Starting out with Conway Truckload

Hey Tinman....how about an update?

 

I second that. It's been a couple weeks. How are you doing out there Tinman?

Andrew

 

I'm the wife of a Conway driver, he has nearly 20 years in. It's speculated that Conway linehaul will be (for the most part) replaced by CFI/Conway Truckload. Right now they have taken 5% back of the driver's pay, starting the last few days of this month. Frozen the pension, trimmed back the 401K matching contributions. The 5% is for the CEO down to the bottom man, although around the last of January the big guys at the top gave themselves a bunch of shares to compensate for the cut in pay, or so the rumor is (the compensation, not the shares, it's in the SEC filings). So only the bottom men (below the offices in Ann Arbor) are really taking the cut. Many terminals have been shut down or combined. The newest trucks that are 08's are given to the men that drive the least or kept against the fence to keep the mileage off. The senior men are given tractors that are 95's and up to take on the longest runs. Many are breaking down. Speculation is that the company is trying to make senior men leave by taking most of their retirement. Also the vacation for the senior men have been stripped starting the first of next year. They will get the same vacation as a man that just started this year and not the 5 weeks or so they should have been given.

Conway truckload is still a separate entity at this point and most of this doesn't involve them other than taking some of the work from the senior guys.

Several are thinking that it's something of a repeat of CF years ago. The new baby of the company, Conway, is given everything, then CF was separated off and the CEO/President/management managed to close the place down.

Might be the same thing going on now at Conway. That's speculation. Most of the other isn't.

On the other hand it is a good thing that jobs are open in this day and time. Jobs are hard to come by. Glad you were hired.

 

I'm not trying to scare anyone off from this job! Didn't mean that.

The training is good, I think it's Smith System, right? One of the best. Good job for someone just starting out and maybe some that are retired from another job that wants some extra in their pocket.

Like I said, it may be the company to take over most linehaul runs from Conway. Only the upper management know for sure at this point.

 

From what I read in the company's 10-K, the truckload division represents one of the most profitable areas of the company and continues to experience revenue growth. The LTL division did lose money last year. I'm sure they're still in the midst of restructuring to increase overall profitability and be poised for solid growth when the economy picks up. However, I know this means some people will likely get the shaft. I truly feel sorry for those who've been loyal to the company for so many years only to not have that loyalty returned.

Andrew

 

There's a lot of behind the scene things that are going on. Last year Conway made appox. $58 million so no going into the hole. The things they are doing on the higher up scale money wise and then trimming the truckers is what really makes the drivers mad. Work for a company 20+ years, come down to pension time and they do this kind of stuff. Last year (year before?) they paid for CFI and I think that cost was in the billions. Economy wasn't good that year. Not that they shouldn't have bought it but to pay so much?

There are many that are laughing out of the side of their mouths at the price Conway plunked down. And I hear that many of the ones that had been with CFI wasn't happy with the company being bought out.

The things they have been doing is about on par with the companies that got bail out money giving out millions in bonuses and not using it to take care of the business itself.

 

Memphis eh? Now there's a lovely place to be stuck.

 

you've been sitting for 3 days waiting on a load?!?!?!