I drove for a company for almost 6 months which was the most time demanding, lowest paying, mentally and phyically taxing, nothing but unappreciative, with the most unsafe unreliable falling apart wheels off equipment, delivering only to the trashiest hardcore risking of your driving license/accident record places anyone can possibly go trucking company in the industry. I don't know if i'm allowed to say what company it is legally or not, so I'm just gonna play dumb and say anyway because I feel it necessary and somewhat of a concern for my last American Cowboy brothers on the road, both new and experienced looking for a new or just hoping to move on to a better company. The company I just left (Seward Motor Freight) required that I be out no less than 14 days at a time, yet they have no night
or weekend dispatch meaning I did alot of sitting away from home alone and making absolutely nothing. When Friday came around I would get a 500 mile run for the weekend which took me a day to do. And then I'd sit the rest of the weekend. I averaged about $300.00 a week which is nothing short of pathetic considered the countless hours of my time and life I dedicated away from home and family. The worst thing is after I sent them a message a week in advance to have me home so I could get my things off the truck, get a load from DFW back to Nebraska where I would return the truck and then pursue a local or better paying company for the simple fact I can't live on $300.00 a week especially being away from home that long. Instead of being understanding and professional like I believe I was in being honest, they decide to lie to me and have me pick up a load in Wyoming (I spent 4 days on the side of I 80 because it was shut down due to severe weather)saying I was to bring that load to the Seward Yard, drop the trailer, and then pick up a loaded trailer already there going to DFW. When I got to Seward they tell me to get my stuff off the truck and tell me they're letting me go for a load I delivered late 3 months ago which was the load I was scheduled to have my 30,000 mile PM done and was already a day late in picking it up before they ever sent the load assignment to me on the qualcomm and they still gave me only a day to do. Now it's on my DAC that I was released for late load delivery. My steer tire was worn out on the inside from the truck always pulling to the right since the first day it was assigned to me. My passenger side mirror was hanging by a screw due to the 50-60 mph gusts of wind I was encountering in Wyoming and the shop couldn't take care of everything that needed to be done because they literally drop everything and leave at 5 pm which just blew my mind on how a long haul carrier could expect to be very successful without 24 hour operations and shutting down the whole place over the weekend which became very obvious to me they weren't. From day 1 that I got on the truck I made my dispatcher aware that I didn't feel safe driving this 8 year old wheels off truck and when I brought in for PM that the truck has some issues and believed it would easily fail a DOT inspection if I was to be pulled in for one. They have no appreciation or a lack of concern in anyway about their drivers and pretty much consider them expendable? There's no question at all that this is the worst paying, crapiest equipment, delivers to most wretched places a truck could go where 70% of the time you're risking your driving record/ license/ MVR/ DAC record because of the manuvers you have to make to avoid the obstacles in the way of the loading dock. I'm talking blocking 2 way streets and traffic maybe a sidewalk or 2. They demand you do everything perfect but don't pat you for sh-t!! I'm serious if you want to sit your ### off probably in freezing wyoming and get about 500 miles in a week due to I-80 being shut down in the winter. If you want to come home after 14 days of Hell on the road and be completely embarrassed and ashamed when you tell your family and friends how much money you brought home or didn't bring home then this is the place. As far as I'm concerned a flame throwing hurricane needs to rip right through their terminal.

I was offered a job by this company about a month ago. I turned them down because they were evasive about most questions I had for them. I was thinking maybe I had made a mistake, but I guess not.

Seward is a joke! Run far away from this company. Its almost as if they modeled their business after Werner.

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I cant tell you what to do but....If I had wanted to become a thorn in their sides...I might have documented by diary, qualcom, written company fix-it forms etc, the road unworthiness of the tractor/trailers, the demands placed on you by dispatch to operate illegally in regards to hours & equipment.

You see, by providing even modest documentation of their unwillingness to maintain the safety equipment at a road worthy level, you could say you were fired as retaliation for complaining about the poor maintenance & the fact you voiced an opinion that you might want to let DOT have a look at your truck/trailers to see what they thought about them.

Now, I can't tell you what to do but...In many instances of a driver being fired for something as inconsequential as a late delivery from 3 mo's ago, especially after you voiced a notion of wishing to engage in the protected activity of whistleblowing, the courts might look favorably upon you despite the company's lame excuse for canning you.

Of course, I can't tell you what to do but....there's several attorneys out there that specialze in whistleblower actions who, upon hearing your story & asking their questions, might find it in their pervue to assist you in such an action possibly on a contingency basis.

Naturally I can't force you to do anything but....there is a statute of limitations for filing a claim in the whistleblower cases...I think it's 180 days but that's best covered by calling or writing such an attorney.

Naturally, I wouldn't begin to think that I might be able to force you into doing something that you didn't want to do but....wouldn't it be nice to do something that finally gets the word out about just how unsafe that company is to the people that must travel the hiways around those trucks?

Just some food for thought or maybe just something to daydream about as you ponder your next company.

Excellent post.......

Thanks for the info man. This company can't hold onto drivers for long. The only reason I lasted 6 months is because I've already been with 3 companies in a year and didn't want to look I couldn't hold a job which I absolutely can. Of course the 3 other companies I was with all promised you the same thing. More miles, more pay, quality home time. Then once they have you behind the wheel it becomes a slave to the grind butt f--k session. I don't mind long hours of working as long as i'm being active but long hours of just sitting at a loading dock for 6 hours while you pay $250.00 for a lumper gets old quick. You can only sleep and hang out in the sleeper berth so long before that starts closing in on you. I love driving the truck bro. To me it's fun and challenging everytime you drive along with getting more experienced everytime and gaining confidence with it. I guess my question is how bad do other companies frown upon late delivery on the DAC. There's got to be some cool people from other companies that know from either experiencing first hand or word of mouth that there are egotistical dicks out there that get offended if you leave their company because they just flat out suck and want to dick you on the DAC. I guess what might of pissed my dispatcher off is that I speak my mind and the way I feel. I told him several times this pay here sucks along with the miles and that I made more in high school which was nothing but true. The miles never improved ( avg 700 mile runs ) After spending new years and super bowl weekend in a truck shut down and seeing my check was $257.00 I said that's it man. Please get me home so i can clean my stuff out because there's no way I can get all my stuff (TV, FRIDGE, CB, SATELLITE RADIO, My 30 lbs dumbells, My hockey stick and hockey roller blades I took with me for the sitting at the loading dock for hours and skated if they had decent smooth concrete). And then 3 bags with all my clothes onto an airplane. . He acted like he understood and said no problem. Where I started feeling something's fishy is when I was getting close to the yard I asked what trailer I was picking up to go to Dallas? He said he didn't know yet, that it depended on when I get there. Then instinct started kickin in the thought of when I drop the trailer to be relayed at the yard, i'll do it at night when no one's there, fuel it up and bobtail my ### home since I wasn't under a load or been "let go" yet. But I second guessed myself and stayed there until morning when they got there. I told my dispatcher I'm ready to get rollin home so I can get another load coming this way to return the truck. He said you need to go in and see "The Dick", he needs to ask you a question and I knew it was over and he lied. I even thought about just taking off then and bob tailing home but before they left for the day they'd realize I never came in and was rolling. Probably have DOT waiting for me at the first scale I came too. (that's why i wanted too and should of done it at night) Now all my stuff is up there that I have to pay to have them send back to me. What sucks most of all is that I don't really even know my dispatcher away from his desk but still hopes karma or some kind of retribution kicks his ### bad.... I'm almost convinced there's no money to be made OTR getting paid by the mile. The only way is getting paid a percentage what the load pays.

I see this time and time again--driver's quitting over the phone to their dispatcher. NEVER do this... never never never. They will bend you over and give it to you with no vaseline every time, guaranteed.

Do not quit until they have routed you home and you have all your stuff safely tucked away at your house. If you have the tractor at your house, play the game until you can return the tractor to the terminal of their choice. Only quit in person, at a terminal where someone can check in your tractor and verify that you did NOT abandon it. Make sure you have a way home because chances are, they'll tell you not to let the door hit you in the butt on the way out. I'd leave a beater car at the terminal where you are domiciled.

If you get mad and quit while you're in Bear Poop, Montana, you better bring a big stick to fight off the grizzlies while you hitchhike home... LOL.

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This is NOT the Daytona 500... you don't win a prize for being first.

I agree totally! Always quit in person. Also, if you live in North Carolina, and you decide to deadhead home from Wyoming, make sure your fuel tanks are filled, BEFORE you let dispatch know of your intent. It would really bite to be 400 miles from home, out of fuel, and find out that you're fuel card doesn't work any more.....

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Go, and beat your crazy head against the sky.....

who is this company???

NoShoes ---> Seward Motor Freight

I was taught this lesson years ago.. LOL

I bought an ol' clunker for about 800 bucks. I still have that lovely piece of crap in my back yard. I may be leaving this Saturday for orientation with a company who has agreed to hire me after my accident in 2007.

The ol' clunker will be my mode of transportation and my backup.

Always have one of the following to return home:

Plane ticket
Bus ticket
Train ticket
A trucker buddy heading towards home
an ol' clunker.

it'll save you every time. Trust me!!