Covenant transportation warning!

i knew i was not the only one to feel this way about covanent. when i was training, 6-7000 miles a week. im out of training in my truck with a team and now i have been sitting every weekend and i average 13-1500 miles a week. i only have 14 days left before i have the 3 months some companies require you have and i'm so out of there. I should have listened to the people in this forum but noooo- i had to see on my own. I do know that covanent is not the place to work for, unless you absolutly have to.

 

Hey meat, hang in there too. And before you get your 3 months and run, if you can stick it out, you'll want to. Cause the only companies that will consider you with three months are 'featured' in the bad companies threads. I realize not getting miles means no pay= going broke, but once you start job hopping it can be hard to stop. Just my $.02, good luck and keep us posted...

 

I have heard bad things about covenant for yrs from going to their orientation to driving.There sshould be a law or how the companies treat their drivers and their so called policies.But then again wer'e just idiot drivers to the trucken industry.

 

Has anything changed at covenant since the court ruling not allowing them to screw their injured employees out of benefits anymore?

 

Hey Meat, I agree with Wallbanger about sticking it out for at least the full 6 months if possible. My son talked about moving on,too....but mostly because he really, really wants to go solo and Covenant is not a good place for solo drivers to get miles. But with the economy the way it is, most companies....including bottom-feeders....want people with 1 year or more now. Things have changed.

Go talk to your FM about doing the Temp Control division, pulling reefers. That is where my son went and they are still getting very good miles. They've stayed out for 2 months and they've run them ragged.....so he has no complaints so far. That's exactly what he wanted (to stay out and run, run, run.) The reefer division keeps their teams moving from what I understand.

His co-driver is going to start training a buddy of his in a couple of weeks and then team with him so my son is gonna need a new team-mate soon. He only has 5-6 weeks left on his 6 months post-training team period...but he'll probably stay until he gets his full 12 months in on April 1 2009. He'd like to be with a co-driver when he has to do full winter driving.

 

I can relate to these guys, I drove for Covenant very briefly back in 2000. I let a friend talk me into coming to work with her as a team. What struck me was their lack of concern for the drivers, and the way they shuffle you around til you give up and go away. Road Assist was a pain in the ##*, and the trips were pitiful for a team. NJ to Denver and 7 days to get there, to a grocery warehouse that refused to change the delivery appt and wouldn't take the load early. We delivered the Denver drop, then went on to the final stop in California for delivery 2 days later. Nine days on that load. That was a month into my time there, and the next trip they gave us we took to the terminal and let them have the truck back. I dropped off my co-driver in Reno NV Dec 22,2000 on the way out to California. Then I delivered in Sacramento, CA, on Dec 23rd, picked up the next load at the French Camp yard, took it to the Bud Meyer terminal in Lake City, MN (with prior permission) and dropped it. That was on Christmas afternoon, cleaned out the truck, then drove my car from there to Dallas, arrived 6 am 12/26. I remember that experience like it was yesterday. Covenant left me traumatized....can you tell?

 

And that's another thing. I am not so sure about my co-driver and his winter driving skills. Brain lazy and just wants to drive, and not pay attention to signs or anything. I have had the time of my life just trying to teach him how to read the map.