Not sure about this company.

Got through my first solo week doing flatbed OTR as a company driver. I'm having serious reservations about the company I'm driving for. The orientation went well and my time with a trainer was okay, if exhausting. This company touted how they were a great company for new drivers, smaller than the megas and privately owned.

However there have been some major red flags for me. First, the truck I was put in. I understand that as a new driver I'm not going to get the nicest newest piece of equipment, but this was unacceptable. They told me the truck was "ready". Upon my own inspection, there was a bolt in one of the drive tires, one of the steer tires was at 15/32" and another at 6/32", the driver's seat is broken and painful to sit in, the batteries were all dead and as I've been driving it, various engine malfunction lamps have been coming on and off. The paperwork was also all expired. The truck has over 500k miles on it and the engine is noticeably low on compression as it lacks power and the jakes are absolutely useless.

My first run they sent me through West Virginia (i.e. all hills and curves) with a 42,000lb shotgun coil on the deck. I had to do more backing in my first two days than I did with a trainer in 2 weeks. Backing a loaded spread axle with no dump valve is very different than backing the tandem that I learned on in CDL school.

Up to this point, this stuff was all FNG treatment that I wasn't too worried about. Then my DM had me deadhead 6 hours on my second day. I get load pay, not mileage pay so that wound up being nearly an entire day with no pay. Then when I got to the shipper, I found that the load my DM sent me for was not the same load I was getting and when I called my DM concerned that I was being loaded with the wrong product, he vehemently denied that I was ever sent for a different load. I later came to learn (unbeknownst to my DM) that the original (better paying) load I thought I was getting got assigned to another driver and I was now stuck with a smaller, lighter, lesser paying load.

Additionally they have refused to let me park anywhere on my home time except the company terminal which is 60 miles from my house. I found several safe, suitable locations where I got permission from the owner of the property to park and the company has refused for one reason or another. One place was a private, well-lit, gated lot in an industrial area and they said I couldn't park there because it was gravel and the trucks aren't allowed to leave the pavement. Even though some of their terminals and many shippers and receivers are all gravel lots. So I've had to put all of those miles on my personal vehicle commuting to and from the terminal.

A lot of these things I can look past, but the lying about the load swap is pretty difficult for me to get over. I feel like this company grossly misrepresented themselves throughout the recruiting and training process. They acted like they were a company that takes care of new drivers but they sent me through some seriously tight areas, ran me 14 hours everyday, sent me through lots of steep hills and grades with a gutless truck with no jakes, and never let me practice backing these spreads while I was with a trainer.

When I informed my DM not to assign any more loads I immediately had people calling and giving me pep talks about how great its going and how it will get better, etc, etc. Seemed like a lot of people desperate to blow smoke up my *ss. They all had some ridiculous solution for whatever the problem was.

Should I cut my losses and move on?

 

You can drop the "man up tough guy" attitude at the door. I'm a new driver and want to be sure I'm not being taken advantage of. Too many people just go along with whatever their bosses tell them and never question it and then wind up miserable. Probably why trucking has such a high turnover rate.

 

This is fair. I'm not trying to be rash but at the same time I don't want to waste my time waiting for something to get better when it isn't going to.

 

Ok boomer. Have fun licking the company boot.