SSDD at McLeod Express

First off this is only about OTR. This company has regional, local, flatbed, hopper, etc. When I first hired on the dispatch & loads were consistent. I had multiple advance preplans that I could actually make the appointment times so I could easily plan my days. I averaged about 2800 miles per week. Paid miles were not real miles but close. Many loads were drop & hooks. The people were friendly & considerate. I liked the company. It was everything I wanted & I could deal with the little things. Every company screws you somehow: some make it more tolerable with the other benefits. Communication wasn’t so numerous voice mails. They have Blue Cross health care & dental & its half way affordable for my spouse. Offers prepaid legal, life insurance & 401k match. New tractors with apus & incab 5th wheel release. They pay variable scale detention time for loading/unloading delays. Pay increased to 50 cent/mile. Quarterly safety bonus up to .04/mile. Rider policy but no pets. No reefers, few grocer loads, no touch freight, no forced NYC extra pay if you do go (never did this so dont know) Then it changed-

After about 6 months the problems in past reviews started. Honeymoon over. Now I average 2300 miles (2070 last week) Communication often nonexistent. This is another company that prefers texting thru qualcomm; means wasting driver time by necessitating roadside stops. After waiting for hours Id receive last minute preplans that were impossible to make the times. Soon preplans were either 120 miles away on small roads picking up in 30 min or 45 miles away picking up in 4 hrs! Often the loads were late when I got them! Trip planners do not look at drivers avail hrs before putting preplans on. If I would refuse explaining why I couldnt ,they’d put the loads on me anyway. Can’t forget the loads that are stretched out, e.g. pickup @ Decatur Mon morning to deliver Wed morning 430 miles away. Waiting for dispatch doesn't qualify for delay pay until you sit for 24 hours for layover pay $75. I’ll get into their paid miles later. Recently I loaded @ 0500 and delivered at grocer (so no chance of early del) next day at 1000, total of 366 miles. Some drivers might be happy with this. Lately company has been doing the threatening "don't deliver these customers early" "don't call yourself & reschedule appt times (bc Mcleod customer service won't do it for you like they should)" or it will be a dreaded service failure (disqualifies performance bonus) even if the receiver takes the load. These are bread & butter like ADM, Tate & Lyle, Church & Dwight. In 30+ yrs Ive never had a company tell me this! They don’t dispatch to keep drivers running through the weekend- they dispatch so they don’t have to dispatch. It’s typical to get a 450-500 (occasionally longer but still barely a days run) mile load on Friday that doesn’t deliver until Monday! When you ask for layover they say you got a 34 reset. Seems like they run more like a broker instead of a trucking company.

They claim to have guaranteed pay for those short miles weeks but somehow there are always loop holes. I have only had a few times that I had need of the guaranteed pay but have only received ONCE. My first week I should have got it but no... Three days paid orientation (that THE COMPANY logged on my elogs as on duty not driving time!!!) then I ran for the next 4 weeks. Yet, they said I wasn’t available the 7 days so my first check was less than $450! Also if you are at home BUT available for dispatch that disqualifies you. Also if a holiday occurs it disqualifies you; which holidays I’m not sure since no one will answer that question! Service failures, refusing loads or refusing to move trucks during a breakdown also disqualifies you. McLeod’s week is 7 days unless they have to pay you extra then it’s suddenly 5.5 . Guess I should've seen all this coming then

Hometime has been my biggest issue lately. I never get home when I ask & its rarely for more than 36 hours. I normally stay out 3-4 weeks For the last 18 months no one has said anything about this being a problem. Now they want to push how they will “GIVE” drivers 2 days off for 2 weeks out. In reality the 2 days is more like 1.5 days. I sit more on the road than I do at home. I always tell my dm in advance when I want to go home. Then I remind a week before & the Monday before. On wednesday I get a preplan that is going 600+ miles away opposite direction from home, delivering Friday! They dont understand why I dont like getting home Sat afternoon & leaving out at 2-8am Mon w/ a load 350 miles away for AM appt- that’s 2 days? Yet on the road a reset can be 48+ hours?!?!

Say they have driver liaisons but not really. Their “liaisons” are actually safety team members. So in reality your dm is it & they waffle between company yes man & “having your back”

Qualcomm will send you a “suggested” route but the miles almost NEVER matchup to what they pay. Google maps show route as 400 miles, paid mile will be like 378 & suggested route will be 405. They will tell you to take what route you want as long as its close. They know their miles don’t match up but be careful about those dreaded out of route mile. Your fuel stop is normally along the suggested route so often limits you options. Supposedly your dm will change the fuel stop but many balk at really doing it. Its like they use a separate computer program for everything even though none of it matches! They have ez-pass but you will be charged for any use on Indiana or Ohio turnpikes.

The bonus can be a good amount. Company updated the requirements so it has loop holes like everything else. Must make at least 30000 miles to qualify for full .02 in each categories (safety & performance). They say you get verbal or written notice for service failures but that isn’t always true. CSA & chargeable accidents as wll as tickets deduct. Once I had a late delivery (I told them the entire time I couldn't make from preplan to delivery) didnt receive an notice but disqualified for entire .02 performance catagory, over $500 loss for me.

No prepass in trucks. 67 mph on cruise, 64 on foot IF fuel mpg is 7.3+. Bunk mattress flat & thin. Some APUS have inverter but shop will install yours. No frig, small closet cubbies. Only a few condos, mostly single bunk flat tops. New trucks have crash avoidance systems so having a vehicle cut in front & slow down will turn off cruise control & hit the brakes if too close. System dings warning anytime car is less than 600 feet in front so drives you crazy in traffic. Shop can be difficult to get into without an appointment. Have truck wash but guy running it always seems to have excuse why he cant get to yours so use a blue beacon & send in receipt; they’ll pay it. Unless you like driving a filthy truck. They use Loves, Pilot/Flying J with occasional AmBest or mom/pop in emergency; never TA/Petro.

Have heard about drivers occasionally asked to do team for hot loads. You know- their lack of planning is now your emergency! Must be fun with one bunk & the elogs aren’t setup for teams. Also heard nightmare stories about drivers being sent out for abandoned truck recovery with rental cars & crappy loads to get a trashed truck back for the company then you have nag to get paid for all the miles you drove.

I believe the office personnel is turnover is high & reason for inconsistencies & most problems. Things will go good for a while & then new dm comes in, old dm goes to planning, planning goes to safety, or they just leave. So training tends to suffer. Does a person really put much effort training someone for their old job before they leave? I question management. A bad manager can run off good employees & make the remaining bad ones worse. It doesn’t help that they rarely do things until the last minute anymore. So Fridays & Mondays seem to be crazy, frantic, dead out run crunch time. Its not easy to work always rushed, always behind & add office politics & po’d drivers. The concept of possible weekly preplans is foreign concept. Don’t do today what you can put off until tomorrow! New planners cant figure out how to keep empties at drop & hooks. Its probably management that wants to limit deadheads with empty trailers & bobtails which is what it takes to spot trailers once you screw up the one in, one out ratio.

Company says all OTR trucks have elogs. Safety has the boxes setup weird. If you aren’t off duty for at least 5 min it will convert it back to the last duty status. Goes all ways- if on duty for pretrip (yes, they STIlLL make you FILL OUT the VIR form ) for less than 5 min it goes back to previous duty status. Safety allows you to bobtail (even though FMCSa says you can have empty trailer) using off duty driving for a total of 30 min PER DAY! & NEVER NEVER accidentally leave yourself on duty because it takes an act of god & congress to get safety to fix it. Make sure you log out if truck is in shop because if mechanic drives it you will be on duty! I’ve worked for other companies that allowed me to edit my duty status as long as it was not the driving lines; NOT here. It’s like drivers are liars- my friend had to get a letter faxed from freightliner mgr saying it was THEIR mechanic that drove the truck b4 fixing his logs!! and fuel cards turn off if not dispatched on a load or on hometime. Safety also gets your CSA/PSP scores from a 3rd party reporting company that has its own scale & ranking system; this can affect your quarterly safety performance bonus. I believe safety gets their training from a bunch of JJ Keller dvd module classes & abstract websites. Once had a “liaison” tell me he couldnt change my log to off duty because I must be on duty the ENTIRE time I’m on shippers property- even when I lock the truck & go across the street to diner or in the sleeper. WTF?

 

yeah, I considered this and it is probably a factor. The new drivers aren't doing any better. Only difference is many of the newbies seem ok with the miles. I'm leaving the company. I wrote this mainly as a FYI for other drivers who may be considering the company.