Shaffer trucking......Specifically

Hey now! I am back for the weekend here in wonderful Virginia, my new home!

And, to bring it back to Shaffer, specifically, (i.e. NOT Crete, there are plenty of threads for Crete! Please stop hijacking my threads to talk about, complain about "another" company! I KNOW that they are owned by the same company. I work for them for cripes sake! BUT, Shaffer hauls different loads and different equipment. They are also dispatched by different people. Yes I also know that much of my business is done through the Crete base in Lincoln, NE, but I deal with people in New Kingstown, PA on a daily basis, not Lincoln! So, Nuff said.)

I am doing just fine here. My first two paychecks were just wonderful. My second stub was for 3,438 miles and I brought home a gross of over $1,400 for that, so I can't complain!

I ended up with a rig that was two years old, and had 216,000 and some change on it. In the 22 days since I started driving, I have put on over 8,000 miles on it.

It pulls very well, and progressively shifts like they say it's supposed to. This makes me happy. The last, older one I had didn't do so well in this department.

I am also getting those "practical miles" instead of the ole' bedbuggers miles. I have been almost Right On what they are paying me for on every load! I say this like this, if they say they are paying me for 21 DH and 588 Loaded, I will run say 23 DH and 591 loaded! (This is an actual example) I have even run LESS miles than what they paid me for! Can't complain there at all.

I will say however that as a married man, or with any dependants at all, that the health benefits and that are a little expensive. But I just came from a job that payed for my whole monthly cost and I had absolutely NO deductible. So, paying anything for me is kind of a rip. Such is life!

All in all, very happy. I will check back in again in a couple of weeks. Til then.........

Stick

 

Well now, it's been a little over five months out here, staying out 3-6 weeks at a time, and I've done over 53,000 actual driving miles, all of them legal, all of them safe, and only one late delivery and that was due to weather!

My rig is holding out very well. My miles are good, in fact I'll honestly say they are better than what some of the drivers I've been running into are getting. My gross from July 25th to December 27th (last pay of the year) was well over $20,000. I am right where I want to be earnings-wise. I am averaging around 2,500 miles a week. This is all I wanted so it works for me.

There are a lot of actual changes taking place in the company. We are definitely changing the way we are dispatched. We are going to the same model that Crete uses. No more dedicated dispatch. It will now be regionally dispatched depending where you are in the country. We will still have dedicated Fleet Managers to handle home-time, benefits, payroll and that sort of thing.

I know they are also testing out the Cascadia. I'd love to be one of the guinea pigs for that!

There a lot of rumors flying about also. The name Shaffer is disappearing is one. That we will now be called Crete Refrigerated Division. So what? Crete pays my check already. I'm not married to a name.

So all in all, it's been a lot of fun so far. It has not been perfect by any means. You find me a perfect company, then pass whatever it is you are smoking. Seriously.

Oh yeah, and for you nay-sayers out there who are saying this is impossible and are familiar with the companies point system, I am at a -6. That's Negative 6. That's right, Legal=Safe+Ontime, and plenty of rest, makes a happy driver and a happy company!

And no, I am not a recruiter by any means. So please no accusations. I will happily give my truck number out by private message if anyone has any questions. I also have some more, but still limited access to the internet. Hopefully I can help a little better in the future, as I see some people had questions I couldn\t answer in time. Sorry, truly.

Til later, Peace, Stick