May Trucking has the miles

If it's not true, so be it, but after some of the asinine policies and practices of various companies discussed in these forums, (some of which I have personally bore the brunt of), I find such things pretty easy to believe.

Those who don't believe a company will do such things, well, you stay in dreamland, because I can assure you that companies will do this sort of thing. Perhaps May does not do this as a general rule, but if you think for one moment a company won't throw you under the bus or backcharge you for this or that, you'd better think again.

A classic example is when I drove through lake-effect snow on I-90 coming around Lake Erie. Made it to Erie, PA, where I holed up in a Wal-Mart parking lot because there was no place else to park.

When I could not get traction to leave the next morning, the company wanted to backcharge ME the $600 for a wrecker to get me out of the parking lot, even though the wrecker driver told them personally he had 18 semis in the ditch at $1500 a pop plus accident clean-up (The snow had been falling for 24 hours at that point, and heavily for the 12 hours I had been parked/stuck).

Hence, I had saved the company at least $900 (before any lawsuits resulting from a crash) by doing the safe thing, yet they wanted to split hairs over what it DID cost them. Needless to say, I didn't stay at that company very long. If a company chooses to penalize me for doing the safe thing, then they choose to find themselves another driver.

 

Will May ever get APU's for their trucks?

It would seriously eliminate the idling, (saving a lot of fuel), along with seriously boosting driver morale, due to keeping them from either freezing in the cold or sweltering in the heat.

God bless every American and their families! God bless the U.S.A.!

OTR & LTL - over the mountains - through the woods - coast to coast - sea to shining sea

The OTR & LTL truck drivers of America are positively the driving force of our economy.

 

Classic case of jumping over hundred-dollar bills to pick up pennies...

 

Maybe it is and maybe it isn't, but they've got no business backcharging for idle when they give you no alternative.

 

I doubt it. I agree 100% with your post. APUs do save fuel and batteries, but they're pretty set in their ways.

That said, you'll never get charged for idling, regardless of what has been said, unless you're just really being stupid about it.

I've worked at May twice and have a friend that's here over 5 years and neither of us have ever been charged or even asked about it.

They ask you for your total engine hours and idle percentage every 2 weeks. Then it resets.

Also, they also give you a bonus if you keep your idle time down. Mine always worked out to around $25 a week.

 

was my first company, there are plenty of threads that mention it... In orientation you sign a sheet that states if you go over a certain percentage of idle it will be taken out of your pay check, I've had it happen along with other drivers I knew when I was there as well... this was back in 2012, so maybe its changed, either way, it HAS happened. Only time I idle'd was when it was too hot, I could take the cold, and the bunk heater worked until the battery got too low and kicked it off but blankets work just fine. Even if you sent the message and you had a DM that didn't know their head from their ### you got screwed.

 

I know what their policy, but I've never had it happen the two times I've been there and I went over their idle % plenty. Just sent a message to my DM and no issues.

Same goes for my friend and he's worked their since 2011. We had the same DM, so maybe it's just another one of those times (like with a lot of companies) where your DM can have a lot of influence over your happiness, or lack thereof, with a company.