Abilene Motor Express....A New Place To Call Home

Can’t wait to see how this plays out. I will give it until my vacation in August.

 

It started out as slow. In fact the first 2 years after the takeover, it was fine. There were a couple of changes that actually made sense. Went from bi-weekly payroll to weekly, they put us in with Knights 401K plan, which is with the number one rated administrator, came out with a new monthly bonus, and even got 2 raises in 6 weeks. But since then it’s gone steadily down hill. The number one problem the last 3 years? Operations. Period. They hire non trucking people to work in operations, they hand out titles like it’s candy, they spend money foolishly, like putting in a pad as you come into the gate that the driver rolls over that’s suppose to record tread depth and record the trailer number to see if it’s due for an inspection. 1 year later, no one knows what to do with it. They set up a Knight shop where they try to attract outside people to have their trucks worked on. That’s just a few of the issues. Our training department, which I was a part of for years is in the toilet. Orientation is an ongoing joke. It’s obvious if you can pass the bare minimum requirements to drive a class 8 vehicle, you’ve got a job. They do nothing to attract seasoned drivers. In fact, if you’ve followed along, I make no bones about why I’m here. Less than 18 months and I’m history. For what I drive every year, take off a week a month which equates to working 9 months a year, and run where I want to, I’m good. I know for a fact they can get 2 drivers for the price of me.

I’ve never been one to chase a dollar. I make what I need. My wife makes as much as I do. Our house is paid for. Kids are grown and out. The only “liability” we have is our Lab Ollie. Trust me when I say this, I heard many years ago, you’re only as good as your last load. Luckily for me, and with God’s watchful eye over me, I’ve given Abilene/Knight/Swift/Barr-Nunn/AAA Cooper/US Express and whatever else they bought since I’ve been here, 10 years of impeccable service, 100% OTD, accident free, ticket free and have never turned down a load.

I tell my wife every day, there is a perfect storm brewing at 1700 Willis Rd in Richmond, the economy sucks, trucking is taking a beating, and no one at the mothership took the initiative to pound the streets to get more freight. Yeah, we are owned by a multibillion dollar corporation that’s sitting on a ton of cash, but at the end of the day, how much bleeding can happen before the plug is pulled? Like I said, as long as what I have here and need in order to justify me being gone for 3 weeks doesn’t change, then I’ll finish here. But, if things really go down the crapper, I have no problem going someplace else, or just retiring a little early.

 

Thanks. I still have patience and a little time left. And, I still enjoy my job, not the industry, but my job. So I’m quite sure I’ll have things to expound on.