ozark not so good

The companies not even worth spelling right. Ozeek,Ozeek,Ozeek. SURE,the dispatchers are great(a few),the load planners are good(some),and one of the owners as fleet manager is JUST ruining things there. As a newbie(not in experience,in fresh with the company),you will get mileage point one: They wanna see what kinda driver you are(common sense),point two: They wanna see just HOW gulliable you are when they send you pathetic runs(always with pathetic excuses attached why its low mileage), THEN it happens frustration sets in and you gotta FIGHT for mileage sos you can pay your bills,doesnt seem to me thats asking alot. BUT,they hafta satisfy and keep happy the HIGHER "senority" drivers or they'll quit and chances are the responsible dispatcher will get fired, or reprimanded.

I enjoyed my 3yrs there(relatively speaking)and wanted 20 like the other drivers. But it seemed like the higher senority drivers didnt hafta scratch and scream for the "house payment" runs. After being fired(I was 10hrs down and then "offered" a 200 and then 110mi run at Memphis yard) to which i told dispatch no(common for OTR drivers like me to turn down lower than low runs)understand %#&* floats downhill and NOBODY was moronic to except those. The excuses from FleetManager(one of owners),"Youve been at yard a day and a half(DUH),economy's slow,not in a customer based area(WHAT??? Double DUH,think his FruitLoop lost the Loop),no long runs available(OMY Dear God I had 19driver friends on cell phone and 10ofem COULDNT beleive theyd get rid of me with those lame excuses) THEN the almighty last one,"I suppose a 400mi run wont getya off the yard?"(OMG dear reader,refer to previous lame comments). My retort was "Sure,lets go",to which answer was "Nah,we're just hafta let you go". All I ever wanted was to be considered an OTR Driver and make a good wage,BOY was I wrong.

No accidents,low idle %,deliver ontime(sure,hada few,who doesnt?),10yrs exp,took care of my truck likea O/Op I kid you not. NOW,unemployed,wandering,hmmmm should I try something else? Well,TBC,there was SOOO much more to say,but will end with 2 more comments. One of the owners run the SHOP and BELEIVE me he does a GREAT job(drivers like and respect him(hed probably get fired if it was up 2 the the Moronic Fleet Owner Manager for us liking him)and lastly,one of many of their customers Harley,Fedex,UPS,etcetc is Inland Paperboard Maysville, KY(thruout US),anyways I delivered ontime,waited on next load ONE hour,4 other Ozeek trks delivered and was assigned 3 of 4 loads 450-700 mi long.....MINE?....was 276. GEE Batman,whats wrong with that painting.....pathetic,avg senority of the drivers that showed up??....1-5yrs 1-6yrs 1-19yrs 4-91/2yrs. Now you ask did I have enuff time 2 make ANY one of those runs?...Glad you asked....YUP.

 

I worked for Ozark 7 months. Made alot of money,although running outlaw is what I had to do.It is my firm belief that Ozark has the DOT in their back pocket. There were many times I should have got slammed for violations,and overweight at the scale house. I even got a pass at the portland Tn. scales. Never had to make an entry on fuel stops. We got away with the gold. I remember one driver blew bye the scale in Tn. and no one can after him. Blew me away! Love that roll stock paper. I would be out 2 weeks and allowed 34 hrs off then back to work. Man I was tired. I averaged about 3700 miles a week. All outlaw,and the money was great. Until they changed their policies on Idling truck,out of route miles,fueling network.No more fun so I left. I had to slipseat 4 times due to a junky truck.

 

I'm so glad to find so much information on this company. I'm attending orientation at Buske but still weighing my options. With Ozark's promise to get me home every other week they almost had me hooked. Now my only other consideration is PTL...

 

PTL's DriverSEA and VehicleSEA scores have been moving upward since September 2007. Not a good thing with CSA 2010 on the horizon!

 

my dad has been driving for ozark for 16 years and he loves it. been home every weekend since day one. only weekends he wasnt home was because he choose not to be, like he took a trip out or cali or something. whats wrong with running 3500 miles a week and getting a re start at home and going back out? hes gotten a new truck around every 2 years. always pre planed, never has to sit around. if he has a problem, he'll call a big wheel in memphis and they take care of it. they tend to ignore the little things but they get the over all big picture right.

 

The guys that have access to the "Big Wheels" in the office have always had the the best deals in the trucking industry.Having the reputation of a brown nose ain't worth it to most of us though.

 

anybody has access to the big wheels, all you gotta do is call or walk into the office. the boss mans office door is always open and can walk in anytime. it has nothing to do with brown nosing. if you do your job and stay out of trouble, companies will do lots of things for you. when you've been with a company for 16 years and have over 2 million accident free miles with them, they will brown nose you, not the other way around. my dad has never brown nosed anybody. if your not a cry baby truck driver and do your job, you dont have to brown nose. it sounds like to me some of you guys dont like to work. god forbid a company runs you 3500 miles a week and sends you home for a restart on the weekend. if you like sitting around truck stops and eating the buffet's 3 times a day, ozark is not the company for you. driving a truck is work, if your not willing to bust your butt and do what it takes to get the job done, trucking aint for you.


if your only getting 250 mile loads and everybody else around you is getting 700 mile + loads, that says maybe your the problem not ozark. dispatch prolly doesnt wanna give you a good load because they dont think you'll get it done.

ozark is a good company and i would recomend them to anybody. if you wanna make good money and go home on the weekends, ozark is the place.

and as far as junky trucks go, they are trading off the rest of the older columbias and are taking delievery of 250 new columbias this year with tri pacs, and new volvos. godforbid a company doesnt run all brand new trucks. if you stay at ozark 7 months to a year, you will be in a new truck. why give a brand new truck to a guy they just hired who is gonna ##### about how crappy the company is and quit 5 months later?

and if yall are thinking im somebody that works at ozark or whatever, i dont. i drive for KLLM and the only reason im not at ozark is because im not 23 yet, still got another 8 months before i can drive for them and you can bet money as soon as i turn 23 im going to work for ozark.

 

###### boy!!! I didn't mean to touch a raw nerve...lol

 

wasnt so much you, it was some of the other posts on here

 

I have never talked to an Ozark driver that didn't really like the company. I also see lots of "* years service" signs on the trucks.

My hope was to join Ozark as soon as I have a year OTR. I'm gonna have to talk to more of their drivers for sure.