Review of Poly Trucking

I'm not necessarily reporting Poly as a "bad trucking company". I just have more negative than positive in my review so I put it here. I've been at Poly for awhile now and I have to say I'm about ready to move on. Instead of posting a rant, I'd just prefer to post what I see as pros and cons and you can decide for yourself if Poly would work out for you.

FYI - Poly is NOT a trucking company. Poly is a private fleet that hauls their own freight (Poly America).

Pros:

- Non forced dispatch on outbound loads (Keep in mind, back hauls ARE forced). The way Poly works is you put yourself on the outbound board for whatever day you think you'll be available. It is non forced dispatch BUT, if you put yourself on tomorrow's board and they have more loads than drivers, you're pretty much expected to take one. They won't necessarily force it down your throat, but at a minimum they'll put you on the bottom of the list for the next day so you're likely to only get a shot at the leftovers once again. This has never been a issue with me so I list it as a pro.

- Pay is decent. Poly pays everyone the same (.48 cpm) and you're paid by the hub. In addition, you also get $30.00 a drop after the first 2 (a lot of loads are multi stop). And, I will say Poly is good about paying you for ANY work you perform. Driving test, drug test, take out the trash (kidding on that one), etc... you get paid hourly.

- Insurance is decent

- Paper logs (self explanatory for those that like paper)

- Everything is pretty much done over the phone. They don't use the qualcomm for much (occasional safety message)

- No one micro managing you (telling you what route to take or where to fuel). Regarding the fuel, they give you a book that has all the approved fuel stops for each state.

Cons:

- Trucks are junk. Poly uses International Prostars and they are the cheapest, stripped down units they can find. Additionally, they spend about as much time broke down as they do running. In the few months I've been there, I've been in a hotel once (for a week), in a loaner twice. Yes, I know what you're thinking. "They have loaners? Cool". NO, it's not cool. Those POS loaners are nasty and they're in worse shape than the assigned trucks. You'll be lucky to leave and get back with one without coming back on a hook.

- The shop leaves a LOT to be desired. They have 3 shop supervisors and not a one of them is a mechanic. Additionally, none of the "mechanics" are mechanics. The wise Poly driver goes over his/her truck with a FINE TOOTH COMB after getting it back from the shop. The first thing I always do is check my tires for nails, screws, bolts, etc... Rarely do I NOT pull at least one of the mentioned items out of at least one of my tires. You can walk around by the shop and you'll find debris littering the ground from one end to the other. Never do the do a "FOB Sweep". Additionally, just because they say they fixed something doesn't mean it's true. Half the time, they DO NOT fix the truck properly.

If the tractors aren't enough, the trailer guys are even worse. At least 50% of the trailers have issues that would put them out of service with any other company. Issues range from lights out, landing gear that doesn't function correctly, tandem pins won't release, etc... And, the hell of it is you'll hook up to a trailer that has an "OK to Use" placard on it which means it's been inspected and good to go and then you'll find issues. Here's just one personal experience example, but I could list a dozen: I hooked to a trailer (had the "Ok to Use" placard) and it literally took me less than 2 mins to find the following issues: Marker light out, one of the tires was 40 lbs low, another wheel was missing valve stem cap and the pins would not release.

You should have the idea by now, lol.

- No driver facilities (useful). They do have one lone shower, but it's open and anyone can walk in on you standing there in your b-day suit. I don't know many drivers that use it. Most just go to a truck stop.

- Communication SUCKS at Poly. As I always say, the good part about Poly is you'll never hear from them. The bad part about Poly, you'll never hear from them. And, if you call them, you'll be leaving a voicemail and you MIGHT get a call back depending on who you call. If you call backhaul, you'll play hell getting them to call you back in a timely manner, if at all.

- Paper logs. Yes, I listed this in the pros, but there is a catch to them. The trucks are governed at 68 mph, but you're only allowed to log 65 mph. Thus, if you get on a long stretch of interstate (I-10 in my case), it's very easy to average 65, 66 mph. If you log so much as a .0001 over 65 mph, you'll get written up and told to change it. This has never happened to me, but what bugs me about it is you are forced to turn in a FALSE log. That doesn't sit right with me as my signature is on that document. And, there's nothing in DOT that says I can't log 66 mph. Poly has some other quirky log rules that do not follow DOT. Thus, they'll say "We run legal" in one breath and then make you turn in a false log.

- Poly has WAY too many quirky rules to even begin to list, but I'll just say this. The ONLY way to get along around that place is to keep a low profile, and stay off of plant property as much as possible. Come in, drop your empty, pick up your loaded trailer, turn in your papers, get the hell out. If your load is not ready, get a bobtail pass and get the hell out of there, but DO NOT hang around.

Poly supervisors are notorious for knocking on your door at 0 dark thirty and telling you to move your truck. See, they don't comprehend that when you rolled in at 2300 there was nowhere on the bobtail line to park. Thus, you had to park by the drivers lounge. That doesn't register with them. They're like robots.

- This one will come as a shock to all (tongue firmly in cheek), but drivers are low life scum in the Poly pecking order. With few exceptions, most office personnel will not speak one word to you, and that includes the president of the company. You are little more than a scourge on society in their eyes.

- No detention pay

- No breakdown pay. This one is a BIG deal to *most* Poly drivers as we spend a LOT of time broke down.

- Shipping is ALWAYS behind on weekends. If you have the misfortune of taking a load that is scheduled to be ready at 0700 on a Saturday, you may as well get comfortable because that load isn't likely going to be ready before late in the afternoon at the earliest. This is for a couple of reasons. One, the outside contractors get loaded first because they don't want to have to pay them detention (we don't get detention). Also, dispatch will request a 100 loads be ready at 0700 because every driver there wants to get out of there early. That's not doable. Finally, Poly doesn't pay the warehouse types enough for them to give a #### about their job so they think nothing of calling in a nice Saturday in lieu of coming to work.

Bottom line for me is the disrespect they show toward their drivers. I can deal with a lot, but I can't deal with people that don't even have the common decency to at least return a phone call.

p.s. If you do decide Poly might be better for you than your current situation, good for you. But, do NOT fall for the line that you can make $80k a year there. That is absolutely false and do NOT let anyone tell you different. I PROMISE you, if nothing else, you won't keep a truck under neath you long enough to run enough to make that kind of cash. I would say $60-$65K is a realistic number to shoot for.

p.s.s. One final thought: IMO, Poly, with VERY LITTLE effort, could be a top tier outfit. If they would buy decent tractors and clean house in the shop and hire actual mechanics, If they would actually pay their non-driver employees enough to give them incentive to give a #### about their work, and clean house in the office by getting rid the "good old boys" that infest the place, they would be a great company. But, none of that is likely to happen. There are 3 standard answers to all questions fielded by Poly.

1. "We'll look into that"

2. "That's not a bad idea... Allen, write that down"

3. "Remember, we're just the trucking side. Poly America would never allow that"

 

I forgot one Con. It's not a big deal to me as my family is fortunate enough to not have to rely on a pay check going to the bank on a certain day. But, I realize not all families are in this situation and this information will be extremely important to know before deciding if Poly is a good fit.

Regarding pay, Poly does NOT use transflo, trip pak, or any other scanning service. Your trip packet has to be turned in at the plant before the cut off each week, or you will not get a pay check the following week. Now, obviously, if you know that in advance, you can plan for it. Most drivers at Poly squirrel away money each week to build up a nest egg for the times they don't make it back to the plant in time to turn in their paper work. Also, a lot times when you finally do get back to the terminal, you can have a substantial amount of miles racked up. I had 4800 miles in about 10 days so that ended up averaging out to be 2400 miles over the 2 week cycle, which ended up being a decent check for 2 weeks. However, and this is my point, I went a week without a paycheck because I didn't get the trip pack turned in in time (because I wasn't there to turn it in). Thus, I got paid 2 weeks after my last pay check. Those kind of inconsistencies don't work well for some drivers and I feel you need to know this because Poly will not tell you, unless you specifically ask, until you get to orientation. They will do an advance on your pay ($75.00 3 times a week, I think), but that doesn't come close to covering an average paycheck there. Again, not a deal breaker for a lot of drivers, myself included, but it is definitely something to consider for those that depend on that check hitting on a certain day every week (child support, alimony, rent, etc...).

 

Yes, most of them I was aware of through research. As I stated, my decision to likely leave Poly very soon is based primarily on extremely poor communication on behalf of Poly. I didn't list the pros and cons for my purposes. I listed them to help educate someone that may be looking at Poly that may NOT be aware.

The 65 mph isn't the issue. I have no problem with that. But, and you will run into this sooner or later, when I run a long stretch on I-20, or I-10 it is impossible to not average 66-67 mph when the cruise is set on 68 mph the entire way. In this situation, you are forced to sign your name to a false log. I did not go 65 mph and my drive time did not end at 1315, for example. It ended at 1245, or 1300, for example. The point is the log you are forced to turn in is not accurate. It is false, and ILLEGAL anyway you slice it. And, that's where I have a problem.