Conway Update

How were they hurting? Miles were a bit low from Dec-Jan, but that's about all I can recall.

 

I spoke with a recruiter yesterday (not giving her my name or location) and she told me they were ONLY hiring teams - no solo, no regional, no local. no thanks.

 

I talked to a Conway driver yesterday . He was running solo and had over 3,000 miles this week . Who do you believe ? He told me they are hiring solos , adding trucks , and the 150 people waiting for trucks is down to 50 with a 2 week wait time . Of course he gets $1,000 for every driver he refers that gets hired . He also said they weren't hiring trainees .
But the fact is Conway is a good carrier to go with . Pay's good and they treat their drivers with more respect .

 

you cfi guys are stealing miles from the conway ltl drivers !

 

Curious, how are the CFI drivers "stealing" the miles from LTL?
And might note, that CFI no longer exists, The company name is Con-way Truckload.

 

I look around here from time to time but this is the first post I've made here. Not trying to intrude on your Truckload board but I think I can shed some light on the frustration of Freight drivers. I have been with Freight for about 5 1/2 years and currently run line-haul on the East Coast.

This might be lengthy but here goes.

First off, I think "stealing" miles is out of line. No objective driver at Freight really believes Truckload drivers are stealing miles from Freight drivers. I have learned this company will do what it will do and there is nothing you can do about it.

The frustration started some time ago when you were still CFI and used as a purchase carrier to eliminate freight line-haul. This took a big chunk of day and night line-haul bumping people back down on the board. They always told us it was only to eliminate empty miles but this was not true as vans were loaded in all directions.

When Con-way purchased CFI, again, we were told this would have no effect on our current line-haul system. Within a few weeks we noticed Truckload vans being used in shorter lanes that we used to run with a combination of daytime and night line-haul that even included triples for part of the schedule - once again eliminating good bids and bumping drivers back down on the board.

For a short period of time we finally had a pretty good fleet of trucks. All finally had air conditioning and were just better trucks. Now, all the new ones are parked and we are driving trucks that were below industry standards 7 or 8 years ago. What bothers the hell out of me about this in the winter road conditions. The newer trucks were much better on icy roads due to a tighter front end and a much better spin control system. We are expected to go till the road is closed whether we are empty or loaded. I guess if it reaches a certain point I would shut it down but that is generally the expectation. For any of you who have ever pulled an empty set of doubles on bad roads I don't need to tell you how important a good power unit is. When we are forced to run the "bean cans", we can't help but be a little pissed when we see all the shiny new trucks you guy's have. Word has it they are gonna cut up your old trucks and hand them down to us.

Now to the big one - the pay issue. Pre April 1, we had the highest per mile pay I know of in the OTR or LTL industry at .555 per mile. That is no more. It is now .527 which is in the middle of the LTL pack - no good for what we are expected to do. Along with the 5% pay reduction we also had a years worth of vacation stolen, pension eliminated, and the 401K match suspended to free up cash to make a short-term debt payment. What was that debt payment? CFI or Truckload. Essentially, they took from us to cover the purchase - they have even admitted as much after all the outrage.

Now what it has come to is we view it, right or wrong, as someone coming in and doing our jobs for less compensation after our compensation was cut to make the purchase. I could be wrong, but I'm guessing you not on hourly for hooking, fueling, or sitting in traffic etc. We watch 80-90K a year jobs going down the tubes in favor of Truckload. We take pride in the fact that we feel we have some of the best experienced people in the industry and get pissed when we see people that cannot perform our entire job take the gravy and get the cake.

I understand different people are looking for different things but this reflects the view of most Freight drivers. I think our anger should be - and is - more directed at the company but for the reasons above you guy's might catch a little static when you are at one of our facilities. We all know your job has its own issues but those are ours.

I won't post here anymore but I thought I would try to give you the view from our side. Keep it safe out there..

 

Way to come on here and say you don't blame the otr drivers then turn right around and say we aren't qualified, and then run off with your tail between your legs saying you won't post again. The fact is we (otr drivers) are running the miles whether we are moving your freight or not. Your freight still makes up a small percentage of the truckload division's total freight base. And yes, I have been treated poorly by the freight drivers and operation personell at freight facilities. It's shows poor class and a lack of character regardless of the circumstances.

Due to the nature of the business and the demands of the job LTL will always suffer more job losses in a down economy as opposed to OTR. You know how it works, if you don't like it then look into a new career.

 

I wonder if you are like the majority, yes majority, of con-way drivers who had to be taught how to drive a 10 speed like all the Columbus drivers. LMAO
When my friend who works there told me he had to take a run for a driver who had been there for 20+ years because the only truck was a 10 speed and he didn't know how to shift one I about ruptured my appendix laughing so hard.

I was going to apply to CFI/Con-Way truckload but was told 3 weeks ago they no longer are hiring solo's or students. Only teams.

 

I see and understand your frustrations.
Believe me, I can only speak for myself, but I think some of the frustrations are shared.
The drivers and employees are just the pawns in the big chess game. I am not so sure if everybody is settled in to the whole buyout deal 100%. Everybody is taking cuts, direct or indirect, and I think most of it is a direct result of the current economy.
I think (my thoughts only) that from day one, that alot of smoke was put out there after the buyout. The whole family thing, synergies, brick and mortar and whatever else was used to sell the people was just that a sell.
I have seen it first had, just being treated like a redheaded step-child in freight terminals. I'm sure it is all a 2 way street. But everybody is being hit in someways. watching some bonus' go away. hiring freezes, pay freezes, keeping equip longer, trucks and trailers. Bottom line is all about money, and the bigwigs.
Would be great if all the pawns in the game could get along and see things from each others point of view. I wouldn't think you should stop posting, this is a good forum to get all views.