Johnson and Baker

Discussion in 'Report A BAD Trucking Company Here' started by RiyekoLTrucker, May 6, 2020.

  1. RiyekoLTrucker

    RiyekoLTrucker Bobtail Member

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    Oct 14, 2018
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    I am posting this because i have just quit this 20 truck operation based out of Nevada, MO today.

    I liked a lot of the people there, but one person in particular made the entire 4 months i worked there not only a trial, but a horrible experience.

    I like to post a lot of healthy information, so my post is going to be itemized and very long.

    Background information on this company is imperative.

    Most information comes from some of the employees that have been there since the 90s, questions answered by the owner himself, and information gathered via conversation.

    -Company was owned by Johnson Senior (I'm not sure of the gentlemans name, seemed like to utter his name in his daughters presence was a bad idea)... And he owned and operated it for a number of years.

    -Johnson Senior got sick and passed away, giving the company to his daughter N (im omitting this womans name for liability reasons as im sure she'd be one of those types of people that would sue due to slander, even if the allegations are true).

    -N has been running the company for a few years, i heard 8 and 5 years before the company was going to go into bankruptcy and also, many of the drivers were going to quit and go somewhere else because she decided she wanted to restructure the pay scale from CPM to Percentage.
    Lots of fellow drivers told us the reason most people were going to leave was, the way she was going to do percentage everyone would be making somewhere around a 20cpm average or a 10% of each load. It was told and suggested that the pay cut was so drastic it was "like youd be going from a 40 dollar an hr job to a 5 dollar an hr job".

    -During the bankruptcy and payroll issues, Ns husband K came in and basically bought out the DOT number and restructured the company so they didn't go out of business. He owns every semi truck on the property for the last 10 years and the entire shop. K also playes HR in keeping his wife, N off of the drivers backs for not doing things exactly how she wants them to be done.

    Anyway, thats the background information on this tiny company.

    Tons of drama and lota of folks either walking around on egg shells or kissing rear ends so bad that they can't see anything better beyond Ns rear behind.
    Incoming itemized complaints::

    1. Most drivers get paid anywhere from 46 to 48cpm. Not a bad amount even though i have worked for more. At the time i went to apply here i had been homeless for a month and was running desperately low on funds due to our last employer basically giving us 2hrs to get off the property.
    Most of the drivers there told us not to ask for a raise. Even when we mentioned pay at the entrance interview, we were told in a very exhaustive and condescending manner that they paid 46cpm because of the 'ridiculous rise of living costs'.
    This wasnt told to us like the cost of living rising up was a shameful thing and shouldnt happen, it was more like them having to pay more was ridiculous and the cost of living rising was... I don't know, fake or something.
    Asking for advances (we only did one for 20 bucks to get food in the beginning), was a trial. Call them. Call the tcheck people. Call them back. Write down info. Call them again. Finally get the money we asked.
    Every time we called when asked about this ONE transaction we were grilled on what were we doing with the money, where were we spending it, how fast did we REALLY need it, did we actually NEED the money????... All of this to get a #### meal so we could eat.
    Our paychecks also couldnt be direct deposited during the week we got paid.
    I was never given a straight answer as to why, even after asking the bank tellers and the financial people at the actual bank.
    They wouldnt direct deposit money into the account because "the way our bank processes records and finances, it takes up to two weeks for the deposit to be transferred completely".
    I asked the bank people about this and they said they had no idea what was being said and that their deposits usually were done either the next business day OR same day.
    We never had an issue getting paid, dont take this as a "they wont pay us" kind of complaint, im just stating this for information sake.
    We always got our paychecks at 5pm on Friday every week.

    2. Fueling.
    Fueling with this company is done entirely, soley, completely and exclusively on the yard/at the terminal.
    100 percent of the time.
    If you couldn't make it back to the yard for fuel you were only allotted about 20 to 50 gallons at a fuel stop. No big 5 truck stop fuel, ever (thats TA/Petro, Flying J/Pilot or Loves for those that dont know).
    We always got Sapp brothers or QT fuel on our way back from nebraksa.
    Each time we got fuel somewhere else besides the yard, we ended up in a phone call trying to explain to people why we couldn't make 250 miles on a 1/8th of a tank of fuel.
    These phone calls were usually 20 to 45 minutes long, with lots of head bashing against brick walls trying to explain the same thing over and over.
    We finally told people that we only had 100 gallon tanks instead of the 120s, and people stopped questioning why we were getting fuel.
    I should point out that K gets an extremely ridiculous discount on fuel.
    If it costs 2 at the pump, and company discount at 1.5, he gets it for 1 or lower due to the fact that he pays wholesle for his fuel.
    Its very very cheap fuel.... So its understandable why he doesnt want people buying fuel on the road.

    3. Electronic log malfunctions.
    At the beginning i thought it was just going to be another role of relearning a new elog system.
    I have ran qualcomm, peoplenet, and driver tech, and this company uses GPS Insite.
    I thought it was just going to be new macros, new buttons, new navigation, and all of the learning a new system.
    Boy i was wrong.
    I was instructed to do every single on duty job, from fueling to unloading, as YARD MOVE.
    On duty yard move and enter what youre doing into the box, every single time.
    We both got screamed at, yelled at and told we didn't know the HOS for this elog and that we were wrong.
    Multiple times.
    I finally called the DOT office to confirm that what i thought (that doing anything on yard move but what was in the green fmcsa book, was illegal), was illegal was illegal, and the gentleman on the phone actually knew the company that we were asking about... He knew that they had had massive log book issues recently and in the past.
    Finally after two months we got the elog situation cleared, as they had gone back into the system and added buttons and options for the driver that gave us more control... Even though we constantly had their "logs department" woman editing our logs every other day for random reasons.
    The lady that does the log department has literally maybe 6 months to a year of driving experience under an elog and the boss lady, N, treats her like shes the god of every elog system on earth though the womans knowledge is rudimentary and text book rather than real world scenarios OR what is really, factually legal and whats not.
    The woman argued with us for two months about the log situation, and even after i bought a fresh, brand new and newest updated version of the fmcsa green book to show her the highlighted areas, she still continued to edit our logs with our on duty time while unloading or fueling to yard move.
    It was a nightmare.

    4. Office personnel.
    Most of the ladies in the office are nice, respectful and awesome people.
    But when N is around its literally like everyone is walking on glass, egg shells and thin ice.
    N controls everything... From who gets the good loads and miles, and when people get their paychecks, who gets what vibrators for the hopper bottoms, who has the weekend loads.... She controls and micromanages everything.
    Everyone always looks nervous, no eye contact with you or N while you're all having a conversation, and everyone is always shuffling feet and rubbing their hands together... And multiple other nervous gestures.
    There is a lot of stress in that building, all due to the boss lady N who has to micro manage everyone and everything and have control of it all.
    With all of this going on, she screams and yells at ALL of the drivers whenever they do something that she deems wrong, whether its wrong or not, and constantly tells people that they need to be more professional, though shes not professional herself (I've even witnessed her screaming at the shop guys because they parked their cars on the south side of the office building instead of by the shop).
    She has screamed at me over the phone at least a dozen times, i have lost count, and ive heard from other drivers that she yells at them as well in the same manner.
    There's even a story that floats around the company that the last female driver that they had, actually punched N in the face and knocked her out due to the attitude (i do know she was charged with assault) and disrespect that she exudes to everyone else but her husband, K.

    Thats pretty much the jist of it all.

    Working there and learning how to do hopper bottom was fun and entertaining and i would have stayed on, but it was the most hostile work experience i have experienced since i was a high schooler flipping burgers.
    I left due to keeping my own mental sanity intact and to keep myself from actually punching K myself after what happened.

    If anyone wants to message me about the situations, i am willing to answer back, but i dont visit the forums often, so responses may have lots of time in between them.

    Have a good one and steer clear of JnB.
     
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  3. mjd4277

    mjd4277 Road Train Member

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    Fitchburg,MA
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    Wow.
    Very detailed post. This company sounds like a s***show! Hopefully you got your stuff and got the F outta Dodge!!! If this company has issues with direct depositing payroll for the drivers that means they have some serious money management issues(even Western Express does direct deposit). Hopefully you’ve found greener pastures.
     
  4. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

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    White County, Arkansas
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    It is a very good post. Well written divided into proper groups and addressed etc.

    This is what a post should look like. I'll need some time to read this over and digest it before offering any help if at all possible.
     
  5. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

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    White County, Arkansas
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    After careful offline reading on desktop I find no fault with this OP or the information.

    There is literally nothing for me to offer to that except to say the Mods should sticky that as a shining example of a very bad illegally run company. What a beautiful post, well written and detailed.

    I have quit many companies just like that for most if not all of those reasons in my life time simply because they were very toxic companies and I had principles. Makes for a truly disgusting work record but a very short explaining to employers like this.

    Why did you stop working for such a such...

    They are toxic. Are you toxic in your company?

    Uh...

    Thats easy just let me sit in your drivers room for a hour to listen quietly to the talk. Then we will see about a job if I am still here after that.
     
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  6. mjd4277

    mjd4277 Road Train Member

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    Fitchburg,MA
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    Last edited: May 7, 2020
    Upinsmoke and TB John Thank this.
  7. kidz bop

    kidz bop Medium Load Member

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    Oct 5, 2017
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    based on your own link you provided. it says national average 20.7 percent, and that carrier is 22.2 percent. 1.5 percent differential. their next stat down is 1/2 of the national average.

    what's your response?
     
    Last edited: May 7, 2020
  8. mjd4277

    mjd4277 Road Train Member

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    Fitchburg,MA
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    That’s the ONLY thing they have going for them.
    Other than that, I wouldn’t waste my time(or CDL) with that company. If they have issues distributing drivers’ payroll and maintenance issues,then something is up. And the links are directly to the federal databases and are provided by them.
    The general rule of thumb is that you don’t want to be above the national average in ANY of the categories-especially hazmat. The lower the average,the less likely you’ll be pulled into a scalehouse for an inspection.
     
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  9. Mid-May Trucker

    Mid-May Trucker Road Train Member

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    What else should you expect from a 1099 white Volvo Chicago company?
     
  10. mjd4277

    mjd4277 Road Train Member

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    Oct 4, 2015
    Fitchburg,MA
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    It’s not a Chicagoland outfit(for once). The company headquarters is in Nevada,Missouri about halfway between Kansas City and Joplin near I-49.
     
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  11. Dave_in_AZ

    Dave_in_AZ Road Train Member

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    Well I need to know if N is hot?

    And do any of the office gals show any leg?
     
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