Sneaky Company!!!

At least May trucking had heaters on their trucks, but being from Seattle I can deal with the cold with a sleeping bag and get the sleep I need. But in the Summer I need my AC . I find that it says a lot about a company when they tell you not to Idle and to use a fan in a furnace. then be ready to drive a 40 ton truck for 11 hours . These morons sitting in their 10billion BTU offices told me to buy a fan and open the window. No wonder they need metal detectors and armed guards to screen drivers so they don't throw morons like that in their truck and let them spend a couple of days sitting at the Flying hook in Phoenix with their freaking fan and widows open. Stupid , clueless, or could care less? take your pick it seems all three apply these days.

I'm mainly local but go overnight on occasion no more working for free and sacrificing so someone can go marlin fishing or taxi around in their corporate jet.

This will be a recruiting issue if it is not one already. My first question to a OTR carrier would be if you do not want a driver to idle does your truck have a alternative to provide Heat and A/C? No thanks but no thanks.

 

Though I think you really believe and mean well, you look outside your window at the truck line and not enough at your fellow workers especially the one trying to keep her nail polish from running while the qualcomm msgs pile up.

I definately cant speak for every terminal, but we average less then 15 minutes for almost all of our qualcom msgs. Of course it depends on the situation.

All I ever wanted driving OTR was a competent operations staff who would not fritter away my driving hours watching the clock tick down to quitting time in their air conditioned rooms filled with ergonomic chairs playing computer solitaire while I roasted in my non idling truck at a rest area or dirt lot.

This goes back to educating the drivers on how freight, and planning works. Your DM doesnt manage the freight, they just manage the drivers. A DM can create freight about as well as you can. Sometimes the market conditions dictates if we can move in a minute or 5 hours later, or longer. We understand the need to idle, its when your out BS with the pumpkin driver next to you telling him about how many miles you have safely driven, and are home everynight while your truck idles is the problem. The problem lies in the need to AC the cab while no one is in it.


I read ad after ad in OTR mags on how their drivers average 2500 miles a week (which by the way is about 4 days of work out of 7 but you won't in most case be at home the other 3) and we pay layover,det,hourly for local work, unload pay etc..

That sounds like most OTR company advertisement, thats correct. And yes if its OTR you probably wont be home the other 3 days.

Then the wide eyed newbie buys a cooler, sleeping bag ac/dc TV CB radio, big laminated map book and satellite radio. And says I'ma gonna go trucking. They get to the terminal and get issued their brand new rebuilt truck that the last newbie wrecked and throw off the fact that it barley steers in a strait line to there being a newbie.

That would be allot of new trucks with major accidents then...which is not the case. Unfortunately statics show that its the experienced drivers that cause the big accidents, the new drivers just cause the very minor ones.

2 months later after signing up with Swiftco or Pumpkin they are sitting in a dirt lot out on the prairie a thousand miles from home on day 3 without a load using their last baby wipe to keep the sweat from stinging their eyes or rolling their truck so the tires don't freeze to the tundra while they get a MSG from DP saying that MSG they slept threw at 0100 nullifies their layover pay and that hand unload they did at the receiver is considered a tailgate and by the way that 6 hour detention at that container company? well we only pay it if the customer pays us (but they did but we just won't tell you because we used it to buy some decals for are elite fleet). That 3 stop local that took all day? well it's $10 bucks a hour not what we pay are local driver to do the same work.

Your right you should definately not work for a company that would lie to you, or not pay honestly earned detention. I know the company I work for pays the detention no matter if billed or not. Its also automated to pay, just looks at making sure you arrived at shipper on time. A 0100 preplan being slept through would depend on what time the driver said he was ready for a load. I have seen 2200 availability by a driver showing 11 hours drive time, and planned a few hours later with no commitment. I then look and see that he read the preplan, but did not respond (didn't like the load, didn't like where it was going, or the state etc..) then they are upset the next day because they need another plan, but take no responsibility for their plan they had. (I must have slept through it and didnt see it).

I did not need anyone to recognize my ability's with a decal or patch or put a feather in my cap. My million plus miles and zero points spoke for itself. I needed to roll my truck because that is the only way I got payed or got to wash the sweat off my body from hours of sitting in a steaming hot truck.

That is great, if you dont want or need recognition, and your happy with patting yourself on the back for your accomplishments, nothing wrong with that. I prefer to recognize the drivers that are putting in their 120,000+ miles per year that are accident free, on time, have excellent idle and MPG that most companies dream of (The companies still in business that is). I agree the truck needs to roll safely because not only is it the only way your paid, its the only way we are paid.

People treat their pets better then your average OTR company treats their drivers.

I definately dont agree with you on that, but thats understandable.

Awards,decal, patches and door prizes? Who cares? A comfortable workplace, competent and good utilization, paying what you owe me with out a hassle, and getting my butt home so my wife does not find someone else to care for her and the kids. The rest is all window dressing taught in business management 101 at any community college.

I choose to recognize our OTR drivers because they dont get home every night, and are worried about what their wife is up to, and its one of the hardest jobs out there.


I don't want ownership of a trucking company, I want ownership of my house, which I can't accomplish with decals and party favors.

Its a partnership. The company also has certain expectations that they want met to be successful. The more successful a company is, the more successful their employee's are. Being self centered doesnt build anything. Take a look at what happened to the automotive employee's in Detroit. How many foreign car companies have you heard about major lay off's from compared to the U.S.? Not anywhere near. The reason is their employee's make certain that the company is successful. And they do whatever it takes. I do agree its a different mindset in other countries compared to some americans. Americans work more hours then those countries also, with less vacation. We are just not as good at building up our companies to be able to be the most competative out there. I watched an episode of ice road truckers that I thought was interesting. It was when they had the polar bear get the old septic trailer working. So he spent lots of time getting her up and running before he actually started rolling under a dispatch. I have tremendous respect for him. Atleast he didnt say I am inside this trailer with no heat, I am a truck driver not a mechanic, and how much am I getting paid to do this since its not my job. He did what he had to to insure that his company was successful, so in turn he was successful.

It takes cold hard cash being payed when owed and keeping my wheels on the blacktop not the dirttop. You want to improve a company? Don't hire drivers and tell other driver no loads. Get rid of drivers and office staff who don't perform at a high level without a sticker on their desk or truck.

I know we already do that (Thus why we shrank our fleet and still shrinking, and removed the DM's that were not good managers)

Do what you say and pay what you say you will pay from day one without any hassle or hoops to jump through. And last but not least.

I know we do, as long as the rules are followed that dictate the pay.

Put a freaking APU on the truck if you don't want your drivers to idle, and don't waste their freaking 14 hours if you want them to drive slow and safe.

OTR trucking is what it is for freight. All we can do is wait for more of the little companies to fold because they could not keep their fuel cost and other expenses in proportion to their revenue. When they fold, it will open more freight up to all the other OTR or regional trucking companies that survive the shakeout. We have tested more APU's systems then most trucking companies have trucks. The only one that we have liked is for heating during the winter. All the others have to high of an occurance for repeated maintenance issue's. That is why our company does not use them. We are revenue driven, so we use what will work the best. Right now, we use our drivers judgement for when best to idle, and its working fine. If fuel costs exceed the long term repair, and downtime costs for APU's then we will go that route. I know we are looking at installing idle air at our terminals (Going through the pro's and cons on it now), and we also set up automated text messaging a driver when they have a preplan.

Wes

 

Hi there fellow truckers... I am new to this board I actually found it by accident and over the last few weeks have just sat back and read and observed how the discussion go.I must say a lot of them are very enlightening and so kinda harsh, but so goes life> I decided it was time to come on board so to speak after knowing exactly what you guys are going through with the 62 mph hour thing. I work for yellow and have been there for a while, We have a single senority board which allowed me to jump from the city to the road, so after being in the city for a while I decided to run the road because the money is a bit better plus I can save money that way....I had to get off of it after a while because driving 62 mph for 10 hours (Bensalem,pa to charlotte, nc) tires you out and you actually are more tired and sleepy than if you ran 70mph. I can't count the number of times I had to pull over for coffee or a nap. I mentioned it to the TM a number of times but his answer was not my choice to lower the trucks it is corporate. SSSSSSooo the SAFETY BREAKS we're numerous. When I climb into my truck the logo near the handle says SAFETY STARTS HERE.....Thus no matter what it is all on our shoulders brothers...thx for reading

 

I forgot to add that self centered goes both for a company itself, along with its employee's. If either are self centered, a company itself will not see its true potential where everyone wins.

Wes

 

All these Rewards and slaps on the back do not put food on the table clothes on your back or pay bills Mo money puts a smile on their face.The union Drivers go for patches slap on the back lunches and other BS.

 

Not trying to start trouble but

I did not know they made a truck or computer that was smart enough to tell if the driver was not inside the truck while it idle'd.

The problem is most driver managers think we let the truck idle while we do other things not in the truck.
I will admit that some people do that because they do not want a hot truck when they come back.
I am like alot of people out there I will shut off the truck while I am not in it.
But in alot of areas if you are waiting to be loaded, unloaded, preplan, 34 hour restart, 10 hour required break you have to idle the whole time but driver managers while setting in their cool offices continue to complain about the over idleing.
I invite all of the driver managers to spend a week out with the drivers during the middle of summer and the middle of winter see if that will change their tune about the idleing.

Well sometimes we are woke up by the anoying beep.............beep constantly if you do not read the message just because we hit read on the qualcomm does not mean that we actually read it.
When My qualcom beeped in the middle of the night I would hit read and then throw it back onto the floor with out looking at the message.

I understand about drivers that say they will be ready for a load at 22:00 but that could be an estimate due to he was suppose to deliver at 08:00 He may have to sit there for several hours and run out of his 14 hour clock then he crawled into the sleeper to get some rest and the driver would hit the read button to shut off the beep but he may still need to sleep longer.
The fed goverment should make the compaines put a slient button on the qualcom that way during our required 10 hor break we would not be bothered by the qualcom.
There should be a canned message for going on break and returning that would turn off the messages for the break and turn them back on after the break.

 

Was this directed to me? If so then I will respond.

 

No not you.Just my two cents worth.I know a lot of trucks have little safety signs on them so does equipment But you see lots of safety patches on uniforms.

 

I couldn't sleep for some reason figutred I check out the boards....Highballin....to respond yes they do have patches...most companies that have employees that have been there for any length of time whether they be union or non-union have them...It usually takes a person being at a company more than a a couple of years to earn them....I see them on conway, ward, abf just to name a few....however I am not sure if you are aware that now if a person faulsefying a log or knowing commits a safety violation and someone is maimed or killed not only can they sue the company but the driver as well....there goes the house the car the motorcycle the boat or whatever money you and the wife have manage to scrap to gether to seen the children to school. So yes I drive as if my family is in the car next to me....am I perfect ....no and nor do I claim that I won't ever have an accident but the way companies are nowdays trust me they cover their butts and will throw you and I under the bus everytime if it saves them a couple millions dollars in law suit.

 

Can you eat a Patch or pay bills with it.Dont you think those drivers would rather have a Safety Bonus they could put in the bank??Yes I am aware about the safety violation Are you aware that you will get sued anyway.Texas has a Homestead law protected against all but Taxes.Any Truck with the company name on the doors spells big money to shyster lawyers.Just watch their ads on TV.