Interstate Distributor Co. - Tacoma, Wa.

Interstate good cmpany oly at time of hire. They lure you in shwing nice equipment until they assign your truck which is a piece of $%. To have something decent you need to drive for them for 1 year. The dept who assign truck do not know nothing they will fly you like lebanon Tennesse and your truck is not there. The big excuse they use is " they match the truck to the driver" they think truck drivers are stupid.

 

What makes your truck a piece of #$%^ just out of curiosity? The truck we drive is an '04 and now has well over 600,000 miles on it. Its not shiny and new, but it runs decently and any problems that we HAVE had have been taken care of. We are overdue for a new one, but we really don't want to give this one up just yet. How many companies do you know of that will pay to fly you wherever you need to be to get a truck? Not many that I have heard of, thats for sure.. you could have been stuck on a bus! We did have problems with our very first truck, but we insisted on a different one and the company put us in a rental car and had us drive from Wilsonville, OR to Belgrade, MT to get a truck .. the one we are in now. They pretty much paid for everything including breakdown pay. No company is perfect and sure, you could go find that shiny new truck. A guy we talked to a while back at our Henderson yard was flown there from Lebanon to pick up HIS shiny new Volvo.. said he got if because he had 2 whole years with another company. LOL my husband has a spotless 20 year record and got what you probably consider a POS. Just like your home, your truck is what YOU make it and I am digging our old truck. Did you change companies and get your shiny new truck?

 

Judging by your spelling, I'd say they matched you with the right truck...And how many Companies supply trucks with built in inverters, full size,walk in sleepers, and, in some cases, refridgerators? You got what they had available at the time. Quit whining.

 

Right ON!!! Gung Ho Gal!! Well spoken!

 

LOL Rdcalldude! I sooooooo wanted to say that exact same thing but..well.. lol. Oh wait...should I have taken offense to that as well cuz we had a piece of junk truck in the beginning?? LOL and just out of curiosity.. are you one of "our" road call dudes???

 

Right on guys... the trucks we drove in school had 750k+ miles as does the one our staff trainer drives and you know what..... they all drove just fine, started every time we turned the key, the air is ice cold and the interior is not very much different from a 1 year old truck. As long as it runs, is clean and in decent condition and the aluminum can be polished I'll be happy . Those old trucks with the Moose guards on the front they used to use on the Alaska runs look cool though LOL.

 

LOL K.. those moose guards could come in handy coming across Idaho on US 12 across Lolo pass. We dang near got us one last winter and it would NOT have been a pretty sight.

 

Granted i am new with IDC and have had some minor problems with them i have found that the problems i have had were do to the fact that fleet managers are not mind readers.... can you believe that. the problems i ran into were minor but i didn't communicate them so IDC had know idea what was going on.
they have treated me great so far when they didn't have to. I had been home for 2 days on home time and the morning i had put my PTA for my grand mother passed away so they told me to stay in town, i had already been dispatched but had not left town yet and they found someone else so i could be with family. I went out the following week and had only been out for a week and i received a call from home saying my mother had been in a serious car accident. i let them know and they asked if i needed to get back home. I told them i had only been out for a week and wasn't due home for 2 more weeks, they sent me a message stating they were re-powering my load and getting me back home. I would have stayed out but glad they did this for me as my mother was in very bad condition in the ICU. Now if that was all i would have been impressed that they care about their drivers but i went out for a week and they knew my wedding anniversary was the the next week and scheduled me home so i could see my wife and stand a good chance of have one next year. then i was out for 2 weeks and got very sick ( phenomua, yes i know it is spelled wrong) and had to spend 2 weeks in and out of hospital. I finally got back out on the road and had a relapse and told my fleet manager and they found me a doctor to see. All this took place with in about 2 months so they could have written me off as someone that didn't want to drive but they understood and were very concerned.

Now please understand that i had only started with them in may and i have never complained about 500 mile loads as i figure if i do a 500 mile trip everyday then i will have just as many miles as if i ran from CA to east coast. My dad was a O/O with them and was the type of driver that was mentioned in one of the other posts on this thread ( driven for 30 years lots of bad habits and only wanted long runs ) and they could have lumped me in with him but they didn't. Just to let you know he left IDC and now wishes he had not.

Someone had mentioned something about breaking their back and how badly they were treated. i Completely understand about being injured and do feel for them but before i became a truck driver i worked as a steelworker and injured my neck and after being on the operating table four time and thinking i was going to get it taking care of and only to wake up back in my room and be told that the company i was working for had cancelled the surgery. I guess what i am trying to say is IDC might have some problems but if you are honest with them they will work with you and there are ALOT of worst places to work.

This has been the longest post i had ever written it it just rubbed me wrong that people can sit behind i computer and write what ever they want and no-one knows who they are and if they are working for another trucking company.... not saying they are but look what swift has done on this board.

I guess i know have painted a target on my back but it is not the first time and definitely the last.
Just some thoughts from the peanut gallery. Everyone please drive safe!

 

I'm not even a driver right now. I'll be making a career change and doing some training soon. Getting some debts out of the way, and preping for my first year. I figure if I'm prepared to deal with a harsh first year at any company, things will get better.
I've talked to probably 25 or 30 company drivers with IDC. They were overwhelmingly positive about this company. Maybe it's the runs down here in the south, but they seemed to be happy where they were. IDC is very high on my list of companies to drive for. I don't care what job you're doing, and who you work for; attitutde means alot, and cooperation with the company and communication with the people in the company can carry you through some times that aren't so good. Some can call it butt kissing because you try to be polite and understand "people in the office". But what good is it going to do to get gruff with the person who's finding you work? I hope my experience with any company, IDC or otherwise is a good experience. But I believe your attitude and honest, "civil" communication can do alot to make it an easier experience. I understand injuries on the job and sometimes people get the run around. I usually find there is an insurance company behind that. I also understand that when people get picky, don't want certain jobs, #####, cry and whine alot, or end up with an attitude to a boss or dispatcher, they tend to find others to give the better jobs to. Like the ones with a positive attitude and are easier to work with. Understand, I'm not saying you have to eat #### or just take it. But sooner or later, the company office people would rather not deal with those who are hard to work with. They have a job to do too. Been there, done that.
Now I'm not trying to pick a fight or accuse anyone on this board of anything, but I've found in my 48 years that you catch more flys with honey than you will with a turd. I'm going to try to stay positive.

 

For the people that said IDC has a lot of empty trucks in their yards, i do not know about the yard in TN but i asked about all the trucks in Tacoma and was told that most were trucks that had been replaced (older) and were in the process of being sold.... is that true i do not know as i have not been back up there to see what is still there.

by the way thank you newbie that was what i was trying to say but was not as diplomatic as you were. it took me four times of rewriting the post so it would not get flagged for language. you know use prior marines speak and then deal with the consequences, LOL
Yes gunghogal i had that look on my face as i was writing that you hated in trucking school , LOL

Please everyone be safe and remember that there are some of us drivers out here that are new and this is our first winter driving so if we are a little slow in bad conditions it is for our safety and yours.