My driver ran out of fuel

Why should the driver be responsible, just blame obama

 

If I did something like that JB Hunt would have me pay for the the road service and I do not blame them.

Never ran out of fuel myself but one time I did something just as stupid. Drove the truck into a muddy pasture after a downpour and got the thing stuck. No way was I going to even tell my dispatcher about that. Called up a tow truck and only thing I told the company I was pulling over to take a nap.

A fellow like that is going ot have issue after issue that he needs you to bail him out of.

 

just tell him he is responsible for the service call portion of the bill give him the option to pay it cash or have it deducted from his pay offer to split it between a couple pay periods if he chooses and then if he chooses to have it deducted have him sign a form authorizing it to be deducted from his check then everything is legal. if he tells you to pound sand give him his walking papers.

 

OP i did read this, and coming from a small company( comp driver) i would say if it his FIRST offense eat it, i ran out of fuel ONCE, got routed around were i was not expecting ran out. no major chain fill ups(didnt know i could fill at mom and pops) didnt make it to next fuel (major) ran out. never happened again. the embaresment was enuf. BUT i only have 3 years under my belt, so i did a ROOKIE move

 

How would I handle this?

Average him out and evaluate him. There's a tremendous difference between getting drunk and being the town drunk. There's a difference between doing something idiotic and being the village idiot.

Bad drivers suck totally. 100%. Cant show up on time, selling fuel and equipment, cant depend on them, mouthy with customers, blowing tires out, dont check the fluids, lazy and nasty...etc. With bad drivers, it's something going wrong ALL THE FREAKIN TIME! Your driver ran the truck out of fuel. What else has he done? If this is the only issue, I would keep notes and eat the cost. If he starts down the path of the village idiot, cut him loose before he does something stupid in your truck.

EDIT: If he does it again, that means he's stupid and cant learn from mistakes. Fire him.

Hard to believe an owner is having this conversation about a 38 yr driver. Any rookies taking note? This is why you beat the bushes for a job, regardless of experience a company says that they require. Company owners will hire you on the spot when they're this pissed off. Catch them at the right time, and they will gladly hire you.

 

Afterburn, ........ are we related?

I'm thinkin' that deducting the service charge from an
employee's paycheck might not be legal, even if an
employee signs a document authorizing the deduction.
Might come back and bite'cha.

I definitely would have a sit down, --- face to face
talk with said employee and outline what his mistake
cost you. I'd then ask if he feels obligated to, at
least, pay a portion of the additional expenditures.

My final decision would be dependent on the employee's
responses and attitude. A stern warning and reminder
of your displeasure with his less than professional
performance would be the least severe if his attitude
reflects his disappointment in self. If he doesn't seem
to grasp the seriousness of his actions, and/or if he
comes up with lame excuses, or considers the company
to be responsible for his blunders, I'd consider him to
be a liability risk that needs to be eliminated. Fired.
May not be an easy decision, but a necessary decision,
none-the-less.

You've received several suggestions, ... I trust, after
much thought on the matter, that you'll come to the
right decision. That you're seeking advice is refreshing.
Apparently you have a conscience.

 

Afterburn, did you not have a stated company policy for things like this? Schneider tells us stay one that anything we you directly cause as the driver, lockouts running out of fuel or similar, just not come out of our paycheck but does come out of our pocket. We can opt to either find someone ourselves or have the company find someone for us. If you don't already have a policy like this in place, you need to put one in practice immediately.

If JB Hunt also has a policy like Schneider has. Regardless of the size of your company and its income, there are somethings you just don't cover so that your employee learns not to make the same mistake twice.

My second week out, I locked myself out of my truck. It's my fault, I excepted it, and I learned from it because I had to pay $180 out of my pocket. Guess what? I now have two spares hidden in different places on my truck. I haven't gotten locked out again.

As for this one, if you can afford to lose the driver then do it. From what you said he sounds more like a steering wheel holder than a driver. Yes, I'm a company driver but I don't expect my company or any other company to pay for my own mistakes.

I also wants got stuck in an icy dock, I called her maintenance people in they would send out a wrecker and it would be paid for by the shipper. I still went out and purchased Items to help prevent this from happening again.

 

Whenever I see this type of question where someone is wanting to know if the 'driver is financially liable" for the cost to a particular trucking company, one thought always passes through my mind. What happens at this same company whenever a driver notices/reports something, or takes an immediate action on a matter that is very unusual or a rare occurrence, and the driver's action leads to a significant savings or prevents a major loss to the company (you know, the above and beyond the call of duty thing)?
Does the company reward the driver big time, split the savings (one time award), or just grin and pocket it for themselves. The answer to this question about a given company should help answer the OP's question.

 

Unless you can be sure he hasn't either
A) sold the fuel, 0r
B) had some stolen....

You'll Just have to suck it up, & BTW welcome to the world of employing Staff..