Swifts new Idle policy

Well I do have a fan in the sleeper and the big vent windows on the sleeper are screened, but when it's hot out and muggy to boot, the fan only doees so much after the truck has been off for an hour.

See the problem is not that truckers want the truck running all the time costing the company money, THEY NEED IT TO when conditions warrant it. I do not try to idle needlessly but I will when I need to and if they fire me for it, I'll find another gig.

It's simply a cost of doing biz and that's just the way it is.

 

well not to rub it in but Im rubbing it in when you work for a driver mill company like this that pulls CHEAP CHEAP freight and there margin of profit is SO SO low that they cant afford their drivers a comfortable night of sleep is SAD...I turn my truck on when I leave the yard and I dont turn it off till I get back...but hell we make money where I am at and can afford the fuel so that A well rested driver can be extremley productive...Just saying.

 

Where do I sign up LandShark?

 

let me know when you have 3 years under your belt....you know how them insurance companies are....but we are out of the south side of atlanta. lol I am the youngest driver and least expirenced at my comp and I will be 46 in June and have 22 years out here.

 

I don't think I can last another year and a half in this enviroment lol. Swift wasn't bad when I started but now that the swine flew and America voted while intoxicated, it's becoming hell out here. Most people would've quit over stuff I've put up with and I'm trying my darndest to look at the bright side, but I'm tired of being micromanaged to death.

 

Question: Since when is fuel expenses not tax deductible? I think this idle thing is in some instances a micro-management technique designed to bust chops and show employee's their place. If a company has a profit margin so tiny that they are in danger of going out of business dependent solely on whether the driver can sleep instead of sweating for 10 hours, then they need to close the doors. All you hear (especially from these mega-carriers) is SAFETY,SAFETY,SAFETY. Thats great but how #### safe can an employee be after wallowing in a bunk for 10 hours in the middle of July or August trying to "sleep"? After about the 3rd or 4th day of this crap you should REALLY be safe...right? Compound this with the fact you would be a fool to leave your windows down to get at least a breeze for fear some crackhead with a gun would find it too tempting. The day I walk into my company's office and it's uncomfortably hot, is the day I will know management is making an HONEST effort to cut costs and they are willing to share the misery to prove it. I work hard at not idling each and every day on the job and even try to sleep when it's really uncomfortable without the air, so I feel I am honestly doing all I can, but with summer coming when I go to bed they can pucker up and take a flying leap. I don't work for the Swifty but it would apply to their arses too if I did. If enough people would quit these micro managing knuckle-heads (even if it meant taking a pay cut) I guarantee they would create a solution and it wouldn't take long. Rant over...maybe.

 

it's good to hear from drivers that don't have their heads up their boss's arses for a change. All I hear is, "be glad you have a job driver". Last I checked, this is still America. Sure doesn't seem like it much any more but it is.

I do think they're trying to get people to quit so they can't collect unemployment. Standard biz practice in most industries. It is true that freight is nowhere near what it should be but I still see a lot of truck traffic out here and full truck stops.

That means there's a lot of professional equipment babysitters out here still working for peanuts, but in this case it seems that's all that's left except for the hands with the good jobs they earned through years of hard work.

To be honest, I don't know if i could have made it as a trucker if it were back in the early days or even 20 years ago. But I do like the job for the most part and that's gotta count for something.

Ya'll have a good night I'm out.

 

Likewise here my friend. Sleep well.

 

Be thankful you don't work for Schneider. I read somewhere that they will no longer contribute to the 401k, all pay increases are frozen due to the turn in the economy, all shop and internal employee's will take 5 days off without pay, holidays that were once paid will no longer be paid. It seems some of the carriers that have big advantages over the smaller outfits are cutting back in the name of staying competetive. Sounds like BS to me.
http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3234977


If I had to choose personally I guess I would rather have my 401k than idle. tough choice though.

 

Sarcasm driver...sarcasm. Work with it and it just may come to ya.