Originally Posted by ChromeDome

Well, they already do one of those.
There rate includes all miles, and 2 hours at each end, for load and unload.
As long as you are on time for your appt. you are paid 16 and hour after that 2 hours. In 15 min increments.

They will not pay for your sitting, unless it is more than 24 hours. If 24 hours passes from the time you have on your Mac 6, then you get paid for layover.

On Jess's issue. If they will not allow you to drop the trailer, I would get there as fast as I can. If I cannot get it unloaded early, or get a drop, I would request operational layover for every day I sit. I have done this when I was full OTR and received it.

SixPac was waiting on Maintenance. So he therefore should be paid 50 a day for mechanical layover. That is company policy, and as soon as he has an operational qualcom, or access too one, he needs to request this. I am sure he will get it. But he will have to ask, they will not just give it. Kind of like the hotel thing. He asked for it, and he got the money back.

On the new idle policy. There "solution" is the worst idea ever. The best fix would be to equip every truck they will be keeping for 24+ months with an APU.
I used the savings calculator at an APU site for there fleet. They would save between 3.5 and 4 million dollars over the next 4 years on fuel, including the cost of the units, and main of the units. And this is if they lowered idle from 30% to 5%. You can actually lower it more than 5.
I have had long talks with management on this. It is still being kicked around.

A good DM is the hardest thing to find. The first few months out solo you have a temporary DM. They just work with newer drivers. After that they get you with a full time DM. They do not have to be from your home terminal. Remember, regardless what there title is. Your DM works for you. Not you for them. You will have to suffer thru a few months with one, if the help is still not there, fire them and get a new one.

On the local driver thing. We have a few in select areas away from our terminals. Most of these are used to stage loads though. They will shuttle trailers between a drop yard and shipper. They usually do not deliver loads, accept around terminals.
They are paid on salary. 800 a week. Home most nights. Not necessarily off weekends.

Your DM gets paid mostly based on there drivers getting paid. If you are not getting miles, they are not getting paid as much. If you are idling allot and delivering late, your DM is not getting paid as much. You being happy and delivering your loads, is in there best interest. If they have too many unhappy drivers, that are not making the miles, the drivers will all fire them. And the company will fire the DM.

This is a training company. They like there drivers cheap. They will not try hard to hold on to them. The dedicated fleets are different though. They expect 100% on time service. 100% fuel compliance ect. They try very hard to hold onto there drivers. My fleet manager is very very unhappy that I am leaving. He is trying to hold me so my last day will be the 31st. I had to tell him today that I need to be ready to work at my new place before that. But no date is set yet.

Idea from me.
Our pay scale has not changed for several years. For company drivers or Owner Ops. They need to catch up with the reefer industry. At 1 year company drivers should all be at 36 cpm or more. Not 31.
Owner Ops, should be at 95 cpm. Not 85.
We are falling behind fast. Now Swift even pays it's drivers better at 1 year. And reefer has always payed better than dry van. And there Owner Ops are at 91 cpm.

They still have the freight. They just need to work on better planning. New planners come on all the time, and they are not planning well. They need to plan at least 2 loads out. Espically for owner ops. If they are going to send an owner op to a short freight area, they need to have the load out set up before they send them there. A company driver can dead head if needed, an owner op cannot afford too.

It is not rocket science. They just need to start looking at the big picture.

Originally Posted by inthewindaz

This is supposed to be a thread for your favorite companies? LOL Here's my 2 cents worth. I went with Central Ref. in 2004 and drove with a trainer out of Conley. Very first day, I drove 10 hours while he slept, right out of the terminal. Just asked me if I could drive, handed me the keys. Several weeks with this nimrod convinced me this company sucked. They lied, the deceived, the dispatch people he worked with were ######... we ran as a team from day one cause he wanted to make $$$, and even as a team, we only ran 1800 to 3500 miles a week. What a joke. I received ZERO training. Nada. Nothing. And the "trainer" was a fat, jerk of a slob who refused to stop to shower or eat. The inside of the truck was filled with coda cans, empty bags of chips... just trashed always.

I could go on about the trainer from Hell, but won't. I would tell all of you, bail the hell out. That company is so bad my old school told me they will not send people there anymore. Don't believe they say they will not take students from schools... I bet schools are no longer sending them students like mine.
inthewindaz

Originally Posted by wolfden

Wayne had a guy just like that his first 5 days. He dumped that trainer and told them to get him another. He is now happy with the trainer he has. He said he is very nice and helpful and doesn't complain the whole time. They were in Kingman Az last night for about 6 hours. I drove up and got him so he could come back and do laundry. He seemed really happy. They got in at 7:30pm amd i had to have him back at 2am. It's a 40 minute drive but was worth it. His trainer is gonna try to stop there every week so he can visit me and the kids. He is on a Dole dedicated. He has been showing him the best stops and places to each. He mentioned a BBQ place in ARK and said it was great. He is enjoying hid time on the road now. The first trainer kinda jaded him but his new trainer has made up for it. I just hope there will be a truck ready for him when he gets done training.