There's more to being a Christian company...

When I read an interview with David Parker in one of the trucking mags, I was impressed by what he had to say. I began thinking it would be great to work for a company that operates on Christian principles.

Now that I'm working for Covenant, I'm greatly disillusioned (to put it nicely). There's more to operating a company by Christian principles than posting a pro-life message on the tailends of trailers and refusing to haul alcohol.

God warns about oppressing the poor and taking care of those who are making you successful. While Mr. Parker is collecting his huge weekly paycheck as CEO of Covenant, those making that paycheck possible are having to put up with a lot of inexcusable nonsense. I'll list them below to make it easier to read:

(1) "Dedicated" is just another word for "cheated logs". Industry standard.
(2) Business Expenses - No free IPass, EZPass or PrePass. You're expected to use personal funds for truck expenses. You're expected to turn in receipts for all expenses or get docked for any advances used to pay for them.
(3) No Paycheck - Unless you turn in your Tripaks. Don't get paid until the week after you turn in your Tripaks.
(4) Defective tires - Must be carried until you can drop them at a yard. They must be dropped within 30 days or you buy them. The yard must be authorized to accept, but nothing tells the driver which yards those are. Driver must get a signed receipt for dropping tires or driver pays for tires. There's no safe way of carrying them even though we are required to do so.
Breakdown refuses to replace tires enroute, in violation of FMCSR 393.75, because it's too expensive. Dispatch refuses to route to a terminal to drop tires. Guess what? None of my tires are defective unless I get a blow-out. I hate doing this but experiencing this nonsense one time is too much.
(5) I've been scheduled loads that blatantly violate FMCSR 392.2 and 392.6.
I've been scheduled as if a team even though I'm a solo driver. FM is now punishing me with low miles and extended waits because I refuse to run illegally.
(6) Orientation is worthless. We're told what is required by law and stuff we already know. No useful information is provided about the operation of the company. Do they even know? The rules and regs book is way out of date even though most current book is 2006.
(7) No after hours support for advances. Night shift claims to respond to the advance QualComm macro but I always have to call and deal with the BS answers about not getting it. Day shift admits that night shift will not respond, true to my experience.

Need I go on?

Bottom line is - DON'T DRIVE FOR COVENANT!!! ONCE MY DAC REPORT IS CLEARED OF AN ILLEGAL ENTRY, I'M OUT OF HERE!!!!

 

There's also no night shift SAFETY support. Apparently, Covenant believes there are no safety concerns after regular day shift hours, which BTW are 8am to 4pm.