Knight has a History of 'unrealistic' Driver Policies

Knight has a History of 'unrealistic' Driver Policies

From other thread (Knight drivers....What's your 20? post # 275)

Hopefully Knight wised up since implementing the no T/S & no rest area o/n parking in GA of 6 yrs ago. Experienced drivers wouldnt put up with that policy very long---I was 95% western regional with Knight and so rarely in GA.

Knight Safety used to often run amuck! When a Crete driver overdrove and killed a family in FL, we Knight drivers had to pay for it with microscope monitoring of our log books and nagging if went up to 15 mins over to get to safe place for parking, food, etc. Often given loads with unreasonable delivery times, if we went over time to meet, would get beat up by Knight---if missed load delivery, would get beat up by the customer (or delayed & rescheduled a day later if Walmart DC!).

I drove for Knight for 5 yrs as I said B4, with no incidents nor accidents. Still would get harassed by Knight Safety for unrealistic 'problems:' P/U'd a load at Conagra (Rancho Coucamonga), parked 'legally' along street just down from them (along with other rigs, & still in an industrial area) and waited 1 1/2 hr til rush hour traffic cleared out, so could drive east at about 9:30 AM. A local CA Knight driver turned me in, and CA Safety (based in Phx) called me on my cell while rolling in traffic and harassed me---when got back to Phx, my DM said ignore him (I was ready to 'confront' him)..that Safety guy (who everybody disliked) last I heard was in Boise terminal doing something in mgmt.

Knight took the 'no sitting duck' policy in a roadway too far! Most co's have 'their' sitting duck policy of 'no sitting on a major roadway shoulder'..with Knight, sitting outside the customer's facility in the street per the customer's direction waiting to get in to ld/unld, actually violates Knight's no sitting duck policy!! Totally unrealistic!!

Once Knight Safety guy didnt appreciate my suggestion to help with Knight's safety record: told him to lock up all Knight tractors in terminals & yards and dont ever let them out--Knight will have a 'great' safety record ....I can be just as unrealistic as them!!

NOTE: Dont get me going on Knight's 50 gal max fill up policy while in CA--T/S's back up there due to the number of trucks servicing CA, and a fill up can takes hours while waiting in line!!

Knight's upper mgmt cant be run by any former truckers...mostly appear to be bottom-line accountants.

 

WARNING to Newbies concerning Knight's sitting duck policy/philosophy:

If you arrive at a customer and must park out in the street (side street, industrial area, etc.) until they are ready for you & will let you in their facility; or if done unloading and must leave their facility and park outside awaiting your next preplan (w/o authorization to go to a term/T/S, etc. to wait), and you are parked 'legally,' you are open to disciplinary action! ---such as the case if another truck hits you while you are parked, the driver admits fault, gives all insurance info to cover your damage, and even with police called to document the accident and cover you as not at in any way at fault; when Knight hears about (and collects on the other driver's or his co.'s insurance) you are still up for disciplinary action for 'making yourself' a sitting duck....

Just remember when you (as all drivers must do in delivering freight) park outside the customer, and 99.9% of the time have no probs or harassment, just pray that you dont get hit and have to endure the above scenario....I never did, but when I presented the above scenario to my DM, he agreed with that possible outcome! Knight/Safety may or may not 'ding' you for 'just doing your job;' and so, stay up-to-date on your prayers...

 

I had an 'occasion' where I could have been 'had' by Knight's sitting duck policy:

Had dropped my ld & p/u'd an MT at the Walmart DC in Buckeye at night. No preplan, so parked out front (was out of hrs) about 15' off the roadway in the dirt (& mud) with a couple other rigs. I pulled around 20' behind another rig so could easily pull out the next morn. Come early daybreak, I awoke to a thud. Looked, and the rig in front had backed into me---apparently I was close enuf and inline that his mirrors didnt see me, He was a thick-accented Indian and very apologetic. He was MT and moving slowly (little inertia), and fortunately for me, hit the 2 front tow hooks on the Century I was driving---his DOT bumper tapped the black-painted hooks, only scuffing them w/no damage to bumper. etc.. I told him to go on and he was very happy...but I thought afterwards that if there had been any damage, I would have been crucified by Knight!!!

BTW, when Fontana started demanding for drivers coming in w/MT's to drop them in the yard, whether staying there awaiting a preplan or not, and told me once that I couldnt park there if I didnt drop mine (many newbies did and suffered for complying when trying to get a load in LA), I started parking north of the term in & around the Santa Ana loop in the industrial area (about 1/2 was vacant fields but were building there when I left)..even tho no traffic in that loop, esp. at night, if caught I could have been fired by Knight for being a sitting duck as well as not parking at their terminal!!

 

The 2 T/A's were always packed out whenever I went there---my backup parking was at the Walmart DC several miles north in a large dirt area, which was Walmart's unofficial over-flow parking....God, I hated Fontana yard..almost got into a fist fight with another driver over the lone (and was 'buried' among the Crete trailers in the far back corner) MT at 10:30 PM, with my next p/u in LA at 11:00PM!

 

The bottom line is that Knight micro-manages drivers in order to not only tightly control freight (often handcuffing the drivers in the process) but also to cover their butts legally and blame the driver for any and all probs when they arise.

I was told by my trainer of 30 yrs experience that "All drivers make mistakes; the best that a driver can do is to minimize them with good work habits---and hope that you dont get caught for the ones that they do make!" Make a mistake with Knight and see what happens......

They may not outwardly enforce each & every policy each & every time, but if a driver screws up or is caught, they will put their hammer down on them! Scan thru the 1000's of postings in this section and your will hear the stories from many drivers...When I hired on in Dec 2003, Knight had a reputation as being a 'driver's co.' They had about 450 trucks at the time and ballooned up to over 4000 when I left 5 yrs later. Knight used to always have the cleanest tractors and paid the drivers to keep them looking that way...after I hired on, they started competing head-on with Swift for low-miles/cheap freight, and became a 'Swift wannabe'....eventually had to squeeze $ out of them for a truck wash; and the supposed 'truck wash' in Phx was in fact a 'trailer wash,' where the trucks got spit on, dirt moved around, and came out with a spotty semi-washed look.

Knight chgd greatly over the 5yrs I worked there as I've said,. I left 4 yrs ago so dont know what's going on there now except what drivers write on the forum.