Company tricks driver.

precisely

and thus the reason why the bottom feeders pay $.35 cpm, and every SWIFT, Werner, Schneider, etc., etc., etc., etc., tractor looks like it's been run through a demolition derby, and that's the ones that have less than 100K miles.

If a business owner willfully causes a company to go bankrupt, and drivers lose their jobs, courts have sometimes ordered the employer to sell his/her own assets to pay drivers/employees lost wages that resulted from the owners willful wrong doing.

Or maybe, the company expects you to treat the equipment LIKE IT'S YOUR OWN. Just like you'd treat the family car, or just like you'd treat that tractor if you were the one making the payment on it, and paying the insurance on it. I make $60K/yr, my company has that kind of policy, my last truck, at 578K, aside from faded paint and rock chips, didn't look like it was 6 yrs old with 578K on it, why, because I drove it like it was mine, I cleaned the interior weekly, sometimes daily, the company washed it every two weeks, it never once failed a DOT, nor was it ever pulled in for a DOT because it looked like it could fail. It was my assigned tractor and I treated it like it was mine. When something wasn't right, I told the boss, and would hold his feet to the fire getting it fixed and vice versa, if he fixed it and found something wrong that I should have noticed, I caught hell for it.

Some of our competitors have policies like many of you want, where the company eats everything or turns it over to the insurance, it's reflected in the pay those drivers receive, it's also reflected in the "quality" of drivers they hire and it's reflected in the trucks they drive, Ryder rental specials. Why do companies rent the trucks, it's cheaper on the bottom line, the drivers beat the trucks to death, abuse them, have no vested interest in how the truck looks or is maintained, 90% of the time they slip seat as well, maintenance is whenever someone feels like dropping the truck at Ryder, or when it's finally put on a hook.

 

I made more than 60k, last year and my company doesn't have that policy. My truck has 528,000 on it and it looks just fine. Never failed DOT. You are nothing special don't get hurt patting yourself on the back.

Why would you assume that just because I'm not on the hook for repairs I would treat it badly? Most guys at my company treat their trucks great. So you make less money than me, and have to pay if something happens to your truck? Why?

 

Why, quite simply, that's the industry norm. Look at 95% of the company trucks sitting in any truck stop or loading dock, look at how those trucks are cared for. You and your coworkers are the abnormal ones, not the industry norm. Sitting a bedbugger today unloading, watched a driver for a local milk company take half his front bumper off on a pole. He left it laying there when he left, didn't so much as care, but, that's the company he works for, a large Milk company that all the trucks look like hell.

 

I've been with 4 companies, none made the driver pay for damage, none. It's not the industry norm, where do you get this?

Most trucks I see are decently cared for at least from the outside.

 

You're right, it's not the industry standard, the industry standard is junk and a lack of responsibility. How many times do we discuss in various threads about the idiots that SWIFT, Werner, England hire and toss out on the road. On Youtube, there thousands of videos of drivers not paying attention and dropping a trailer tire in a drainage ditch, resulting a thousand dollar (or more) winch out bill.

Let's take it a different route, when I was 12, I threw a football threw the neighbors garage window, the first time my Dad paid for it, swatted my butt and said don't do it again. The next time it happened, my Dad paid for it, withheld my allowance until it was paid off, guess what, I never threw the ball threw that window again, twice it happened, lesson learned, the value of a dollar and not working for free. All those chores I did for three months to pay off that window, and not getting dime, I made sure to never throw the ball that way again. RESPONSIBILITY

Now, based on your comments, my Dad should have said "**** you to the neighbor, he has insurance, let the insurance pay for the window" or "**** you, let the neighbor pay for the window out of his pocket, it's somehow his fault"

Let's go even further, the truck in my Avatar was only a few months old, Western Express driver pulling out of the dock next to me, didn't check the tie-backs on his trailer doors, hit my right side mirror, bent it back, busted both of the trim pieces off covering the mirror brackets, broke the mirror glass and plastic mirror housing. I watched it happen, called him out on it. Apparently he went to the "normal truck driving school", when I asked for his name, truck and trailer number, and company info, he berated me for 15 minutes, about how it's a company truck, who gives a #### about it's appearance, just tell the boss you don't know what happened and the insurance will pay for it. He then stalked off. Nope, I wrote down his company name, trailer number, tractor number, and called my boss. He called Western Express and filed a claim with them, the total damage was about $500, Western Express cut us a check for the damages that afternoon. BTW, as a comparison, BTW, the Columbia Western Express was driving was only 1 yr older than my truck, both of the fairings behind his cab were bent/crushed from jackknifes, one mudflap was half missing and the bracket bent downward, his front bumper looked like it had been "bumped" and restraightened many times.

But, let's go further, can I borrow your car, I'd really like to test my rally driving skills on a dark road, using stock head lamps..........you have insurance after all, right?

 

Well let's just follow this to its natural logical conclusion and just end insurance. Basically, you are supporting that company drivers pay for damages done to an already insured truck. If that's good for you great!

But you see, a trucking company is not my parent, so if I throw a football through a window I don't need a spanking from them. You can stay high and mighty all day, knowing you're responsible for damages. That's great. But what gets me is that you look down on those of us who don't go along with that scheme. You really think we all just go banging our trucks into things because "oh well, it's insured"? Come on now driver.

See, in your rather bizarre scenario nobody is saying the neighbor is at fault. But unlike a neighbor a company has the ability to both make you pay for the damages and ding your record. Do you see the difference? It's a double punishment.

 

If you crash into something, YOU dinged your own record...not the company. YOU were the one that damaged the equipment or somebody else's property, not your dispatcher, not the safety guy, not anybody else at the company. So why SHOULDN'T the company accurately record the fact that YOU caused damage to property through YOUR OWN negligent operation of their equipment? Don't want that ding on your record? It's pretty simple: DON'T BUMP INTO THINGS!!!

As for the damage caused, you have 2 options. 1) seek employment elsewhere, or 2) pay for the damage YOU caused. You were hired to do a job under the premise that you knew what you were doing and were capable of getting that job done WITHOUT tearing things up in the process. If you can't manage to do that, well, that's your problem. That record that YOU dinged is there to protect the next boss you try to go to work for so that he knows up front that you aren't as good at what you do as you might otherwise claim to be.

 

because he a trucking company owner, that comes with having employees work for you, if he didn't want to risk drivers screwing up his equipment, don't let them drive it, period.

you all are talking like this was a domestic dispute, he was an employee for this company owner, so what you morally think is right doesn't apply.

No other job are you considered an employee and have to pay out of pocket for anything that happens to the business.

 

ANY job where an employee is assigned equipment to use and look after, they can (and should be) held liable for damage caused either intentionally or through negligent use of the equipment. Normal wear & tear is one thing. Abuse or negligence is a different animal altogether. Either pay for the damages you caused or try to find employment elsewhere.

 

So I have a scenario for all you guys who love this pay for damages policy. Especially the guy that can't seem to remember when his caps button is locked.

Let's say you make a mistake and put your hood into a pole. Does some good damage, cracks the radiator. They tow it to the dealer. We all know how long a dealer takes. Let's say a week. Should you be liable for the deductible, the tow and then would you, being responsible remember, go without pay for that week?