My new adventure with Gordon Trucking

truckingmike1984, roadlt, Dieselgeek and GreyHound:

It's really not about me. Not. At. All. It's about Gordon Trucking. Week after week I saw Gordon 'graduate' a new group through Orientation in Indy. Folks like me who could drive but who often had no knowledge of Gordon's system. Lots of rookies like me and some seasoned drivers salted in there, too.

Joseph is, I think, the only one here who's starting to 'get it'-- he says he disagrees with me immensely about the company. The rest of you seem to want to 'take it out' on me personally. That's silly. Sorry. It's not about me. My outbound load to Philly tomorrow pays more than most of my first 7 weeks with Gordon and that's IMO a standard Gordon rookie experience. A majority of 0-300 mile loads that eat up your time and leave your pocketbook empty.

No amount of chestpounding will turn 0-300 mile loads into money makers for the driver. IMO Gordon has the deck stacked against rookie drivers. BTW, the turnover rate among OTR/linehaul drivers hit 106% this year and remains above 100%: http://www.logisticsmgmt.com/articl...iver_turnover_rate_is_still_above_100_percent Think about that. 106%. If you're Gordon, ya gotta just keep grinding 'em through Orientation and hope a few stay. And you'd like to insulate your seasoned drivers from those pee-wee loads so maybe they'll stay. Who gets them? Rookies for the most part. That's not whining or crying, I believe that's a fact.

The LTL driver turnover rate is 8%. Why? One word: PAY. Drivers don't leave good paying jobs.

Don't blame me. I'm just the messenger.

 

Hey! Joseph. Your thread just hit 26,666 hits (views). Congratulations!

 

Very well stated joseph but I am afraid those of us who do well here have been sidetracked by victor. You have been doing an excellent job of informing interested drivers how you have succeeded at gordon and victor has done an excellent job of explaining how to fail. You both have spent the exact same amount of time here with completely opposite results and attitudes. Attitude I believe is the key to success.
I know.. right about now victor will use his favorite line about having the good end of the turd or something clever to try to downplay your success. But.. who cares.. if folks reading this thread really want to succeed then you have helped them if they want an excuse for failure then victor is their champion.
Bottom line Joseph .. you have done well for yourself.. congratulations.. and the H___ with the nay sayers...
That being said.. let's get back to work..cya

 

Joseph and tow614: Well stated, both of you. We could beat this horse to death... I've said enough here. Made my point. And you and tow614 as well. Let's leave it there and invite Gordon rookies to share their experience.

You're up to 26,845 clicks (views)! Congrats!

Who knows? Maybe Gordon is listening and...

 

The other big issue in Victors reasoning is we were all inexperienced in Gordons system when hired on. He also seemed content not asking for preplans and only running one 'stinker' load a day. Id routinely run 2 300mile runs a day....so the one 'stinker' turned into worth my time. I drive till the job is finished. Im not solar powered as it seems Victor is. If you have any driving experience than the Gordon system shouldnt confuse you or baffle you on how to run and make money. But victor was always content running one 200-300 mile load a day and shutting it down. Thats another reason he didnt have the same experiences as others have and still do have. He thinks he should be rewarded for that and his precious time which he admitted himself ate up sitting on the working line needlessly.

 

Suit yourself truckinmike1984.

I'm in Philly. Arrived @ shipper in Indy 8:45 am Wed, load not ready until 12:45 pm, $18/hr for ALL loading/unloading after 1st 2 hrs. So extra $36. Shut down around 7 pm with 6 hrs driving and 1 hr on-duty. 3-ring, loose-leaf log. Pulled out of rest area 5:30 am after PTI. Discovered bad LRI tandem tire, a leaky valve stem had let pressure drop and it bounced. So 2 hrs at $18 at TA Wheeling while we decided what to do. Company has a Yokohoma Road Service. Gave me the choice, fix there at TA, have Yokohama Road Service come out or take to tire center in Bell Vernon, PA (no road call chg).

Bell Vernon will have the better tire so I head to Bell Vernon. 2 hrs there @ $18 hr. Arrived Philly 7:30 pm (placarded load does not go through tunnels, stops at railroad tracks, around metros). 818 miles. Dropped trlr at dock 7 am. Outbound could take all day.

Dispatch texts me, "just keep track of your time"--it's $18/hr until I depart. I'll also get paid $18/hr for delivery in Indy because I've already got the first 2 unpaid in Wednesday! Load back is not placarded so will be 638 miles, give or take. Percentage pay always works out to 40-49 cents/mile. Varies. Plus loading/unloading, breakdown pay @ $18.

It is possible to make great money without tearing yourself up, 100 hrs a week... not at Gordon, though. That's just part of the Gordon experience, I think. And, no, I don't like donating my loading/unloading, scaling time to Gordon. Not. Not if I can get paid for all of it somewhere else... little feet, step, step, stepping away! Truck supposed to be governed at 71. They forgot after a bunch of work on it. No company 65 mph speed limit anyway. I run a mile or two faster than speed limit. No APU but no idle restriction.

Radio says FBI raided a Philly sheriff's office. Ha-ha. Great local radio station, music... Parked at a Wa Wa (new to me), will have to try a Wa Wa hoagie.

My last pay stub was in my company mail box for recent Indy-Springfield run. $372.25 plus 1-1/2 @ $18, total $399.25. 461 miles, 7 hrs down and back. Net $327.94. This is a part-time job (my choice, they prefer full-time); I've just taken several weeks off. Neeed I say more??


10:30 am: Just getting out of truck at free library (what else in Philly, home of Ben Franklin, inventor of library system), customer called. load ready. So 7:00 am to 10:30 am $18/hr. No longer a tourist. Met Jamar, lives in Delaware and takes his truck home, does branch runs out here for us, from listing he saw on CraigsList. Now, he scored...

 

Victor does make a valid point about getting paid for time but my experience is that I do get paid for it. It may only be $12 an hr not $18 but I knew that coming in.this past month I have $214 in detention and breakdown pay but I dont sit a lot. And truckinmike you make an excellent point of not settling for 1 short run a day. I was just talking with a couple load planners at indy who were pulling their hair out over drivers shutting down for the day after a 300 or so mile run and not taking another load. Crazy....when I take a short run my first question is how quickly can I get rid of it and get my next load..going home today... 31 days out... 13, 271 miles x .40=$5308.40 plus $214 detention.. not a bad month out...btw... I was in the top 5 for quarterly bonus "again" another .04 per mile for all miles in the quarter.. extra $1200+check... yea me !!!! You have a good job victor.. can't wait to hear who it is...

 

Can't see it, tow614. I took several weeks off and couldn't keep up with as much as you're on here, able to 'light up' down in the corner at a moments notice. I figure you've got the door closed in the recruiter's office in Indy when it's your up, then switches to other recruiters. I have to come to a full stop. Like this TA.

If not, you could start including details like location, destination, miles today, driving hours, on-duty...

From Breezewood TA, Breezewood, PA. Destination: Indy. Log shows 4.5 hrs @ 3:30 pm, 215 miles, took on 149 gal, $600 less $8.96 cash discount off pump. $3.95 gal. Comcheck.

Vic

5:30 pm Showered, shaved and refreshed. Breezewood TA.

 

Actually..as I have stated before.. I have a galaxy note 2 and I get instant email notifications anytime someone posts on a thread that I am interested in. Notice I no longer look at your thread as I told you I would stay off it. All I had to do was unsubscribe to it. When I get a notification it comes on my phone just like a text message does and when I check to see what it is I wind up going to the thread. No biggy.. as a matter of fact when I was in indy for service the other day I asked the recruiter if he was familiar with your thread and he didn't know what I was talking about. But the folks there did remember you.
That being said, my post was not necessarily for your benefit anyway since I consider you a lost cause.. and as for your constant remarks about proving my statements I do take offense to them. To me I believe you are accusing me of lying. In which case ... well.. whatever.. I'll just keep that to myself and consider the source.
If you actually knew me you would have sense enough to know that is not a wise thing to do and my word is always good. I grew up in an era when a mans word determined his worth..