First Fleet-Fountain, CO; the slaves

The First Fleet terminal in Fountain, CO is truly a nightmare to work out of. The terminal manager has NO leadership or communication skills. Only cares about the company and what he wants. Bottom line, no driver should or will have a life. He wants you to live in the truck, but don't idle now. The fuel mileage of the trucks is played around coming off the Qcomm. For some, mileage is very good. For others on the crap list, not so good. The managment lives off these numbers. They will get "their" bonus at all costs and look good to the idiots at corporate. Yet, no one is bright enough to realize something is wrong with the numbers when compared to the fuel brought thru commdata on a monthly basis.
Operations is in a total state of confusion and chaos. The right hand has NO clue what the left hand is doing most of the time. Dispathers from one shift do not talk other dispatchers coming on. It's not a real large number. Most of the time is just 2 bodies. The infamous notes for the next shift filled with misinformation and sometimes with nothing. It's a guessing game at times.
For drivers, life is not good. Besides the mess in operations, maintenance of the equipment is just a series of short cuts that undermines saftey to save a few dollars. Dollars saved that end up costing thousands in the long run. Guess no one is looking from corporate at the reality of what could happen. Just blame the drivers for an improper VI and hope DOT doesn't look too close.
The bottom line of this Fountain, CO terminal is, don't expect to be supported or appreciated on anything. They will tell you anything just to get you to run. The freight is more important then the driver. There is no respect for the driver! So before joining this happy bunch, look elsewhere. You'll be happier and have more money in your pocket.

 

Believe or not, still with these clowns. Not happy about at all. Let's say the time here has not been happy. There will be more to come.

 

The company does not consider the drivers an asset. They are to be like monkees and just get behind the wheel. Best not question anything or you'll sit out there for awhile without a backhaul. As most of the runs are dedicated and they know in advance how many backhauls will be needed daily. Still drivers sit in Kanas and wait. Some for more than just a few hours. At times it's long enough that the driver loses his next run. That's just money out of his pocket. No way to make it up.
So at times, the driver never knows when he'll be returning back home. For runs out one day and back the next, how difficult is it to get it right. Now one best not plan to have a life, as something always comes up that's more important. Once home for a weekend, don't answer the phone. Even better, have caller ID and have all the terminal numbers in there. The freight has to go. We wouldn't want that old lady standing in the grocery store and not have 100 choices of coffee, tea or soap. Nor we want her to miss out on those can of beans on sale. Heck, the stores in the back are piled so high with inventory, the stuff can't be found.
So to work here, one must be willing to forgo a life, run at a moments noticed and not wonder when they will return. The turnover rate is getting very high and they wonder why the equipment is getting trashed. To recuit new driver has a high cost by itself and getting them on board takes time. Then the company truly does not train them in all aspects of what they must do. Just get that load there and we'll worry about you later. Guess no one realizes that a path downward and failure of all kinds at the end. But that doesn't show up in the monthly numbers right away now. So management marches alonf to their next bonus check.

 

Very difficult to work for an organization that only takes and gives very little in return. Short term, nod and don't promise anything. Long term, the economy improves after change in White House and a job in another field. If the leadership stays the same in the White House, kiss it all good-bye and learn Chinese and Spanish. WE'll all be in the same sinking ship with very little promise for the future.

 

You missed the point by taking it out of contents.