What would you ask management?

Bodino · Feb 22, 2007

If you had one question to ask management (NOT about a raise, because we all want that) and get a no-holds barred extremely truthful answer, what would that one question be?

Truckerjo · Feb 23, 2007

Who is your favorite football team
Cause we all know they are not going to tell you the truth about trucking on any subject.

GasHauler · Feb 24, 2007

Are you going to take my word on safety items?

Truck Vet · Feb 24, 2007

I worked for 3 LTL companys and the most important thing
in my opinion to find out from managment is, is the terminal
manager a good person. If you can find that out by asking
him your smarter than I am. I worked 5 years for a good LTL
company that had a bad terminal manager. If you crossed
him once he would do what he could to make your life miserable.
On friday nights I would pull a trailer about 200 miles, work the dock
for 6 hours then when it was time to go home I would find out
he expected me to make a delivery after I got back to the home
terminel that would take 3 more hours. Long story short, I got
on the man's excrement list because I did not want to break
DOT regs to shorten my weekend. He did his best to make my
life miserable the rest of my time there. I was glad when others
made it to the top of his list but I never left it. Number one thing
to do when looking for a job at a LTL company is ask around,
is the terminel manager basically a good person? Don't find out
the hard way that he is not.

MACK E-6 · Feb 25, 2007

It helps to have an actual Terminal Manager, as opposed to a politician.

Where I work, moving any freight over ANY steps, inside delivery or not, is against company policy. Why? I dunno. I believe the company's insurance carrier specifically excludes it. But that's corporate.

Now, at the terminal I work at, appointed residential deliveries are sacrosanct, and our terminal manager will hang you over one of these if the consignee complains loud enough, even if they have steps.

Truck Vet · Feb 25, 2007

MACK E-6 said: ↑

It helps to have an actual Terminal Manager, as opposed to a politician.
.
Click to expand...

Great point, very perceptive. The first time I talked to that TM
he had me basically believing he was gods gift to truck drivers.
I have never met such a gifted lyer and hope I never do again.
Now, I always ask someone about who I am considering to work
for point blank. Is he basically a good guy? Does he know right
from wrong and try to do the right thing? If they waffle, I move
on. I would rather make half the money working for someone
who has a conscience than make twice the money for a
psycopath.

Bodino · Mar 3, 2007

Thank you all for your replies. I have worked for the same company for 21 years, (9 yrs as a driver; LTL, Hotshots, local P & D, 9 yrs as Operations Manager/Dispatcher, and 3 yrs as Station Manager)

Your answers are:

Truckerjo: DaBears

GasHauler: As a Station Manager for a small LTL carrier we take safety issues very seriously. We do all we can to protect the drivers from injuries. Our company is also committed to following the D.O.T. HOS regulations. If there are any items on a unit that needs repairs, it is taken care of ASAP and that unit is placed out-of-service so they can be completed. Communication is extremely important between ALL employees, no matter what their job title is.

Truck Vet: Our Terminal Managers report directly to myself and also to the President of the company, who is very hands-on. My door is always open and drivers are always free to call me with any concerns they have. When hired, which I am also in charge of, I explain every aspect of theirduties and describe in detail the requirements of the position.

Mack E-6: Our Terminal Managers are responsible for all the hiring'sat their respective Terminals. Our driving positions are all specific to one aspect of our operation. We have local pick-up drivers; which is usually a night position, local delivery drivers; which is usually a day position, and our linehaul drivers; which is an overnight position. Sometimes we will have extra work available and the driver with the least amount of hours is asked first, to give them an opportunity to earn a little more money.

In closing; All of our employees know what is expected of them and what duties must be done daily. Our operation hasn't really changed much, deliver freight in the morning, and start doing pick-ups when deliveries are all made. Load up linehaul trailers and have them depart at their scheduled time. If all goes well and schedules are met, our customers are more than satisified.

A very important factor that we believe in is 'COMMUNICATION' between customers, drivers and all employees.

MACK E-6 · Mar 4, 2007

Bodino said: ↑

Sometimes we will have extra work available and the driver with the least amount of hours is asked first, to give them an opportunity to earn a little more money.
Click to expand...

"Asked"? That's a hoot. Where I work, linehaulers returning in the morning are snatched up regularly, for deliveries. And then, to add insult to injury, they want you to change trucks. Don't even think about saying no either, or expect the next night off. That's one reason why I gave up the linehaul thing.

Now, I don't have a problem with doing a short one if I get back early enough in the evening. It's easy money, and the linehaul dispatcher at least appears to be grateful. And, there is no having to play musical trucks involved.

All of our employees know what is expected of them and what duties must be done daily. Our operation hasn't really changed much, deliver freight in the morning, and start doing pick-ups when deliveries are all made.
Click to expand...

Sure, this sounds simple in theory, but you must have dispatchers that know what they are doing. For example, you cannot expect a man who's 100 miles away at 4:30 PM to get back to somewhere he went through that morning in time to make pick-ups there simply because "that's his area".

Furthermore, if a man is assigned a pickup "in his area" and he gets there only to find an enormous piece of freight, such as a crate about 7' cube weighting about 3000 lbs, what does he do? If he takes it, he won't be able to deliver anything else because there is no working around a crate that size. If he doesn't take it, the dispatcher has to send another truck, and listen to the other driver complain about "having to make pickups in someone elses area."

I've found that management types are, for the most part, not completely blind to these sort of problems. But some of the things drivers complain about are just idiotic, so management tunes them out, which ruins things for the rest of us who may have legitimate complaints.

pro1driver · Mar 4, 2007

Bodino said: ↑

Thank you all for your replies. I have worked for the same company for 21 years, (9 yrs as a driver; LTL, Hotshots, local P & D, 9 yrs as Operations Manager/Dispatcher, and 3 yrs as Station Manager)

Sometimes we will have extra work available and the driver with the least amount of hours is asked first, to give them an opportunity to earn a little more money.
Click to expand...

like Mack E-6 says, "that's a hoot"..........

i hope for your sake its not a union company you run, cuz if it were and you're not "asking" senior drivers first, there would be a grievence for sure. and i too "once" worked for an LTL company doing linehaul and let me tell you, everytime i got in from a long night running everywhere's but where i was "supposed" to run (i had a regular run, but they would mess with it), they would "ask" , no TELL ME, i had to go out and make a delivery. needless to say, i don't work there anymore, been over 2 years now since i been gone, and i don't miss that place.

as for what question(s) would i ask, yes, i would ask for more money, and why not...?? if i'm doing the job, you'd better belive i either get it, or walk away, something which i am famous for.

Slow_Starter · Mar 4, 2007

Bodino said: ↑

If you had one question to ask management (NOT about a raise, because we all want that) and get a no-holds barred extremely truthful answer, what would that one question be?
Click to expand...

I would ask something like what do you consider a full days work hours and if I ever asked for a day off would you give me a hard time about it?

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