Like to work 20 hrs a day? Trans-Am F.A.C. division is for you!

I feel for you and your wife! I'm sure you'll get excellant advise here, but speaking from a truckers wife, I would not be very comfortable knowing my husbands driving that much - it would be more comforting knowing he's working for a "crappy" company and safe, than being so tired he couldn't react. Think about your wife and kid - You do want to be around to see them grow up - Is this company really worth it?

 

I hardly ever respond but I think I gotta say something. If I was you I would gather evidence, record them on your cell. keep records of where you were suppose to go and how long to get there, etc. Basically gather enough stuff so you can cover you own butt and prove beyond a doubt they are forcing you to drive over your hours. After you have all that info I would start searching for another job and get hired before you give these guys your notice. If they black mark your DAC you will always have the evidence on hand of what they did. I hope you realize that if you do get caught, its on your record and you are ultimately responsible. Get into an accident and they find out you fudge your logs....................

 

Thanks for the heads-up, DeepC. It's always good to know a certain company doesn't care about my safety on the road. I'm getting really tired of hearing these types of stories, and I'm gonna have to start taking action on my own, but that's another post. Let's dive into your situation here first.

I'd do these things if I were in your shoes.

1. I'd get all my proof together that they are asking me to run illegally.

2. I'd start refusing to run illegally. If they threaten my job because of that, that is even more ammo I could use.

3. I'd call a lawyer (OOIDA can help here) and ask him for advice. He will want your proof, so have it on hand.

4. I'd call the state attorney general's office in the state where TA is based and let that office know about what is going on. Explain that you are being "forced" to break the law and cannot refuse. You have a wife and kid to support, after all.

5. I'd call the DOT in the state where TA is based and tell those guys about this situtation. To light a fire under their #####, I'd also tell them about the other steps I have just taken, especially step 4.

6. I'd call the lawyer back and tell him I've done all these things and then ask him about something called the "whistleblower" act. This act has been put in place to protect people like you from retaliation, and you know TA is gonna retaliate against you hard if you report them. They will trash your DAC report for one thing. But let 'em go ahead and do it. You can fight them and win.

But you are going to need PROOF to do all these things. Make #### sure you have it.

Remember one thing as well: if you fight TA on this, they will lose if you have the proof to back yourself up, sure. As they realize they are losing, they will try to sweet-talk you into a "good deal" in a lame attempt to kiss and make up. Don't fall for it. These guys are risking your career and even your life right now, not to mention MY life by requiring you to drive like this. They care nothing for public safety or for your safety.

Hell, if you don't report these idiots, I will.

Now. You have to decide if you're going to do battle with them. If you do, go all out. Don't compromise one inch and don't be a "nice guy". Load up your battleship and go to war. Blow their ##### out of the water with the AG's help, the DOT's help, and an OOIDA lawyer's help.

Can you do it? I hope so. Lots of guys wimp out at this stage, understand. Usually it takes only a little bit of sweet talking by their offending companies and the drivers forget all about the offenses. They roll over and show their pink underbellies like obidient, cowardly dogs and all is forgiven. Don't you do this. Pull the trigger and fire those big guns into their broadsides. You may save your own life. You may save MY life.

Good luck, and keep us posted. I'll also let you know if I report them this week. I have a right to safe roads and so do you.

 

I see a few flaws in this, the first one being that you are FAC you aren't a lease operator, which means you are under more pressure to have good log books, that MATCH your satellite. So if you have been doing this for three months, that means you would have already been fired for excessive violations. I pulled a couple FAC loads as a favor, and its tough but if you don't waste your time it can be done. Not every load is perfect. The next flaw is, it seems you haven't complained to anyone due to fear of retaliation. Is there a reason you didn't use the anonymous driver rep? And I know the guy who did your orientation, and god forbid he try to help you out so you don't run out of hours from being stupid.

 

Have a Digital Camera with you and photograph "every" message they send on the qualcom but make sure you get the date and time on the photograph and have your camera set to give date and time on the image.
I did this with LandAir with a smart dag night dispatcher beeping me when I was in my rest period that a load had to be delivered by 0700 - well it was, and with time to spare and not pushing it.
Have your proof with photos and voice if you can do it as well!

 

You should stop deleting the messages. Keep them around in case you are in an accident. If you do have a wreck and it's your fault, TA will throw you to the wolves, as you have already guessed, I'm sure. They will disavow all knowledge of "forcing" you to break HOS regs. But if you save those messages, you'll be able to fire back.

Where is Stone Phillips when you need him? You could get him to follow you around in his car and film your daily life at this outfit.

One other thing. When you do quit these clowns, be sure to choose your next carrier carefully. Fully check them out first before going to work for them. It's too bad you didn't find out what TA is like from your fellow employees before you got the job. Any company you go to work for will want to know who you are. They will check your driving and work history for the past ten years, as you know. You would think you're getting a CIA job, a trucking company will be so anal about you. You should check THEM out just as thoroughly. This means finding out what their turnover ratio is, what their safety status with the feds is, how often they advertise for drivers, and how present and past drivers feel about them. This website is a good place for info on a lot of companies as well. Yeap, history works both ways in trucking, and a trucking company's history is far too important when choosing who to work for to not use it to your advantage.

 

So do you get a preplan that you have to answer to or are you saying it is forced dispatch even if you can't legally do it?
At JB Hunt they give you so much time to answer then if they think you can do it they will just dispatch.
I've had some minor problems with being dispatched on loads I can't do, but nothing of that extreme.
When I take my break, I turn the volume down on the OBC and just take my darn break.
Sounds like maybe they think you are a team? I've heard this happen many times, a call is made and someone says "OH! WE HAVE YOU DOWN AS A TEAM TRUCK, ooops!"

BIG QUESTION: Do you have a safety dept person you can speak with? This usually grinds all the BS right to a hault.

And I just recommend because it sounds like some of my days and nights at Swift but maybe once a week would I run 18-20 hrs. I switched to running ONLY at night and solved 99% of the problems. Those impossible loads are easier and you will average close to top speed if you overnight it. BUT GEEZ MAN those loads as you said can't be done even at night driving nonstop in a fast(er) truck.