St. michael motor express

They had blue Pete's and blue trailers. Can't recall the name right now.....

A friend of mine worked for a local company that preached Christianity, doing the right thing, etc. Problem was they hauled a lot of heavy loads, and he was always told to bypass the scales, whatever it took.....

 

I drove for them back in 2004-05. I have to admit, they were a pretty good little company when I first started. It was shortly after they moved to Jackson Tennesse from Houma Louisianna, and changed from Employees Express. I never had any problems with my paychecks, or fuel card, and they kept me running. But around may of 2005, things changed. They quit running the southeast and midwest, and the miles dropped dramatically. I was on a load going to Pa, and dispatch told me it had to be there at 0430, in reality, it had to be there by 10 pm the previous night. The next day, the owner Louis Saia, or as I referred to him, "Jim Jones little brother" called me up and started yelling at me and accused me of trying to destroy his company. After the consignee finally agreed to take the load, i was routed back to Jackson. I told dispatch I was quitting when I got there. Of course, Reverend Louis Saia wanted the last word, and told me I was fired. So,,,, I took a little 60 day vacation, and drew unemployment from them.
I'm surprised that company is still around. I'd have figured they'd have had some sort of driver appreciation day and forced everyone to drink tainted kool aid.

 

It was my son that had cancer. He passed away June 13, 2009. He was diagnosed with Non hodkins lymphoma on April 1, 2008. Thinking he had Insurance until Late May 2008 Walgreens could not bring up his ins. anymore. When we called St.Mikes from walgreens to be told Luis had not paid the ins. premiums, and Tom did not have any ins. since March 31, 2008 the day before he was diagnosed. They had still been taking the guys premiums out of their checks even when the ins had been cancelled. Thank God he was a Vet. and I got him admitted to the VA by going straight to the VA ER. My son was so stressed out from all the crap that was going on. If he had ins. we could have tried different special hospitals like the MAYO CLINIC etc. At the VA it is alot of red tape and the delay of trying and not getting approval for a bone marrow transplant because his chances of recovery were not good. With ins. we proably could have gotten the transplant and maybe he could have been with us longer. Luis had the nerve to tell me that he kept my sons premiums because he would pay his medical bills. LOL Finally after my sons death I called and was told he did not know about the premiums but would look into it. Then I was told he would mail a check. Guess what the check never came. I called the office and was told Luis had the check on his desk but he did not send it. Next thing I know he has closed the doors. This man was suppose to be my friend. He had been to my home and my husband to his home. I was the one who sent my son to see him about a job when he moved to TN. This man lied to my son and me and to alot of others who worked for him. This man is suppose to be so religious and look what he did. My son would have probably died anyway but if he had ins. at least he would have had a choice of where to get his treatment. Luis if you should read this I want you to know what you put my family though with not telling us the truth up front. I could have purchased Cobra ins for my son within the right amount of time and the Lymphoma Society would have paid his premiums after that. You will pay for what you did when you face Jesus on Judgement day. Sorry for being so long winded but I had to say all of this.

 

I worked for Employee Express in 2002-03. i can remember that the company was ok at the time. But at the end of winter things started to change. Some drivers started getting dummy loads, meaning dispatch would send them to a location where five or six other trucks was waiting for the same load. most of the drivers would sit for hours and hours waiting to get loaded. Then when we get loaded, it was only for about 200 to 300 miles away. A weeks mile avg. was no more than 900. no driver at the time was making more than $300 a week. At first, some drivers didn't mind cause they were told more loads was coming soon. but that was a big lie. we started getting Miss. catfish runs from jackson to Alabama and chicken run out of burmingham back to jackson. Good money was not being made so some drivers left. I tried to hang in there, but then they started to tell me they couldn't pay me on time. But to keep me on, they gave me comchecks to keep me from leaving their truck sitting at a truck stop and leaving. And then the nightmare started, i was sitting at truck stops for two and three days a week. recieving little layover pays. then we were getting dry loads in a refer trailer. Still little miles and no long miles. Until I recieved a nice bunch of runs a got about 1350 mile for the week. I was told i couldn't get paid for it on time. I took the last of the fuel i had left and drove back to houma to quit and recieved my last ckeck. Louis Saia was at the office and asked me why was i quitting. i laughed so hard he got upset and walked out. I didn't even get a bus ticket back home from them, and i lived in New Orleans at the time. Sorry i couldn't tell the other drivers at the time cause i was busy trying to find another job, but at that time, I knew Employee Express was going down hill.

 

No money for fuels or tolls? 900 mile weeks? 2-3 days at a truckstop?

Why would any common sensed qualified driver even stay at a pathetic company like this?

I haven't layed over even once where I'm at, I almost don't feel sorry for you if you let that type of treatment continue and continue. Park their **** and leave, you can make more on minimum wage and be able to watch tv in your own living room every night

 

I was a rookie then...

 

Stay away from companies that wear Christianity on their sleeves. Always the first ones to rip you off, and use the bible as a way to tell you how they were right. I've seen that time and time again.