Great Plains Transport - A company that cares about drivers... NO BS.

What I like most is they leave you alone, they even stopped giving our number to brokers. The long runs are great, just hope they get some more drop trailers places. I was in the yard last week and they must have had 15 brand new trailers there. They are getting TK units now instead of Carrier. They also ar not getting the trailer tails anymore. The last load I just delivered was a doozy, two pick ups at farms in Or and two nursery deliveries in Ct and Ma. They deaheaded me from Boston to Chambersburg pa, which is the longest deadhead I have had. Seems to me things have been improving here just need to address the northeast dispatch. Got mileage and safety bonus for first quarter which is good. My miles have been good. I have stayed out since the end of Feb because I am taking vacation for 9 days at the end of the month which is something I had discussed with Mike when I was hired. Cant wait to be sitting on the beach with my fishing pole and bloody mary.

 

Nice to see a plan come to fruition

 

It'll be at least a couple of weeks if I decide to go with Great Plains.

 

I had some problems woth northeast dispatch myself a couple of weeks ago when I got out of the house. Called the shop that day about that APU generator belt, and was told the truck needs to get into the shop for much needed maintenance, and also told that a note was sent the the dispatcher for that area. Waited a few more hours so I wouldn't bother anyone too much, and when I checked in, still nothing and no one was aware of the situation with trying to get to the shop because the NE guy had gone home early and never passed along that info. Waited until just around closing time and finally got a load- dead head all the way into Allentown Pa going to California, and had to be picked up by 7 pm, never mind that only gave me 1.5 hours to go almost 250 miles. Luckily they loaded me up as soon as I got there, and the load had plenty of time to get into LA. Still haven't heard any kind of notice after my 1 year mark as to what happens with my pay, other than a call telling me I was getting the year end bonus and asking me if I wanted my vacation pay immediately or to wait until my actual vacation. Not really looking forward to my review since the miles for February and March were not good, in fact I've only had a few decent months since that split in July. Before then the miles were quite steady. April turned out good, and so far this month is looking better, hopefully I'll pass that DOT physical.... I always dread that with a passion, especially since that CPAP debacle I went through last year with veriha.

 

I was wondering what part of the Northeast that you live in and how what the percentage is on time if they get you home on time

 

Upstate NY, finger lakes area. I'd say hmmmm.... 75% or better, a couple of times it got missed but that was due to things going haywire outside of the company's control.

 

Nope.... When I talked to them (helwig) on the phone I was told they wouldn't be able to get me home at all...plus they required hazmat which I got rid of years ago, even before the homeland security garbage. But that was 2-3 years ago. after the experience I've had over the next years, I'd much rather avoid hauling placarded hazmat altogether. I didn't make much extra for it at those companies where I pulled those loads, and the shippers can't be trusted to load the stuff or prepare paperwork correctly. And doing hazmat loads through brokers is even more of a pain.

 

Thermo kings? Wow. I've heard from the shop they were testing out some new tri-pak APU's because of all the problems with carrier. Then again with carrier moving their manufacturing out of the country I don't think the quality of that brand will stay up long. I wonder what will they try on the trailers without the tails. Maybe the volvos could be a factor. I know from experience those d13 engines get far better mileage than the dd15 motors.

 

In from albany my self

 

Currently still waiting for dispatch, was told they are working on a load getting north so I can get this truck in for much needed service. Been empty since yesterday after also having to get the reefer unit fixed and my hours were not so great once I got done. Not really sure if I'm looking forward to my "1 year" review, never really got a call about it, or any kind of notice or acknowledgement once I reached my anniversary date almost a month ago, and up until today they hadn't made any effort to run me through the yard since I got out of the house and the shop told me the truck is way overdue for service. The shop did notify NE dispatcher about it but he left early that day and never told the other people wiring on that area. My miles seemed to be about the 11,000 mark for April, which was an improvement over the previous 2 months which were abysmal. The thing that makes me a bit wary is when I got to my 6 months I got a call that I was getting a raise of 1 cent, wanted me to stay and all that. with the 1 year mark gone by and the silence out of mapleton since then other than a call about my longevity and vacation pay, along with no real effort to get me through there for review and the pm on the truck raises some alarms. I guess I'll find out what's going on if and when I get up there. just not really a confident feeling at this point.