My experience with Lester Coggins.

Ok, ladies and gentleman, my wife is driving me down to Leesburg, FL, in just a few hours, for Lester Coggins' orientation tommorow. The greyhound bus trip would have been 17 hours, plus I wanted to bring most of my stuff to go on the truck, which I wouldn't have been able to do on the bus, plus, she can stay in the room with me tonight. She is going to stay down there tommorow until I pass the road test and physical. There shouldn't be any problems with those - definitely won't be a problem with the drug test. The hotel is the Econo Lodge, and they are paying me the cost of the bus ticket to compensate for the fuel. I think it is cool that they're letting my wife stay in the room instead of a stranger. First day is processing; Second day is classroom; Third day is classroom, meet dispatcher, and get truck, according to them. We'll see.

As I said on the another thread, it is like starting all over again, but I am really trying to have a positive attitude. I will give y'all updates on this thread, but, as I previously said, my blackberry has been disconnected, so updates may not come frequently at first. Also, I don't know if they monitor this site, so I need to think about how detailed my updates are going to be. However, I will not lie. I am a man of my word, and I will be objective and fair in my posts. Y'all take it easy.

 

Disclaimers ... 1)this is going to be a really long post. 2)I am really nervous about posting all of this stuff, but it is factual, so I don't see any harm in putting the truth out there ... here goes:

Ok, they put you up in the Econo Lodge located on US 27/441 in downtown Leesburg. All I can say about this hotel is that it has seen its better days, for sure. One step above the "flea bag inn," but it didn't have any fleas and it was free. Orientation pay is a whopping $100 for 3 days - no "sign on bonus."

Monday: a guy name Dave picked me up in the van and took me 8 miles to the Okahumpka, FL terminal, which is a dump to use kind words. Honestly, though, the drivers probably made it that way, because it was trashed, literally, on Monday morning. If you want a description PM me because I could write a novel. Most of the drivers that I met at the terminal were very "rough" and really didn't want to talk. All of them, except one hadn't been there more than 6 months. I thought it was fishy that some of them were still there on Thursday, supposedly because their trucks were in the shop.

Ok, so they give you a copy of your DAC and your MVR and tell you to complete the "real" application. You MUST not have any unexplained gaps in your employment history and they WILL verify all of them. They sent one of four of us home for too many unexplained gaps. You MUST give personal, non-family, reference, and they WILL call this person. After this you take the road test with Danny, or Dave. I had Danny, who also did the orientation - REAL NICE GUY - the road test is taken in an old International with a straight 10 tranny ... the easiest road test you will ever get, but, YEAH, we had a guy fail - that would be the one that got sent home later. Then we went to the doctor for A VERY THOROUGH PHYSICAL which took up the remainder of the day. They took my BP twice and one of them was 140/90, but one was higher, so I only got a one year card. They let us take the company van to the hotel for that evening.

Tuesday: brought the van back to the terminal and went to the classroom with Danny for orientation. This is where all of the polcies for LCT are spelled out. He gave several breaks. Danny is a nice guy, but to be honest, he really didn't want any feedback - just for you to listen. You also get the story about how LCT got bought by Gainey corp - how Gainey went bankrupt, got reorganized somehow with Wachovia - Wachovia got in trouble and wanted their money and Gainey wouldn't give it to them, and Gainey wouldn't pay them - and now some other corporation owns them - Wyzetta, I think. Anyways, they are supposedly debt free - but the point is to justify their terrible wages and why they only pay 3 weeks after you deliver a load ... that's right 3 weeks. For example, my first load delivered on February 19, 2009. The trip pak (they don't do scanning) must arrive by February 26, and I will be paid March 5 ... UNREAL, to say the least. You get a $150 cash advance every week for tolls. Oh yeah, there are tons of toll roads that they don't want you using, so you have to QC your Driver Manager (their code word for dispatcher) to get approval if you need to run a toll road not on the list. They want you to QC your DM for everything. Even if it is a payroll issue, you have to go through your DM. And your DM doesn't want phone calls, they want QC messages. They have a ton of macos, 1 of which has to be sent twice a day, and another that must be sent every day. Also, they plant the bug in your head about running flower loads, which must be done by teams - I guess they do this to try and see if any of the new guys will team up immediately. It is driver unload, up to 30 stops, and they only pay $.18 per mile, per driver, $60 to unload the whole truck, and $10 per stop. We all know what they are charging the customer.

Wednesday: Half of the day is Haz-mat, logging, and safety videos. Then, after lunch, you are assigned your truck, to go and inspect, you meet your DM, and you meet Gail, in payroll, a nice lady who explains how to fill out your trip envelope, etc. You also find out that you have to log Tuesday and Wednesday's orientation, so Wednesday is shot, and you won't leave until Thursday.

A few notes: to me the company is itching to take money out of your check, but they don't want to pay for any labor. Let me give an excellent example. My truck had little fuel in it. My first trip was from Leesburg, FL to Pageland, SC (wal-mart) which didn't deliver until 18:45 on the 19th. Ok, they made me buy 111 gallons in Wildwood, but forced me to hit the Pilot in Florence for more fuel. Now, it's their money, and if they want to buy fuel in Florence, that is fine with me. But, they aren't paying me to go through Florence. I drove approximately 40 miles for free on that trip. However, if you don't hit the fuel stops, they will charge you for the difference in the pump price of the next fuel stop. There are all kinds of these "fees," most of which are understandable, because of previous drivers. Just a few: $400 if you are caught with a pet, $125 for not returning the driver manual, load locks, tire guage, etc., etc. when you quit, $50 for the physical if you quit before 90 days, $50 if you drop a dirty trailer, etc. It seems that they are threatening you at just about every turn with termination, if you screw up, but they don't want to pay you for doing your job or going out of route to fix the truck, get washouts, etc. Since, I am new, I don't know which of these are idle threats, or which are real. I mean, I am not above working, and I unloaded myself lots of times at previous jobs, but I was paid for this. I don't mind work, but I don't want to work for free. Speaking of this: they will pay a lumper without question, but if you unload a trailer, you will get paid a "cube rate" and it will be taxed. Also, they do the per diem rip-off - it is $.09 per mile.

So, after my 468 mile trip, that took 2 days, I am 90 miles up the road, in Raeford, NC, waiting all day for a load, that has 4 stops, and won't finish up until Tuesday, with only 818 loaded miles. Not a very good start. My truck is an old Gainey truck, which is in very good shape on the interior, for its age (appx 575,000 miles), but won't pulll a greasy string out of a hogs rear end, and only does 65 mph. It does have a bunk heater so I haven't had to idle and I have really "babied" the tractor, but I am only getting 5.2 mpg out of it.

Most of the drivers here are in the same predicament as myself, so this place can truly be called, "Last Chance Trucking," and they take full advantage of that. I have met a couple of drivers out here on the road, and they seem to be friendlier than the ones at "the hump," as they call it. As far as logging, they seem to be very strict, because every message you send on the QC is stamped with your truck's mileage and the time. I don't see too much leeway in this area.

I am still studying this drivers manual, and trying to get use to doing things their way, the right way. Again, I don't mind working - pre-trip inspection done correctly, driving professionally, fueling, and sweeping the trailer, etc,. are all part of my job and I do it to the best of my ability, but I think they ask too much. For example: they want you to count freight at the dock - why? It is not my freight - isn't this the shipper's responsibility? And this deal with following this fuel route but not getting paid for it just eats at me, because I like to go the shortest route. And don't even mention that I won't draw a real check until March 12, long after my truck has been repossessed and my lights have been turned off at home.

In closing, they have everything spelled out in the drivers manual, and pretty much anything that goes wrong is the drivers fault, and you have to have your DM's approval to go to the bathroom, it seems, yet, no pay. If you have any questions, I will quote you straight from this book, because I don't want to be called a liar. I hope it works out here, because I have heard that if you quit, they will put something on your DAC, even if you bring the truck back to Florida, and even if you give them plenty of notice. I know this was a long post - so thanks for bearing with me. Y'all take it easy out there.

 

Ok, my only load for the first week, after orientation was Leesburg, FL to Pageland, SC.

Ok, it was Friday night about 9pm when I got empty there. I deadheaded to Raeford, NC, whereupon my load wasn't ready until 4 pm on Saturday. Then I had a delivery in Mt. Pleasant, Pa on Monday, and a stop in Cleveland, OH and two stops in Columbus, OH on Tuesday. The load pd 85 mt and 818 loaded. I drove 30 miles over on this trip, but if I had followed their routing 100%, I would have been over by 100.

On Tuesday, I deadhead to Anderson, IN and picked up a load and delivered in West Palm Beach on Thursday. This load paid 156 mt and 1136 loaded. I drove 52 miles for free on this one,again taking shortcuts when possible.

On Thursday, after delivery, I stared at the Qualcomm for 5 hours and then took a 2 mile walk to subway, grabbed a sandwich and walked 2 miles back. I was instructed to head to the Miami, FL terminal and spend the night.

On Friday, I was told that I wouldn't get out of there until at least 3 pm, so I hiked 2 miles to a subway down there, grabbed my sandwich for the day, and hiked back. At 3:30pm, just in time for killer traffic, I was given a load of flowers and told to bring them straight to Okahumpka, FL for a team that was waiting to take them to Dallas. That paid 67 mt and 261 load, which I was able to obtain.

The total for the week, is 2523 miles, and at $.32, is roughly $807.36, and my 3 extra stops makes it $837.36, but I took a $150 advance, which drops it to $657.36, and I had a scale and a toll amounting to $23.85, which brings the total to $681.21 before taxes, roughly. NOT A GOOD WEEK IN MY ESTIMATION!!! I expect at least 3000 miles, as a minimum, EVERY WEEK. I did lots of sitting, the monotony only broken when I took a long walk, as I am trying to lose weight.

Today is Saturday and I am sitting in the truck typing this message. I went inside and they said they would have a load for me today, and if not, definitely tommorow. It just so happens that my DM drew the straw to work today, so I guess I got some face time, but all I did was tell him that I wanted to work - I am not good at small talk and butt kissing,etc...
I thought I would write up my truck, b/c the A/C isn't working, but then my DM told me that I would definitely be sitting here all weekend if I did that, and that he'd have me a run. I shouldn't need the A/C for a few more weeks anyways. I logged a 34 restart in Miami, so maybe I should get the A/C fixed when I come in here and I am out of hours.

Anyways, that is the details of the first week, a long week, with not much driving, but at least I didn't wreck or screw up anything, thank God. I drove about 80 miles for free this week, and with the 40 last week, that is a total of 120 free miles I have driven so far. See how all of this adds up?