Interstate Distributor Co. - Tacoma, Wa.

Boy IDC has changed since I left there 8 months ago...In the year I worked there I maybe had 3 weeks that I had 3000 miles....They only wanted their solo's around 2500. So to say solo's are doing 3-3500 a week

 

We just turned in our truck and resigned them. We had several problems with the truck(525,000 miles on it) when we were hired. A/C never worked, batteries always running down etc.etc. Bonuses and 401 eliminated to defray their costs and never never any detention or breakdown pay. We were forced to unload full trailers a few times on certain accts for 20.00 each (team drivers) 20.00 for 7 hours unload and stack is an insult to anyones intelligence, but were told on the dispatch info it would be a service failure if we refused! Once we realized they were brokering loads to russian/polish companies out of Chicago to run our loads at a cheaper rate,while we would sit in Chicago 1 1/2 days for a load, we decided enough was enough. Then of course, there was our fleet manager who was as coarse and unfriendly as a grizzley bear when we had to have contact with him, who really didnt seem to care whether we sat for days or lived, breathed or died. We could of requested another fleet manager but were content with our hometime, as he really didnt care if we stayed home a week at a time(I assume he didnt mind if we stayed on hometime that long because it kept him from having to find us loads if we were at home) I talked to solo drivers who informed me they had only ran 1500-2000 mi. weekly, and we as a team will run every mile we can get, but our average was 3800-4800 per wk. We were never late on loads and I was constantly begging for more miles(pathetic I know) and I'm aware the economy is in a bad state now- but the miles would be there if we werent in competition with the outside brokered loads drivers. You'd think that if your a good,reliable,safe driver that you'd be indispensible to them. The opposite appears to be true.

 

About the only person that lies more then a solo driver is a recruiter for Swifty. Especially those that still work for the company. Don't believe me? I have personally talked to 2 former Navy SEALs and a black ops veteran of South America in the last week at truck stops.

Trust me, as a former driver at IDC, you may have some 3k weeks but you will not average 3k unless you have some dedicated rte I don't know about.

But you could do far worse then IDC so Given their infrastructure and equipment I would recommend this company. A good work ethic and a ability to learn their system and you should be able to make it there.

 

Yea I heard the same thing. I recently ran a OTR load to Reno NV for my local outfit which I do from time to time. I saw IDC's 2 local drivers and started shooting the bull with one of them. He pulls in around $500 a week and is making the same hourly pay as when I worked their several years ago. Both of them where old enough to be getting Social Security so they did not seem to mind, but they told me IDC has cut all the frills including Holiday pay.

 

i've been pulling interstate trailers now for a year. as of tomorrow i will have gotten 3500 mi for the week. i drive for a contractor. after what i have seen i would never want to be a company driver for interstate. they are a strange company. constant screwups with bad info from csr's or hassles that never seem to end from their screwy shippers/recievers. i detest pulling their freight and when economy picks up im outta here.

 

Honestly most of us company drivers would be happy if all of you contractors left. Nothing upsets us more to lose freight to contractors, especially the Russian/Indian companies who's drivers are only here to make money to take home to their familes overseas. The contractors get the same amount of runs that the company drivers do. Leased operators should be considered equals in all respects to company drivers with respect to loads, but contractors should only be there to pickup the overflow the company drivers and leased operators can't handle.... not to compete load for load... just my two cents.

 

Two years ago, one of our school instructors told us something like this... All of the big trucking companies out there are basically the same. Each has its good points and each has its bad points, but at the end of the day the only difference between any of them is the color of the truck your driving.
I didn't understand at first, but after two years out here talking to alot of drivers from alot of different companies, I do now. We all tell pretty much the same stories, have pretty much the same complaints, etc. Often its the individual relationships we have with Fleet Managers/Dispatchers that make the difference as to a driver being happy with a company or not.

So to get off my soapbox... we all get mad occasionally but jumping from company to companydoesnt solve anything. If you cant get along with or atleast respect your FM.. get a new one.

 

I will say my expierence was quite different, they were very interested in us in Dec. called us right back, finished up our app, then hubby got bright idea to go to Schneider. Now he wants to go to IDC, so we put another app in they called us right back again, and after a few minutes of discussing stuff, we decided we are going to look at other options as they have the same stupid idle policy as SNI does, on their trucks with no APU.

 

IDC lets the cheapest mode transport there freight-PERIOD.. Including railroad.. Company drivers are just a piece of there equipment.

 

I beg to differ with you! I ran team For IDC, and yes there were occasions that we had to unload/handstack Michaels loads in the denver area. 7 hours to unload (each) and received a whopping 20.00 (each)
The team drivers we know, work their cans off including repowering loads from lazy solo drivers who acknowledge trips, pick them up and then cant run the load on time. What do you think teams are for?? Sure, there are those grandma and grandpa teams that are out here for the scenery, but are far and few between. Get your facts straight