Poly Trucking What you need to know !

Ok, educate me...how do you work a truck that likes to strand you on the side of the road every week? Or, if you're lucky enough to get back to me the yard before it dies, how do you get off the yard before the 2nd or 3rd loaner truck dies? I tried...spent very little time at home, and was on pace to make $54k before I abandoned ship...ya got lucky and got a decent ride, my 2 assigned trucks were non-stop problems, and the loaners were worse.

 

Dude , now you can call me every liar representing word in the book , but I have 4 times with Poly in 2 and a half yrs that I was mid trip breakdown.
In a Loaner , punks threw a rock through my grill on US68 at night , North of Paris KY , as I was knocking out the deadhead miles to PU next day out near Louisville. It took the radiator and condenser out. It was a Thurs. Night , wife came picked me up on Fri and didn't roll until Tues. The law caught the punks and in payment over the next 15 month was compensated 1,200 for my 3 days lost. and the gas and time my wife had to put in driving back and forth twice to Georgetown from home and back.
At 50k miles my truck's Bendix went bad. Towed from the flying J in Effingham to near the Petro Effingham at about 2200 , and was rolling fixed at International by noon the next day.
The other time was a day I left home in KY , heading to deliver 4 plts to Hamilton OH for the next day. About 6 inches of Snow and still coming down , Winter 2014/15 season. 3 hrs waiting for the TA in Florence to send it's road squad unit out with a Super single that when bad.
Dec. 2015 I had a belt shift in my front left tire heading up 287 in TX , on a Loveland Sams load. Hit a walmart , P/lot and called Michelin , the Steer tire had a baseball sized bubble balloning out of the side wall. Was rolling 1:40 min's later.
So Although , you may have have very bad luck here , and others come in and do also , not everyone does.
I was with new Century for 2 yrs , last 7 weeks with them I broke down 7 times , and had about 25 to 30 hrs lost because of it. You know what , after the 7th I went in and said I need something for this time , the last 6 I didn't say a word , he told me there's the door if I don't like it, but we don't pay break down , on my 2 yrs anniversary. This is a guy that was at Jevic also and I drove for Jevic 7 1/2 yrs too.
Needless to say , within 3 days I was gone . I have been paid hrly a handful of times for different reasons by a certain someone and no I'm not mentioning names and what for , all I'm saying is if you don't get greedy , and present your case in a decent manner , they can cut hrly pay to help make up for some of your time spent on certain things outside of the unforeseeable stuff.
I've also put the truck in the shop in Portsmouth OH 18 mile from the house like 3 times in three years , mostly for batteries , accept once , I was in a loaner and if my memory serves me the fuel pump went bad , needed a hook from about 3 miles from the place , almost milked it there , but she just couldn't make it. Then I get a courtesy driver for the place to run me home and pick me up when it's done.
I think the last time I had to wait on the GP shop was over a 16 months ago outside the normal PM's.
It's sad that people have a string of bad luck , it is , however your ruts are not everyone's ruts.
I'll bet people come and go at the company you're with now , that just means the same I been saying for a long time , what works for some doesn't for others. That does not define a company as bad.

 

If you guys would just say that those in the newer trucks for the most part are not having these problems , but the older one's are , those of us in newer trucks would likely back off , there are also guys in 35's and 36's that tell me they're happy with their's and don't want a new one. If by chance, after the 1st year I were in the boat you guys are in , I'd talk to a sup , I'd inform him of the problems , I'd talk to the guys at the shop and have him talk to them also , and I'd give it my all to get the kinks worked out for about a month and a half , keeping the boss informed to all the time I've put in.

If after about a month and a half , I'm still having issues, I'd want to know he has me at the top of a list for an upgrade , and if that wasn't possible , I'd inform him , I have to start looking , and will not leave without 2 week notice. I take a lot of pride in 100% on time , and treating the customers well. I also try hard to get along even when frustrated. I do the best I can under the circumstances at any given time to leave others above me the impression that I handle things pretty good without flying off the handle. I also am a work in progress in handling things better than I did when younger , as I used to suck at it.

If he wants to keep me , he'll do what he needs to find me something that works before I find something else. If he doesn't then I assume they're fine with losing me. If I become convinced that that my commitment to 100% on time and treating the customer good doesn't yield any positive return from the boss I work for , it won't be long and I'll be working else where. As I age I begin to realize that , money doesn't buy happiness in this profession , and that isn't an old cliche either.

I was with Jevic , and New Centruy , total 9.5 yrs. between the 2. And although the money was really good , you were indeed treated like crap. I've been with other comapanies that just didn't pay , but always did a great job of coddling ya with smiles and donuts , and awesome facilities , showers & clean temp controlled maintenance shops. They'd even put ya in motel if you got to their yard and weren't gonna move out the next day. Fact is though , at the end of the day in a nut shell , you'd be lucky to gross , 38k annually and be home no more than 48 days in a yr.

If I was looking to make 75k yrly without fail and nothing else mattered , I'd drop an application with Walmart every 6 months until they got sick of me bothering them. I would not stop bothering them until I got hired. Their policy is fill out an App , and if not called 6 months later fill out another. Hey, UPS hire casuals to drive T/T's , and you make good money but are on call maybe the rest of your life , but the money is good. ABF is a great union outfit gents , but I doubt they're hiring , OTR is like 67cpm and you get paid for what ever you do once the wheels stop turning. YRC , last i heard had no one less than 22 yrs seniority driving for them , so good luck heading that way.

We bad mouth and bad mouth and bad mouth Poly to no end. I challenge those that do to spend some time reading about some of the sheister companies out their that steal money from your paychecks , by not paying you for things they claimed they paid for in orientation. Or , tell you we're deducting 400 to fix the truck from when you hit a Deer at 2a.m a month ago , but hey we're fair , ya know we can take it over 10 months at 40 a month so you hardly notice.

Call me a KASS or whatever you want , I been with good , bad , horrible and great companies over almost 28 yrs. Poly isn't a great company by any means , but those great companies are far and few between and do not have big driver turnover , so good luck in finding the one that marks you real lucky.
Avg companies are pretty easy to get into ... Avg companies don't pay by the Hub , they also don't work to help you with hrly pay in many different ways to help out when there's no load for you tomorrow. Now , I'm not going to go into specifics , but they're very generous in paying you for helping out. I'd like to go into specifics to prove I'm not lying , but don't think that's a real smart move.

How many decent companies today have brought back their $ for $ match on the 401k ?
How many companies pay an annual dental coverage of 1800.00
How many companies out there have a 7 business day home time policy andall they ask is you're avg'ng 8000 miles a month. How many companies will dead head you home on a Fri when it looks as though you'll be laid over a w/e and you're 180 miles from the house ? part B to that is how many will do it when they pay by the Hub also. Meaning they pay the miles home.

I informed them I had RA , and had refrigerated injections I carry with me, that once a month I have to be home to get those shots , and I live 60miles from Huntington WV , along the Ohio river 20miles west of the Green Up dam in KY. They told me bring an inverter with me not exceeding 1500W and the shop will install it. No charge.
I asked if they'd be able to get me home without issue knowing where I'm at , and they swore by it they would. In 3 yrs they've yet to fail in getting me home when I need to be there and I'm in the sticks where most companies won't hire from. So , as all along I've defended this company , I continue to , because they have done really good by me , and for that reason , I try hard to do good by them. I'm not a recruiter for them , I'm a driver been treated well , and I'm only here to say to others that it's not all bad at Poly, because many that are here saying it is fail to list their good qualities fairly.

The 1st yr is an initiation period with almost every avg Co. out there. Walmart's initiation begins the day they look at you as a possible driver. No one and I say that basically as about a 3% only fill out an app with Wally and is hired after one interview. These 3 % walk on the moon or water , or both. That process will likely last the 1st yr. Rub them wrong within that time and watch how fast you're not. Union companies can play a casual board with you as long as they so desire. Ask any Union driver about that , it's not a lie it's fact . Unless you are the son of a CEO . even then strings have to be pulled so the union turns a blind eye. When I started with these guys , I too switched trucks like 3 times 1st year , and had my share of problems. I also have a savings that allowed me to hang in there through rough times as I spent a week sitting there. And that happened more than once. But since that 1st year , I can say I been happy 90% of the time no bull. I truly am sorry you guys had such bad trucks. I myself approach situations cautiously these days at 54 because it's my desire to resolve a problem, and not make it worse. Sometimes when upset and ready to blow, best thing you can do is take however long it takes for you to calm enough to think clearly before discussing it in those offices with someone. I honest feel that how you go about it , largely impacts your number one mission to resolve the problem by getting into something else asap.

 

Holy Necropost Batman

..... the thread you quoted is ancient MIM
Anyways ,
I don't really dwell on Poly anymore.
Like many it took me a while to adjust....I just roll with her.
Poly is like America , love it or leave it.

( Knock on wood ) my current ride is running a-ok , the loaner
I recently came out of ran fine for well over the
month I had possession of it. Shop seems to be getting
on top of things.

( Not sure if they are still losing people , I've learned to steer
clear of the dungeon ..... i mean the Drivers Lounge )
No worries

You guys hang in there

Edit : Forgot to ask ..... what is KASS ?

 

This is so true

 

My mistake , I thought the post was directed at me

 

Kiss without the as. LOL , I know you posted that end Nov. Hardly ancient times though.
How hard is it to arrive, close it out, turn it in , head to shipping and get a pass and leave. Who really cares if the security guard smiles and blows you a kiss or not ? I know I don't , he's there and I'm outta there. Who laughs last ? Not to say you were the one complaining about the young guy in the G/Shack being a real gem.
As I said , in the long one , it's really too bad you guys that think the way you do, & had a bad go of it . But not everyone does , if they're willing to gut it out.
Hey there was like 44 arrived Marine Boot camp and 30 finished.
That's a lot of guys that couldn't handle 90 days of basic ... and one guy drank a bottle of Clorox bleach in the bathroom stall at 3 a.m. he was found dead at 0500 when the next DI came in.

 

Indeed .... it is !

 

Bottom line is ,
what did you or I as a
driver bring home for the year.

I did real good