GSTC.... A return

Well, to be honest, when I left this outfit the last time, I had some frustrations, though looking back on it I blame some of them on my own impatience, some on decisions made at the top that I didn't agree with, but left on good terms. Back then, to be fair, the company was just coming out of a really bad recession, equipment was aging, and things hadn't picked up to the level it was years before the recession first reared its head. I went to try refrigerated transport for a while, expecting to be doing mostly runs from way out in the Midwest, to the east. Instead the two companies I went to operated much different than I had expected. One was a small percentage pay company, small, about 150 trucks, I figured it would be the reefer version of GSTC. Well, not totally, the poor communication between the company's terminals, sloppy management at their Virginia location, and inconsistent gross load revenues finally drove me to look elsewhere. Then I went to a "mega-reefer" company, but instead of being a true OTR gig, I found because of the terminal I would be working out of, and some disinformation on the recruiters' part, I found it was running nothing but northeast, with a stay-out of 3-4 weeks. Kinda of defeats the reason for regional running, right? Well, through all this I got a call from GSTC asking if I was interested in coming back. Well, at first I wasn't sure. But upon hearing that it was now run under the original owner, and some of the good people were still there, and seeing that they are getting new, better equipment, I decided to cut my losses, and thought long & hard about coming back here,and decided to answer that call.

Why would I return here after some of those frustrations, and negative feedback by others on here?

1. They are the ONLY company that has been upfront and honest to me about any and all changes in policy, procedures, pay, etc. there maybe a couple of policies that might irk me in the future, at least it's not a big unpleasant surprise. Is still a family run company, and even at this new orientation, I had very few questions once I read and reviewed the info I was given. Whatever questions I asked were answered directly, and no runaround bs.

2. Familiarity. I knew generally what to expect as far was what runs they do, operating area, and knew it would be running mainly I 80/90/70, east-west, and wouldn't be stuck running up& down i95 for weeks at a time. Plus it means regular hometime(basically every other weekend off, and what ever I get between doesn't count against it, it's just extra home time, and I won't have to fight to get home).


3. No canada, hazmat, finger printing frieght, and NYC is completely optional. That's 3, no make it 4, less things to mess with.

4. It's getting better here.


Ill post more as I go along, and I'm hoping this'll be the company I can retire from once again. Let it be a lesson for me that sometimes grass isn't always green on the other side of the fence, no matter how bad things get where you are. It definitely feels like I'm home again.

And no, I ain't a recruiter. Just calling it the way I see it.

 

They are out of the Cedar Rapids area, they run dry food grade stuff to the east coast and whatever they can back west, mainly i80,90, and 70.

 

A week(ok it's not a week yet, but I'm gonna be busy tomorrow, so I'll just put it in now...)in review... Orientation was off to a crazy start due to old man winter throwing a wrench into the works, got down to the hotel lobby well ahead of time, but the shuttle driver refused to go back out there because of the road conditions... Yikes!!! Got in the office, got the company car to go over for my physical, which almost went rough because my bp decided to spike due to the icy, scary ride over there, but passed... Whew!!!! The ISO kinetic testing was new, and a hell of a work-out, but passed, it definitely lets you know what kind of shape you are in!! Let that be a reminder to get my weight down this year. Got back to walford, met the key people there, filled out the folder full of papers, (mostly it's policies and procedures, and a lot of them are STRICT, but that's mostly because of drivers in the past doing goofy stuff. Let's just say that just about EVERYTHING is in writing, you sign for it and keep a copy for yourself, so there is no reason for not knowing. ) got training on Elogs, peoplenet, etc, and by the time I got done I got my truck, took care of what was needed, and I hardly had any questions at all. What queries I did have were answered directly, to the point, and no bs. This is the Gstc I first came to, and like I said, it's BACK. The truck was a Volvo 630, not the fanciest but worlds better than that "lightweight" piece of garbage I was driving at prime. None of the micromanaging crap either, just the peoplenet for load info, and announcements, but that's it.

After this week, I can say I'll be racking up more than than the minimum 2500 miles when I get to the yard, and I've already gotten my regular home time in. The only bad part is the weather has been playing havoc with everything, but with the new people in operations and safety, it's really getting back to being as good as when I first joined them.

 

Change of plans.... Relaying for a load back home, looks like some more miles to stuff onto my pay...hoping this #####weather will get above freezing soon, this winter couldn't end fast enough. Funny part is Alaska is warmer than here, and even Florida and the rest of the Deep South are getting the freeze.....

 

What a difference. First full week, a good 2500 miles, pretty much the average I like to shoot for. That's without even including the load I'm on now!! Enjoying a weekend off, nice to make the miles and get regular home time. I only met the new guy in charge of operations once at re-orientation last week, but from what I've seen he's got it running like clockwork. No waiting for long periods between dispatches, preplans that fit my PTA and hours, and the atmosphere in dispatch seems a lot calmer now. Same people running the shop though, but I have yet to see any good shops anymore these days, regardless of whether they are company shops or dealerships, it is what it is i guess. Hopefully I can get the truck back in there next week to have it checked, it's a bit of a hard starter at times and a bit sluggish on power, so I suspect maybe a bad or incorrectly installed fuel filter.

At this rate, if it keeps up through the coming spring(I wish this winter would end SOON lol), I shouldn't have much trouble at all locking in that mileage bonus, and get that money really coming in. It nice now I don't have to dread what coming next over the messaging system, and they pretty much leave me alone while I'm resting or driving.

 

Grrrr.. Headed west back to the shop, unfortunately old man winter is still throwing a wrench into the gears..... I swear he and that #### groundhog are conspiring against me....

 

Got my truck back from the Volvo place, nice to have the horse power back!! Been getting all the miles I could run, and haven't had to wait between loads, and most have been scheduled just right. No too tight, and tight enough that I get off my lazy ### and run good. It's nice to be able to average 2500 - 3000 miles a week and now I get paid for all those miles, unlike with the percentage crap I was doing with a previous reefer company, and I get to do the long east-west runs. Now if this winter would just END, it can only get even better.