GORDON TRUCKING is a sespool for drivers!!!!

I now drive for Gordon on the reefer fleet. I don't have a camera in my truck, unless you're talking about the iteris system for lane departure. My truck runs between 62-63 (not much better but hey), and I don't sit. I don't think it's that bad here, I mean its only been a month or so, but its not terrible.

 

My advice to you is, don't work for them if they are so bad...Nobody is forcing anybody to work there, last time I checked, there are a lot of companies out there hiring. This is how companies revamp, or renew, they get rid of the old ways and start fresh. Just a part of doing business in the corporate world. Just like the big department stores that close down, then comeback with a different name and different style of product. Gordon is probably getting rid of the dead weight, or folks that don't comply and bringing in new people to do it the way they want it done that is more profitable for the company.

 

Why do student drivers have posting privileges? Just kidding

Both Interstate Dist and GTI which are like a 15min drive from each other. They both now want the driver who will last 1 to 2 years and then get replaced by a newbie. It is cheaper and the know nothing students like the one above will bend their hineys and do the companies bidding no questions asked.

Just add the total number of hours you actually work in just 1 month for one of these carriers and then divide it by your pay that month. Hopefully someone will be near by to keep you from hitting your head when you pass out. These companies should be groveling at your feet with gratitude and doing everything they can to make your job easier. But Nooo, they put cameras in your truck, lie to you, short your pay or don't pay unless you bug them, play all kinds of games and treat you like dirt.

With the HOS and E=logs, changes to the restart and the forced 30 min down time CSA hassles etc.. Anyone who says they are being treated good by GTI or any other OTR carrier that pays what they do is delusional.

 

I noticed when I joined them 3 months ago that nearly every driver in the orientation had a serious ding in their record somewhere. I was the least experienced with 7 months.

The upside of Gordon is they will get you lots of miles. The downside is that you must be willing to run illegally in order to get those miles. If you start refusing loads because they can't be done within your HOS (which is quite typically true in Temperature Control), then sooner or later they'll just stop dispatching you. That's what I hear from other drivers.

Myself I took a good number of runs that I shouldn't have. I had E-logs, but once on rollover hours you can get creative if you need to. (They put me on rollover dispatch 2 weeks straight when I started.) Also my truck was an older truck in the fleet so it was speed capped at 67. The cruise would go up to 65, and I quite frequently set the cruise to 62 in California, 64 sometimes when I was really behind schedule. A number of times when I was doing 62 I actually got passed by other Gordon trucks that were trying to press closer to the limit.

Once I realized those runs weren't an exception to the rule - that's when I had to just go ahead and quit. I worked way too hard getting my CDL and experience to throw it all away by driving outside the rules. Only a matter of time before my luck runs out and I get caught doing something I oughtn't.

If you try to refuse a load because it's not possible to do within HOS, they get frustrated with you and quickly remind you it's "forced dispatch". If you make a good enough case (good enough to convince someone who doesn't know HOS very well and likes to be "optimistic") then they tell you to accept the load anyway (by sending a macro that is understood to mean you can do it safe and legal) and then just send a "Mac 9" (Service alert) if you can't make it (even knowing full well from the outset that you can't.) So on paper you failed a load you had told them you could do. ... even though on the phone you told them you couldn't. If you don't set up that paper trail on yourself it's insubordination - which can get you fired.


So to recap, here's your situation at Gordon. Either you:

A) - Refuse to send the "can do it safe/legal" macro because you know you can't, and thereby set up a paper trail of insubordination.

B) - Send the "can do it safe/legal" macro for loads you know you cannot do, and thereby set up a paper trail of service failures.

or

C) - Simply break the law to get the load there on time.

In cases A, or B, the company is free to fire you because their records show they have grounds to fire you. You'll have a termination on your record when you go to get your next job.

In case C, you're probably going to get a ticket at some point.

It's a vice grip, and the drivers who last the longest are, of course, the ones who will choose C. I chose option D) - quit before I end up having to choose any of the first three.

 

With all respects, I'm sure that a lot of gripes against Gordon are legitimate. Is there a perfect company? Nope. Are there both happy and unhappy drivers at almost all companies? Of course. But these large companies are taking advantage of their drivers in any way possible with all intents of making as much money as possible for the top execs and the investors. Why any driver would actually defend the fact that they are getting screwed is beyond me. Maybe some kind of low self esteem thing or some kind of sick hero worship trip.

 

Gordon is great for the driver who wants a lot of miles and doesn't mind bending the law to get them. I met some of the guys from my orientation a week or two later and some of them were smiling ear to ear. You can easily pull down 2500 or 3000 miles in a week.

On the other hand, Steve Gordon told us in orientation point blank that he has positioned the company as a high priced, high quality shipper for their clients. At the same time, driver salary is capped at 38 cpm. I don't know how I liked dealing with customers who think they're paying me a fortune to drive their freight. You know how customers get when they think you owe them something extra - and you're tearing your hair out just trying to stay on time as it is....

They do provide APU's in all their Temperature Controlled and Dry Van trucks, however. And you usually end up driving newer equipment. Freightliner Cascadias mostly. A few Columbias still in the fleet, which they are phasing out. If you get an older truck you'll have a higher speed cap, though, and fewer annoying "safety" features like those electronic rumble bumps that go off any time your lane seems to be slipping.

 

First of all.. The garbage about running illegal is bull!!...in elogs you will not blantantly run illegal flat out..

 

If its capped at .38 then how am I making .42?

 

I am contemplating applying there because of this ad:

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/trp/3807197475.html

However these negative reviews are making me wonder. What is this "forced chaining" BS I'm hearing about? Is their hiring process really that anal? Should I even bother?

Also how are they making drivers run hot on elogs?