Gray's Transportation

Then I'm presuming his conversation with Marc went well?

 

Mrs. Maass,

I would like the chance to clarify your story.

Your husband was brought into orientation on 12-9-13. He spent 3 days here with 2 full days of orientation. With our operations, the drivers are in our terminal weekly so we are able to work closely with them answering any of their questions, making sure their trucks meet their expectations and completing their paperwork properly. We then send drivers home on their first load so they can load their personal belongings in the truck.

You stated that within the 2nd week is when "the issues began." You failed to mention that your husband was at the Flying J in Davenport when he was turning in the parking lot and slid into the back corner of a parked trailer. This ocurred on 12-20-13 which would be during the 2nd week of his employment. The truck had major damage but was drivable back to our terminal so we could issue him another truck so he could continue creating a paycheck. My frame of mind is that when a driver has a major preventable accident, that i do not place him in an identical truck of which he wrecked. Keep in mind he was not fired.

You stated that he was only getting paid 31 cpm when he was told he would receive 34 cpm. During orientation, we go over a payroll statement and the drivers are shown that near the bottom of the statement they will find an addition 3 cpm multiplied by ALL miles for that week. Please refer back to your pay statements and you will notice this. In orientation we also tell the drivers that their spouses are more than welcome to call payroll if they have any questions. The 34 cpm was the dry van rate and he was paid 39 cpm for meat loads. this can be proven but i choose not to exploit his pay statement online.

You then stated "then comes week 4." Your husband started on 12-11-13 and quit without notice on 1-3-14. There was no week 4. He had 1 run when he completed orientation to get him home and for him to load his truck with his personal items. he then quit at the end of the 3rd week without notice. You stated he was not getting the miles. It is in the best interest of your husband and our company since he has not driven for the past year to start him slow enough not to have any accidents during his probation period but you must also remember that there were 2 major holidays with both of them being on a Wednesday this year.

You and your husband should both be fully aware than most all transportation companies are 1 week behind in payroll, this is standard business. I can see how this could cause a money shortage going into the holidays. Had he called me and explained his situation, i would have helped you guys but never was this mentioned to me. Good luck on having other companies offer their help during these times.

Lastly, i must address the truck issue. Your husband parked the truck at a small truck stop still hooked to the trailer. He did NOT make a maintenance call because i was the person on call. When we were not able to get ahold of your husband, we sent a driver to pick up the load. This was during a very very cold period of time. I had the truck towed to a local shop where they warmed it up and jump started it. No other repairs were needed. Please keep in mind that the truck sat there for several days and your husband failed to treat the fuel. Had your husband not damaged the truck that was assigned to him, he would have had an apu. Also, not once was your husband told to stay in the extreme cold with the truck. I can assure you first hand how we have gone above and beyond to make sure that are drivers and employees are safe before it comes to a truck, trailer or load.

You stated that you were given lame excuses for deductions on his pay. Is it fair to the company to pay for a physical for a driver that quits after 3 weeks and he can continue using that same physical for the remaining 23 months??? did i charge him for the tow and the service to get his truck running??? did he get charged for the damages he caused to his assigned truck??? The answer to these are no and i believe we are more than fair to the driver and you are always more than welcome to call me and express any concerns that you have. thank you

 

God bless you guys .....just said quick prayer for your family .....trucking industry is getting very out of hand ,we pray he will heal our nation ....stay humble and full of integrity ,god knows you and your husband ,you can bet on him ....i know first hand ,he came through for me and my family ,carried us through the hard times so i made him my partner in helping me raise my family ,...better to trust the lord than to trust man ...that's in proverbs

 

Uh, What about the preventable accident that was mentioned? Another question, you mentioned he ran out of hours waiting for a load, I never ran out of hours waiting, I would run out of hours driving.

 

Your husband has some explaining to do on the truck stop accident and tow during the other incident. Not many companies will give a free pass on those. There's a few 2nd chance companies out there, but very few.

 

Can you please pray for me too...I'm hope'n to God that my local store has some Shock Top Honey Crisp Apple Wheat left in the cooler when I get off work; would really appreciate it if you can make that happen.
I believe Ben Franklin said "Beer is proof that the good Lord loves us"....so it shouldn't be an issue.