It would be nice to get a full report that's up to date please? like pay for solo, are they still using solos to pick up the slack, and the idle policy and chain policy
I dont know about a few of the things you ask about, but they are a Chain Required company. I would expect it for a company based out of the far upper northwest.
The company webiste has the current pay schedules. Pay depends on experience. I talk to many solos doing 3k-3.5k a week but the market is up and down. Trust me we all get our share of #### runs with the good ones. Teams and Solo's alike.
Chains are carried on all trucks and you are expected to chain when safe to do so. That is a judgement call on your part and one that causes lots of controversy. My personal feelings are I'll chain to get out of a problem or where I feel its safe to do so to proceed (Cabbage to Ladd Canyon for example) but we wont chain if we feel its not safe to do so. I shut down 2 weeks ago when Vale had chain restrictions up in the middle of the night and continued in the morning and luckily the chain restrictions were lifted. Idling.... trucks with APU's are 3% or less... Trucks without APU's have a 20% max limit unless exempted for mechanical reasons.
K & J, My husband has done a phone interview with a woman from Washington, and he has been working with Steve his recruiter. He will be coming on as a solo driver. It seems like you really enjoy working for them. I have been seeing from other post some talk of "firing your fleet manager." Is it really that easy to change fleet managers? You say you get home when needed, can you tell me anything else about the company.
i Drove for IDC back in 06. I'll say this---They are top notch when it comes to how they treat their drivers. The only problem I had was the fact that teams ran columbias and solos ran Volvo 780's. Well that and teams were required to stay out a minimum of 21 days. I would go back to them though if I needed to.
I drove a Columbia series for IDC from '04-'06. During that time, I had problems with my batteries staying to a charge level to start the truck after being shut down for 6 hours. One time I was at the Tacoma terminal doing a restart and the batteries went dead while plugged into their charger pole in the lot. The Tacoma yard "fixed" it, but 2 nights out from the terminal they went dead. Then again 5 days later. No electrical load in the cab or sleeper. When I got to the Lebanon, TN terminal for home time, I told my FM that I would idle the truck until a new set of batteries were installed and the electrical system diagnoised fully. The next trip to CA got me to their shop North of Sacamento and the battery swap was made. That took 2 months and the truck only shut down when required at a dock or refueling. Probably a contributing factor was I had my dog with me and IDC is kinder to animals.
