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

I hear ya there! Things are looking to be more on shakey ground then I thought. Which won't matter for me. I've decided to retire from trucking completely at the 90 day mark. Trucks are way too slow.... And I'm not making enough anymore to make it worth it. So soon I'll be sitting on the dock with a fishing pole and a 6 pack. Thinking about which one I'll catch sooner...

 

I know..... Things started getting better mileage wise until this week.... Then I finally got into the shop after it took dispatch a whole month to figure out that The shop needed the truck in there. Had to sit at the freightliner dealership for a day and a half to fix the fuel pump AGAIN. Then I get dispatched on a load picking up in Minnesota going to New Jersey... Picked my trailer back up at the yard only to have a fuel line on the reefer let go... The only trailer they had was this old heat up peice of junk. Load scheduled si tight that the pickup appointment gave no time to load once I got there. I arrived an hour early and luckily it was ready... Unfortunately with the routing they expected me to run a constant 65 or more mph and half the route is on 55 mph two lane roads in most of the states, especially PA... wth??? Plus I was supposed to be home this weekend for Monday's DOT physical, and I live in update NY.. That's one area that dispatch needs to improve on. Seems whenever I don't have to get into the shop or home for an appointment they do ok. Once I have something to get home for(2-3 days ahead like they require) or if I have to get into the shop they completely screw it up. I'm starting to think this previous Friday the 13th I must've walked under a hidden ladder or something....

 

That's the same thing he did to me, loves to leave you hanging. One time I went on home-time and he gave me a load before I got home to pick up when I came off home-time. I went to pick the load up and it turned out to be canceled. so I sat till halfway through the next day only to find out that he was the one that canceled it.

 

Finally got a lot a load delivering near home but with messed up routing. Apparently they started this new policy of "no toll roads". This one had me driving right though Philadelphia, not on freeways, but surface streets. In really bad areas. Are they kidding me??? Started to get crunched for time on my 14 hours and tried asking permission to jump on 476 so I could at least get into a safe haven. Good luck. I get the east coast people passing me off to someone else, and instead found a small rathole of a stop. Unreal.

 

Oh no. I'll go reasonable routes to avoid some tolls. But NO toll roads? I would never subject myself to that.

 

Where U at off 476, maybe I can help U with some directions

 

I have been on toll roads all week...have not anything about "no toll roads" ...they have been on my routing each load.

 

Interesting. I asked about that when they did my 1year review, and I was told they wanted to eliminate using toll roads. I eventually did find a hole in the wall place to park right off of one of the roads north of the city, though. I can see avoiding the Ohio and Indiana tolls by running 30 and that, and using I-88 and I 86 through ny, but some states like NJ and Mass are a bit more difficult, especially if the load is super tight.

 

That's a sign of the end times if there ever was one. How much more time are you willing and to give away to save a few dollars that won't trickle down to the driver anyway? It'd be one thing if they split the savings with the driver since they're the one who's spending an extra couple of hours getting across Ohio and Indiana. Say tolls and everyone immediately thinks northeast but you start dodging tolls in Kansas and Oklahoma and your losing just as much time as you would back east. The only reason I'll still go to Dallas is because I do use the toll roads there and it makes getting in and out doable.

 

Wish I knew what was going on. I've had companies that limited toll roads, but not to the point where I had to drive through a bad neighborhood in the middle of a major city like that just to avoid tolls, especially on a company's direction.