Foodliner, Inc. - Dubuque, Ia.?

LOL driverjoe, i won't put anybody here through the pain of listening to me sing! On your other comment, you're assuming i'm a "youngin" - i may act it but i'm not. True i've turned to the coporate "dark side" but i was a full time trucker so i do know what i'm doing out there. i have not and will not forget where i came from. But i will admit, you'd probably beat me at a rodeo, i just don't get to put the miles on like i used to.

 

Can anyone tell me about Foodliner? I've been to their website and seen everything there, except how the pay is and how the run time is: just looking for some honesty from the guys that drive there now....thanks all.

 

Was with Foodliner 10 years. They do not care about there employees, most terminals are miss managed ,and ran by drunks that cant even control there owns lives. I have a clean csa and a clean driving record. They didnt even try to keep me and in the end screwed me out of my bonuses. There adds look great in the local papers, they almost look like a legit company but think twice. I could go on and on with tons of storys. Ive never been so relieved in my life to be free from them idiots. The terminal i ran out of had a 90% driver turn over rate& 8 managers in 10 yrs. When i left they were 13 drivers short people wont even apply there. They ran adds all the time saying 2 to 3 nites a week at home make $1000 a week. In a bad economy nobody was even looking at them. They dont care about you or especially your family. Hope everyones exsperience wasnt as bad as mine.

 

crop jockey, if they were so bad why did you stay 10 years?

 

I can verify everything you are saying. Absolutely the worse place I ever worked. I remember my first day after training. I was assigned a piece of crap truck that had been driven by a chain smoker who smoked with the windows closed. The matress was so bad i dumped it in the terminal trash. When i asked the terminal manager about this he said sorry thats all we have. However a few days later i see the guy who ruined the truck i was driving he was in a new truck sittin there smoking a cigar with the windows closed. I finally refused to drive that truck and should of went home but the tm said he would have some terminal rat clean it up. I took the truck home and cleaned for about 8 hours. I #####ed again so they paid me four hours for cleaning up this guys filth. Should of left then. Had to steal a newer mattress out of another truck tm never would get me one. So ofcourse broke down at the terminal a few days later. So to the motel 8 i go and end up slip seating in various day cabs. My first run was to corn products three times loading trailers and dropping them at the terminal. My third run i ran out of time because the load wasnt ready. So called tm and asst tm. Told me to log off start 10 hour but finish loading trailer then bobtail back to motel 8. I worked about 20 hours that day and was expected to start my day 10 hours after i logged off not 10 hours after i got back to beautiful super 8. Should of quit then. Ok. Stuck it out and voiced a few safety concerns about loading location and a particular bakery on the n side of town. After that it was cold shoulder time buddy. That tm had an attitude with me from that day forward. It was obvious he and she had no respect for drivers. That terminal was bad bad bad. U should of seen the shower i had to laugh. It was obvious that mgmt could care less about driver comfort. Then there was maintenance. What do you want was the standard greeting and also all drivers keep out. They were also pieces of work. Anyway i gave Foodliner a good try but it was obvious it was not the place for me

 

I see you are still on here pulling for the Foodliner Team. Hopefully foodliner has cleaned up their act some i see them advertising for drivers on the Boreman in Indiana. Maybe the word is getting out uh?

 

Yep, i'm still here. And I see you're still out here giving your side of "the story" - and i don't mean that as a shot at you. As long as people feel the need to shout out the bad things about Foodliner, i'm going to keep talking about the good things. I've worked out of the same terminal you were in, yes it's old and cramped and i too laughed at the shower. The assistant TM is no longer there, pursuing other opportunities and the TM is leaving shortly as well, there is a new TM taking over. Despite the statements made earlier about 90% turnover, which by the way is not true - it's 35%, we've managed to grow and have a new terminal on the south side. I would guess it has about 10 times more room for trucks and trailers, modern, full maintenance bays and impressive wash bays. There are new driver facilities there that are much more comfortable and driver friendly. OK, i'm done making my plug for Foodliner. I just wanted to point out there have been some changes in your area as well as others.

 

Hello Hogboy. Glad to see you still on here blowing your horn about Foodliner. Well I will say a new local was much needed and cleaning house with that TM and hopefully that unprofessional maintenance supervisor may improve things somewhat. However unless the corporate mentality changes nothing will. I think access to sites like these help drivers protect themselves kinda like a DAC for companies. All the best

 

I went to work for them in 2009 and have never looked back. Previous Carrier was CRE so hardly a comparison to make. Top notch equipment, $1000/wk guarantee, home nearly every day or two and off every other weekend (hardly ever work my 'on' weekend though).
My dispatcher and supervisor are excellent communicators, personable and heck, I'd even hang out with them.
What I like most about this company is the communication and attention to safety they profess and practice. Apparently this transgresses to the highways too as I seldom am waved to the side by a scale house, most of the time getting the 'pass' green light. I've even gotten sent to the scale and the trooper on it apologized for bringing me in... kind of comical how he waved and shrugged like "my bad... sorry".
Foodliner isn't just in Iowa though... with about 900 trucks across the country, you can google them and find that there are terminals all over the U.S. (I'm out of Langhorne, PA), just 4 miles as the crow flies from my home.
I have dry bulk experience but have been pulling liquid (smooth bore) tankers.
Oh... of note... I was 58 when they hired me... and people tell me that age affects the hiring. Not with these guys. They just want responsible drivers and a plus: THEY AREN'T UNION so they have people that work,... not lazy worthless people who rely on a Union to keep them on a payroll. to you Union drivers.

 

I'd be wrong to tell you that there aren't whiners driving (or former drivers who did nothing but whine) for Foodliner/Quest. It appears, from reading the above testimonies that they lurk in here trying to belittle the company for their own indiscrepancies. Don't let yourself be swayed by whiners,... I was one of them when I left C.R, England and came to Foodliner too. C.R.England was a bad experience for me and therefore I can't say anything good about them, so I'll not comment on them.

Foodliner/Quest has been good. They respect people who take initiatives (like cleaning the truck rather than complaining about it) and will do something if you're in someone else's truck or have an old used mattress (I was put up in hotels until they could get me a proper sleeper accommodation, i.e. new mattress). It doesn't take long but you deal with the little downs, you don't cry about them.

It goes without saying, anyone who constantly whines about things is going to leave a bad impression with the Terminal Manager, Mechanic and Dispatcher... such an impression 'turns them off' to you. I stayed positive, fixed what I could fix, dealt with little problems I came across and requested (and understood) the system. I didn't ruffle feathers, I suggested alternatives. I didn't badger my dispatcher, I advised him of unseen conditions and extra things I was doing to try to remedy a problem. I didn't become part of the problem. That's all.

Some of the whiners are laid off right now as the place where my terminal is located (Langhorne, PA) has cut back on services in order to take care of their own (ADM is the processor I support). I can certainly understand the need to support your own drivers and commend them for that. Foodliner kept me on. Why?... because I'm not a cry baby. I work, I come home and I'm always on time for work. There's a saying: "The squeaky wheel gets the grease". Well, there's also a fact: "The Squeaky Wheel gets replaced too".

Pay is a $1000/wk guarantee. That equates to approximately a $751.00/wk take home for this single male claiming no deductions (that gets you a nice tax return at the end of the year,... like money in the bank). They pay on time bonuses which are quarterly and I've gotten most every one of them. Safety bonuses are also paid as well as a few added bonuses if you are clever enough to make effort to get them (Pride In Your Ride calendar for 1st through 3rd place).

This is, by far, the best company I've ever been in the employ of and I've been out here for a little while.

Like most companies, there will be that occasional TM or Dispatcher that has no respect for the person earning his/her paycheck but you find them and weed them out as best as you can. Foodliner is no different. I've had to deal with sociopaths that thought they knew more about what I do than I do and simply put my foot down on them. It usually works once you see where they are coming from (by talking to other drivers). I'm now working with a great TM and my dispatcher is second to none. Do I smile a lot?

You bet I do. I love working for Foodliner and if you have the right stuff, you will too.