Bestway Express Vincennes, IN

Email me and I can get you any information you'd like bud. jonathan.vennard@bestwayexpress.com I'm currently at home, don't have the DOT number off hand, but I'll be in the office in the morning and can share so you can look us up.

Hope all is well, look forward to hearing from you.

Jonathan

 

email sent. Thanks for replying to the thread.

 

Had an interview today, nice folks.

Here's the Safestat info:
http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/SafeStat/CarrierOverview.asp?DOT=223377

I'm working from memory and the bad notes I made so don't take this as gospel. Pay is 32 cpm with a a 1.5 CPM quarterly bonus for safe driving, no tickets, and on time delivery (IIRC safety is 1 cpm and service is .5). .5 CPM raises at 90 and 180 days. Canada border crossings pay $30 each way. I didn't ask about stop off, detention, or breakdown pay. Did not ask about idle policy (I've never had trouble anywhere I worked with idle rules).

 

Went to orientation Monday morning. It was the first time through for the new instructor so we did a lot of thumb twiddling throughout while they figured out what to do next.

Monday mostly was devoted to getting pee tests and physicals (including a mild pre-work screening), doing paperwork (application and benefits), and a road test in that order. The volvo we used had the mushiest tranny I've ever driven (could not feel the gate or the gears) but I got through it. Health insurance is pricey and kinda weak. Dental, vision, disability, and life were all good.

Tuesday was the classroom day. We covered how to use the quallcom system and do their payroll paperwork along with the usual painful 20 year old safety videos. Safety director came in. They want paper that is legal. Fuel stops have to match. They do not cross reference the quallcom. He did have some interesting things to say about CSA 2010.

Wednesday we met the head of Operations (talked about the direction of the business) and the outgoing head of Maintenance. We met our Fleet Managers (ie dispatcher).

We were issued trucks Wed. afternoon. The folks who are going to based elsewhere were told their truck numbers but had to pick them up at their home base. I got a 2001 FLD with about 950k on the ticker (red top cummins 10 speed). Interior was very thoroughly cleaned (I could have done without the armor all on the floor). I think most folks got similar aged Volvos. They had us look em over and take them for a test drive and then the shop fixed any bugs.

Better than expected: They fed us well. Had some nice subs catered in Monday for lunch, they took us to Montana mikes (steakhouse) Tuesday lunch, Wednesday they took us to a local place for breakfast. Since the shop was running behind getting our trucks ready they took us to Montana Mikes again for lunch on Wednesday. We got hotel breakfasts and were on our own for supper (we took a company car to the hotel and were free to use it to chase down supper)

The downers: I was told by the recruiter they had a parking location arranged with a business in Terre Haute where I could park the rig. That was a big part of why I chose them over my other job offer (which required me to park the rig 85 miles away). They don't. I'm parking at home for now but that's not going to be a long term winner.

Also I'd have been better off taking a starter kit for the truck than relying on being sent home on Wednesday night to move in to the truck.

Took the truck home wednesday night, moved in.

Thursday morning picked up an empty in Vincennes, drop and hook in Evansville for a meet and swap Fri AM in Jackson, MI.
Friday morning sat for a couple of hours, got a broker load from Fremont, OH to Hopkinsville, KY. First time I've ever dealt with a broker load. I'm going to need a better cell phone plan (4 calls # appx 5 minutes each).
Saturday morning unload in Hopkinsville, pick up in Princeton for a Monday 8am delivery in Xenia OH. Spent a couple of hours pestering weekend dispatch for a pickup number before the shipper would turn over the load.

 

Updates: We've got the parking situation straightened out. I've got a spot to drop the trailer and I'm parking the tractor at the house. They use per diem pay which I wasn't told or didn't catch. They deduct $59 a day and then give it back to you as a reimbursement. It's not a big deal, it's just a surprise. Idle standard is 45%. I believe a few rigs in the fleet have APUs and I assume the idle standard is different for them. They pay tolls. They'd prefer you find a toll-free way but they don't have any roads that are excluded.

Wasn't home long enough to get a reset so I was 70 hrs constrained most of the week.

Started the week Monday delivering to Xenia, OH. Had a hiccup along the way, fuel card wasn't turned on,spent about 15 minutes trying to figure out if I was doing it wrong then 5-10 minutes on the phone with dispatch. Moral of the story, fuel the first time during office hours when you have time to kill. Typical grocery warehouse. Crazy high lumper fee and four hour wait. Deadheaded to Georgetown, Ky, stopped at a vendor to get a trailer light fixed, and spent the night at the Peelot.

Tuesday hauled to Lansing, MI. Consignee had about half a dozen Bestway trailers, all of which had freight on them. Closest to empty was a third full. After a couple of hours waiting for the normal unloading process they pulled the trailer from the door and shuffled the rest of the freight to somebody else's empty and sent me on my way. Next load was interesting. Headed to a couple of small Amish farms near Reading MI. Get to the first one, they said I needed to load at the other one first. So pull out of the driveway I had so painfully backed into and head down the road to the other one who of course said I needed to go to the other one first. Nobody has phones so.... I backed out went down the road and found a place to "go around the block" and went back to farm one. I get it very carefully back into the driveway and up to the barn. Then we have to wait for the "English" guy running the skid steer. The kids entertained themselves a while asking me questions but eventually went back to their chores. So an hour or so later the skid steer arrives and the fun of loading commences. Lots of little amish and critters running around. So I tried to keep an eye out for him. Only had to stop him once amazingly enough. About 4 1/2 hours was eaten. Spent the night in Fremont, IN.

Wed morning saw a Star (IL) driver have an oops. Cut it too tight turning right out of the Pilot and got hung up on a yellow pole blocking a good part of the state road. Bombed across US 20 to I-94 (they will reimburse the toll road, but it'd be a $20 dollar loan and I left early so US 20 wasn't too bad). Delivered to Thomson, IL (happening place). Deadheaded to South Beloit, IL wasted about half a mile backtracking because of a missing street sign. Spent the night in South Beloit.

Left out at about 2 am so got down I-90 to I-39 without any grief. fueled in Bloomington, Il and delivered in Princeton, KY. Bombed over to Cadiz, KY grabbed a preloaded and bedded down in Hopkinsville, KY.

Friday was a pretty sucky day. Delivered and picked up in Hopkinsville KY and Princeton, IN. Was pulling a 53' single drop with fixed tandems near the tail. Between bad directions and my own mistakes spent way too much time jockeying the truck out of various fixes. Then blew 4-5 hours with the usual live load baloney.

Got to Vincennes dropped the loaded trailer and got a small exhaust leak fixed, I had called ahead and they had two guys waiting on me when I pulled in. Had preloaded coming to go thru the house to Chicago on a monday delivery (ie about 56 hours at home). Just before they got it done the phone rings and my FM (dispatcher) asks if I'll take a run to London, KY for morning delivery and then straight back and pick up my Chicago load. Had about 1900 miles for the week so I agreed. Grabbed the preloaded, ran like heck, and got to the truck stop in London around 11 that night. Crawled in the bunk and passed out.

Delivered the pumpkins way too early Saturday morning then boogied back to drop the empty and snag my Chicago preload which has directions that look suspiciously like a copy and paste from a website like mapblast or google maps.

Total for the week was about 2500 miles.

 

Well, another week licked, started with a full 70 and I ran just short of 3000 miles this week (though I'm home empty so I'll be starting next week at 0 miles).

It has its ups and downs. Biggest beefs are time wastes (too few preplans, too many inefficient live loads/unloads, and bad directions). Just bought a TND700 so hopefully that will help with the directions. I'm pretty wiped so I'll skip the travelogue for now.

 

So, started the week with a nice little trip to Chicago. The directions were accurate other than they sent me to the street one block before the correct one. I had wondered about the directions sending me to 43rd when the address was on 44th, but looked at google street view and there were docks for the correct company on 43rd so I figured the directions were sending me to the back of the building where the docks were. Get there and blindside into the recessed bay. Head inside and it turns out they have two warehouses, one on 43rd, one on 44th. So I pull out and cut through the alley to 44th and then get to the correct place. 45 minutes or so later and I am free.

Next run was South Beloit, IL to Princeton, KY. I had almost empty pockets so I got to south Beloit on I-290 and US 20, nothing too unpleasant but it took forever. Picked up a preloaded in South Beloit and headed south. Fueled, scaled, and took my 10 in Bloomington.

Tuesday morning was very windy, even with 38k in the box I was getting pushed around a lot. The weather alert on my CB was chirping all morning long from Severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings but I stayed dry the whole trip. Get there, get dropped, call hq to try to shake loose a load and the power is out there so they are dead in the water. So I put my bobtail somewhere out of the way and grab the current paperback. Right after that the storm caught up with me so I spent the next couple of hours reading a Kyle Mills thriller to the soundtrack of the wind and rain.

Finally got a load from Evansville, IN to Detroit. Drop and hook on both ends. Delivered that early Wed morning. Next load has two pickups, one in north Detroit, one in South Bend, and goes to Nashville IL. Got the pickups done and took my 10 in South Bend.

Got to Nashville good and early with a plan to get empty and then run another 3-4 hours. I had even stopped and called early in the day to shake the load tree. That plan went out the window when I got to the consignee. Three hours, one reconsignment, and two #$$#*(^s later I finally got free. Went over to the little truckstop and hung out for half an hour. Quallcom finally beeped with a load from Nashville to Grand Rapids , MI. Headed over and these folks were slow as well, but at least they were pleasant. So I get my bills with 30 minutes to go on my 14.

Headed up to michigan early in the morning and got to the customer easily enough (directions took me to the Theological book publishing society headquarters, the auto parts warehouse I was going to was half a mile or so up the road). Played "Who wants to unload a truck?" with the dock personnel (I got some lovely parting gifts). Snagged a broker load from Ludington, MI to Evansville, IN. I got it picked up then took my 10 in a rest area jut north of Muskegon and pestered my FM about my hometime request for Monday (I had asked Monday for Sunday and Monday to be my weekend so I could take care of some personal matters on Monday during normal business hours). My load was delivering a hundred miles from home at 10 am Monday and then the preplan was going to have me hotfooting it to Michigan for a Monday night relay. My FM was embarrassed he had forgotten about it and jumped on it. So I wound up relaying my load in Vincennes and will pick up a load Tuesday somewhere around Indy.

 

The word for the week is: pain

Left the house Tuesday morning for a 5 stop 700 mile load with scheduled delivery times scattered across 3 days. Managed to get it done Wednesday afternoon but the truck was due for a PM. I expected they'd route me to Vincennes sometime in the next week or so. Nope. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Sent me to a vendor in Fort Wayne. Arrive at 4:45, they close at 5. Head over to a rather nasty truckstop and spend the night and head back Thursday morning. They finish with me about 10:30. Call, write, and wait. They message back and ask if I can stay out for the weekend. About noon get set up to do a meet and swap with a guy who needs to get home. The run has decent miles (Ft Wayne to Greenville, SC) and I even got a preplan for a 1500 mile round trip follow up . Guy arrives around 2:00 PM and I take off. Get to Greenville,SC and have to hunt for a parking spot at 1:30 AM.

Take off Friday and hunt down the chemical warehouse. That goes better than expected and I am empty in about half an hour. Head to Spartanburg and have the first GPS failure. I assume I'm not the first sent that way since the small residential street street had large "dead end" and "no trucks" signs. Make a guess and head into the industrial park drive down the street and find the place in a couple tries (remember when businesses used to put their name on the building?). Get there and everyone in shipping is at lunch. Wait dutifully and tell the shipping clerk what I'm there for and after half an hour of "who's on first" the hive mind concludes they don't have a load for me. Call in and kick over the anthill at dispatch. They tell me to hang tight while they call the customer. After about 2 hours without a quallcom beep or a call I call back and start getting a bit pushy .

Got a broker load to Iowa City, Iowa to run through the house. Just got in and will leave Sunday (delivery appointment Monday 06:00). I won't get a reset but I didn't use very many hours this week.

 

Thanks for the updates DonRobbie. Try to enjoy your quick hometime!

 

What a week.

left Sunday and stopped at the Iowa 80 truckstop for the night. I had never been, so now I can say that I have. blew $5 in the store (bought covers/extenders for the jake and cruise switches, one of which has since broken). Probably won't go again.

Monday: Iowa City delivery was relatively painless.

Next load was a broker load with pickups in Marion Ia and Mendota, Ill and drops in Evansville, IN and Bagdad, KY. Get to Marion and the place only has 3 doors. All are full. So I sign in and then grab a door when one comes open. A Russian arrives right after me with a delivery and then about half an hour later another driver with a pick up. The other two doors open about simultaneously and the other driver heads for his truck. The Russian had to borrow a bolt cutter to remove the seal so he got out there a few minutes later. Well apparently when the Russian was backing in the shuttle truck showed up. The dock manager told him to move his truck out of the door so they could get the shuttle truck in. The Russian told him he'd been waiting an hour and wasn't moving. That started a screaming match that ended with the Russian pulling a knife and going after the dock manager. So I had to wait a couple of hours while the cops cuffed and stuffed the Russian, interviewed the "victim" and the witnesses, and everyone csaid "I can't believe he did that".

After that the pickup in Mendota was positively anticlimactic. Made it to a rest area in Central illinois.

Tuesday was spent getting the drops off the truck. Started at 5 am and finished the last drop about 4 pm. Was given two load assignments. One a 40 mile round trip run to a live unload appointment at a grocery warehouse at 11pm tuesday night, the next a multi pickup run starting with a 9:30 am Wed about 20 miles away. Called night dispatch and said I can't make an 11 PM appointment work and was told they would probably put somebody else on it. Got the OK to disconnect from the trailer and put the truck in the shop to get the muffler replaced.

Wednesday morning went back to the drop lot to grab my empty and start my run and the loaded trailer that was supposed to be shagged last night was still sitting next to my empty, Called dispatch and said "I think a ball got dropped." The gal I talked to was rather ##### but I haven't heard any more of it. Had one pick up on Lexington, two in Louisville, and one in Lebanon and then delivered in Madisonville. If it hadn't been for a very patient V-Tran driver I'd probably still be trying to figure out how to get turned around and to the dock at the second Louisville pickup. The fork lift driver got to the end of his shift and left with about ten rolls of fabric still on the truck so I packed those off and hunted down a supervisor to sign the bills. Went to Evansville, IN and bedded down.

Thursday had what should have been a decent run. Drop and hook both ends Evansville, IN to Detroit, MI. Was a midday pickup so I had time to sleep without an alarm clock and catch a shower in the morning. Would have been OK except that the shipper took 4 hours to come up with bills for the preloaded.

Friday picked up in Warren, MI going to Evansville, In Monday AM and am preassigned to pick up in Evansville midday to go to Jackson, Mi. Got 50 miles from home and we come to a stop as the firetrucks and cops blow by. A trucker had crashed in the median leading to the shutdown of both sides of I-70. After an hour or so they turned us around on a Median crossover. Backtracked about 5 miles and drove the last hour home on skinny roads.

I was really, really glad to set the brakes at the house.