stay with the load until the customer can hire a vendor to dispose of the product properly. Not only is the driver at a standstill, but they’re also not putting on miles or earning money. Meanwhile the customer is unable to get the necessary capacity to continue moving product. No one makes money when the product sits.
However, when product arrives in good condition, a driver is able to make the delivery and get back out on the road with little delay. It creates efficiencies for all parties involved. That’s why Schneider proactively shares information with customers on how to best protect their freight, including keeping product away from the wall and up off the floor, using tools like thermal blankets, blowing warm air into containers and putting product in warm storage prior to loading.
3. Unloading accountability from the driver
In every service industry role, you don’t want to disappoint a customer. When that happens, sometimes the customer’s initial reaction is to blame the driver. The good news is the driver isn’t really accountable for the condition of a load due to extreme temperatures. Sellers and account managers always aim to set our temperature-sensitive customers, especially beverage companies, up with a loading engineer to offer suggestions on protecting their freight when an account is set up. From there, it’s up to the customer to follow through. When we pick up or deliver a load, it is typically sealed before the truck moves so we don’t know what condition the load is in and whether the temp control practices are being followed.
4. Reliable local dray freight
Our Over-the-Road drivers aren’t the only ones who benefit from Schneider’s advisory approach to protecting freight from extreme cold and heat. Local dray drivers also experience benefits. When customers choose to move their freight via Schneider Intermodal, trains on the rail are able to move quickly through inclement weather, offering those drivers providing local drayage reliable freight at the point of destination (this is more about snow than freezing temps).
Schneider has its drivers’ backs and is always looking for ways to create efficiencies so you can get back to doing what you showed up to do: move freight and earn a living.
