Knight Transportation, Inc. - Phoenix, Az.

Probably illegal.

 

this driver just needs to toss his so-call cdl in the trash'because from what i read about him' he needs to find a job other than driving because it seems he can not hold a job at all'.

 

Originally Posted by Hanadarko
Roehl also requires PER DIEM for any new hire. No longer optional.

Probably illegal.

Nope. If being on perdiem is required prior to hire it is not illegal.

It would however be illegal to require someone to be on it if it was optional at time of hire.

It seems that Knight has given their crews in the terminals some kind of incentive to get and keep drivers on perdiem.

Why should a driver have to get a routine personnel/payroll form from the terminal manager at their home terminal to get off perdiem? It seems that the company is using drivers not in the know as a cash cow and is reluctant to cut them loose.

A friend of mine asked when the qualcomm logging would start so they could turn in the truck, and was told that they did not know and not to worry about it killing their miles. They could just disable the qualcomm when you need to run a load and don't have the hours Like his lease drivers do,. Since you will still need to keep a paper log book

Knight does location checks 3 times a day now and can match it to the logs you turn in so I guess some drivers are finding ways to defeat these checks already. Many drivers just don't care if they get caught on a log audit. The morale in this company seems to be declining by the month as many drivers are being replaced by newbies from squire or other training outfits while veteran drivers and ones not on perdiem are being weeded out.

The no forced dp policy is on shaky ground as some terminals are using lack of productivity to fire a driver who refuses a load. I saw direct evidence of this on a loaner truck that my friend used while truck was in the shop. The messages on the qualcomm where basically you have turn down 3 loads in the past 2 weeks and we are terminating you because you do not meet are productivity standards.

Now it is well known within the company that you probably won't do 10,000 a month unless you are lucky with the lack of trailers and local work they constantly have you doing. So for a company that does much to restrict your productivity to then fire you for a lack of it is just shady.

 

Just read about that in that junky waste of paper they call a newsletter. Something about "rewarding drivers that do good, and help those that aren't (find the door)"

######## haven't given me a raise or my f'nn bonds and I'm not going to take to kind to the logs.Oh yeah, they are checking your spots all the time now on the GPS (at least once an hour) with speed updates and everything. Just so you know, problem is, the system is so poor, it can be off by 50-100 miles it seems!

 

they can do the tracking. i know they won't say a freaking thing to me about the way i run. i take care of business. yeah, yeah, i know if i get into some mess, they won't back me up. at the same time, will they be there for me if i start running totally legal and end up having to sell my car, home, and what not to avoid setting up shop at a homeless shelter? i think not. i also started messing with the road relay thinger yesterday, pressing the buttons to see what they do. one of them has the driver reward system thing on it. i pressed the button to activate it. it's permanently disabled throughout the fleet. >=o|

 

The Road Relay thingy isn't disabled, the shop guys plug in their little computer to access it. It is set up as a driver lockout. I don't know where your out of but I just saw the latest FMCSA rating being at 98. Turning this pile in when I get home. I don't need a company to ruin me, I'd rather do that on my own. So far as miles go, I don't play with the books and I don't take unnecessary risks. As the company handbook clearly points out, they will not be there for you if something goes awry. They will on the other hand hang you out to dry if it saves them money. Per Diem: you are automatically signed up for it before you leave orientation and they require you to be on it for a minimum of 30 days before you are "allowed" to fill out a paper at your home terminal that 2 different managers "have" to sign before they can send it to Phoenix for final approval. Basically this is done because people are generally lazy and they hope you just don't pursue or just forget about it. It saves them money in tax contributions and cuts the employee short in social security contributions and other govt programs. So far as miles go, that is more dependent on how ignorant your dispatcher is. I thought for the longest time that maybe I just made somebody mad, then I realized that had nothing to do with it. My dispatcher can't multi task and has a very limited attention span. Does it make him a bad person, of course not. Does it make him bad at that job, you bet your bottom dollar it does. My favorite line is "ok, let me call the planners and make sure you can have this load". Hmmm, freight board, dispatcher, dispatcher meet freight board, take your pick. I'm not bitter or anything, I just have better options and I'm going to exercise them. Besides, who wants to work for a company that is getting red lights all of the time?

 

I've given this company 5 plus years, why don't I get all the hassles your all saying? Finding mty trailers is a problem but I get paid for my time getting one. Oh well, I will continue to run the miles here and stay out of the break rooms where the whiners hang out.

 

Simply put, you have no idea how good trucking can be.

You really can't tell the difference between a driver getting shafted and a whiner ?

MrBig simply states that his DM can't multitask. That means the DM is a failure at his job which happens to be managing several drivers. But this driver is a whiner because his income is suffering due to that ? This an example of a driver getting shafted.

 

Thank you Dna Mach. Well put. Knighton5 I'm not trying to insult you or your beloved company. I am glad you found yourself a shoe that fits. Take into consideration though that maybe your idea of "running the miles" and mine are different. Maybe you have a DM that has a good relationship with the planners. Maybe you have a DM that hasn't blatantly told you "I hate this ##### job, if it weren't for this job I'd be...". Maybe you have a DM that has good focus and comprehension skills. Lot's of maybe's. I'd love to know who your DM is and maybe get on their board. Or, maybe your one of those drivers that likes to unsafe and broken trailers at customers for another driver to deal with, cause we all know that will keep you moving. I on the other hand WILL NOT put anything on the road unless it is safe and legal to do so. Does that cost me time and money? yes it does. Is that going to make me a statistic in their current ICC-D rating of 98? Nope.

 

"I get paid for looking for empties" I don't know what terminal he works out of but this is the first Knight driver that I have heard about make this kind of statement! I only worked out of the Denver terminal for 13 months and I never heard one driver out of that terminal that said they got paid doing the Knight run around. In most cases you r chased around and never find one! That way the get their local work done for free cuz that is the only way u can get an empty.