Sheehy Mail Contractors, in Waterloo, WI are bad news!

My fellow Drivers:

After being terminated by my previous employer, where I worked for seven-years, due to their losing their contract with the USPS, I went to work for a family owned business over in Jefferson County, WI., that did similar work. My new employer hauled mainly freight and the U.S. Mail. However; Sheehy Mail Contractors, turned out to be dysfunctional, and more dishonest than my previous employer had been, especially when it came to dispatching their trucks, and in dealing with their drivers by complicating things for them when it came to meeting DOT compliance regulations. This was centered around using their electronic logging device in conjunction with our hours of service, etc. In that category,Sheehy Mail altered my electronic logs after running me over my legal hours of service. They would push back starting times and change my finishing times after running me so to prevent me from getting my required 30-minute break every eight hours. Yeah, Sheehy then altered my logs to make it look like I honestly did run it that way. I printed copies of my logs and can show where they did that.

With that said, a big part of Sheehy's problem was that their dispatchers regularly lied to you, in order to CYA. There were a couple dispatchers there that tried to trick me into doing something totally illegal. That illegality entailed sending me to pick up loads that had no accompanying bill of lading, and regularly had me violating the HOS regulations as already mentioned. After doing so, Sheehy Management would expect me to cross multiple state lines without a proper bill of lading. I found that all very strange, especially after being assigned a trainer when I first arrived there, who lectured me about being illegal while teaching me the Sheehy way of using their Load Trek electronic logs/GPS tracking equipment. Jennifer Sette-Case, Manager of Safety/HR, had looked the other way until I finally objected to carrying an undocumented load one night.assigned by one of her dispatchers,

Another problem, with working for Sheehy Contractors, was that their dispatch team, mainly with Jenna, that lied to you in order to get you to break the law. Another dispatcher, named Dina, when dispatching on the weekends, was notorious along with Jenna, for assigning you too much to get done before you ran out of hours near the end of the work day or week. That was after she screwed up a load by having me come all the way over to Waterloo one Saturday, versus having it in Madison like it was supposed to be. Jenna, on the other hand, was the one that would regularly try to lie me into taking an undocumented load, as opposed to Jeff P. (the regular late evening dispatcher) would attempt to coerce me by not wanting to email me the proper company authorization while instead preferring to hang my rear end out there in the event that I got caught, which I nearly did one morning.

It was symptomatic how dispatch would often fail to plan ahead, so if you lived 25-miles from their main terminal like I did, you would often end up having to drive over there in your personal vehicle, because they didn't have a power unit available for you at your departure point, which went for trailers as well. In my own personal situation, my hired departure point was Madison, WI. This homeopathy also added to the miles, fuel, increases in my insurance costs, as well as more wear and tear going on my personal vehicle in a relatively short period of time that I worked for them. It was common for them to send me to a drop or pickup after dispatch failed to have the proper appointment number available for me (Dina & Jenna) so I'd sit there all day not being able to unload, during my appointed time. After an entire day of waiting, I finally ended up not making my delivery and having to return the shipment to the plant I'd picked it up at earlier that morning.

Sheehy Mail Contractors, who operate white and green trucks, with green lettering on them, would regularly send me to places that weren't where their addresses and directions stated they were supposed to be thus leaving me to be late, and afterwards having to figure it out on my own. They wouldn't correct this circumstance of issuing wrong flawed directions even after I reported them to the dispatch team. Their Human Resources & safety director, Jennifer S. (a real ego maniac) would then hypocritically blame me if I was late, which was usually after dispatch had alerted me, in advance after receiving my printed out daily instructions, that I'd be starting from my home terminal in Madison, only to get there the next day, where I'd be forced to look for my loaded trailer before discovering that it and the paperwork wouldn't be there.

After a time consuming call to dispatch, I was told that the load was 25-miles east of me, in the opposite direction of my delivery. I was then expected to drive my 63-MPH truck all the way over there to pick it up before being able to get on my way to my scheduled drop that morning, I was once out on a run, half way through my shift, and was told by one of their better dispatchers, named Gale H. (a really nice guy), to get back to the Waterloo Terminal right away so some other driver could take my tractor, that I had to drive all the way over to Waterloo that morning to pick up, so the other guy could go to work that afternoon. That effectively left me with just a half a day of work in, as it was this kind of indifference and repetitive mistakes, on the part of the Sheehy Dispatch Team, that really began to negatively affect my pay checks, which was due mainly to the diminished hours left available for me to work those weeks while driving to Waterloo and back nearly everyday. It was like that from day one with these folks and none of them seemed to care either.

I often wondered if the owner, Robert Sheehy, was fully aware of all the mistreatment that was being handed out by his dispatch team and it wasn't long before I got the answer, which was after leaving my pickup in Clinton, IA hours late one night, because Jeff P., the night dispatcher, had sent me in there to hook a trailer, on a Friday night no less, after everyone was gone. The trailer had no accompanying bill of lading, and when I called it in, Jeff immediately ordered me to run it. Knowing that I had to cross three different state lines to deliver it. I requested that he email me an authorization. That resulted in Jeff getting angry before hanging up on me, and letting me sit there for nearly two hours. After it was all said and done, I sat there for well over 3.5 hours before finally getting the authorization and to be on my way.

Later that morning, I was within a mile of my exit, off I-43 North, when a fast approaching vehicle that had been over taking me while I was in the far right lane, suddenly with no warning side swiped me as it was passing my vehicle. The police said that they cited the driver for causing the accident after falling asleep. The tractor only sustained cosmetic damage and was driven to my delivery destination and then on to Waterloo. Finally I drove it on to Madison that morning. As a result of that incident, however; Sheehy Mail Management followed by canceling my regular run later that evening to Milwaukee, and then left me sitting for the next four days (which is against the regulations) while not returning my attempts to communicate with them.

Finally on Wednesday morning, I was summoned to Waterloo by Jennifer S. to meet with her and the owner, Bob Sheehy. During our meeting, they both avoided eye contact with me, as it became apparent to me that Bob was definitely aware of all the circumstances that plagued me. Jennifer started out by lying about me "fictitiously shouting at her" during a telephone conversation some weeks earlier which I immediately denied, because it was another of their lies. I then reminded her that it was her who did all the shouting through the telephone receiver that day at me. Afterwards, I attempted to tell Bob about some of the problems that I was experiencing, which were associated with his dispatch team.

If he had taken the time to listen, he might have learned how their adverse and inconsistent behavior had affected me, which bit into the company's bottom line as well.

The sad truth is, however; that Bob Sheehy refused to listen and instead stuck his head in the sand before having the brass to tell me that the real reason I was being dismissed was due mainly to the above accident where the driver fell asleep. He brought up a deer broadside hit on the front left side of my truck a couple days earlier while on my way to make a pickup. Jeff P., who was in dispatch that evening, ordered me not to call the police for that one. Later, according to Mr. Sheehy, the two mishaps amounted to too much property damage to his equipment ( even more costly with no police report). The dear hit did do the most damage, of the two collisions, and as a result I agreed to leave at that point, because I was equally tired of all of them as well. This was particularly true, especially when one considers their blatant dishonesty, incompetence, cowardliness, constant lying, and management's willingness to scapegoat their drivers .

Lastly after all their willful harassment, I feel it was haphazard at best for them to ask me to leave after a deer ran out one dark night on a rural two lane highway and broadsided my tractor, which the owner admitted could happen to anybody. Another contributing factor, occurred a couple days later, when the driver of an over taking vehicle fell asleep and ended up sideswiping the front left side of my tractor-trailer causing only cosmetic damage to it. The overtaking driver was ticketed by police for causing the accident but I am still forced out, because I hadn't been there for 90-days yet, and asked for authorization to haul a load with no bills.

Then consider that their equipment had in fact sustained minor cosmetically damage but I lost my job anyway and was back out on the street again while at my age that is a real bummer, folks not to mention the hardships put on my family.

With that said, my final thought is that, it should be noted, that after many years of driving big trucks, I've come to the sad conclusion that it's worse for most truck drivers out there today than it was during any earlier period that I can now ever remember since I began driving in 1979, Unfortunately it is companies like Sheehy Mail Contractors, located in Waterloo, WI., whom have helped to make it that way while helping to prove my point..

I guess that is why, I honestly hope this information will help any of you now thinking about going to work for Sheehy Mail Contractors, Inc., in order to help you to make an informed decision on whether to do so or not.

Thank you for taking the time to read what I have put forth on this site.

Truthfully,

Silverdollar79

 

Yeah sevenmph:

Yes a couple years ago, all I ever heard about Sheehy was mainly good things while I knew a lot of their drivers that came into the Post Office everyday to drop or pickup. We would talk and many of them were positive about the company, especially the pay and benefits. The things that I heard from a lot of Sheehy Drivers certainly had a lot to do with my deciding to go to work there after I'd lost my previous job.

However; once I started working there I began to see things that, at first only made me think "well if that's how they do it here so be it."

I wasn't perfect either, because my previous job was a straight five-day per week gig where I knew what I was doing everyday. I knew both my schedule, including drops in Dodgeville, WI and my pickup later in the day there, which came directly back to Madison. I didn't have to worry about getting lost in Milwaukee or Chicago and/or trying to find a place that was hard to get to and that I'd never been to before.

I also didn't have to sweat logging, because we used electronic (Peoplesoft) logs, and communications technology where you punched in your duty changes during your hours of service. We went to electronic logs after I'd be there 5-years or so which made it rather easy on that end of things. I was a bit slow in comprehending Sheehy's elaborate system. They were strictly routed, and on a really tight schedule, and pinched every drop of fuel. That meant being from the old school, and days of pay phones, caught me somewhat unprepared for Sheehy. An example was that I didn't do very well with their low RPM engines, and the way they had their clutches, and transmissions set up, at first. This was really true of their automatic tranny (which were basically crap).

I struggled with all that, when I was first there, and before they brought out a corporate trainer to give me some insight/ bring me up to speed. After a few days with that guy, who was very good at what he did, things began going pretty well from a pure driving stand point but their protocol was still very adverse. An example was having to drive into Waterloo nearly all the time, after they hired me to run out of Madison.

Another difficulty was the way drivers usually had 7-minutes, after arriving at the yard, to find their trailers, go in and get their paperwork, hook up to their trailer, do their safety inspection, enter their info into the LoadTrek Computer, and then made sure that they had everything in way of their personal affects before having to get going.

I was usually at the yard, anywhere from 20-minutes to 30-minutes early so I could get out on time. If you left on time, and ran into adverse traffic conditions or weather, and were subsequently slowed down, Sheehy wouldn't be very understanding and would complain vociferously. If they gave you the wrong address and directions, it was your fault for not being able to find the place right away. My main point is that, everything drivers were expected to do was complicated by things like what is mentioned here and what I told you in my main essay.

It ends up being nearly totally irrational and unreasonable for the way companies like Sheehy push their drivers. It is also wrong and sooner or later it gets around about them. So anyway you cut it, when it comes to treating drivers fairly Sheehy is dealing from the bottom of the deck! It appeared to me that their dispatch team did a lot of nasty things intentionally in order to mess with you.

That's why I think they were bad news, with the exception of one dispatcher named, Gale. That's why, I decided to share what I know about them with all of you.

Someone asked about the breakdown between hauling freight and mail?

Sheehy has different pay scales for their drivers, ranging from just over $16.00 per/hr for hauling freight, up to $21 per/hr for delivering and picking up mail contracts. It just depended on what you were doing that day and if you had a permanent run. I hauled mainly freight but had occasional Mail runs during the regular week. My main mail run was to Milwaukee on Saturday night and back. I would also go to Chicago, and Rockford.

I averaged up near $19.00 per/hr but I was making over that when I got there.

Sivierdollar79

 

Hi Mike:

Yeah 34-years and counting.

I guess your condescension is normal, because it demonstrates how scared a lot of drivers are today, when you think that someone like me can be caught off guard like that. You said yourself that trucking ain't easy, which is something that I totally agree with, and learned my first few months out after getting out of the driving school in early 1979.

It wasn't easy then, and it sure isn't easy now either but back when I started things were a lot different for drivers than they are today.

For one thing, the industry was still regulated and smaller more driver friendlier trucking outfits back then had a much better chance at making it financially than they did after deregulation really began to kick in, which wasn't long after I started driving. Before I went back to school, the writing was on the wall, and after finishing college and buying my own trucks a year later, that writing was apparent. It was the beginning of a long downward spiral for the independents and smaller mom & pop outfits that were the backbone of the industry at one time. They were also more likely to deal a fair hand to truck drivers too, my friend.

I know just like a lot of old timers do, because we were there!

Another important milestone that changed things, was though we didn't have PCs, lap tops, or tablet computers, with access to the internet, and when needing to make a phone call, you actually had to pull off the road at a truck stop, a rest area, or where there was access to a pay phone helped to further separate drivers from each other. There were CB radios when I started, that began as a helpful communication device but even 25-years ago many older drivers were complaining about how they were being used by increasingly abusive people.

I know for a fact that driving a large class-8 vehicle in those days really did require a higher level of intuitive knowledge and overall expertise (intelligence). The man who taught me, at the driving school, was their chief instructor and a 20+ year veteran of trucking.

Red told us how big trucks during that period were a lot safer and much more reliable (especially in cold weather) than anything he drove starting out and that they were still very dangerous especially if you (the driver) thought you knew it all and that it could never happen to you. That is still true today.

I don't know how long you've been driving, Buckmanmike, but I graduated from a world class university over thirty-years ago, after deciding to go back and complete my degree due to having access to the Vietnam era GI-Bill. I have held professional positions, two while out of trucking when my kids were growing up. Therefore; if you are implying that I should have known better than to go to work for Sheehy Mail Contractors, having been around for nearly 35-years, then you must think I have a crystal ball to see into the future.

I did, however; base my decision to work for them on knowing many of their drivers over the years. People whom nearly all said that Sheehy was an honorable and capable employer. Just like the gentleman, "semi retired", did in his reply endorsing them on this thread after actually knowing the family up here in Wisconsin. So with that said, what more do you think I could have done to avoid what Sheehy decided to do with me after I signed up in good faith?

I ask that, because I am a former fleet, company, and O/O, long hauler, regional, line hauler, and delivery driver who would appreciate your insight so please be specific.

Finally I didn't just take the complete word of those Sheehy Drivers that I asked. I am very familiar with how to access and search online information to discover sources (like this one) that could give me a good idea of whether Sheehy, or any other company, had a bad rep with their drivers. After doing my research and after ascertaining about the status of Sheehy Mail Contractors, everything came back as clean as a whistle on them. When I hired on they seemed interested that I stayed with my prior employer for seven-years, which earned me a handshake from their owner.

I've also admitted and owned up to the mistakes I made while working there, which did not meet or arise to the threshold for being terminated with due cause.

Thanks for your time and the come back!

Siverdollar79

 

No it wasn't me, because I left there in November 2013 and never got over to Davenport, IA. Unless broke down, you would never catch me changing out a trailer on an exit ramp either.

Silverdollar79