Who's The Worst Of Them ALL to work for?

One thing I have never heard of is a company that puts prospective drivers on a "waiting list" before hiring them. I could see if your uncle or neighbor's brother or whatever owns a 4-truck outfit and has someone who's going to leave telling you to hold out until that truck is empty.... but a waiting list to get hired on? That's a new one.

As for reefer, it's no worse or better than any other setup. Some drivers prefer dry van or skateboards, but in the end it's preference. Like comparing Ford to Chevy or Kenworth to Freightliner... come to think of it, it's not like comparing KW to Freightshakers...no contest on that one. But you get the idea.

I also drive for Clark, by the way. I was Wiggy's first trainee back in the day, actually. Clark, like most companies these days, has a high turnover rate and has to advertise to pull new drivers. Sadly, they've taken the rookie-route and it won't be long before they start paying the price for that. Drivers like Wiggy and I cash in, though, since these rookies can't run a log book and we get to pile on the miles saving their deliveries...

 

Back when I was looking for trucking jobs in SLC, it was the late 90s. I tried to get on at Savage and ABF, and both told me I'd have to go on a waiting list. I also got that answer from two other little outfits--Sinclair and one other I can't remember the name of. This was probably true with a lot of those outfits that were listed in the phone book yellow pages that also never advertised in the Salt Lake Tribune. I didn't try all of them in the phone book, as there were too many. That was then. Today, maybe things are different. I doubt it, though. One can open the phone book today and see the names of lots of companies that don't advertise, as they don't have to advertise. This is because nobody ever quits 'em. If you want a job at one of these companies, you will obviously have to wait it out. At one company, ABF, you may be required to work on a dock as a lumper for a while to prove yourself before you're allowed to be a driver.

It's true that there's not a whole lot a difference between reefer and dry box these days. Even when I drove for
CCC, I had to go to many a grocery detention center. However, I prefer sleeping in front of a dry box. It's quieter, especially if one is working for a tight-wad outfit that neglects its reefer power units. At times, the exhaust on a Thermo King or Carrier will come loose when one works for such a company. Trying to sleep in front of an unmuffled Isuzu diesel that kicks on ten times a night isn't easy to do. Been there, done that BS.

 

I think those companies are limited in size, so they don't have as much hiring/firing going on. They probably get most of their drivers by referral as well. I have seen ABF advertising once in a while, but not too often. There's a big difference between local and long haul outfits as far as driver need goes too, I would think.

You get used to the reefer just like anything else. A lot of guys set the trailer down overnight and pull out from under it. If you have a good unit (i.e. ThermoKing) that's in good shape, though, the noise is nothing. In fact, most of the time my RigMaster generator makes more noise than my reefer.

You bring up a good point with maintenance, though. One thing Clark is good at is maintaining their reefers. Mostly because Hog (the main reefer mechanic) is so on-the-job. He's been with Clark for 100 years.

In fact, good equipment is one of the main reasons I would never want to work for an outfit like JB Hunt or Swift. I see too many questionable tractors and trailers out there with their names on 'em to be interested in working there.

 

Sure, I pulled a lot of reefer loads. I've slept in front of many a reefer box, and I got used to it. I prefer a nice, quiet dry van any day, though. But a dry box will spoil one, as he'll start to get irritated when a reefer pulls up beside him for the night. That's fine. I prefer to be spoiled if it gets me better sleep.

I must have been away too long already, as when I was on the road, I never saw anyone drop his reefer and pull away from it except in terminals (to do a switcheroo) and at some docks (because of insurance reasons). I definitely never saw anyone do that in truckstops or any other place one would bed down for the night just so he could sleep better.

Today I believe most truck stops will come bang on your door if you drop your box and pull forward. They'll probably tow your wagon if you drop it, pull away from it, and go off somewhere else to sleep.

 

They won't tow you for dropping your trailer and pulling out from under it. Not unless you actually leave the trailer and go park your rig somewhere else. I'm talking about just setting it down and pulling forward a few inches so it's no longer in contact with your truck. That's where most of the noise/annoyance comes from: the vibration.

Sometimes you have to do this regardless so the unit can "breathe" when the weather's hot. Again, this is a Carrier problem. They choke up (error A4 shutdown) when the heat is over 105F or so out unless you give them room to breathe. Something to do with the cowling, I'm told. The first time this happened, I took it to the Carrier service center in Vegas and they just turned a garden hose on it to cool down the radiator and told me to get out from under it when I park in really hot weather to avoid this problem.

 

Starting out as a company driver, I was treated quite well. The only problem I might have was not enough miles but I was still taking home a minimum of $700 a week.

While still driving as company, the one thing that got on my nerves was being used as a local driver, at times. ie unloaded in Memphis and my DM asked me to drop my empty at a local yard then go over into W.Memphis/pick up an empty that was sitting at a truckstop, deliver it up into SD/return and pick up yet another empty at that same truckstop, to use for my next load.

I learned fairly early in the game that when asked to do these things, I bugged the DM to ask what was in it for me. You see, the DM's have a weekly budget they can draw from. I not only insisted on the mileage rate but was paid an average of $50 bonus to do the local job. I caught on that the locals were paid differently and in fact, better (considering the hours they put in)

Then after a year, and all the pushing from company home base, I broke down and leased. There is where the troubles began.

In order to get a brand new truck, you had to sign a 3 year lease. Thinking that a brand new truck would keep me out of the shop, all the time, I went for it. I signed on for 3 years for one reason only and that was less break downs, less time in the shop.

What a dreamer I was. I took on a 2004 FL Century and spent the next 3 years in the shop. Why? Crappy manufacturing. After replacing the A/C expansion valve 5 times, the a/c compressor once and then the front evap unity 3 times, I asked the mechanic "what's the deal with these a/c's?" I finally got an honest answer of "they're cheap crap". nice

6 months in, the truck began having huge over heating problems. It seems the EGR valve from that year was also crap. Had it re-built 3 times, during my lease period.

Problem was, after rebuilding it, it would hold about 2 weeks before I was having troubles climbing, due to over heating.

I finally wound up at the FL dealer in Denver (of all places) where I was told the radiator had disolved itself from the inside. Disolved? What? I asked "what the hell? Are they making them out of tissue paper?"

I sat for 4 days, waiting for a new radiator to arrive from Memphis. Loss of wages?

After just 4 months on the lease, I was so frustrated, I changed fleets in order to get more miles. I went with the container division.

The container div. is the craziest madhouse you could ever hope to get involved in. For sure I had the miles. As a solo driver, I've packed up to 4000 miles in a week. Illegal? yeah But I did it almost continuously.

I was determined not to give up. I would stick out that 3 years and collect that lease bonus and then never do it again.

Smell it coming? Never saw a bonus. As a a result of trying my damnest to please everybody, I collected speeding tickets. Yeah, I"m better at dodging than that but after awhile you find yourself spending way too much time daydreaming. Every #### time, I got caught. Lesson #1 don't daydream while you're speeding.

So the name of the game was miles, miles meant cheating every possible way which spelled 'speeding tickets' which spelled getting pulled off the road 3 months before my lease was completed and politely asked to go home.

I lost the lease, lost the bonus then to top it off, it took ALL of that 45 days to settle. Out of the settlement came $4000 for so called 'turn in' fees and repairs (what happened to all that insurance money?) AND $4000 paid outright to Freightliner. I still have never been told why Freightliner was due $4000 on top of all the weekly payments and mileage payments and over mileage penalties.

Oh yeah....drive too many miles and you pay CRE for them. Anything over a certain number of miles per quarter, and you pay CRE .03 per mile over that line.

During my (almost 3 year) lease, I tried everything to get some answers concerning the fact I was paying for a lemon. CRE has a pretty good game going. They supposedly aren't FL and FL isn't up front accountable because it's all handled by CRE. Get it? Nobody!

The overall upshot is this. My take home pay went from $3000 a mo, to $1100 sometimes $0, sometimes $2500.

redfox

 

Well, first off, you bought a Freightliner.. haha

Anyway, this is quite the scam. So you're telling me there was no warranty whatsoever on this "new" truck??? Something very fishy there. Were I you, I would have been talking to a lawyer right away. This looks like the kind of scam large companies like to play because they know those they're cheating aren't likely to have the juevos to try to stand up to their corporate law firm.

 

Oh there was a warrantee, all right. With or without the warrantee, I was sitting in shops way too much. How you going to make that weekly payment, sitting out 4 days of the week?

Let this happen once, and you spend the next 3 months overcoming the loss. How about losing an average of 2 days per month?

I tried calling the lease dept and all I got was, "Well, we sure won't trade out trucks, if that's what you're insenuating."

Great backup.
red fox

 

One of you guys should just go ahead and write a book about all your great times at C.R. England. Maybe you could make a video of some of your best encounters and put them on YouTube while you're at it.

I tell you what.....If I worked for a crappy company like Swift or C.R. England, I'd be carrying a video camera around all the time. I'd be like a Borg warrior from Star Trek, as I'd have it tied to my wrist somehow like the Borg prosthetic. Instead of having a cell phone ear implant, I'd have a video camera wrist implant. This way I'd be ready at a second's notice to capture the ever-present "good times" at my great oufit, not to mention get all that is told to me by dispatchers, DMs, and shop guys on camera.

I wouldn't be a "minuteman" at one of these places. I'd be a "secondman"....ready to go at a second's notice. I'd have to practice a lot so I could get good at aiming and shooting within seconds of spying some delicious scene, and there would be lots of those in the days I'd be working there. I say "days", as I for #### sure wouldn't last a month at a place like Swift or England.

And I'd probably need a big video card; something like 4 GB for all the videos I'd make each week. Or even each day.

Maybe I could even build a special "helmetcam" I could wear around on my head. This would free up both my hands for pre-trips, lumping, and shoveling the BS those outfits would throw at me.

Maybe I could make a documentary of all my videos and call it "How to Lose a Driver in Ten Days." I'd bring it to Sundance and win all kinds of "new comedy" and "new tragedy" awards. A "Tragi-Comedy" is what it'd be.

Would one of you guys who work at Swift or England do this? I really don't want to have to go to work for these guys just to make my documentary. You work there. You do it. I'll come watch it in the theaters or on DVD, I promise.

 

I see a number of complaints over lease deals.

First off, don't do lease deals. If you get a good truck that has not problems show up, then you can make just a little more than a company driver, if you run your business properly. If you do have problems, the lease payment is so high that you can't keep yourself out of a hole. I have been on both sides of this equation.

Something else. If you are leasing a truck, then you are ultimately buying it for all intents and purposes. You don't just complain and get another truck. The truck you chose is yours, you accepted it. If it breaks down, it is your responsibility, not the company, just like any owner operator that has their truck leased to the company.

Remember, you are buying a "used" truck. "used" means someone else had it before you, and you don't know that person. You are taking a risk that the truck is going to be dependable.

When an owner operator has a truck that breaks down, they are shut down until the truck is fixed, unless they rent a truck to run with during their downtime. They can't run to the company and complain about their truck. It is no different when you lease a truck. It is your truck. By entering a lease purchase, you just accepted a much higher level of responsibility and risk, with nowhere near the opportunity of reward that a true owner operator can achieve.