Ok I quit, but I’ll be back…. Maybe

Chi Town Steers · May 10, 2025 at 4:26 PM

gentleroger said: ↑

The problem is you weren't dealing with "The Man". You were dealing with a peon that you didn't work for. Heck, you don't even really work for the peon that is/was your DBL - they work for you as much as you work for them, it's a bio feed back loop.

The ops manager that oversees your DBL is a Glorified Peon, as is the Safety Critter Manager. The division manager that oversees them is an Exalted Peon. It's not until you get to the Regional VP above them that you start dealing with "The Man". I'll grant you they all have more knowledge and skills than you do, but that's a function of experience - not power or ability. Experience that you could have gained.

You had a pay issue, I'm not really clear on the details but accept that you got screwed with no lube. It happened to me too - I was out for my first two weeks, came home a picked up my pay stub for my first week and almost had an aneurysm. First thing on Monday I'm on the horn to my DBL with a WTF! He explained how I was misreading my paystub, what per diem was and how that was screwing me, then got me off it. OVer my first year I missed out on a lot of pay because of things I was not doing. Little things like asking for routing points and letting my DBL know when I went on trailer searches after hours/weekends. He can't make sure I'm getting all the accessory pay if he doesn't know I did the work.

On one memorable occasion I was delivering into the Oconomowoc Roundys DC with an O'Dark-Thirty appointment. The night before I made it to the Mendota Road Ranger. At the time it was a Pilot dealer, but without showers - which I didn't know until I got there. In the morning I elected to move up to the Beloit Pilot 70 miles closer to delivery. That would let the batteries charge without incurring idle time, let me shower and still allow a 10 before I had to leave to deliver. Had I stayed in Mendota, I would have been automatically paid layover. If I'd talked to my DBL ahead of time, I could have made the move and still gotten layover. I took it on the chin and moved on a little smarter.

A couple of weeks after that I was sent into Bay Valley foods in Rochelle, IL. I arrived at 1600 for what I thought was a 1700 appointment. Bay Valley told me it was a 1900 appointment, my 14 ended at 2000. And they were running behind. Bay Valley said I couldn't sleep on the property, so I called Support Shift to let them know I needed to leave. They put me on hold and 'called the customer', then told me they had secured permission to overnight on the property. I pushed back and was told "tough noogies, you aren't allowed to leave until you deliver". My clock expired in the dock, I snuck into a dock. A couple hours later, security wakes me up and tells me to leave the property. I say I'm out of hours and "XXX" told me I could stay on the property. Security said "XXX" doesn't have the authority to say that and the other drivers are going up the road to the Petro. I say I have an AOBR, he says I need to leave "OR ELSE". I comply like a little #####, so tired, stressed by the AOBR squawking like an aggrieved mother-in-law and petrified about going to jail for being rear ended outside the HOS I began driving the 10 miles to the Petro. A mile down the road I spotted a truck repair yard, sneak in and restart my ten. In the morning, I call in stressed about being fired for the HOS violation, but I didn't driver far enough, fast enough to trigger drive time so my DBL said "no worries" and "sorry for your troubles". I'm all
View attachment 555464

A month or so later I have another O-Dark-Thirty appointment on Saturday at the DG in Moorehead, KY that I could be at by 11:00. I send in messages asking for an earlier appointment or to set up a drop, my DBL talks to CS and tells me to call back in the morning, but he would pay out layover if I can't deliver early. I get up early and power into the truck stop that is down the road, park and call in. DBL Robbie condescendingly says "you might as well head in and try since you started your clock and we're screwed". I tell him I have time to take a full 10 and still make OTD, so that becomes the plan. As we end the call I tell Robbie that I'm going to need to know which direction to head in because there won't be parking when I'm done at 0300 and if I don't have a pre I'm going to move to the Pilot 75 miles west. 0300 comes and I don't have a pre-assignment, so I take a swing through the truck stop down the road and
View attachment 555467 - no parking. I mean who would have thought that all 30 spots at the only truck stop within 75 miles of a Dollar General DC would be full at 0300. So I drive the 75 miles west to the pilot, turn up the volume of the QC to max and lay down. 0600 I get a pre-assignment telling me to move 30 miles down the road for a 0700 appointment. The problem is it's 30 miles EAST of DG, aka 105 miles from where I'm at and I need to pee before I can leave. Send in the MAC 18, pee and get coffee, and am just about to release the breaks when Schneider calls asking "WTF, you were available at 0300, why aren't you going to make on time pick up?". I calmly explained the scenario and told them that if they had assigned the load at 0300 I would have made different decisions. They responded "you need to call in before running more than 5 miles OOR". I tell them to check the tapes and ask if they still want me to roll on the load. Monday morning my DBL gets MF'd by weekend Ops, digs into things then calls me that afternoon and tells me "Atta boy, I'm adding the routing point for the extra miles and tossing in a trailer search for your trouble". Then asked what a 'trailer search' was (more on that later).

I got screwed on the Roundy's load because I didn't know any better.

I got screwed on the Bay Valley load because I allowed myself to be screwed. I should have stood my ground. First with Support Shift and the Recieving Clerk - either getting written permission overriding the "no overnight parking" or leaving with the load. Secondly with the security guard. My response to him should have been "XXX gave me permission to overnight here, I'm out of hours so I'll need a tow. Before my company will authorize a tow you'll either need to contact them or call in LEOs to trespass me. Which route do you want to take?" Odds are, the security guard is going to back down.

On the DG load I was proactive, and got paid.

A year later the bonus metrics changed. It was problematic on many levels. I had a conversation with my DBL who basically said

Then I sent an email to my Division Manager and started perusing other jobs. Nuno brought me in for a conversation (paying out layover that I wasn't technically entitled to), then put me in touch with Office Orifices which resulted in Enterprise wide changes and put me on the Driver Advisory Council, which led to me being a member of the Technology Test Group, which led to other opportunities.

TLDR - As you're starting you're going to take a few on the chin. You either learn to keep your gloves up and effectively counter punch or you're going to be a punching bag.
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Yabba dabba doo! Safe to say that you’ve taken a few on the chin! Thanks for the trip down memory lane and for sharing your lumps and bruises. Never heard of any of those programs you mentioned.

Sabrina1027 · May 11, 2025 at 1:35 AM

lual said: ↑

Something else to consider at this point....

Those in the business world are suggesting that with the tariffs taking effect -- the bottom may well fall out of the freight market.

Thus...later on...it may be very difficult (or even impossible) to "come back" to ANY carrier -- especially with under a year of class-A experience.

Suggestion: instead of quitting outright -- put in for a transfer to another type of freight &/or account (if your tenure there makes you eligible).

Schneider has SO MANY DIFFERENT OPTIONS.

I would normally suggest looking at intermodal -- but the tariffs situation makes that likely a bad idea.

Have you tried Schneider's tanker fleet, yet?

I see ads for them repeatedly -- & that's probably a great way to sidestep the tariff problem.

If you're already in the tanker fleet -- ask for another account.

-- L
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This is actually the case. Under the new tariff policy, logistics in the United States will only become more and more complicated, and the drivers on the front line of logistics will always suffer.

Chi Town Steers · May 11, 2025 at 2:05 AM

Sabrina1027 said: ↑

This is actually the case. Under the new tariff policy, logistics in the United States will only become more and more complicated, and the drivers on the front line of logistics will always suffer.
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Yeah I made a little more than minimum wage but when you factor in no overtime then it’s just barely over minimum wage. I don’t think tariffs had anything to do with that because my wage was set before tariffs were ever announced.

77fib77 · May 14, 2025 at 9:40 PM

Chi Town Steers said: ↑

Yeah I made a little more than minimum wage but when you factor in no overtime then it’s just barely over minimum wage. I don’t think tariffs had anything to do with that because my wage was set before tariffs were ever announced.
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Why not SNI tankers at this point?

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