Companies and DAC

Wulf, DAC is indeed discouraging, and I think it should be put to sleep permanently. However, this isn't going to happen anytime soon, so we have to live with it. Be aware that companies do use (abuse) DAC to take away former drivers' opportunities to move on to better things. With this unfortunate reality, you have to make sure you play by the rules while driving, no matter the company you work for. You should always abide by their policies no matter how angry they may make you. When you quit a company you should turn in your truck at a company terminal and have it checked by shop personnel who will sign off a sheet stating it's fine and dandy. Be sure you and the shop both have copies of this sheet. This will give you the ammo and firepower you may need later if the company decides to ream your DAC report for no reason and you then have to sue [them.]

Always cover your rear when it comes to DAC. Many a vindictive company will try to enact revenge against you if you quit 'em. And most of these just can't resist using DAC as a weapon to do exactly that. We drivers have to live with this or get out of trucking. I myself got out and DAC was a BIG reason why I got out.

 

I have 4 reports on my DAC and they all say "review required before rehire", All of them I did nothing wrong, did not quit under a load or anything like that. simply told the dispatcher I was quiting and please route me home ASAP. accept for one and that would be JB Hunt, I was leasing the truck therefor it was my fuel and long as I wasn't under a load I could go anywhere I wanted (via contract). After my load I told them I was quiting and bobtail from SC to IN cleaned out the truck. Old JB put all kinds of negative things on my DAC, Unsatisfactory safety record and a few other things. Never did I have any accident call in or anything, the only thing I had was 3 log violations (and they was week at that) in a YEAR i was with them, hardly grounds for a unsatisfactory safety record claim. Took me about 1.5 months "after I found out it was on there" to have DAC do a rebuttal and have JB remove it.. Now it just shows I terminated the lease.. Very scary companies can put anything they want on there without any proof.. They should have to show proof before they are allowed to put it on your DAC not after a driver complained. That would be a fair system, the way they have it now is not a fair reporting system.. Its guilty till proven innocent with the way DAC reports.

 

I agree with you. There's no fair reporting when it comes to DAC, and truck drivers are guilty until proven innocent. This is because there is really a driver surplus, not a driver shortage. Companies can treat drivers as if they are disposible because when one walks out, another will step into his place pretty quickly. If there were a driver shortage, companies would be treating their drivers like gold, not to mention the fact we'd be seeing shortages of truck-delivered goods all over the economy, from groceries to gasoline. But we don't see drivers treated like gold, nor do we see shortages on store shelves now do we?

 

Thanks info Tip.They were actually calling and sending me postcards up until the 1st of the year.I guess they realized i was'nt that hard up for a job as they thought.What shocked me was that swift had'nt put anything on my Dac and i left them back in July of 06 due to an unsafe Trainer(his daily diet consisted of mountain dew and no doze)because while i was driving he would be on his phone or watching tv when he was susposed to be resting.

 

I called JB today just to have a little fun... I asked them about why was the negative things put on my DAC and so on... Anyways I found out that the dispatcher (fleet manager) is the one who puts the things on your DAC..
WOW I freaked out,,,, Cannot believe a dispatcher can be allowed to report things to DAC.... this is not right at all and proves what I said earlier.. they need to prove it before it goes on the DAC...
Cause lets face it.. you get pissed cause your dispatcher has been lying to you and all the great things they do to drivers.. You quit and they call DAC to screw you...
Now I understand totally why this crap ends up on peoples DAC... The dispatcher who you just told to stick it and messed his driver retention record up for the month, is allowed to screw you back on your DAC.....

THATS MESSED UP

 

I never knew that driver managers are able to post info to DAC about former drivers. Well, live with it or get out. Or be united enough to file a class action lawsuit against DAC for being a party to the great DAC charade, not to mention being one COLOSSAL invasion of privacy. You truck drivers allow that ####, so it is allowed to continue. This is another reason I quit truckin'. Drivers aren't unified enough to go on strike for two minutes, let alone two weeks. It'd take about two weeks of sitting trucks to turn things around in the screwed-up industry that is today's trucking. I guess I don't have to say that trucking company stockholders LOVE DAC.

Yeah, I get riled up over DAC, you better believe it. If the common car driver had some sort of database tracking his every job move, there'd be riots in the streets. I myself have to put up with BS because my trucking brethren don't have the backbones to stand up and say "NO"? No thanks. I'll stay out until you guys (or the generation coming up that is gonna shove you aside) decide enough is enough.

No one can do a thing to you that you don't want him to do.

I've said it a million times and I'll say it one more time--DAC isn't about safety. It's about controlling drivers who drive for DAC companies so those drivers' choices will be limited. When drivers' choices are limited, they are more apt to accept abuse and chicken-feed pay.

 

I have seen it mentioned in several forms that I have visited during my time checking out if wife and I should get our CDL's, but what is DAC?

dave

 

DAC is like a credit report only DAC records your employment history. It will list the dates you worked at a company & if you are eligible for rehire and some other general information. Many drivers (like anyone, not just drivers) try to leave out a company they worked for because they maybe had several accidents so the DAC is a way to help prove who you worked for or didn’t.
Whoever does the termination on the driver should make the statement whether or not they are eligible for rehire or not.

 

Supposedly, DAC serves a great purpose. If only. Drivers who have had several benders of fenders or other CDL infractions may (and will) lie about those on applications. Trucking companies can use DAC to find the "truth" about those drivers, at least in theory.

The problem is some companies will use DAC to either enact revenge on a driver or attempt to take away his choices so he will be "stuck" at a certain company. This takes the form of the company posting highly subjective info on a driver's DAC that damages said driver's future job prospects in the trucking industry.

DAC serves to keep drivers in line through fear. This fear keeps drivers honest and may make them safer drivers. The problem, of course, is that sometimes company insiders use DAC as a weapon outside the realm of safety. And THAT is what I have a problem with. If a driver deserves to have his DAC trashed, that's one thing. If he's the victim of vindictiveness, that is quite another.