Palmentere Brothers Cartage

Discussion in 'Report A BAD Trucking Company Here' started by otr500, Feb 9, 2008.

  1. otr500

    otr500 Light Load Member

    174
    75
    Feb 9, 2008
    Pitkin, La.
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    The WORSE company I(and my wife) worked for was palmentere Brothers Cartage from N, Kansas City Mo.
    We hired on to run teams for the company and the lies started from the beginning. I called the company and talked with a recruiter that surely is listed in a book of records for lies. I was told we could run as many miles that we wanted to because they needed team drivers for their new trucks. That was the only truth we were told, the part about new trucks. I told him we did not have a way to get there and was told we would be given(optimum word) bus tickets,paid for by the company, orientation pay, hotel room, and a new truck and trailer. We went thru orientation, was assigned a brand new T-2000 that had been sitting so long the battery was dead(so much for advance planning) and it had other problems that took a day to get fixed, and a bramd new trailer.
    Our nightmares had only just begun. We were told that Mo. did not use temporary tags but that it would be ok, they did this all the time. We finally got things together and left. One part of our nightmare was being stopped 22 times in 7 weeks by DOT, State Troopers, and at Scale Houses because there were no tags on the equipment. We had serial numbers checked, NCIC ran, log books, and the whole spectrum that you could imagine because it had to be verified that we were NOT in stolen equipment.
    I know there is sometimes a period of time when you first hire on for things to get clicking. It was NOT clicking. We would get a 200 mile run with a layover, 300 miles, one "long" trip of 600 miles, then back to the 2 and 300 mile runs with layovers on both ends. I was nice at first, then started calling, wondering where the "as many miles as you want" part went to. It just was not happening. I talked to a boss(one of the owners) when we were in Denver and he told me he took a lose on a load of potatoes going from NE.to LA(Ca.) so we could make miles. We loaded and bumped the dock ahead of schedule and then "daymares". We had pallets of 100 lb. sacks of potatoes and the receiver had a tiny forklift, a bent removable ramp, and "jumping it" he lost 4 bags of potatoes. he crossed his arms and sat looking at me. He didn't(or acted like) understand much English but informed me in very broken English that he was a foklift driver and there was no lumepers. I picked these 4 up and loaded them on the pallet. The 2nd trip he lost 6 and I called the company. With 18 pallets I could see a lot more than I bargained for. The same boss that got the load informed me that I should know how to secure a load to travel. I informed him the we had already "traveled" and was at the receiver. There was a long pause and he then asked me what part of this conversation was a dispatch problem. I hung up, called back, and informed dispatch that we quit and wanted a load back to the terminal. We received a load pretty fast that brought us within 40 miles of our home and we were told to take a few days off. I told them very clear that it did not matter that we wanted to quit. I was told we could then get a load back to the terminal if we want to quit.
    By the time we got unloaded and home we had been out 7 weeks, had battles over our lack of pay, we didnt get orientation pay, the buss tickets(both) and hotel bill was taken out of my wifes pay and she received a "no pay due", and she was pretty hyterical. I am sure that it is a writted law that you can not work a lady and NOT pay her, for any reason. Her pay was her pay and they made a big mistake.
    We took a few days off, located another job, and called the company for a load to the terminal. They gave us a load going to Chicago. I told them this was NOT acceptable. I was informed that they knew we were quitting and we could bring the load to the teerminal to be repowered for delivery.
    We picked up the load, delivered it to the terminal, locked the trailer, backed it against a dock as instrucked, quit, and took a buss to another job.
    3 years later we went to change jobs and was informed Palmentere Brother's had turned into DAK that we were late on loads(NEVER), had a wreck without notifying anyone(never had a wreck), had damages(if you count the potatoes but when I slammed the phone down and broke it--workers came out of the wood work, the trailer was unloaded, I got a clear bill signed, and the phone never was mentioned), and we complained all the time. No miles, VERY low miles, lack of pay, deductions we were NOT suppose to have, visiting every police we came near, unpaid layovers after every load, I can say we probably complained but I guess not enough.
    We got that straight and was hired but it took several years before the company corrected the "mistake"(MANY phone calls, letters, and a rebuttle to DAK) with DAK. They finally decided that there was a mistake in a number in the SS# that caused the problem. Ok, I could buy that but the same mistake was made on my wife, and we don't share SS#'s.
    Someone was mad because we didnt accept low and no pay and because we quit. They turned in a bad report to DAK that never actually stopped us from getting a job but caused a whole lot of problems.
    I called them to get their mailing address to file suit and they decided to "fix" the problem years after the fact. I am not sure it is totally fixed.
     
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  3. HOLDYOURGROUND

    HOLDYOURGROUND Light Load Member

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    14
    Mar 14, 2008
    Hwy, USA
    0
    they offered me 32 per mile.. laugh giggle shuckled..
     
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  4. shayne44x

    shayne44x Bobtail Member

    5
    9
    Feb 25, 2008
    NW Kansas
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    I am going to work for them this coming week, promised a 5 day work week dedicated route, which gets me right by the house every week. Don't know a whole lot about the company, but going to find out. I know this load will differ from their OTR drivers jobs, but will let ya all know good or bad how it goes. Seems like a dream job as the PU is not far from the house and I know the area I'll be driving pretty well. We'll see if they keep their promises, hoping this job pans out, might be the last trucking job I have if it doesn't, wish me luck and I'll keep ya posted. STAY SAFE DRIVERS!!!
     
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  5. shayne44x

    shayne44x Bobtail Member

    5
    9
    Feb 25, 2008
    NW Kansas
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    Well, I guess better late than never on the Palmentere experience. It all starts by getting to the American Inn Hotel in North Kansas City Sunday night. You are told to be in the lobby by 7am. 2 hours later the company van hauls you over to a medical clinic where they herd you through your physical exam. Get done there and go to the Palmentere Bros. offices where you start orientation, which consists of some paperwork, a couple of company spokesmen tell you about the company and you do paperwork. They buy you lunch, then you sit around in the afternoon jaw-jacking with the other drivers, no person there to answer questions, go through company manual, nothing. Next day more paperwork, a lady (who was very helpful) makes sure you have papers all signed and goes through the use of PeopleNet. Then, you are finished with orientation, or what there was of it, you take a driving test through the spider web in KC with a guy that can't stop saying you screw up my truck, I kick your ###. We sit around jaw jacking until lunch, eat then sit around until about 3pm. Some lady comes in and starts chewing me out, why are you still here, you have a load on you. I was not even assigned a truck at this point, and this gal is screaming " you need to get going." Finally another lady comes out and gives me the neccesary paperwork and says walk across the street and pick out a truck, make sure it has been cleaned and bring back the number so I know which truck you have chosen. I walk over and every truck they have sitting there is a complete POS!! They are all filthy, the mechanic comes out and tells us we have alot of crack heads around here that jump the fence and will sleep in these trucks at night. They all looked like they had been "slept in". Finally get a truck, let the lady in the office know what number ans throw my stuff in it. While I start my log- bookI start getting a bunch of messages on the computer. You have to get going, get going, get the hell out of here. By this point I finally get the load plan., but the trailer I am to take is in the shop. This gal that apparently was my DM comes out and finds me waiting on the shop to kick out my trailer, this is after I sent several messages about the trailer being in the shop. She chews me up one side and down the other, you're suppose to be gone. At this point I am heartbeats away from telling this B??tch to f""k off. The mechanic comes out while she's screaming at me, your trailer's done, you can hook it and go. Got it hooked and headed for St. Joe, MO. to get fuel Was on E when I got it. Remember, I had been up since 6am(Tuesday). I get fuel at Love's and head for Lexington, Nebraska. I get up there around midnight Wednesday morn. My load is ready so I hook, weigh, log and split. Reefer load of meat, headed to Emporia, Kansas, got there around 8am Wed. morn. D&H for empty trailer then head back for Lexington, Ne. This is to be my dedicated route 5 days a week. The problem with that is a 62MPH truck running that amount of miles won't quite work. It is about 7 hours down and 7 back, not counting fueling, D&H, going to the bathroom,etc. I get headed back to Lexington and run out of miles and hours. Stop about an hour away from Lexington to take a nap. OK, so far it has been wake at 6am Tues. morn, drive most of the day and all night and 2/3 of the next day. Stop in the afternoon Wed. with 12 miles I put on this truck without stopping for anything other than fuel and D&H. I am tired at this point and lay down, immediately a message comes across my computer saying you need to pick your next load up in 3 hours, has to be back in Emporia by 7am. I tell them I can't do that, they get pissed, then finally trade my load with another driver who has the hours to run.About 8pm Weds. night the other driver shows up and we swap loads. He asks me what's up, I tell him and he says this company is notorious for pushing their drivers to the brink, especially when they first start working for them. He tells me they want to know what you "can" do and what you "will" do, if you know what I mean. The next morn I get up early and run over to McCook, Ne. to drop this swapped load. Quick in and out and head back for Lexington. Get up there and get bombarded with messages about, you need to take the Lexington to Emporia load 5 times a week, starting Sunday night, after Friday morning drop in Emporia go home for the weekend. Sounded alot better on the phone, 5 day work week, home every weekend. Here are a few stats from this trip. Almost 750 mile round-trip, all night driving which I personally don't car for, 7 hours down and 7 back in their slow ### trucks. 1 hour for 2 D&H's. 30 minutes for fuel. If you're lucky you have 8 hours to sleep, shower, eat, paperwork, etc. I finished out the week with about 6 hours of sleep each night. Drove the truck home, I live close to Lexington so they just had me take the truck home. I figured out that I would run well over 3,500 miles a week for a net of $800. Did'nt have any money and any gumshun to take there truck back, so I called them Sunday morning and told them where there truck was and they could have their job. I wasn't gonna lie and risk getting caught fudging logs for that kind of money. Their web-site says they have 72MPH trucks, that's a lie, turned down to 62. They run absolute junk for equipment. I had people tell me they would run me til they couldn't run me no more, that was the truth. Now that being said, I am not telling you whether or not you should work for them, this was just my experience. My neighbor is a DOT officer, used to drive truck and got into the DOT, anyway he explained to me that if you had a fast or slow truck no matter you could not log 65MPH across Kansas anyway unless you were running I-70 non-stop. Anyway this company might be right for one, but it wasn't for me. So to sum it all up... Palmentere Brothers out KC, MO. runs shoddy equipment, has a very low pay scale, and will ask you to falsify logs in certain if not all situations, they don't seem to give a flying crap about their drivers, you are a number to them, so take this info as you like, this was just 1 persons experience. Oh, and by the way, they are still looking for drivers to haul the Emporia to Lexington and back dedicated run, I know this for a fact, they just sent me an e-mail on the position and another job application, what a laugh. Hopes this helps for those of you looking into this company. Stay safe drivers and God bless.
     
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  6. trips74

    trips74 Medium Load Member

    364
    211
    Nov 7, 2007
    chicagoland, il
    0
    About 4 years ago I tried working for them, got through there orientation, then they put me on a bus too go get this pos truck i forget where. Then they bobtailed me too Nashville I believe it was for a trailer that the reefer fuel had ran out cause the previous driver left it on to protect some bad lucnh meat. They wanted me too get it fixed and running but weekend no one working and the kicker they wanted me too load a load to the market in NYC. Needless too say I took everything back to Kansas and quit. Kind of glad I did.
     
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  7. otr500

    otr500 Light Load Member

    174
    75
    Feb 9, 2008
    Pitkin, La.
    0
    Well I guess history does repeat itself. At least Mr. Shayne you can't say you weren't warned--right?
    I will tell you what is amazing. When my wife and I went to work for them they were not as big as they are now. Since then they advertise in truckers magazines and have grown considerably.
    I guess it is amazing what someone can do with a good recruiter and advertising. The sad thing is that the company gets bigger and the driver keeps getting screwed. Even in this information age probably not many seek sites like this "before" going to work for them. Then, amazingly, many will think that of all the drivers the company has one or two cases is pretty small or the driver might have been at fault and just complaining.
    When we worked for them the dispatchers had attitudes and the two owners were total jerks. They had gangster attitudes and even talked like gangsters. One owner, after my wife and I had run about 1200 miles in 5 days, said, "I gonna tell yo we took thes load at a lost so yous guys could run." I told him his profit or loss was not my concern and why hire team drivers if there wasn't enough freight.
    So did you get a good job?


     
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  8. shayne44x

    shayne44x Bobtail Member

    5
    9
    Feb 25, 2008
    NW Kansas
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    You are absolutely right otr500. I was warned, it was one of those too good too be true deals, and I fell hook, line and sinker. Now no company will touch me, except Celadon, and I'm not impressed with their record either. I just got off the phone with Knight Transportation, and they tell me that all 3 companies I have quit have added bull---t to my DAC. Swift put an overloaded vehicle ticket on DAC, it was over-axle, I paid it and corrected the problem. Sharkey puts some crap on the DAC about me having an accident with one of their trailers, completely false. And of course Palmentere adds truck abondonment, although I paid the company to come and get their truck parked right in front of my house. I am now forced into finding a "non-trucking" job, great, we all know what wages you can earn without a college degree, about $7.50 to start, LOL. There are no small companies out here where I live, so I guess another good driver gone. I love driving truck, and have done some things that were questionable to say the least in keeping my DMs happy. Now, that is all gone with my hopes of driving truck for at least 3 years if not more. My suggestion to drivers rookie or veteran, looking for a new company, is this: Do your homework, find out everything about the company you have your eyes on, things are not always as they appear. Try and find drivers of the companies you are looking at and get their perspective. Read everything you can about the company. And for God's sake, if you quit make #### sure it is on good terms, or as good as it can be. I am still looking for work, but may end up having to bite the bullet and go with Celadon. As far as Palmentere goes, stay away!! A horrible company that will leave you reeling in the end. No respect for you as a driver, junk for equipment, and a wreckless disregard for DOT compliance!! Don't ruin your career, or maybe your life working for these roaches, they will only destroy your love for the road. Thanks again otr500, wish I would have heeded your warning, maybe I would be driving right now instead of typing.
     
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  9. otr500

    otr500 Light Load Member

    174
    75
    Feb 9, 2008
    Pitkin, La.
    0
    Ok shayne,
    Here is the bottom line. If I did all the things I was supposed to do, not have done all the things I was advised against, I would, at the very least probably be retired from the navy. I would have taken collage courses, have money in the bank, and a lot of other material things in life.
    But wait, I might have been fooled into investing in Inron, lost all my money, and have to live on my monthly check, thus getting a part time job. Well, maybe not the part time job, as if I had joined the Navy I would have taken collage courses and applied for Officer Candidate School. Since my father died while on active duty(Army) I would have received preferencial status.
    All of that I was advised to do and didn't. I met this pretty young girl that on our first date stole my heart. Even at my young age I knew the divorce rate for the military was high. Add to this that most of my family was in one form of the military or the other(mostly Navy), and was divorced, or remarried two or three times, and I knew I had to make a choise. I picked the girl. Almost 32 years later, 4 children, and seven grandchildren, she is sitting beside me and still has my heart. Although I am in fantastic shape for my age for some unknown reason that defies logic, she is more beautiful now than when we met. When we met I had 3 jobs, a car, a truck, and a motercycle. I became the best automotive technician you can imagine. I specialized in onboard computer diagnostics and repair in the early '80's.
    At a point I went to driving usually specialty freight such as cars, swinging beef, oversized, and such. To be with me my sweetheart learned to drive. Now I run more local, and she is retired.
    My point is that advice may be good, and it may not be, and it is only advice which means, "in my view", or, "it seems to me".
    Some more advice: You can contest any entry on your DAK report. You can get a copy or you can force any company that did not hire you(there is time limits) to provide you with one.
    You can provide up to a full page rebutal on any company that reported you.
    The advice: I would advise you to persue this strongly. A company that relies on a DAK report only sees a reporting companies side. If you present a viable side to the story, at the very least it will be read, as it MUST be included with the report.
    The company we are discussing turned in a serious, and feloneous, DAK report on me. I rebutted it and was never refused a job because of my DAK.
    Just some friendly advice, pick the girl, no--that's not it, follow you heart, no--no---I think I have CRS---awww shucks---good luck again.
    Oh! I remember, if it is too good to be true, it probably is. And never, unless you are a fish, fall hook, line, and sinker for anything,---except the girl.
    I have one more piece of advice. The economy sucks, may or may not get worse(for the optimistic), and many will(may--sorry) be unemployed. I am a free comic as I could not make any money doing it but a less than perfect job is better than no job.
    Celedon, I don't think, could be as bad as Swift(been there), or Palmentere Brother's, but that is just my view.



     
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  10. shayne44x

    shayne44x Bobtail Member

    5
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    Feb 25, 2008
    NW Kansas
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    Celadon keeps calling me, they don't care about my DAC report is what the recruiter says, but they also don't care that I don't like driving in the northeast part of the country either. I see a bunch of their trucks in Nebraska, new Prostars, nice. They don't offer a regional, which sucks, but have to be a lot better than Swift or Palmentere. I would have retired last year from the service with 20 years and would be semi-retired by now myself, but once again I made a bad choice, and now I am paying for it. That's OK though, there are people a lot worse off then myself, and I'm at least getting a few offers I never thought I would be getting. I seen a Palmentere truck the other day, brand new truck, must be 1 of 6 in the fleet that isn't a complete pile of $#!t. I just hope the other 3 guys I was in orientation with are doing good. Don't wish misfortune on the company or employees, just never would work for them ever again and would never steer anyone in their direction. Celadon, Melton, and DeBoer have been sending messages. I have quite a bit of info on these companies, but reading this forum with the GOOD and BAD company segments is like lighting a cigar with a pitcher of water. I still am not sure what I'm going to do, but I do know I want run blindly into any job. Well OTR500, I appreciate the replies, stay safe and keep the wheel side down.
     
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  11. DION3169

    DION3169 Bobtail Member

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    Aug 17, 2009
    0
    I am glad i found this site. If more drivers would report bad companys, like they report on our d.a.c reports. Maybe they would know what it is like to have no one look at thier apps. Or site. I asked for an app. But i think i will file it under ****** companies.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 17, 2009
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