Haney Truck Line, "Under New Management"

well it's about time for me to share something with this group. i've been lurking here for about a year sorting things out. i got my cdl through Prime Inc. and had less than a stellar experience. when i left there i felt like i made a bad decision, getting out of the truck but not leaving Prime. we each have our own experience, mine was less than i expected.

i followed psu moose's thread and have found most of it to be very helpful.

Haney is in transition. the old management is gone and new blood has taken control of the company. during orientation 2 weeks ago i met only positive people willing to work to make Haney a better place. orientation was 2.5 days, wednesday through friday. Pay is $150 for the time plus mileage for travel to yakima, wa. Hotel is furnished. There were 7 drivers in my session 4 new drivers with less than 6 months experience and 3 drivers getting their own trucks when we completed orientation. d.o.t. drug test was to be submitted before orientation at an approved site, they send a list. over all orientation was informal and "laid back." questions were quickly answered and at no time did i feel like i was being mislead.

this past week i have been with a trainer in a day cab doing short haul out of pacific, wa. they put me up at a local hotel, which is part of a national chain, it's clean and close to the yard. i am being paid and hourly wage during training. i won't get rich but i signed up for it...Haney is west coast regional, but mostly Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Bristish Columbia and Alberta. my trainer is a great driver and teacher he is very patient and tolerant of my lack of backing skills. He thinks i'll have it sorted out and be in my own truck next week (after the 1st of august). i should point out here that Haney is heavy haul dry vans mostly. 4 axle 53's mostly they have some flatbeds, tankers and doubles. the tractors have tag axles and the vans are a mix of 3 axle fixed, 4 axle fixed and tag axle with 3 fixed. this past week i have hauled 2 loads over 100,000 lbs. it's all new and challenging. i'm loving it so far.

i will try to do weekly updates as i go along with this new experience.

 

well, second week is over and i'm doing better with the backing. my trainer admitted yesterday he was causing some problems for me giving directions using only the convex mirror on the passenger side. duh!!!! had i known he was doing that i could have solved the problems much sooner. he had not heard the term "use all the tools available" before i mentioned it. with that out of the way i think i'll have a truck sometime this coming week.

paydays are the 7th and 22nd. they said i would get my mileage check for orientation separate from my pay but haven't seen it yet.

i'm loving the automatic 13 speed especially when stuck in seattle traffic. the coolest "trick" i've learned so far; is when stopped on a hill, you simply move your right foot from the brake to the fuel pedal and apply full pressure, no roll back!!! moving 100,000 pounds is hard work for the volvo i'm driving, it's got 555k miles on it.

lot's of paper work, all haney forms to fill out. pretrips on all trailers hauled during the shift and 1 on the tractor at the end of the day. tires are contracted to a local network, they do service calls to the yards and emergency road assist.

i'm still liking what i've seen so far, everyday is a little different but we always have the next days assignment by 4:30 pm every day.

 

well, this experiment is over. it took 5 days to find and get into my assigned truck. it was so dirty, i had to pick up 2 bags of trash just to see the floor, which looked like it had never been washed. the mattress had a permanent side to side curve in it and covered with food stains, well i hoped they were food stains. i had it 3 days, had 2 flat tires, 2 transmission related breakdowns. when it was fixed i waited for 3 hours for an assignment. no call back from dispatch. when i logged in i found my clock was started automatically that morning when i was towed 20 miles to a freightliner shop. so with 3 hours of drive time left, i made it to the yard to drop the POS off. 6 hours after i called dispatch i got a message to pick up an empty and return to my home yard, some 5 hours away and take the weekend off. at that point i had 800 mi. total for the week. this week i got a new dispatcher who called and asked me to pick up a day cab and drive it down to another yard and pick up a 4 axle coming out of the freighterliner shop. it can best be described as "vintage."

Haney Truck Line has no new trucks, they drive junk they bought from other companies in order to expand their authority. the drivers suffer from this by being moved from truck to truck as they breakdown. most trucks don't have bunk heaters and none have apu's, if you want an inverter you buy it and pay to install it by an approved shop.

during my brief time i met many great drivers, helpful folks. when asked why they work for Haney without a doubt the main reason they stay with the company was "being home every weekend."

 

from what i experienced working at haney, the only way to make money is working locally and driving by the hour, not "over the road." good luck, i am fully retired now and driving a new tdi jetta that hauls nothing but me and camping gear. it's getting 53 mpg and i'm loving that, so's my wallet.