Celadon (Company Driver)

Let's start from the very beginning, at the school to get my CDL.

Quality Driver's school in Indianapolis Indiana, literally a block away from Celadon HQ. The recruiter told me it would take 4-6 weeks to get through the school, and it took me 8 weeks. Recruiters lie obviously, but I bring this up because this school is supposed to be an express school. They don't teach you how to driver a truck, they teach you how to pass the tests. This includes tricks and cheats to use on the actual testing facility, which changed every week because the testers kept banning these cheap cheats from being used. In fact, they didn't even give us a full list for the pre trip. When I asked about the missing bits, I was told what I had was enough to pass the pre trip test, so don't worry about it. Never mind that each version of that guide would have a few items either missing or added from other guides. The methods for passing the CDL test also differed between each instructor, and relied on being in a specific make and model truck. As we progressed through the levels of backing maneuvers, you would find what you were taught didn't work with different trucks, and the higher level instructors would be angry that we were using the methods we were taught to start with. Nevermind that at level 5, the level right before you actually test out, I watched people jackknife on a straight back because all you had to do was ##### to the right person and you'd be moved up to whatever level you wanted. To add to this, when I first arrived at the school, if you weren't on the list to practice, if you stood outside with the scheduled group long enough, you'd still be allowed some practice time. However it only took a few weeks to get to the point where even if you were on the schedule to practice, there were so many people and so few instructors that you may not even get to get in a truck to practice as all. For days in a row. Unless it's changed now, they sped you through the process of getting your permit, and then immediately pushed you to get the CDL itself, rather than sending you out with a trainer first before getting your CDL.

So now that I got through that hellish ordeal, things would get better right?

My trainer. Yes, every trainer is different and not all of them are good trainers. The reason I bring mine up was because I was told he was one of the best trainers Celadon had, and never had a complaint against him. But let's start with the layout for training. We were supposed to do 10,000 miles, and switch from a "phase 1" to "phase 2" after 5,000 miles, which I'm sure you're familiar with how that works. However, from day 1, we might as well have been team driving, cause he would nap/sleep frequently while I'm behind the wheel in the middle of the night not knowing what I'm doing. From day 1. He would always start me off way past midnight, which I requested not to do, and would driver the rest of my 11 hours when I because way too tired to driver after only a few hours, plus his 11. Now I can understand driving on my 11 to get the load where it needs to go on time, and I can understand getting me used to driving at odd hours. However all he cared about was making more money and purposefully got loads that would require the truck to be moving at all times. As well he would ##### at me when he realized he couldn't break my normal sleep schedule, constantly telling me I needed to "figure it out". This entire time I barely learned anything about what would be required of me as a solo driver. I had to beg him to let me back the truck, or go talk to shippers/customers myself, because he would rather do it to save time. He never taught me how to fill out trip sheets, use paper logs, and I barely knew how to use the Qualcomm after 9,000 miles. I had to get another trainer to teach me these things. He initially said my shifting was the best he'd seen from a student the first week, and then started #####ing about how I didn't know how to shift near the last week because of how badly he was exhausting me. He never stressed the importance of reading all the road signs, and then would raise hell randomly when I missed one.

So when I get back to the Indi terminal after about 9,000 miles, I talked face to face with my driver advocate about wanting to switch trainers to finish me off, cause I wasn't being taught much of anything, giving example after example. She said they couldn't do that, so I asked that she not tell my trainer what I'd said so there wouldn't be drama between us, and she agreed. Not an hour later I get a call from my trainer, furious at me for saying anything to her. Come to find out another advocate overheard me and called him to tell on me. When I confronted the other advocate about it, he berated me for saying what I had, because it would "damage his reputation" and "he's never had a complaint before", so I was obviously a troublemaker. I even asked him this exact question: "Should I have to ask my trainer to train me?". His response was "Yes".

There is actually a lot more to what happened with "one of Celadon's best trainers", but I've covered the meat of it. Time to move on to why I'm posting here in the first place.

Now I'm a Celadon solo company driver. I had no choice but to go right into the reefer division, and my contract says, quote: "Applicant shall pay no money to Quality Drivers, but shall remain in the employment of Celadon for a period of time sufficient to log 120,000 miles driving..." Cool, so I can do that in about a year, right?

Let's segway a little first. I had only 1 request that I told my dispatcher face to face. That because I didn't have a home to go back to, I didn't mind running for weeks or months at a time, and that they keep me running out west primarily, cause that's where I was looking to move to. In 7 months I have been out west 2 times, and 1 was because I requested hometime in California. However as soon as I got out there I was immediately routed straight back east. I have talked to several drivers I went to school with, in the same division I am in, and every single one of them has told me about being stuck out west for weeks or months, and no wanting to be out there. But yet there's just nothing to get me and keep me out there, so the planners tell my dispatcher. Speaking of hometime, in 7 months, I have requested hometime 5 times, with weeks worth of notice, and I have been very very late 3 of those times. The only reason I wasn't late these last 2 times was because I had to raise hell every day of the week leading up to my travel date.

They pay .27$ a mile, and I've been averaging 1,500 miles a week since I started 7 months ago. I'm lucky if I got 2,000. Today my miles completed is 43,000 miles, despite my truck saying I've done 50,000. They start paying detention after 4 hours of sitting at a shipper/receiver, at 20$/hr. Even still, I've only been paid for detention a couple times, and only because I raised hell when I realized I hadn't been paid for detention 10 times in a row. Even still, they are pocketing my detention money. Layover pay was my only redemption, for sitting waiting for pickup or deliver for more than 24 hours, because the dispatchers could choice an amount at their discretion, and mine actually cared about me and knew I was getting screwed.

The reason I'm posting now, in because in the past couple days, layover pay has been abolished, and is being replaced with Wage Lock. Let's explain what Wage Lock is. I have a scorecard broken into "Availibility" (70% of total score) and "Compliance" (30%), which averages out to which Tier I'm in, between 1-5. 1 is the best, 5 is the worst. If you are Tier 1 or 2, you are guarenteed at least 730$ or 530$ respectively each week.

Here's where the fun begins. I'm in Tier 3, meaning I don't get Wage Lock. Why? One of my scores is 95% in Availibilty, and the rest are 100%, save for one more. My idle time is 50%, in Compliance. My idle times are very high, not because I leave the truck running for no reason, but because they put the lowest quality batteries they would get away with in this truck, and they truck is autostarting itself nearly every single day. In fact, just 2 weeks ago I had a huge wire harness update to attempt to fix some of the problems the truck had out of the factory in regards to the main batteries being drained. I've spent this entire week calling everybody I could in the office about the faulty electric system/batteries being the cause of my high idle times, and when I ask the question "Should I be punished because of faulty equipment I have nothing to do with?" the answers were always "No, we'll see if we can fix the scores". Yesterday, the official answer I have received is "The scores cannot be changed and you will not be reimbursed for the truck affecting your scorecard." Obviously what's not being said, is they are very aware that I am not at fault for my idle times, but they are going to do nothing to stop screwing me out of my money. These past few weeks I've ran less than 1,000 miles, and this week seems to be no different.


So this is my story with Celadon, which very soon will be picking up with another company. Considering the turnover rates vary from 90%-120% depending on who you ask, in retrospect I should have left much sooner. But I'm a very patient man, and this time it's come to bite me in the ###. Once again there is a lot I've left out, some of which may have slipped my mind even, but if there are any questions about what I've wrote, or in general with this company I'll be happy to answer to the best of my ability.

 

The only reason I'm replying to this is so people don't get the wrong impression about me or what I've said, which you seem to have immediately done. I've made an effort to keep myself from appearing like I'm just being whiny in my post, and somehow you still read it as such.

Never did I say my intention was to keep jumping from company to company, and that is in fact not my intention. I joined Celadon with the intention of settling into that company, but now that I realize I have to jump ship, whatever company I choose I will, once again, have full intentions of settling down with them. I'm fully aware of how bad it looks to keep switching companies. Where am I going to go? As if I have absolutely no options? Are you suggesting every single company will treat you like sub-human and cheat you out of huge amounts of money, or outright steal it?

As for demands, I never made any. When I met my dispatcher, I told him "I do not have a home to go back to in Georgia, so I'm willing to run for weeks or months at a time. Considering this, would you be willing to keep me running out west?" He said "Yes, I'll make a note for the planners and we'll keep you out west". To which I have been out west 2 times, while friends that were in the same classes I was in ended up stuck out west for weeks to months on end. I never demanded to be sent out west. I requested it, and very politely every time.

See how being quiet and doing my job works out for me? I stayed silent and did my very best for 6 months straight, with "yes sir no sir" every time. My original post should tell you how well that worked out for me. It was only in this past month that I started speaking up, because I realized how badly they were treating me, and how much money they were conning out of me.

I would agree with just sticking it out for a full year, up until one week ago when they got rid of layover pay, and rigged the scores so I couldn't get Wage Lock. Now however, at 1000-1500 miles a week, while burning through my 14 every day, I cannot keep doing that. Especially not when I'm still being told to "do my best" by the same company that refuses to stop ####ing me so hardcore.

I may be a blip on the computer screen and bottom of the barrel, and I don't mind that cause I understand how it works, but I will not be a company's ####-toy. Is that really way too much for me to ask?

 

I appreciate that @TruckDuo, and I have in fact made another thread about what I'm seeking in another company. I have full intentions of going to another company as soon as possible, as continuing to "do my best" for this company is starting to make me sick. If you have some suggestions that line up with the two main things I'm looking for, please do let me know in that thread!