Job alerts

I think i've assumed something that isn't actually the case. Moving on from the SPAM thread as admin suggested, I had assumed that when a driver puts a "returning from"post, it's telling the system so as to avoid unneccesary texts appearing cos he's not at home any longer. I also assumed the system then texts you work along that particular route. Is this not the case then?

This was the case with our old system.

We rewrote it last month (it was very old) to improve reliability as we had a few issues. Right now empty & route locations are not included but we intend to add them back in.

I think you need to as it's pretty much THE most important part for an OD who's on the move.

So what you're saying is anyone putting a job on the system today, is only alerting those that are empty at home in the radius of the collection?....most of whom will (hopefully on their part) be out and about.

It does kinda explain why so few jobs are getting bids. The system is textin people who probably aren't where the system thinks they are!!

Is the system really texting people at all though? There's been at least one weekly email recently saying 'this week mtvan sent 0 text messages to cover X bookings'. How many ODs have actually put credit onto their account to receive texts? I haven't because with a smart phone it isn't really worth it, cos i get notified by email instead, and i expect most, if not all ODs have smart phones.

gotta admit i havnt had a txt for a few days

or e-mails, was going to ask if there was a problem with the site

Ok well whatever the way we're currently receving job notifications, without knowing where people are, it makes it all rather pointless....and rather fustrating i'd have thought. I mean you really wanna know all the work you're missing out on cos you've taken a job on already?

To be perfectly honest knowing what we now know, the fact that everyone is wasting their time notifying the system in the belief by doing so they'll get alerts that are relevant to where they are now does answer why vendors are getting very little interest in any jobs they post.

Drivers in the area don't get notified, and those that get notified aren't in their area

I'm staggered

must admit the chance of doing any work on here is remote, any when you try and sub work you get a call 3 days after the collection time! from an O/D's point of view the without logging in on a smart phone or even the crap S3 which I have it is pretty difficult to let everyone know where you are, with the big yellow you can pick up the phone and talk to GHQ and they will post a GTM or Return for you, short of linking this site to google latitude and an interactive map so you can see who is where then you a bit stuffed! maybe that could be the answer? MTVan google latitude account? or if someone really has that much work to sub out then let us all know and we can allow you to get into our accounts?

" I have so much work to cover I dont know what to do " !!!!

Its been decades since I heard that line . If by any chance you have heard it recently then they are probably not telling the truth !

CAMVAN said:

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Is the system really texting people at all though? There's been at least one weekly email recently saying 'this week mtvan sent 0 text messages to cover X bookings'. How many ODs have actually put credit onto their account to receive texts? I haven't because with a smart phone it isn't really worth it, cos i get notified by email instead, and i expect most, if not all ODs have smart phones.

Yes all working fine, emails and sms's. Please excuse that email, it was a result of switching systems.

Speed Couriers (Stansted Airport) said:

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To be perfectly honest knowing what we now know, the fact that everyone is wasting their time notifying the system in the belief by doing so they'll get alerts that are relevant to where they are now does answer why vendors are getting very little interest in any jobs they post.

Drivers in the area don't get notified, and those that get notified aren't in their area

I'm staggered

The reality is few people reliably post empty. It has always been the case that 99% of alerts have gone out because of home locations. We will add the functionality back in and it'll be better (quicker) than before. It has been well worth doing the rewrite, we have bad 0 issues with the system since then.

Barnsley Shipping said:

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" I have so much work to cover I dont know what to do " !!!!

Its been decades since I heard that line . If by any chance you have heard it recently then they are probably not telling the truth !

I had a miracle week last week. Fully booked for six days, and i wasn't subbying for any of it! All came in response to my ads on gumtree and ebay. But like i say, a miracle.

Speed, I'm getting alerts by email of work on mtvan every day. Are you sure your account settings are right?

Today I posted a job out of Barnsley to London. Ready now deliver by 10:00 tomorrow. 1st caller "I can do that for £X" I ask "can you pick up & deliver to Chelsea Football ground by 10:00 tomorrow?" "Can't pick up today" !!! 2nd caller "I can pickup in about an hour and deliver tonight"!!! 3rd caller "I can do that but can't pick up til 11:00 tomorrow!!! 4th caller "can pickup in 30mins and deliver by 10:00 tomorrow" Success!

I asked the 3rd caller if he was receiving collection & delivery times in his txts and he said No just job from AtoB. I can't dispute this as I don't receive txts. Can Admin clarify.

It would seem I m wasting my time posting empty or returning

I always look at the "empty" section of the directory before posting work. The problem is that it gives an empty destination and approx time but it doesn't give where you are returning to or what vehicle you have.

TLC Couriers said:

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It would seem I m wasting my time posting empty or returning

Of course not. You are visible as empty at whatever location by all members. We're always changing the site to make it work better. We will continue to try to improve what we do with the data you supply.

Well as you know i saw ya thread Bill so not a waste of time but alerts really do need to be aimed at the right people at the right time, so there HAS to be a link between where you say you are and the system picking that up so you get the relevant alerts. I want the confidence to know that when i stick a job on, the alerts are going to members who are near to my pick up....not 100's of miles up the road...that's the whole point isn't it?

It needs to be as automated as possible

Book on job, alerts go out, quotes come in, job gets sold

Speed Couriers (Stansted Airport) said:

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Well as you know i saw ya thread Bill so not a waste of time but alerts really do need to be aimed at the right people at the right time, so there HAS to be a link between where you say you are and the system picking that up so you get the relevant alerts. I want the confidence to know that when i stick a job on, the alerts are going to members who are near to my pick up....not 100's of miles up the road...that's the whole point isn't it?

It needs to be as automated as possible

Book on job, alerts go out, quotes come in, job gets sold

Of course it needs to be Rob, however the things we've done are worthwhile improvements (i.e. alerts are now going out 100% reliably) and as I said we intend to add the empty alerts back in asap. These are all worthwhile steps we're taking to improve the site, even if on the face of it they might seem backward.

I am a bit baffled now...i am now recieving txts and emails for jobs but i notice on the site that they are posted in news feed rather than courier work and the jobs that i am seeing are 3 old jobs that have been there for ages.Is it me being thick? yeah i know i have left myself wide open to ridicule

Fastback Parcel Solutions said:

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I am a bit baffled now...i am now recieving txts and emails for jobs but i notice on the site that they are posted in news feed rather than courier work and the jobs that i am seeing are 3 old jobs that have been there for ages.Is it me being thick? yeah i know i have left myself wide open to ridicule

I'll answer you separately, this thread has gone as far as it can.

I have made progress on empty alerts this evening. It's difficult to test without live data (bookings & empty vans) so will be testing over the next few days before hopefully rolling out soon after that if all goes well.

Springer Express Couriers said:

must admit the chance of doing any work on here is remote, any when you try and sub work you get a call 3 days after the collection time!

Did you close the job? It does say on the 'Courier Work' page that 'open jobs may still need covering'. I realise that it's mostly unlikely that a job is available after the posted pickup time, but you never know. I've had at least one instance when a job that I thought was just not worth me offering on, because I was 3 hours from pickup address, I could have had it if I'd quoted 5 mins earlier.

It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail

Just a quick heads up that our script to send alerts to members 'empty nearby' has been running for a while now although we've been tweaking it regularly. I've been checking things for a few weeks and can't see anything wrong... However, it's a fairly complicated selection (believe it or not) so if you post empty and receive anything you think is bonkers then please let us know - that way we can improve things more!

Perhaps not 100% in keeping with topic, but I would certainly think this is linked.

Scott Garner said:

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Perhaps not 100% in keeping with topic, but I would certainly think this is linked.

No, unrelated.