Seward Motor Freight, Seward, Ne.

Hello everyone..I have been approved by Seward and Crete, but im undecided which one to work for. I currently work local but it has slowed to the point where they are not hiring anyone to replace anyone that quits,and was wondering which might be the better choice? Any opinions will be considered, and plz don't be afraid of offending me with the facts..lol, thanks!

 

I trained with Crete Carrier out of school prior to transferring over to the flatbed division, Hunt Transportation. Crete is a solid, established company with good equipment. Seward is established and as I live in Seward, I have learned that everyone is not on the "same page" so to speak. And visiting with a couple different drivers, some of the complaints were waiting for loads and low miles. But mind you there are certain areas of the country where freight is not always readily available for everyone, as down in and around Wilmer, TX (Crete terminal) it is at times difficult to get a load out of there. I speak from my experience only. But if I only had those two companies to choose from, I would have to choose Crete.

 

The following is my opinion.

I just quit Seward Motor Freight on February 25th, 2011. I will give you the good, the bad, and the ugly, and I will do it in that order. It is important to me to tell the whole truth exactly how things went down, and I will name names. And I will sign this post. Only cowards post anonymously in my opinion. I started work on July 15th, 2010 so my tenure at Seward lasted seven and a half months. First a little background on me. I worked as a company driver for a year out of CDL school, then bought a truck after that and ran as an O/O for two years
until my truck took a crap, so I went back to being a company driver with Seward. Everyone I interacted with at the Seward office and shop were pleasant. I did however meet some jerky drivers, and two in particular stood out the very first day I was assigned my truck. Upstairs in the driver's lounge these two guys were holding court about how aweful Seward was to their drivers, how "all you guys are settin' up to be screwed when you leave," and other foul garbage. Mind you, these were current, gainfully employed Seward drivers ripping their own company. I have very little patience for crybaby truckers so I gathered my stuff to head out. The last thing I remember hearing one of these two clowns say as I walked out the door was be ready to get hit with petty crap on your dac, you better make sure you take hundreds of pictures of your truck, better give a full two weeks notice, clean your truck good, etc., etc., etc. because the safety guy here will rip you to shreds on your dac when you depart. At the time I didn't catch the name of the guy they were talking about. I remember thinking to myself that ain't gonna happen to me because I keep my mouth and my left door shut and I bust my behind every day of the year.

My first truck was a 2004 Pete 379 that I really liked except it broke down about six or seven times in my first five weeks. Eventually they moved me into a 2007 Int'l 9400 that was a great truck and went six months without a breakdown. My driver manager was Mike, a total professional who was the best dispatcher I've ever had in trucking. When I learned I would be switched to one of the two other dispatchers, neither of which I was too thrilled about, I requested to stay on his board, and he said yes. Fantastic guy to work with and for. My other favorite person at Seward was Sharon, my payroll person. Wonderful lady, extremely competent, rarely made a payroll mistake, and in the rare case she ever did, it was handled the following Friday. Actually you couldn't go wrong with either payroll lady, as Mary Lou was great too. I was pretty happy with my miles too. Of course I ran a lot because I worked a lot. I requested five total home days in seven and a half months. That's right, that's not a typo, five total days. I worked all the time and I gave 100% of what I had to this company.

So that sums up the good: eventually got into a great truck, got some good miles, good all-around salt-of-the-earth Nebraska people, great dispatcher and payroll person. And one other thing. In fairness to Seward they did give me a one cent raise as promised after 90 days, and they paid all my earned bonuses.

Now for the bad. About six weeks or so ago I came into the terminal for a pm and one of the shop guys came to me and said there might be a rivet missing on my truck and the stack looked indented. I asked him to show me and sure enough the stack had a tiny dent about a quarter-inch from the very top and a rivet was missing on the right side panel, also at the very top. It is hard to say what caused it but a logical guess would be that I scraped a low hanging branch while delivering the load that very day. Why do I know that? Because the rivet wasn't missing when I PTI'd my truck that morning. And the stack was fine. So our assistant safety guy, Dave, tells me to go inside and write it up. So I do that and I ask if this is considered by Seward to be an accident. I'm told to go see Doyle in the body shop and we'll go from there. So late in the afternoon on a Friday I drive the tractor accross the lot for Doyle to look at. He leans a ladder up against the tractor, climbs up while I hold the ladder firmly for him, pulls a two cent rivet out of his shirt pocket, and air drills it into place. Then he pulls out his hammer and whacks the stack five or six times until the thing looks brand new. You'd never know a branch touched the truck, other than some cosmetic scratches that were denoted back last August by Karla (another good person) when I was assigned the truck. The whole deal took no more than a minute or two and a two cent part. Now I don't know about you but I do not believe that this rises to the level of a dac-reportable accident. Still I hadn't heard definitively that it wasn't and I was concerned. I pulled my truck back over to the shop, which was closed by this time, and out walked
Dave. I remember what he said to me like he just said it five seconds ago.

"Mark, don't worry about this, it's basically nothing. It's gonna end up being nothing."

I told him that sounded great to me, and thanked him for going out of his way to come over and tell me this. I was under a load so I skedattled on down the road like the matter was behind me, feeling pretty darn good, as I almost always am. I'm just a happy guy by nature.

Well fast forward four or so weeks and I give my full two weeks notice. Due to a family illness I needed to be closer to home. So my last day I finally get back to clean out my truck and mail box, and turn stuff in, and what magically appears in my mailbox? An accident. Written up. And get this. It is assigned a cost of $306.79! No kidding. For a rivet and several
whacks of a hammer... and two minutes of time. Can you believe it? I couldn't. Especially after I was told it was nothing. I'm driving down a truck-worthy road delivering Seward freight, scrape a branch (probably) that was most likely hanging 13'4" instead of 13'8", and that cost two cents and two minutes of time to reverse. In the last 48 hours I have spoken with numerous people about this, including two safety managers of other companies, all of whom say they would never list this on a driver's dac. One said he might consider it if the driver was a jerk or a bad employee. But the head of safety, Erich, said he would hire me back, and that every other department at Seward had reported back that I was an exemplary employee and they wanted me back also. I was told I was the only driver at Seward to hit the 12,000 mile bonus for December, 2010. I ran over Christmas. I regularly attended safety meetings, I received my safety bonus for the only full quarter I worked at Seward, Q4. I hit numerous mileage and idle time bonuses. I took great care of the equipment, as proven by my six month string of no repairs, which only happens if you PTI your truck often and properly. I have a CSA score of 10 and didn't add a single point to Seward's carrier score. I ran every load I was assigned and never #####ed about down time. I recovered three different trucks for Seward. I spent two hours cleaning my truck when it was assigned because the pig before me left garbage and some unidentifiable green ooze that no one had ever seen before. I spent another two hours spit-shining and vacuuming it on my final day. And I was never late even once to a shipper or a consignee. Ever. So it is a pretty safe bet that I wasn't considered a jerk or a bad employee.

Despite all this Erich has refused to reverse this decision.

And now it has morphed into something very, very ugly indeed. I was fortunate enough to find a dedicated job that would allow me to go through the house at least two or three times a week in addition to being home every Friday night through Sunday afternoon so I could look in on my dad. Sure it was a pay cut but nothing is more important than my family. It was a really lucky find with a good company. Normally drivers have to run elsewhere and wait for this account to open up. But Seward torpedoed me. Someone at the Seward office faxed to this carrier in respose to a request for driver history a letter stating not only did I incur an accident, but that it was unreported. I was set for orientation starting
Sunday but was called and told Thursday morning that I was no longer eligible for employment. So my family got kicked in the gut several weeks ago with the bad news of my dad's health, and Seward has now kicked me and my family twice while on the ground. My family is devastated. We are not well off people. We are hard workers just getting by. Most reputable companies will not hire a driver with a non-reported accident, and Erich is well aware of this fact. He knows exactly what this is doing to me and my family as I have explained it to him repeatedly. But not an ounce of compassion. Less common sense. And never once any concern that the dollar amount he was given was completely bogus. It appears to be a mere inconvenience that I was there to witness the entire one or two minutes spent on the truck. I begged him to look into this further and not take my word for it. Review the truck check-in paperwork to verify tree branch scratches were previously reported. Talk to the body shop. If need be, jog Doyle's memory of the repair by asking him about the big dude holding the ladder for you that time you replaced a rivet and hammered the stack. Verify with Cat that they did indeed jerry-rig a temporary wire clamp for the stack, another thing they listed on the work order that they shouldn't have. It's just frustrating because this is my life and I am not even getting promised return phone calls from Erich. It's as if you're an ex-employee now so we couldn't care less about you. This is not a 5000 truck company. This is a 100 truck company, located in a small midwest town, where people treat each other with respect, or so I was told.

I am not a vindictive guy. I don't sue. I don't threaten to sue. I don't have the money for that anyway. But I do believe in the Bible, and I do firmly believe in forgiveness. So I will forgive, and in time I will forget. The pain this has caused my family and me, both now and ongoing, is indeed severe, and I would never wish it on Erich, or Dave, or anyone else at Seward. If the rolls were reversed and I was the head of safety deciding whether or not to destroy one of my best driver's records over "basically nothing," thus making employment in this industry difficult, I would consider this to be a non-event and would not report this to Hireright. Could I report it? Yes. Would I report it? No way. I would never do something so petty to Erich, or any other driver. But then I respect the difficulty of the job and the tough life it is for OTR drivers out there. And I certainly would never call it a non-reported accident. How can you report something you didn't see or hear? I certainly would have caught it on the next morning's PTI. You can make up your own mind on this. Let me know what you think, whether you agree with me or not.

Here's the kicker. I certainly deserve a large part of the blame for all of this. No, nothing I did in the truck could have been different, I believe. But I did not do my proper due diligence on this company. And I take full responsibility for my role in that. You folks considering working for Seward will not make that same mistake, because simply by reading my post right now on this trucker forum under the Seward Motor Freight heading, you are doing your due diligence. You are gathering information about this company, and you should be commended for that.

I have gone around and around on this with Erich, both of us being cordial and polite to the other, and that is the way I plan on keeping it. I don't swear and call names and he doesn't either, which I am thankful for. But I would strongly advise against driving for Seward Motor Freight. Up until my final days I would have never said that. In fact, I was still planning on possibly coming back if my dad's situation cleared. But what happened to me in the final week was unconsionable in my opinion. I am absolutely 100% terrified of this company, and this man. And you should be too. He wields immense, unchecked power over all those who end up driving for Seward, and has apparently shown a desire to use it. If they can do this to me, one of their best and hard-working drivers, what do you think could happen to you? You better seriously consider this.

When I was in CDL school more than four years ago our instructor drilled into our heads over and over again how important it was to protect your CDL and dac report, because that and a clean MVR was worth money. And the way to do that is good, clean driving. If my driving employment prospects can be so devastated by Seward Motor Freight over such a petty, inconsequential matter, what will your prospects be when you depart, should you decide to work there? Do you think you will fare better than me? Perhaps. Most likely not.

In the end, those two guys up in the driver's lounge my very first day were correct and I guess I should have paid them some heed. It turns out I was the clown for not doing my proper due diligence on Seward. And boy am I paying for it dearly.

Best of luck with whatever motor carrier you decide to drive for. If anyone has any further questions just fire away and I will answer them with total honesty.

The preceeding is my opinion.

Mark
Former Seward driver

 

Having grown up in Seward, there is a reason why I'm not driving for Seward Motor Freight. And the a fore mentioned individual is by far no man.

 

My dad has worked for them for more than 10 years. They do go out to the northwest (he stays out for weeks at a time). He is not nearly as happy as he was before the recession but he hasn't moved on. Lots of the bonus programs are dependent on you getting a certain number of miles per quarter which has gotten a lot harder the last few years. They are behind on truck replacement because like a lot of fleets they stopped buying trucks when the recession started. That's what I know FWIW

 

It sounds like no pictures were taken and I doubt you filled out a signed accident report so to get this off your DAC all you have to do is dispute this at www.hireright.com , Seward has 30 days to show proof and when they dont it goes off your DAC. Good luck.

 

Actually disputing with Hireright does not work that way. You put in your dispute and the company just has to reply with "no change" and the matter is considered closed forever with Hireright. The driver has no recourse. I guess you could sue but who wants to pay a lawyer $10,000 or more for representation. The DAC set-up IMO is rigged against the driver, who is given zero due process.

I drive for Hogan now and they are the best outfit of the five I've driven for. I am Hogan's number 1 driver on the dedicated account I'm on, just like I was Seward's number 1 driver. Hogan is the anti-Seward. What a step up in class. Seward now is just a bad memory. There's no amount of money you could give me to drive for Seward. I'm just so happy to be free from them.

Steer clear of Seward.

Mark

 

dident hireright just pay a ton of money in a lawsuit for screwing drivers i know i got a check in the mail,so now you claim they still screw drivers.

Hogan isnt all that great but good luck being everyones "#1 driver"

 

Greetings, I have a complaint that I would like to make in regards to the unjust and disconcerting way that I was treated by the HR/Recruitment team of the Seward Motor Freight Company.

I was contacted by Danni Klasek a recruiter for Seward Motor Freight in regards to an application that I had submitted to Seward through a third party trucking job search engine. Ms. Klasek and I spent between 40-60 min. on the telephone together, and during that time we discussed in great depth what job duties, requirements and expectations Seward Motor Freight expected from their drivers.

While I was on the telephone with Ms. Klasek the two of us discussed what type of equipment Seward Motor Freight operated. Ms. Klasek told me that their vehicles were mostly 10 speed transmissions, however there were also trucks that have super 10 speed transmissions as well. Ms. Klasek asked if I was familiar with a truck that has a super 10 speed transmission? I told her I have not ever seen a truck with a super 10 speed before, therefore I was not familiar with a truck that has that type of transmission, but I am willing to give it a try. Ms. Klasek told not to worry they will more than likely perform your road test, and then assign you to a truck with a normal 10 transmission. Ms. Klasek went on to say that in the event that they did happen to wind up testing you in a truck with a super 10 speed transmission, and you were having trouble driving it, the company would work with me, by getting me into a truck that I was familiar with. Ms. Klasek referenced a recent event that had taken place with a new hire whom also had no prior experience driving a truck with a super 10 transmission. According to Ms. Klasek the new hire “ended failing the first road test, so the new hire was switched to a truck with a normal 10 transmission, and the driver was just fine.

I was reassured by Ms. Klasek that just as long as I passed my physical and my drug screening I wouldn’t be given the boot (stranded). Ms. Klasek assured me that if I had trouble with my road test, the company would work with me. In conclusion of my conversation with Ms. Klasek I had no concerns whatsoever, about my ability to fulfill the requirements/expectations of the Seward Motor Freight company. Therefore, with the understanding that just as long as I met the requirements which were stated by Ms. Klasek (which were to pass the physical along with the urine drug screening) I had the position and “nothing to worry about”.

After two weeks of ongoing communication with Ms. Klasek I was flown from Portland, OR to attend orientation in Seward, NE. At the time that Ms. Klasek and I were on the telephone discussing my itinerary and details of the orientation, as well as the expectations and requirements that the Seward Motor Freight company had for me, which again were to pass my physical and my urine drug screen; I was asked about my experience level with the super 10 speed transmission. Again, I stated that I do not have experience; but I am more than willing to give it a try. Again, Ms. Klasek assured me that I would not have any problems if I was not able to pass the road test driving a super 10, and that the company would work with me and get me into a truck that I am familiar with.

Feeling confident in that I had landed a commercial vehicle driving position with a smaller, more personable, and family oriented company, on 12/20/15 I paid $25.00 out of my pocket to have my baggage checked,though I was not told of this fee prior) and I flew into Seward, NE to begin employment with Seward Motor Freight.

The orientation was supposed to have been from 12/21-12/22 and I was anticipating being out on the road and driving for Seward Motor Freight by 12/23/15. Due to the timing it was a holiday week and that was probably the reason that I was the only student in orientation; which was not a problem with me. Prior to me going to take my physical and the drug test, Karen the lady that oversees orientation asked me what I would like for lunch? My response was, “that it doesn’t matter, just nothing with pork” I felt that I received a judgmental look from Karen for my request to avoid pork.

On day two of orientation everything appears to be going well. It is time to go out and perform my road test and I realize that I am being tested in a truck that has a super 10 speed transmission. Due to the fact that as I had previously stated, I do not have any experience driving a truck with a super 10 transmission, I stated my concerns and apprehensions about my ability to safely and efficiently operate this type of truck, let alone pass a road test to Bill Vossler whom is the road tester for Seward Motor Freight. Mr. Vossler responded “well were going to see how it goes”. Although I knew that it was very unlikely that I was going to pass the road test, I felt a sense of excitement and anticipation because I was going to have an opportunity to get a feel for a super 10 speed transmission.

I began my road test by performing a thorough pre trip on the truck and trailer; upon coupling the truck and trailer the glove box, which was literally just propped inside the hole fell out and was hanging there. Mr. Vossler said that I had caused the glove box to fall out, until I spoke up and said that I was not the cause.

Although I was giving it my best shot; I was truly having a challenging time driving this truck with a transmission that I was totally unfamiliar with and because it was a completely different shifting process than what I am used to driving, I had a very difficult time shifting the gears. My tester Mr. Vossler said “we'll go back and get a straight 10”. Mr. Vossler had me sit in a room while he went to retrieve the keys from the mechanic for a truck with a normal 10 speed transmission. I overheard the shop mechanic tell Mr. Vossler that they didn’t have a normal 10 speed ready and couldn’t have one ready to go out that same day. Next Mr. Vossler went to talk to Eric (the head guy in the building). I overheard them discussing that it was Mr. Vossler’s last day at work, until New Years. Next Eric and Karen came into the room that I was waiting in and they closed the door. Eric asked me “how my food was”? in a condescending way, as if implying that I should feel lucky type of tone. Eric then goes on to tell me that I had failed my road test and that normally they’d work with me but because of my timing (holiday vacation week) instead they told me that I was terminated and I asked if I was going to have to find my own way home, and Eric stated yes.

I stated to Eric that I felt that this was unjust treatment and that I had been upfront and honest with Ms. Klasek about my experience level prior to agreeing to travel to NE to attend orientation at the Seward Motor Freight company. And that I was assured by Ms. Klasek that as long as I could meet the two requirements which I have previously stated, the company would work with me. I did pass the physical and I did pass the urine drug screen testing, therefore I should not be expected to pay for my own way to get back home. I went on to explain to Eric that it is extremely cold in NE (the following day there were a few inches of snow) and that I have no money to get back home, nor do I know anyone here and once I am kicked out of the hotel room in the morning I will have nowhere to go. I also reverberated everything that both Ms. Klasek and Mr. Vossler had told me in regards to the requirements and expectations, as well as what would happen if I was unable to pass a road test while driving the truck with the super 10 transmission (which again was that I would be provided a regular 10). Eric responded that he knew nothing about that discussion.

I attempted to debate my position with Eric by pointing out that I had not done anything that should give them any viable reason to not only terminate my employment, but to also expect me to pay my own way to get back home. Eric had no answers to my pushback other than to say “we can talk about this until we are black and blue in the face it’s not going to change nothing’ and again I am told to find a way home. I tell them Eric and Karen that I am not going to be able to get back home if they do not pay for it, and then they tried to get me borrow the money from family or friends, they tried to do everything that they could to make me pay for my flight back home after they completely screwed me over and broke their word to me. After pleading, begging and practically sobbing like a baby, they ultimately paid for my ticket to get back home. However once again I would be expected to pay the $25.00 fee to check my baggage, and it would not be reimbursed because they were buying my ticket (even though that’s the fair thing to do). Upon telling me they would pay for my ticket to get back home, Eric also told me that “I had better be thankful the owner is so merciful and that I’d better write her a thank you letter when I got home”

As if all of this was not bad enough once they decided to pay for my ticket home, they tell me that my DAC report would reflect that I was terminated from Seward Motor Freight, even though I was never offered to sign any termination papers. I had only been through one and a half days of orientation, I had not ever performed any type of working responsibilities for Seward Motor Freight, nor was I compensated for any of my time as an alleged employee on their property, even though I’m 150+ miles away from my home.

I feel this company is very misleading, unfair, unethical, and possibly even potentially religion and age biased. I feel that this company’s bad timing costed me not only my money and my time but also a very negative mark on my DAC report (which prior to this experience my DAC report reflected satisfactory work from all previous trucking

Positions). I cannot understand how it can be legal or ethical for a company to purposefully make it nearly impossible for me to obtain another job as a commercial truck driver by placing this onto my DAC report, simply due to the fact that they had a shortage of trucks due to the holiday, which made it impossible for them to test me in the type of truck that had previously stated that had experience driving. I am 100% confident that if I had, had the money to pay my own way back home after wasting my money and my time for nothing, that they would have made me spend it to get back home after they brought me out for orientation at a bad time.



Sincerely,

 

Wow....scumbags