From UPS to Mom and Pop Company?

Some mom and pop companies are good. Some are not. I have worked for each. I can say the one I worked for that was good, if I ever decide to go company driver again that is the one that I am going to go back with. When I had issues with my pay the guy would quickly get them resolved. He eventually took care of the dispatcher who was causing said issues with my pay. It is hard to leave a company where you have it really well whether you leave on your own or even get terminated and go somewhere else and realize the money isn't what you were making where you were at.

 

At this moment a lot of the mom and pops are struggling if not going completely under. I started my career at a mega carrier. After a year landed what I thought was a nice mom and pop gig (9 truck fleet) only to now find Myself on the job hunt again. More specifically the mom and pops will NOT have the benefits you may be accustomed to. I had no medical, dental, vision, no 401k, no vacation time etc. But I'm a single person age 51 with adult children. The moms and pops are more suited for drivers without a family that need benefits in my personal opinion and the pay was comparable to that of a bigger company that DOES have benefits‍♀️. It sounded great to me at the time also because the mega carrier left such a bad taste in my mouth. I'm hoping to land at a mid size company now, not too big, not too small. Just my $0.02, lol. Good luck driver

 

Similiar exp for me driver. Moved from a mega to a small 9 truck fleet. Asked (but NOT asked)to advance loads on PC, do work in off- duty status, had out sourced, commission paid, chicago based dispatcher whose only criteria for booking loads was 'the best rate' whether it fit into driver hos or not, (I honestly don't believe he even understood how driver clocks worked)etc etc, on and on. No benefits what so ever and same pay as a mega. I jumped on board because it was a salary driving position (sounds great right!) But quickly started to eek its way up to 3400 miles a week and MORE which broke down to less than 40cpm. Last week I was in there truck I drove 3900 miles for $1200 before taxes!!!

 

I have worked my logs both ways. Logging as much of what the book says is "on duty" as off duty is the way to maximize the amount of time left for driving. Then on the other hand I have logged "on duty" for things that frankly werent so I would run out of hours in a place I wanted to be (like HOME for example).

I can see reasoning for either/both. Yeah, if you are on "salary", then frankly there is no incentive to even move (dont know how come I have so many flat tires boss...). But they want you to do nothing BUT move.

Simple fact is they cant (legally) tell you how to log. If they start changing your logs on you, keep paper records.

 

I saw where you inquiring about Climate Express on their thread. Check into FCC also. Their drivers seem to be happy and you wouldn’t work the crazy hours you have with reefer freight.

 

The last run I made on their truck (1800 miles up to WA, then 1900 miles to texas) they actually DID try to change my logs. I got a call from one of the owners telling me he was about to send me log edits that I needed to accept. When it was legitimate on duty AND DRIVING time!!! He got all huffy when i refused to accept the edits. That was my last run

 

And yes we had drivers with that mentality but I definitely wasn't one of them. I drove over 3000 miles a week most weeks on recaps, very seldom lying came home, etc. But I do get it. I've definitely done my share if dock work off duty, pretrial mechanical work. Never minded that kind of stuff. But if I've ran over 3500 miles and you STILL want to edit my drive clock, it's time to go

 

Thanks driver. I appreciate that!

 

I know this is a little old but different UPS locations have separate pensions. I've been told that's the largest issue with transfer language.

One of the drivers I used to meet was going to get about $4000 more a month at 35 years than I would get. To do that his supplement gave back some raises so he made about $3 less an hour than I make. There are probably 20 supplements around the country so it could be a pain keeping up with everything if transfers anywhere were allowed.