link america lakeland fl.do not hire on with this company

down here in myjammy, we spells it flo-ree-DUHH!!!!

 

They were recently bought out so you can't expect a terd to blossom into a rose overnight. The new management team has done everything they said they would. It takes time for the changes to take affect. I have been here for a year and seen some serious changes and really like what I see and can't wait for the future. Im curious as to how they stole from you and etc.... id like some details. Especially the equipment part considering our Lakeland yard is filled with brand new trucks.

 

Their CSA scores aren't looking good right now. 2 categories in intervention status. Driver Fatigue and Vehicle Maintenance, I believe. The company that bought 'em will have their hands full trying to get those numbers back down. I'm sure some policy changes will be forthcoming and maybe some mechanics may find themselves out of a job.

 

Or maybe they will be creating new jobs all together and adding mechanics to their payroll. lol

 

Which I know will change dramatically due to peoplenet and the new equipment.

I have seen some new faces in the maint. Shop as well. I can honestly say the daytime foreman is rude as hell. The night foreman is really cool and his guys bust butt to get you fixed and moving (and not cut corners).

 

After being told last Friday that they don't have enough techs in the shop, then giving the ok to run unsafe equipment out of the yard so it can be repaired on the road, yeah, good job second shift!

That whole shop is in trouble. When you pay you mid level techs a whopping $11/hr, you can;t get good techs in there. I was just offered a position as entry level for $14 right across the street. When they are offeringthat for entry, I can expect that the other techs are running across the street for at least $17 or more for the mid guys. Sad, really sad. They are working hard to keep the drivers by kissing some behind, but they need to rework that entire office and shop by offering more pay to get quality people. When you pay low, the quality drops to only those that are desperate and have no where else to go. Most guys I have talked to in that shop all say the same thing. They are looking for better opportunities, but don;t have the experience to go elsewhere, have criminal records that are holding them back, or just plain have nowhere else to go right now. I will be honest. When I did the hiring for the shop I was just at porior to Link, I might hire one of them, maybe. They are running their shop like it's still the late 80's or early 90's. The quality of a technician has changed and really improved. I wouldn't call any of those guys a true tech. A mechanic, as in shade tree, yes. Techs, no. When you put a wheel bearing on with a impact wrench, that is not good tech work. When you don;t follow proper TMC standards for your torques, that isn't quality tech work. The only thing I have watched them do was torque the lug nuts. I give them credit for that, but what good is torquing a lug nut when the bearing is put on with a impact wrench. You will still have a wheel off.

I had the front axle wheel seals done there and a week later, they were getting done on the road because they were leaking. When the adjusted the brakes, they set the brakes and tighten the brakes down until the touch the drums. That is improper. Brakes 101 says first rule is to have brakes released... Plus you don't tighten until they touch the drum and walk away. I doubt most of these guys know what a brake stroke is.

When I sat down with Mike in the shop, he actually told me they don;t hire anyone that has been trained at a school for they like to train the guys themselves. What??? He said that training at school is wrong and most guys that come from the schools keep talking on how things are being done wrong in the shop. The schools teach by NATEF standards, which is ASE and TMC guidelines for the proper repairs of these vehicles. I will hire a NATEF trained tech over an non trained tech in a hurry for then I know that tech was trained to do it right.

The drivers there at Link are good, most of them. They get mistreated by most office staff. There are a few that treat you really good, Like young M. She is very respectful. Old M, not so much. Then there is J, male M, T, boss J, they treat you like you are worse than dirt and you are lucky to be working there. The most disrespect to someone I heard in person was from C in Tulsa, now Dallas, old M and boss J. They will make you feel like you are two inches tall. Then they ask, "why won't drivers stay?"

The company really needs to look at them as a whole and change some staff around. They don;t work together at all. All the departments are fighting one another. The shop says a truck needs to stay, but the dms will say it needs to go, will call the shop and harass them until the shop says go for they are tired of the calls. You as the driver say no, the dm says no, but planning says go so you are foreced to go or they will make you run low miles for the week. No approval can be done unless the "planner" says it is ok. DMs have no power, but they will tell you they are your boss and you must do what they say. All they care about is moving the freight. Drivers are numbers. Don't be fooled by there tacticts.

Example, they beg for you to stay, but as soon as you do, they will take out money from your check and claim it's for cleaning the truck (my truck was dirty when it was assigned to me), for the drug test and physical (I will pay that, no big deal), bus ticket to terminal (I drove myself there for I live local, so that is wrong), hold of last run for 45 days to verify no issues with loads or monies owed from other runs you did (is that even legal???), and they took the money they paid for orientation back stating that it was a "loan" to get me started (if that was the case, why didn't you take it back sooner?). I used to think they were a good company while working for them, but once you leave, yeah, things change quickly. Then to hit my USIS report stating I abandoned the truck (which was parked at the main terminal and note given stating such), quit under dispatch (I gave two week notice ansd was told to turn truck around and park it at yard asap), misuse of equipment (told I got that because I parked truck in office side of yard and not across the street at the shop, petty, real petty for there was no parking at the shop), and safety reasons (because I refused to take a sleep study and that was the reason of my two week notice for I didn't have the $750 up front costs or the $2600 to pay after it was done, which wasn't due until September 12). So yeah, I have no respect for this comapny anymore...

 

http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/SMS/Data/carrier.aspx?enc=J+C6f3JqlUPaRneGnCzjNA==

 

Notice that their vehicle maintenance numbers have gotten worse? It was 82 in March for I copied it. It's higher, but driver fitness has lowered. I'm waiting on them to get in the 90's. Ouch!

 

This company could be fixed and making improvements would be like shooting fish in a barrel. In the mean time, those investors are suckers.