KLLM and Lease Purchase

Dhall88..... Let me explain something to you. I am a retired cop. I've been shot at, stabbed at, fought drunks on the roadside, battled drug crazed big black women with butcher knives, delivered babies in Burger King, beaten with a 2 x 4, and finally run over by a car.
I began doing other light work because I wasn't physically able to be a cop anymore after the injuries. Becomming a trucker was one of those things I wanted to do. I was a musician and had traveled a few years on the road with a couple of bands, and drove the tour bus. I got the fever for the road and the driving and went to trucking school.

I too believe that attitude means "almost" everything in a job. I had to maintain that positive attitude for many years in my life. Especially after being "floored up" with broken bones and other bodily damage. I researched the companies and KLLM was my pick. I went in with a positive attitude and did everything I could to maintain that attitude. However, sometimes you realize things just aren't working. Maintaining that positive attitude can only work so long, when the people you are working for, do the exact opposite while you try to maintain the positive attitude. I tried it, it didn't work. The forces there worked against me.

Although I know some who have been there for years, RoadToad being one of them, and others who have been there many years longer. Sometimes things work with some people, sometimes they don't. When you have numerous lying @$$holes in management of a company and others in supervision who just keep quiet to guard their backs, the odds are against it. Some people manage to work around that and develop a relationship with a good dispatcher and they never have to see or talk to anyone else. In my case, it happened at first, then I got a different dispatcher, I couldn't change dispatchers, and it went down hill from there.

Then the cuts started comming and the decreases started taking effect, and the future looked bleak. That future I wanted there at that company was getting to be less and less of a possibility. Throw in some bad weeks when you spend days at the hotel waiting for the shop to do repairs, a dispatcher who lives for the weekend and leaves the drivers sitting during the weekend with no runs waiting. Several paychecks that didn't even amount to a hundred bucks, and the attitude starts to change.
So please, spare me the Bull Manure about the positive attitude and the crap of "attitude being everything". Because when your positive attitude can't get past the brick wall of garbage that piles up in front of you, you tend to look for a way out. That's what I did. AND... I'm glad I did. Sure, I wish it could have worked out, but I know I am better off now. I also know what I don't want in a trucking company if I look for another job.

 

Thats a pretty good post Dude, well said. I think that attitude is a crucial factor in any business or job, however intelligence and situational awareness are also equally important.

Bring a great attitude to a job, have a solid work ethic, be professional and honorable, and do your best. That does not however mean you should be blind to your situation and trudge along losing money or being treated unprofessionally. Assess, evaluate, consider options and shift fire if necessary.

Work smarter AND harder.

 

When I decided to switch lease purchases about 5 months ago the 2 I narrowed it down to were KLLM and American Central Transport. I chose ACT because it was a dry van company that offered alot of drop and hooks. Every time I read this thread it makes me so glad I wanted to stay away from reefers. some of the crap they are doing to the lease drivers just amazes me. I am doing great at ACT. Taken home $28000 in last 5 months.

 

Kllm has always had problems with the shop, as far as L/P, I learned the hard way from DART transit. Lesson 1: if you can avoid using company sponsored repair shops do so. An escrow acct, in conjunction with the factory major component warranty, you can head off most of these unfortunate interactions with the shop.
I'm on my way back to KLLM for the third time and I'm excited.

 

RT are you STILL there at KLLM? Just askin?

 

This thread has died, I too would like to know if RT is still with KLLM...

 

I saw RT about 6 weeks ago in Jackson, so as far as I know she is still there.

I have had a bad bad run in with a chain of shop visits, and my truck is currently at Thermo King. All that being said... yes I am VERY frustrated, but still quite happy with KLLM as a whole.

 

Haha, trust me, I feel ya on all that. If you take out the 2 weeks I was home after getting my wisdom teeth out, I have been in the shop six times in six weeks over the same issues... Then today I go to check on my truck, Local says it is out of shop status but then low and behold the shop hasnt touched it.

(HOWEVER).... yeah I AM pissed about my down time.... and the lost time not driving. But I also have to give the shop credit (at least the guys I talked to about my issues), they are not charging me for the APU repairs, are covering my hotel, and even had me take my truck to TK for the needed repairs at their cost.

In the end, I dont know who was more pissed about me being back in the shop, me, or the head of the shop....lol.

KLLM is stepping up to take care of me. its not as good as driving and making $$$, but it IS something...

 

KLLM shops suck big time.Like the other driver said you have to go back several times for the same problem,it took them 3 days b4 i could get a simple blown wheel seal fixed which took the mechanic all day to fix,only to find out latter that evening that the mechanic put the same oil soaked shoes back on my truck which is a blatent DOT violation. I wrote up an oil leak several times the first time they cleaned off the area around the leak,the next time they tighten the bolts now im down again at the dealer only to find out that the leak was my power steering box goin out which KLLM never addressed.There inhouse shops are the worse.

 

I just left kllm in aug. And was leasing an 09' cascadia for some reason the only way I could average 6mpg's was if I drove 55 miles hour. Have many friends still there, but won't leave cause they want a truck. A truck that's costing them more than there worth.