Boss Lady Transport (HORROR COMPANY)

God I love random rants with no back story, no context and no introduction.

 

Well "Bob" now you have done it. Didn't the Stark County Sheriff instruct you not to do something like this? This is public record now - not very smart.
So I'm not sure what (I guess we are calling him) "Bob" posted that was banned. Thank you for doing that. It's probably best that I didn't know. My company means a lot to me so I take it pretty personal when people are attempting to bash me. I know I do my best to do everything right. I'm not perfect by any means but I'm here for the long haul - I have way too much invested in this company to do things purposely wrong.
I'm not sure what super-power I have over employees to make them do anything. I can't make anyone run illegally. I can not make anyone turn in a false log. I can assure you though that Bob's loads were legit, after all, he didn't even work enough days to warrant a 34 hour restart, he worked for less than 7 days. Bob got lost several times on the same load with the help of a GPS. Not sure how that happens when he went on a ride-a-long with his my husband to learn the route and was given turn by turn instructions. Bob never even turned in his logs.
Lazy? Define lazy? I work in the office 8am-4:30pm for normal office stuff and I am on call 24 hrs a day/7 days a week. I haven't had a day off since I gave birth to my son 2.5 years ago. I got 2 days off for that. We have 8 trucks and I have hired 2 part time employees to help in office. You can check with any trucking company and confirm that 1 full time employee per 4 trucks is not even enough. But we manage. That usually means that I'm back in the office in the evenings (after my 3 kids go to bed) to tidy up administration stuff. I'm also 8 months pregnant with our 4th child (surprise) and have a lot of drs appointments. I do this all while my husband continues to drive full time. Some people call me Super Woman. I'm just a mom who owns a trucking company. I guess that makes me lazy.
My husband's company is alive and well. Brian has been in business since 2004 - he started buying trucks after 2 years of driving. That company is still going even though many companies have failed that were in the same position. Have we had bumps in the road - of course. But we survived and we are still here.
Mast is a great company. They are our biggest customer and we have a good relationship. They are certainly not our only customer and they never "handed" us anything. We have been working with them for 3 years, since BLT was started.
Our trucks are junk? Well - here's my inventory and tell me if this is junk: 2009 Volvo 630, 2009 Volvo 780, 2011 Volvo 670, 2013 Volvo 630, 2013 Volvo 780, (2) 2013 Volvo 670 and a 2014 Volvo 670. The older trucks are manual but all of current new and future new trucks are/will be automatics. They have come a long way in the industry. Most companies are also going this route. We save money on repairs and the biggest saver is fuel economy. I wouldn't consider them small bunks - more like "standard". Now the 780's are big but we try to reserve those for the guys that live in the truck or teams. We are mostly a solo operation so the 670 makes sense.
We cycle the trucks out around 300k miles. The 2011 is next to go - we are trading it in on a 2015 next week. We bought all but one of these trucks brand new (the 09 780 has been in a rent-to-own agreement with it's driver since 2011).
Do these trucks get beat up by drivers who don't take care of them? Sometimes. I have learned over the years that "clean" is a relative term - everyone has their own definition of what a clean truck looks like. I do my best to clean them when they are empty and put new mattresses in them.
Bob hadn't had a job in 3 years. Sorry - but he's not going to drive newest truck when he hadn't had any recent experience. I took a chance on him, it didn't pay off. Perhaps, because he hadn't worked in 3 years, that's why he couldn't complete and entire week.
What is the going rate for break down pay? Bob didn't break down but yes, please don't break down. That would be awesome.
Vacation pay is 1 week's pay after 1 year of service for employees.
What's the going rate for holiday pay for truck drivers? I pay by the mile + stop pay + I throw extra pay for loads going to NYC and holidays.
Like I said, Bob hadn't worked in 3 years but he had experience prior. In hindsight, I shouldn't have hired him. Duh! I try to give drivers an opportunity when nobody else will. Maybe that's my problem?
His only 1 week of driving was completely legitimate dispatches. We took it very easy on him since he hadn't worked in a long time. On his last load, he was delivering to Bedford, PA in the early evening. I just so happened to have a truck break down 90 miles away in Carlisle. This NEVER happens. I hadn't assigned a load to Bob yet and asked him to take his 10 hours break that night and drive down to Carlisle in the AM to recover the trailer and deliver the load that day to Cleveland. He said he couldn't do that. I told him that was funny because I honestly thought he was joking. He said he was too tired to drive anymore (his load that day was Columbus, Oh to Bedford, PA and he took a break in Youngstown) and I said that was fine because I wasn't asking him to drive that night. He could get a 10 hour break before heading to Carlisle. Trust me, he was nowhere near needing a restart. He sent a text later that night saying he quit and I would have the truck back the next day. So, Mr. "I'm too tired to drive" drove home 170 miles that night instead of driving 90 miles to recover the other trailer.
The next day - I had a Dr's appointment and my husband was reloading in Canton to go back east again. Bob demanded we meet him where we park our trucks with $3000 cash or we weren't getting our Bill of Ladings via text. Well, you can be certain that text was shown to the sheriff. He said that he needed to get paid for his week's worth of pay that day. You certainly were not owed $3000 for your week's pay and you get paid in 2 weeks like everyone else. You don't get paid early because you quit. Which is exactly what the law told him. I was equipped with his contract which clearly states what the pay cycle is and when he was to expect his first paycheck. The sheriff was able to recover the paperwork from him and I paid him exactly what he was owed, per our contract.
He didn't have a bank account for me to direct deposit his paycheck so he had to wait for a paper check. In that envelope, I include a statement from me showing the loads and breakdown of pay and a paystub from ADP. Both forms show clearly the period end date. He must of missed that somehow because he kept calling and texting us saying that we had a court date for the following day because we didn't pay him for all the loads he did.
He started on Friday. Our pay cycle runs Mon-Sun based on loads delivered. So the Friday following when he quit, I mailed out a check to him for the one load. And the Friday after that, I mailed out a check for the rest. He also took a $100 cash advance. He accused me of charging it to him twice when actually, he was reading "current" and "year to date" totals. We never called him back - we were hoping he would eventually figure that out on his own. His last call was yet another threat that we would be in court the next day. Well, it doesn't work like that. I know that. If he feels that we didn't pay him as our contract clearly stated, then follow the proper procedures in the judicial system. I will come equipped with proper documentation. Yes, I charged him back for fuel and maintenance cost for driving those miles he decided to drive on his own, this is also in our contract. Had he recovered the trailer 90 miles away, delivered the load in Cleveland and brought the truck back to us and quit, he wouldn't have any deductions for that.
So I think that covers everything. I'm pretty sure that Bob didn't read through all of this thread before posting here.

 

Bobs real name wouldn't happen to be Abe would it?

 

No. I don't know an Abe.

 

And If You see the Words "Christian" or "Jesus" or We are a Religious minded carrier......

You Better Really Get away

 

Abe "Run Hard Get Paid" Attallah? The description you gave about Bob sounds a lot like sleepy head, Abe.

 

Havent finisned reading all the post yet.. but, gonna jump in anyways..

Before I hook up to a trailer I get just under it, but do not far enough to engage the fith wheel.. I jump out and first inspect the trailer.. not a full trailer pre trip cause my lines are not hooked, just a walk around.. and I check the license plate and registration.. if that is all good I make sure I wont jump tne 5th wheel and hook up to the trailer, connect my lines and do a pre trip... I am not gonna take it, loaded or empty if there is an issue and especially one that wojld get me a violation..

To be honest, fair and sensible... dispatch and the companiies dont see the condition of trailers.. so, the drivers before may not have reported any problems.. so it is your responsibility to make sure your truck and trailer is safe and legal...

 

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That's funny, I don't care who ya are.