The WORST Shippers and Receivers - Truckers WILL NOT Buy Their Products!

lilillill... Great story! Unfortunately you had to live through it, but now at least you can laugh at it I hope!
NOT much has changed, and the grocery warehouses are the WORST. I dread seeing one of their names on my dispatch sheet.
My worst nemesis is unfortunately my favourite store for shopping... but on more than one occasion I have been tempted to boycott. The day may still come!

 

I can't believe noone has mentioned TYSON! I have never been at a Tyson shipper less then 6 hours. I have never seen anyone else that EVER was not in the same boat there. I have many many trips logged where they keep me a DAY! Then expect it 1300 miles away that same night! I have also had multiple times where I get held overnight for a 1700 or so load, only to get a knock on the door at 1200 the next afternoon that the load has been CANCELED!!!!!! I was so hot I told the company that I was so bent out of shape pissed off that I might as well reset the log at that point. It was off to the casino for me!

 

Hmm... does their name begin with a "W" and end with "almart"?

I had some pretty bad experiences at the DC in Bentonville. Refused a load on me one time for being 4 minutes late. And the heck of it is... I've got an insiders view of the evil empire now... been working at one of Wally's Supercenter's part time for almost a year now since I semi-retired from Delphi (ok... they gave me a bunch of money to leave <grin>). But the pay down here in the good ole Right-To-Work-For-Less state of Alabama is kinda lacking... which is what brought me here to this forum. I am actually contemplating getting my CDL back and jumping in a truck again.

I drove both OTR (loved it... 'cept for grocery warehouses), and shorthaul (hated it... excercise in sleep deprivation... that's for sure). It's really funny to see that nothing much has changed really... especially in groceries.

I even got to see different sides of the same DC when driving for two different companies. For instance, the Meijer DC in Lansing, MI treated me like scum when I drove for PST. But when I changed the color of my truck to green and had a big ole NTB logo on the airfoil... presto! No more driver unload and the receiving clerks were actually pleasant to talk to.

Ahh but all good things must come to an end... my career at NTB was over when they made me wait at Kal Kan in Columbus for over 12 hours. And the idiots at Kal Kan expected that I would wait at the end of the trailer and count the product as it went in... one pallet every 45 minutes. Yeah right! I told them to wake me up when it was loaded. And they did... and dispatch wanted me to give that trailer to another driver and wait another 12 hours or so on another one... WITH NO DETENTION PAY.

I brought their truck back to Grand Rapids and turned in my keys of course. And that was the last time I drove. I must have rocks in my head for wanting to do it again! <grin>

___
Jim

 

So Jim,

Is NTB worth looking at? Doing the same thing you are. Thinking of doing it again. I did not realize NTB was in our neck of the woods. I prefer OTR, but if its a good company???......

 

It really depends... they DO get you home every three days for 24 hours.... BUT... you will run your butt off for the three days you are out. Then when you get low on hours, it's lots of locals around Lansing or Grand Rapids with "take this trailer here" and "drop that one there."

A day with 6 or 7 stops or drop and hooks was not unusual. Meijer was their big account when I drove for them, and that was 99&#37; drop & hook. The back-hauls however... some of those were infuriating (like Kal Kan). When you're doing shorthaul, you really have to be dilligent about keeping that truck moving. Sitting in a dock for 12 hours kills your paycheck when you get no detention pay and most of your runs are less than 150 miles.

The other concerns I had with NTB:

Complete and total disregard for running legal. I guess that shows now in their 94 score on ISS-2. Can you say "Pull me over for inspection Mr. DOT man"? Sure... I knew ya could.

Wanted me to pull an empty trailer one time in the middle of January with blinding snow and gale force winds coming off Lake Michigan. Hell, the trailer was sliding sideways from the wind pressure as I sat in the Meijer parking lot in Holland talking to dispatch on the phone. I refused to do it... so they wanted me to call them back every half hour to update them on the weather. I told them to turn on the weather channel... I was going to sleep!

Sleep deprivation... your 24 hours at home would be spent sleeping the whole time, to make up for the sleep you did not get while out for your three days. I don't think I've ever been so tired in all my life as driving for them. More than once had to be late picking up a load in Columbus because I had to hit the rest area on 23 for a few minutes to avoid crash and burn.

My advice, first check the company's ISS-2 score... if it's off the charts, look elsewhere.

Edit:
One plus for NTB... at least at the time... they had great insurance. I finally got all my teeth fixed that rotted away from eating too much sugary crap when I drove OTR <grin>

___
Jim

 

Got there on-time. Backed up to a door. Paid lumper. Truck was mt in 30 minutes. I'm 1 happy little trucker. Walk in and the bills aren't ready. Told to go back to my truck. Ok. Wait an hour. Wasn't called in so I go back to the clerk. tells me to go back out to my truck. Bills aren't ready. I have mood swing. I tell him he has 30 minutes have my bills ready or I'm leaving without them. He says I'm not allowed to leave without a gate pass. I tell him to try and stop me. I go back to my truck. Called my company they ask is my truck mt I said yes. told them what i planned on doing they said go for it. Walked in told the clerk I was leaving and does he have my bills ready. He told me agian I couldn't go. I jumped back into my truck and left.

 

Thanks for the info Jim!

 

No. Really. Tell us what you really feel. Don't hold back anymore. You will burst.