Mokan-Distribution in Kansas City, Mo

To all Drivers,
Do yourself a huge favor and stay away from Mokan-Distribution in Kansas City, Missouri. In my opinion I can't understand how this company has been around since 1975 ripping their drivers off like they do. They have the most archaic equipment in the trucking industry, that includes their tractors. I needed to slide the tandems back on one of their junk trailers to adjust the weight, and the whole tandem assembly broke past the stops and came out from under the trailer, flipped upside down in the middle of the street in St. Louis, Mo. The trailer was loaded with scrap paper to be recycled. Suffice it to say the trailer fell to the ground and busted open. Two wreckers had to come out and pick the junk up. Yeah I was fired and was forced to pay the tickets. I've been driving tractor trailer combinations for twent-two years and never had anything like that happen to me before. The owner buys old trailers that have been damaged in the rearend and repaired just enough to pass an inspection and sold. I've acquired more equipment violations with Mokan-Distribution during the seven months I was employed with them than I ever acquired in the twenty-two years as a driver.

For those who don't like unions, if a union was present at this employer I wouldn't have gotten fired for such an incident. As a matter of fact this kind of junk equipment wouldn't exist either. Unions serve as watch dogs for their rank and file members to keep things safe.

Suffice it to say I acquired employment the next week.
I'd like to mention, when I got hired with Mokan-Distribution their mechanic aprised me of Mokan's equipment and the fact that they have constant driver turnover. I always saw new drivers. They were'nt there long. They also hired drivers that didn't have very clean driving records to begin with. The company would take 2.50 hours from the road drivers compensation for lunch each week, although you were never given time for lunch. If any company should be put out of business it should be Mokan-Distribution for their unthical treatment of drivers

Drivers beware! If you want to keep your CDL clean, stay away from Mokan-Distribution in Kansas City, Missouri 1700n Jackson ave. The owner is Gene T. His human relations person is Lloyd V.

 

This place could be a drivers worst nightmare

Another issue I'd like to mention about Mokan-Distribution and how cheap they are. The drivers they hire must have doubles-triples endorsement along with Hazardous Materials. If you're stupid enough they will let you pull doubles and triples for the same wage of $15.50 per hour. Now If I can make the same money for pulling on trailer, where's the insentive for me to want to pull two or more trailers. I'd like to be paid something extra for duties above and beyond standard duties. You'll be there a year before your first raise which is only $.50. Suppose to be eligible for medical insurance after 60 days, I did'nt get coverage until after 5 months. They were looking for another carrier.If you want the insurance "there goes the raise" This company is a thief toward their drivers.

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I'd also like to mention this company is so cheap, they don't have safety barbecues for their drivers. They buy a couple packages of chocolate chip cookies from Costco and some soda. They're too cheap to buy ice to chill the soda. They get empty milk jugs, fill them with water and freeze them, and "voila" there's your ice to keep the soda cold. Cookies and soda what a treat to send your glucose levels sky high in the diabetic range. DRIVERS BEWARE! Your CDL will be jeopordized driving for this Junk Yard Equipment trucking company. Federal Department Of TRansportation needs to do a thorough investigation of their equipment and place out of service tags on that junk.

 

It's interesting the rebuttal that the Mokan Representative came up with. The other situations (they) mentioned came about due to some of the same issues I mentioned in my first complaint about this company. I'll address them individually. As I mentioned working for this company you can expect some long days, and it's due to the equipment they have to work with. I have never driven in such a manner as to damage equipment, I knew they would make a prevarication either first or last in their rebuttal. The equipment was damaged before I got it. The only time equipment was damaged when I had it, was when the tandems dislocated from their trailer when I needed to slide the tandems . If the sliding rails weren't bent then the tandems would have slid. After the situation happened you could see the stops and everything else under the trailer was totally rusted out. I've slid some stubborn tandems in my twenty-three years of of driving, and that was the first time tandems ever dislocated from the trailer. It also took me over two hours to get the pins released so I could slide the tandems, so perhaps you can empathize with my frustration.There's been often times when I picked up a loaded trailer and did call them to complain the tandems wouldn't slide to adjust weight. That would add another three to four hours in my day working with such junk. They would call a vendor to come out or send me to a shop to get assistance. After awhile a driver can get annoyed with working with such inferior equipment and take matters into his own hands. I had a life away from Mokan. Fourteen hour days was short for me at Mokan. More often than not sixteen to eighteen hours a day, I've got to falsify my logs due to working with their inferior trailers. As I mentioned every time I went to pick up a load of scrap paper, the tandems would be forward. They refused to tell their other drivers to move tandems to rear before dropping trailers, when they new they wouldn't slide when they were loaded with 40,000#'s plus. They mentioned two blown tires driving on the rims. That was another situation of picking up a trailer with scrap paper 40,000#'s plus. When I picked it up again the tandems wouldn't slide on that trailer, I wasn't going past a scale so I left with it, the trailer was overloaded on the tandems and that probably contributed to the blowing of the tires. Anyway my day had already been a long one, again (it was common) I had nine hours in the drivers seat already. I was two hours from home, yes I thought one tire had blown, not two, so I proceeded wanting to keep my hours within the fourteen hour regulation. Which brings me to another situation, Mokan would dispatch me the next day before my ten hours rest was complete, I had to remind them of that that often. If MoDOT went into Mokan to do inspections they would I'd venture to say without fear of rebuttal they would red tag over half of the equipment in that yard, including those dinosaurs they call tractors. That equipment is worse than some of the intermodal equipment I pulled and most of that junk would be red tagged if it was inspected by DOT. Finally it was mentioned Mokan takes time from our time cards to encourage us to stop and unwind, if the situation arrises where the driver is short on time he's to call and request that he not take a lunch is another BIG PREVARICATION. To be perfectly candid it was a blessing to be terminated. As I mentioned they had my day so full from 0300hrs. in the mornings to 1800 to 1900hrs. in the evening I couldn't get away to seek employment else where. Mokan didn't mention at this safety meeting we had I mentioned "openly" for the drivers to slide the tandems back on the trailers when they drop them at sites that's going to load them heavy. There was a voice confirmation from their operations manager but nothing from the dispatcher or the owners grandson who is manager of something. I mentioned it specifically to the owners grandson one day about telling the drivers to move tandems to the rear of trailers before dropping, and is response was the drivers know that is company policy, I protested apparently not. I mentioned post a big sign on the wall in the drivers dispatch area. That's as far as it went, nowhere. I'd also like to mention after being terminated they didn't pay me the twenty-seven hours I put in for that week. I guess that's what I was charged for the tandems separating from the trailer, I suppose. Anyone that works for this company is putting their CDL at risk because some companies are unforgiving when a driver has an incident due to equipment failure at another employer. I hope this is posted as well. Drivers need to be aware. I speak the truth so it's not libel. I also like to mention, the driver turnover there is high, other drivers move on after a few weeks, which is why they charge drivers for physicals if they leave before 60 days. Another thing after 60 days they are suppose to provide some form of medical insurance benefits, I was there eight months and didn't receive any benefits and I didn't get my .50 raise in liu of the insurance either. Drivers to this company is a simple comodity, one such many companies.