Eagle Transport (Gas Haulers)

Naw, Kenan pays as well as Eagle. When the economy was doing well we were haulin' about 850 loads a week out of Charlotte ... we're only doing about 650 now ... if they cut us back on shift premium and no extra weekend pay they will probably be doing it to you folks before too long also.

Course, I never was on that Balor system so I can't really miss what I never had, but some of the guys who were on it are ticked off big time ... it's about a thousand dollar a month cut in pay for them ... but then they were makin' out like fat rats for the last 4 years anyway.

 

The deal was that Kenam had all the Perto Express stores and Eagle had all the Pantry stores at one time and then the owner of the Petro Express stores decided he wanted to get out of the business and so Pantry bought out Petro Express. Pantry had previously dealt only with Eagle but with all the new Petro Express stores to service ... Eagle knew that they did not have the capacity to service all of them ... that's when Kenan came back into the picture ... as they were origionally seen as just someone to help during the transition of Eagle getting all the Pantry and all the Petro Express stores ... well ... Kenan at that point was laying off a ton of drivers in the Charlotte area and many were coming to Eagle to work ... but then comes the ethanol craze and Kenan's ability to haul ethanol before we were able to and the rest is just history ... now they are back in the picture and grabbing everything they can get.

 

I just started a week ago with Eagle and I really like it. Just came off the road and am so thankful I am local now! The TM is a good guy and easy to talk to. I also have a really good trainer that has taught me a lot so far and looking forward to getting on my own.

 

Roger on that Mr Bill ... welcome aboard ( I always liked saying that ... makes me feel like an Admiral getting ready to make some poor hapless soul walk the plank ). You'll do just fine if you pay strict attention to your trainer and learn everything you can before they turn you loose on your own. Remember ... CYA always ... if you run into something where you don't know exactly what to do ... call Dispatch ... let them make the decision ... that's what they are there for ... assume nothing. Eagle doesn't pay you to make decisions above and beyond what you would normally do in the performance of your job description. If you can't get product off one supplier, don't take it upon yourself to just go and pull from the same supplier you pulled from last night for the same customer ... they may not want that ... there may have been a price change ... if you can't get what they want from who they want, they may decide to cancel the load until it becomes available ... CYA always ... use dispatch ... they will know what to do. Don't get in such a rush that you start making mistakes, this isn't a race out here, though some will try and make you feel like it is ... before you pull that belly valve double check everything ... trust no one ... not even yourself until you double check yourself ... it is so easy to screw up you wouldn't believe it. Had a guy drop super into a K-1 tank Sunday night in the rain. In the dark and in the rain he said the brown manhole cover looked red to him ... if he had taken his time he would have seen the red cover for the super and realized he was putting it in the wrong hole.

Okay ... okay ... I'll get off the bandwagon. You are a lucky fella, you have the opportunity to turn this into a really nice gig if you mind your Ps andQs and take nothing for granted. Just be careful and everything will be fine

 

Yeah ... especially if you are dropping 2 or 3 products at one time ... all those lines dragged out can get confusing in the dark and all you have to do is mess up one time and then the doo-doo will really hit the fan. I know it's happened to you ... you pull up to an old country store and they have a ULSD tank and a regular tank ... the cars have been running over the manhole covers and the sand on their tires has taken almost all the paint off the covers. The yellow on the ULSD and the white on the Reg look almost exactly the same at might and especially if it is raining. Of course you can stick the tank and see wether your stick comes out with an oily sheen on it to determine which is which but sometimes in the rain it becomes a royal pain. There have been times when I had to grab the cover and bring it into the cab and switch on the dome lights to try and see what color the blasted thing is and then there are the profile sheets with the description of the store layout but some of those things are practically worthless.

2 years ago we had a very experienced driver go to a truck stop on I-95 with a load of ULSD ... dispatch had forgot to leave him a profile sheet for the store in his box ... anyway he finds the truck stop and finds a yellow manhole cover and starts to get ready to drop. At that time a mechanic comes out and tells him that the hole he was going to drop in was not the ULSD tank and to pull around behind the shop and put it in the tank behind the shop. Figuring that surely the mechanic ( it was a new mechanic that had just started working for them the week before) would know what he is talking about ... he follows his instructions and begins dropping behind the shop. He gets a couple of hundred gallons in the tank when the senior shop foreman comes out and has a hissy-fit telling him he is putting the ULSD in the motor oil tank.

Now think about this ... the driver was very experienced ... it wasn't his fault that dispatch forgot to supply him with a profile sheet ... he did not have a key to the dispatch office so he could go in and get one from the file cabinet ... he had never been to this truck stop before ... a mechanic tells him to drop behind the shop and he does (he didn't know the mechanic was a new guy) ... unknowingly dropping it into motor oil. What would have happened to the driver if he had told the mechanic "No, Mr Mechanic, this cover is yellow and I'm gonna drop it in here no matter what you say" ... an what if the mechanic had been right and the driver disobeyed someone who should have known better.

I'll tell you what ... if it had been me ... going to a place I had never been before ... without a profile sheet ... and a mechanic came out and told me where to drop it ... that's exactly what I would have done ... same as anybody else would have done. But this driver was blamed for the insident, written up, given a few days suspension and then had to have a safety person ride around with him for about two weeks while they evaluated his job performance and he's darn lucky he didn't get fired from what he said. This wasn't some new kid off the block, but a conscienceous dedicated driver who was doing his dead level best to do his job the right way ... oh well, ya know what they say "S--- Happens!":smt006

 

Thanks for the welcome everyone! My trainer has been teaching me how to CYA and how to make money at this. He has been very clear to never do anything without dispatch telling me. He said I am doing very well with loading and unloading and that may be because I am a bit OCD when it comes to doing a job like this. I am looking forward to learning more and becoming a Pro Tanker Yanker!

 

You will do well Mr Bill ... just listen up ... take it at your own pace ... double check yourself ... remember, even though you have baffles and a bulkhead, you can still pick up surge sideways and if you are partially loaded in a compartment, from front to back ... treat all turns with great respect; the customer is ALWAYS right and even if they aren't you should let dispatch iron out the problem rather than you trying to argue it out with someone on the job site.

You ARE with a very good company despite the incident that I wrote about in my last post. Why would I say that ... simple ... because it is the only incident of that nature I have seen in the past 6 years with Eagle. The driver knew that he was the companies last defence against a screw up and still it happened ... the driver is still with the company and has not suffered any other consequences and appears to be happy in his choice of employers.

Stay Chilly,
John