Taylor Truck Lines

I can honestly say this and give you my thoughts.. ..I worked for Taylor ( Me in the office , hubby drove for them for 8 yrs).. I know ALOT about ALL divisions.. what it was like in 2006 and what it was like when I left in 2010.. In that 4 years I can tell you the good and the bad.. drivers, office and shop areas.. Back in 2006 it was a great company to work for and everything was in good shape.. then they added "George" and things when downhill.. they went from 150 trucks to over 300 in less than a year, it was all about numbers to him.. he said to me when he first came on.. 'drivers are a dime a dozen, it's the people in here that make the money' Didn't like him from then on, to me he was two-faced, says one thing to your face.. one thing behind your back (he came from Gainey Transportation).. I believe it's the drivers who make or break the company.. then the recession hit and everyone had to take paycuts.. and staff and drivers started to leave.. (the good ones left, well most all of them.. only had 5 drivers who had been there over 10 years when I left, most drivers only had 1-3 years there.. when I started they had over 20.)

If you dispatcher LIKES you and you kiss ### you will get treated very well .. On the heavy haul side there are a few who do kiss Matt's ###.. there are also a couple on the Pad Wrap who kiss it. regular Van, not very many. if they don't like you.. you get #### loads, and last to be loaded all the time. most of the them in dispatch have never driven a semi truck or even worked in transportation till they hired on.

There has also been a dispatcher (think she's still there) who would tell the driver to "unplug" his/her QUALCOMM before they HAD to run ELOGS.. (can't do that anymore) she didn't remember that the trailer was also being tracked and we could see a trailer moving and the truck "disappeared".. and YES>> SOME DISPATCHERS HAVE TOLD DRIVERS TO RUN OVER HOURS against the Safety dept knowledge... (I had several drivers tell me they were told to do it, esp when they ran paper logs, hence the compliance review and ELOGS in all trucks now.) Even now.. some runs are SOOO tight.. I still know a driver who is there.. and cheats on ELOGS.. it is possible to get more time.. this driver can get an extra hr every day and if they don't they can't do the dedicated run they are on! (yes.. I KNOW WHY THEY WERE FORCED TO PUT ELOGS IN THEIR TRUCKS)

I had seen the trucks and heard shop guys say things like 'just drive it like that, it still runs'.. had them tell a driver call ahead.. only to have the driver show up at scheduled time and have to wait for a day to get in.. then have the WRONG thing fixed.. if the shop guys like you and you kiss ### they will get you in right away.. (mostly if you are a "local hired guy") if they don't.. or you are just a newbie.. they take their time.. and don't fix everything all the time. my friend can tell you lots of time they had to call the safety dept (they, esp Todd, were great and treated drivers good, Ken was an ###, but only cuz George told him to be, heard Ken has now retired.) because the shop or dispatcher told them to drive a truck that was unsafe. I've also heard recruiters tell drivers whatever to get them in the door.. they don't care.. they have to have SO many numbers each month.. turn over was very little when I started.. when I left it was almost 100%.

MY take.. stay away if you are a GOOD driver with a good DAC and CSA score... you can do better than this company.. if you need experience, it's ok to start here.. but don't expect them to treat you like family, you are a number... and the owner is usually golfing and schmoozing clients or in FL at their house. hard to actually see him in the office (at least it was when I left)... and well he hired "George" to run the company and deal with drivers.. they are NOT as family orientated as before .. unless you have a car.. good luck trying to visit with the office people now.. they aren't located on the same site as the trucks and shop are. (keeps drivers from coming in). Watch your paychecks and know the laws on what you have to pay for and what they can charge you.. they will try to keep your money... I had them take money for fuel tax twice when hubby quit from his last check and from his escrow acct (owner operator).. good thing I was watching his settlements.. I got that money paid back to us.!!

another thing.. when they say.. so many days out so many home.. they count the HRS from the time you get out of the truck.. so if you get out on Friday afternoon after being out for 2 weeks, you get 2 days .. you got 48 hrs (2 days to them) to be back in it and driving by Sunday afternoon. if they can take advantage of you.. they will..

 

carverhomes1975 said:

I got an idea for you "fair weather" southern fraidey cats---stay down south then.
You are looking at 2 companies (you also mentioned Westside) based in the north...yet you're too scared to drive there? Not gonna work.
Go with Carolina Cargo. Read on here somewhere that they run you from the Carolinas to California and back, and give you a juicy .19 cpm to stay in the southern states.

 

ive been here 10 years, all is good! i LOVE DRIVING FOR THEM

 

Then you should know a lot about them.who do they haul for in the Dry Van Division? and how many miles are you averaging? are you sitting around a lot? or are you running your rear off...And whose the best Dispatcher there? Cause I want that person to run me like a Dog and make me sweat like a pig in a Steamer...

 

There are a small handful of drivers, 5 or so, that have been with Taylor for years and get special attention. These drivers get a different picture then the rest and are not reliable for true, everyday experience with this company. I found that every bad statement about this company is true and working for them is playing with fire.

 

But that could be about any company you work for this day and age...
They either stiff you on cent per mile, or stiff you on running over your logs to stiffing you with hauls that are overweight. I don't see how this company is any different than any other place you go to..
Ive been working for them for about a month or so, and im always getting called back up to the NorthField office for some reason shape or form...and I cant say its on them cause one day it was about switching to a different truck to this time either I want to lease the truck or not(and which im not cause Ive found a better financing way of getting a truck on my own)..but Ive seen how they are cutting me at just 2500 miles a week..and just that..I would run hard as heck on one week then on another I will be running lower and then back up again..its like a balance of getting just 10,500 a month and then just shutting down for the next month. but you do get a fuel conservation bonus here and detention pay pretty frequent...so I cant say too much about them just yet that's bad...I got a good fleet manager who was trained by a good fleet manager and they are up front people and appreciate really good drivers who don't give them hassle..but yeah, they do have faults like everyone else...but nothing bad I cry about though cause im whiner lol....

 

####. i did 15,000 miles (Not at Taylor) last month whats this 2k to 2.5k miles per 70 hour week? paid by the mile right....Vacation $, Retirement $, simple cost of living and getting ahead $.