EPES TRANSPORT-Greensboro, NC

Discussion in 'Motor Carrier Questions - The Inside Scoop' started by Gazoo, Aug 6, 2007.

  1. Driving Force

    Driving Force Bobtail Member

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    Sep 27, 2014
    Nashville, TN
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    Epes is a straight up company with a excellent training program. "sdaniel" was my trainer and he went out of his way to make sure I was successful. I had went with a totally automatic company out of school (company went broke shortly after getting my own truck) and after a 2 year break, I had to go back for a refresher before going to Epes. After a few weeks with "sdaniel" I was a very confident/capable driver. They spend a lot of time in the north east, so be prepared for the traffic in the boroughs of New York (not my gig). Overall a very good experience.

    Today I drive a motor coach for a tour company in Nashville. no more tight docks ............but the freight can be somewhat vocal at times:biggrin_25520: This driving job has its challenges too, but staying in a nice hotel on-over nights is bonus verses the sleeper.
     
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  3. daddydrive

    daddydrive Bobtail Member

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    Sep 8, 2014
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    good luck with that, went to work for them back in feb. the truck that they sent me to pick up was not even legal under dot regulations, broken windscreen, bad rubber. but without options I motored it down the road until friday when I got back to the yard, they got all the problems fixed, and I headed home on saturday morning. I was told to drop the load I brought in on friday morning at the yard, because it was to be delivered saturday morning, they held me there over night making the load late and claiming that it was my fault. Then on saturday morning the load still sitting on their lot told me it was the only load they had going my way. Dispatch claims they had reset the load for monday morning, so I took the load through the house and delivered monday morning. On monday when load was delivered the consignee told me they did not change the appointment and that it should have been delivered saturday morning, I explained that dispatch told me to deliver monday, and that by the time they closed there was no way the delivery could have been made.
     
  4. Icyhot1966

    Icyhot1966 Light Load Member

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    Oct 29, 2012
    Mansfield, Oh
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    No longer an incentive to be a safe driver? Are you serious?? How about keeping your record clean?? Is that incentive enough to be safe? I would say so.
     
  5. Icyhot1966

    Icyhot1966 Light Load Member

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    Oct 29, 2012
    Mansfield, Oh
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    And about the "rumor" that 30 people quit, it's just that...a rumor. And if people quit, it happens for various reasons. Not necessarily because a company is bad.
     
  6. Icyhot1966

    Icyhot1966 Light Load Member

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    Oct 29, 2012
    Mansfield, Oh
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    I've not experienced anything like what you have mentioned. And I've been here 2 years with Epes.
     
  7. sdaniel

    sdaniel Road Train Member

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    Sep 7, 2011
    Pelham N.C.
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    Icy , I never said the company was bad or not good. I left because of one dispatcher thinking it was fun to mess with me. She is one bad apple . And only did that to a hand full of drivers on her board. But the rumor was started by one of dispatch. May have been talked out of turn. Still advise people toward Epes. Where I ended up at is great but not for everyone.
     
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  8. flyingmusician

    flyingmusician Road Train Member

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    Feb 25, 2011
    Jamestown, NC
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    while I wish I could be as diplomatic as sdaniel, it just isn't in my nature to sugar coat things. I'm not going to bash them in any way....they gave me my start and gave me good training and I'm appreciative to them for that, but there are real issues there. I speak nothing but the truth. for the longest time I was one of their most vocal and active supporters and gave them every opportunity to get it together and voiced my concerns in a professional and concerned manner, but like sdaniel and others, they paid us no attention and it has cost them and still is costing them good, safe, productive drivers.

    there may not have been 30 drivers quit, but it had to have been a large number for any particular week. I have firsthand knowledge of where that number came from, and while the number can't be independently verified I did have one of my former students call me last week and ask if I knew what was up as he said there were a lot of empty trucks on the yard when he left Monday and when he came back through the yard Thursday the same trucks were still there empty and he had to park down in the back because there wasn't anywhere to park. that generally doesn't happen midweek. I asked another about the current turnover number from the latest newsletter and he said they quit putting it in there. imagine that. if it was still such a good company, there wouldn't be so many of us leaving, whatever the reason, and they wouldn't be offering 'raises' and dedicated opportunities to get people to stay.

    you don't take away a financial incentive for performance (safety bonus) and expect to see the numbers stay the same. they decline when there is no incentive to perform.....whether it's disguised as a 'raise' or not. it doesn't take my prior 20 years in management to know that. judging from the sheer number of trailers I pulled in my time there that other guys dumped for the next guy with bald or flat spotted tires, inop lights and/or multiple ones, tag and inspection out of date or registration missing or out of date, the majority of drivers there aren't as concerned about their safety record as you (and I and others who left over these kinds of things) are. only by sheer luck did those trailers not get put oos before I got them ( or sdaniel as well and the few others of us who actually gave a #### both about the company and our own record) and burned my clock up fixing them time and time again because some other lazy ####### didn't feel like it was important enough to take the time to do. other examples I could cite coming from dispatch themselves when they knew I had a bad trailer but i'll let that lay. it, among others things, cost them a good driver.....and trailer issues are just one category of things that could affect that bonus. there are many others

    the 'appointment time changes' happened a lot. I'd get a preplan or load assignment that I couldn't make, decline or advise, and miraculously 15-20 minutes later I'd get a change in the time I could make. sometimes it was fine, sometimes it wasn't. if it was a customer they knew might have a problem with it, I'd get a wide open window so they wouldn't have to pay the detention when I'd have an appointment initially and they knew I'd have to sit and wait since it wasn't there when it was supposed to be. I sat 30hrs in Richmond Indiana on a paper load once because not only the time but the date was wrong. the guy came unglued and came out from behind the window yelling at me because 'they do this all the time and I'm sick of it. we aren't unloading you.' and there I sat until the next day when it was supposed to be there. Always amazing how those appointment times can be so easily changed when they have a need for it, but when the driver needs it changed for whatever reason it's set in stone. Get it there.

    ditto for having to pick up a 'hot' load on Friday that had to get to the yard for a relay and not getting in Friday but only saturday then when I come back in Monday there it sits.

    if these things haven't happened to you then you're one of the 'special ones' that get taken care of or you've just been #### lucky. wouldn't happen to be on Susan's board would you?

    one thing I did see a pattern with while I was there is that the ones who had the least problems and were the happiest were the ones NOT based in Greensboro. those of us unlucky enough to run out of the main yard got to see the petty bickering, politics, and backstabbing that goes on behind the glass and sometimes even unwittingly got caught up in it or were victims of it. it's like watching a bunch of middle-schoolers

    judging by what I hear from those still there they still just don't get it and will lose more drivers until they think back and remember things that those of us good drivers they lost have told them for 3 years now. you only know the company as you've seen it the last 2 years. what we see as the decline of a once great company, you see as the norm. you weren't there the 14 months I was and the years sdaniel and others were before you. it really took a downward turn right before you got hired. if it still works for you that's great, and it still is a better company than many out here and a place I would and do still recommend for going to to get good training. I've referred several people there since i left and still do. a newb coming into the industry could do much worse than epes that is for sure. but it isn't the company it was when I was hired.

    I can't even begin to convey the reduction in stress and step up I took where I am now. as sdaniel stated about his gig, where I am now isn't for everyone.......but it is nice to have an open plan dispatch/safety where I can walk in and talk to anyone, not look at them hiding behind glass and a locked door. a truck that will run the speed limit most places that I run and averages 8.5mpg with an apu and an inverter and fridge that I didn't have to pay for and 4 figure take home checks every week are nice too, in addition to being paid for my drop and hooks and every live load/unload. home on time every time is a big draw as well. once they get it that it isn't ALL about the money but the extras they don't offer that make life on the road a little more livable and paying for the work that is done instead of just bumping the pay per mile, then they might start retaining drivers.

    but I still smile and wave every time I pass one of you now hehehe. I haven't seen anything north of Richmond on 95 since I left there. That in itself is saving me many gray hairs. Sometimes the grass really is greener. And softer too.
     
    Last edited: Oct 2, 2014
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  9. Icyhot1966

    Icyhot1966 Light Load Member

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    Oct 29, 2012
    Mansfield, Oh
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    Most all my checks are 4 digits. Bring home. My AVG bring home is $961 for 2014 and I don't have to deliver furniture. You stick to what works for you, I'll stick to what works for me. Maybe Epes didn't work for you because you complained a lot. An awful lot..
     
  10. flyingmusician

    flyingmusician Road Train Member

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    Feb 25, 2011
    Jamestown, NC
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    That's about the response I expected lol

    Some of expect a little better out of the company we work for. What at you take to be complaining others see as factual information.

    Just for what it's worth, I don't deliver furniture either. That may be what's on the trailer 70% of the time but I don't touch it of have anything to do with it other than getting it from point a to b. I'm in a strictly no touch true 90% drop and hook gig. But I didn't expect you to get that right either.

    Not it going to argue with you. Kinda like trying to explain to a liberal why they don't get it lol

    I really doubt your checks are that high with only 2 years in. I had just over 3, was training, and averaged around 2800 a week, mostly northeast, and didn't bring that home consistently.

    you can carry the banner for them now and pour all the kool side you want. Don't know why I even wasted my time other than to back up the claims made by others that mirrored my own experiences the last year there.
     
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2014
  11. Icyhot1966

    Icyhot1966 Light Load Member

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    Oct 29, 2012
    Mansfield, Oh
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    All of this coming from a "pilot" and a "rock musician" and who has "rental property" but chooses to drive a truck. Dude, live in your own fantasy world but I can prove my checks are what they are. Why? Because I work hard and don't complain. 208,000 miles in 16 months kinda work hard. Since you no longer work for Epes, why are you STILL posting on the Epes forum?? Can't seem to let them go can ya. I wish you would.
     
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