National Freight, Inc. - Vineland, N.J.

Wow,turbo thks for the info, The first ntime i was at orientation for nfi was at lawnside,nj. I went thro orientation and passed everything,the guy that road tested you looked and acted like dick van dykes brother on tv coach show. Then the real sh.. happened,they promised me a conv,issued me a cabover,not even enough room to put my things in from orientation,kept my mouth shut and knew if I lost it i"D be in jail or on a bus heading to home. Got my load at elibeth terminal, took it to the ma. drop yard,called my brother to come get me outa there,took my stuff out,locked the truck up and left a 3 page letter on why i quit before I started. That was probably 8 yrs ago,then a few years ago they sent me a postcard 36cpm, no more cabovers,here I go again, Christine in office remembered me and interviewed me again. not a bad looking girl,very nice to me always. Got my truck,almost brand new,clean and I was really happy for awhile. Was in elibeth one day switching out at the fuel island,a nice big black mercedes drives up with a real old guy,and a younger looking dark haired taller fella,he got out and said hi,I introduced myself and he did too,after i said you must be the big boss man,in a nice way of course, he then proceeded to ask me how i liked working at NFI,i told him fine this time,noone lied to me this time,his ears perked up and then I told him how I started and Quit. I also told him i hand wrote a letter in that truck why I quit along with the qualcom,telling them to get the truck, he asked me if i had any complaints now. i told him no,I also told him that big black guy that runs elibeth terminal where we were standing at,treated me well and I did he. I did some things for him and he got me out quickly when I was headed home to maine. it was great for I guess 4 months,then dispatch on fridays tried to dispatch me away from home instead of to home. Remember,I was promised weekends home. Hauled poland spgs water to nyc and then toys r us to maine mostly. They kept me out 2 weekends in 4, got me to joliet area and I emptied out,told me I wasn't headed home but to load for va. i looked up the nearest NFI terminal,it was in joliet area,took the truck and trailer there,still empty,explained to terminal manager there,asked him to come out and inspect the truck for me,he did,had some things I had to leave behind,polish for wheels and paint a nice cooler,hammer and broom and other things,asked him to give these items to a good driver that he liked.he was very nice to me,called a cab to bus station and me and my bags came home. I called lawnside and explained why I quit,I really liked vince and the other guy at bell fuche ny terminal and that nice black guy in elizabeth nj. my pay was always right,they even sent me a paycheck when i quit and left the truck in ma. I really liked that job but I wanted to be home weekends and them newbees partime dispatchers on friday eves and weekend liked to screw with all of us just for the hell of it.

 

Yours is one of the better, bad cases, that I have run across. You were paid, even after you quit. That isn't always the case.

It's amazing to me how some of the staff on other shifts, can run off so many drivers from a company with the arm twisting tactics they take, the companies seem to be oblivious to it, and refuse to do anything about it. I can recall running into that a couple of times over the years.

One of those experiences was a complete nightmare, where a substitute dispatcher accused me of failing to deliver a load for 8 hours, then refusing to reload me over the Thanksgiving holidays and leaving me with $25.00 to live on for five days in Connecticut, and the other was a case where it was assinine on this person's part to not rectify the situation satisfactorily.

A blown airbag found on a Friday afternoon on a pre-loaded trailer at a drop lot, resulted in a weekend dispatcher expecting me to hold still exactly where I was for three days, until shop personnel arrived the following Monday to advise me of where to take the trailer for repairs.

I quit in both of those cases as well.

This is why I learned to check out companies prior to considering them for employment. Both of my negative experiences were long before there was something out there called the internet. People these days have an easy way to learn more about a company, and a place to begin the adventure of discovering the in's and out's of a company as well.

Thank God for the Internet, people willing to submit their experiences, and the Trucker's Report to compile them for everyone to see.

 

NFI is famous for pay screw ups. Hubby worked for them as well. He went down to Florida as a favor for them on a assignment to help out down there and was suppose to get great pay. I mean it was suppose to be like $1,400.00 a week take home pay plus his expenses were all to be reimbursed. Car, Motel, etc. Ever week it was like pulling teeth to get payroll to see that they didn't pay him for everything. I had all the copies of receipt and itemized what they paid and what they owed. Finally after a lot of phone calls and faxing he got the rest of what they owed him. However when he came back he was to be on a Wal-Mart dedicated run. That was a joke. He got Wal-Mart runs when Wal-Mart had something for him otherwise he would either sit home or hurry up and call his f/m to see if he could find something for him. Then it was the same story with payroll. Always being shorted in his pay, having to wait weeks to get the money. The final straw was the truck escrow. He was assigned a truck with a dirty nasty mattress. When he returned the truck they claimed he did the damage and refused to return his $350.00 escrow. NFI rates right behind JBH in their treatment of drivers.

 

I know Buck has a different experience with NFI and I am happy he does. But I also know the dark side of NFI and their pratices and for that I am behind Tubo and NFI is on my companies to avoid along with PAM and JB Hunt.

 

Heck, I live 100 yards from the Lawnside terminal and still wouldn't drive for them. They have had a bad reputation ever since I could remember. When I decided back in the mid 90s to get into driving my family told me they would support me as long as I didn't go to work for National Freight. I think I would choose an outfit like Swift before going to NFI.

 

I guess I was lucky on that one,I don't doubt you guys at all,keep up the good work. thks

 

Let me tell everyone here that wants to cut NFI down.They arent that bad.Yes there are some screw ups that happen and most of the time its a easy fix if the driver will let someone know.We do get behind in the offices but there is not a person at NFI that wont help a driver if they need it.Most of the time a driver will get upset and its because of what they are doing but they clain they have been driving 20 years and know more they us.Well maybe you need to look at why you have had 10 jobs every year and maybe your wife needs to say why does my husband change jobs so much and we are living in a apartment and renting furniture and a car.Maybe he needs to give things a chance.There is no perfect job,\.There are ups and downs in everything,the problem with truck drivers is another company wil feed them a bunch of crap and they are ready to switch jobs.I will tell you and everyone here that I work for NFI and I dont have alot of pull but I have a little and I will do everything in my power to help any driver out that I can.Yes I have bad days when the phones wont stop and I get upset but if you come to me and say you need help and are nice about it I will do anything I can to help you and alot of drivers know me and no I have alot so do but I try to talk to you when I can and Im great friends with most drivers.Freight gets slow sometimes and you complain about 300 mile northeast runs and I completely understand that and NFI is working on the problem.The Browns are good people and Jeffery dont want anyone to quit,They are trying to build a company.If any driver needs help or has a question Please email me from here and I will do everything I can to help you.But you cant listen to alot of driers stories because they only tell you what they want you to hear.

 

oh gunner poor baby

 

You want to ban me because I told the truth? if thats the way things are ran then ok but drivers complain about stuff and I didnt say anything wrong and you know that.Gear Jammer was lazy and I will tell him that to his face.So ban me if thats what your site is about.You dont want the truth only hear coomplaints about trucking companies that aint even true.Maybe you need the whole story before you make out everyone is telling the truth.I told the truth.and I do work for NFI.and I really dont care what people post as long as their story is the truth and i will help them if they need it.