Thank you for all your useful information. You are an extremely hard worker and you are very knowledgeable. Bill and I appreciate all your posts, even if he doesn't necessarily agree with them all. Your dedication to your career and your family is admirable and unfortunately nor the norm in this society.

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Billsgirl
My trucker is my true love and my best friend!!!!!!!

Its been a little over a month since my last post to this thread. I will keep updating this thread rather than start a new one.

Since my last post things have deteriorated here at Eastern. The wife and I have been laid over several times in Atlanta Ga due to no freight and cancelled loads. We have been getting paid lay over pay of $88.00 after 2 days of sitting. Not really worth it but better than nothing I guess.

I have been complaining about the miles and the layovers lately (both on the phone and over the computer) to anyone that would listen. The answer seems to be "we are doing everything we can to keep you guys moving but we cannot create loads out of thin air."

I understand this and have said as much to them. I would feel better about being stuck IF the office workers would also have to work the weekend or at least try to line up some freight over the weekend rather than simply shut the office down at Friday midnight and not reopen until Monday morning at 0600. To be fair they do have someone on call who can access the company computer from home and cut Efs checks in the event a driver needs repairs over the weekend, but they do get to enjoy the creature comforts of home while we are stuck in a truck away from our homes not making any money.

I have been keeping tabs on the industry in general and more companies are going out of business. Eastern is also taking its lumps but so far they are hanging in there thanks to NEMF's support and customer base. This is one of the good things about being part of a larger company.

Management has heard my complaints and has reassigned us to another route. We are now going to run between Camp Hill Pa and Miami Fl. A little under 1200 miles each way (depending upon the route we use). This run has been offered to us in the past but we have declined it due to the stricter time schedule. I have been informed, in no uncertain terms, That we have been a team for over a year now and are expected to start running as a team or WE WILL BE REPLACED. It is time to adapt to the new situation or be replaced by a hungrier team. To be fair the company has gone out of their way to accomodate us and they have even slated us for 2 round trips each week which should get us around 4600 miles per week. The only catch is we must make the Tuesday trip to Miami within 24 hours. This means no stopping to get sleep, we will have to try and sleep while the truck is moving.

It is time for us to step up.

At least solo drivers will now have an opportunity to snag those Ga runs we were pulling.

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Adapting to an ever changing world.

So far the new route is working out much better. The trips from Camp Hill Pa to Miami Florida pay 1162 miles each way. The mileage paid matches the mileage actually driven so this is a big plus! We are able to turn the Tuesday trip in around 20 hours (unless we run into traffic tie ups due to construction or accidents).

The only down side so far is once we arrive in Miami Florida Wednesday morning we must then wait until around 8 PM Wednesday night for the freight that was picked up in the Miami metro area during the day to be reloaded for our return trip to Camp Hill Pa. A 12 to 14 hour unpaid layover.

The good thing is we are able to sleep in and watch movies on line or surf the net while waiting. There are also plenty of restaurants around to eat at within a few miles.

The company does not complain about us idling the truck or bobtailing for food so we do not complain about the wait for our reload.

Our dispatcher Ray has been offering us additional work on Thursday nights but my wife has no desire to do any "extra" work at all. I use up all my hours getting us back up to Pennsylvania and all she wants to do is go home for the night.

Oh well this is part of being married. Sometimes you have to compromise to keep your partner happy.

Freight does seem to be picking up as well. More loads than NEMF can handle right now so they may have to recall some of their laid off workers. In the meantime Eastern drivers are picking up the extra work and money.

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Adapting to an ever changing world.

7 weeks later and things are going fairly smoothly. Got the same route; Camp Hill to Miami and back twice a week.

Nemf and Eastern have currently suspended 401k contributions for 2008 and 2009 as well as frozen any further pay raises due to the bad economy.

I kind of expected this latest move. I know other carriers are also freezing wages (in some cases dropping them) as well as suspending 401k contributions and bonuses. So far we are still getting paid our monthly safety/compliance bonus. Paid holidays, sick days, personal days, break down pay, and vacations are all still being honored as well.

I am just thankful we have been able to keep our job, our truck (a 2006 610 model double bunk Volvo), and our dedicated route. It has over 490,000 miles on it so far and is still running great. Of course we do have it serviced regularly at the Camp Hill Pa shop so it should last for several more years.

By the way, my current earnings for the year (25 weeks) is just under 30 thousand. My spouse gets paid a little less but she is close to 28 thousand herself. Not as good as last year but not bad considering the economy.

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Adapting to an ever changing world.

Yeah, we (greatwide) have also suspended contributions to the 401K. Not that i care because i haven't participated in it.


2) All i can say is that when i was with NEMF (2000) it was a decent company and the only reason i quit was due to the scheduling---had family repsonsiblities etc going on. i would definitely consider going back to them. It was definitely one of the better jobs i've had (out of 17).

3) you're blowing my butt away as far as YTD earnings 18K, also due to a slow start because of the economy. If things stay as they are, however, i have a chance at 50K by december.

Nemf has their warts as well. Older equipment for the locals to use and the terminals are usually in rough shape. Some do not have showers available while others do but the conditions are so disgusting you do not dare use it (example Baltimore). The money is pretty decent from what I hear and the drivers do tend to stay.

If I were not running as a team I seriously doubt I would be at 30 grand by now either. Of course compared to last year at this time I am about $4000.00 less. Last year combined earnings were a little over 126 k. Based on our current run we will probably finish the year at around 116k.

Of course the drop in pay has wreaked havoc with our personal finances (we were actually supporting my sister and her 2 kids for over a year due to a divorce and job loss in her family).

Little sister has decided to move on (moved out the first of this month) and we are beginning to catch up with our debts. Of course it is consistency that we need and so far that is what we are getting here.

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Adapting to an ever changing world.

Funny! Batlimore was my terminal! With pete. i never had to use the shower so i can't comment.

There have been rumors going around lately that NEMF is losing money due to the current economy. I do not have any concrete details on just how much is being lost but NEMF management has decided to cut pay by 5% effective 07/12/09.

In addition to the 5% pay cut new solo hires will be offered .35 cpm (was .38 cpm a year or so back) and new teams will split .44 cpm. This means .22 cpm per driver (3 years ago teams were offered .50 cpm provided they had 3 years verifiable team experience).

The 5% pay cut applies to senior drivers with more than 1 year experience. Pay raises had already been frozen as of the first of this year. New hires may also have to pay more for family medical insurance although I have not been told how much more.

I am not sure how the other drivers will take this news but I for 1 was kind of expecting it due to the current economic conditions.

Time to hang on tight cause the ride is about to get rough.

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Adapting to an ever changing world.

The parent company of Eastern Freight Ways (NEMF) has decided to close down 3 terminals within our network as a cost cutting measure.

The following terminals will cease operations as of this date: 11/13/09, Mount Joy Pa (aka Lancaster), Baltimore Md (Caton ave exit), and Miami Fl. The freight customers in these areas will be serviced through surrounding terminals and in the case of Miami Florida will be serviced by our partner AAA Cooper.

Some of the senior personnel at the Mount Joy and Baltimore terminals have been given the oppurtunity to transfer to other terminals. In the case of Miami there is no such oppurtunity although AAA Cooper has accepted applications from laid off Miami personnel.

My regular route back and forth to Miami for NEMF is still on going for the time being. Not sure what the future will hold as far as pulling freight out of Florida but for now we are being used to relocate NEMF equipment back north to Pennsylvania.

Tough economic times call for drastic measures sometimes. Crossing my fingers that there will be no more cuts within our organization. Of course only the strongest, best run outfits will survive in the coming months. Time will tell if we will make the cut.

I offer my condolences to those workers that have lost their jobs due to the economy.

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Adapting to an ever changing world.

Damn! i used to work out of the balt terminal. Does this mean baltimore period, or just the caton ave (my old) terminal? Because there is also one off quad ave.

i didn't realize things were that bad?