Eastern Freightways North Brunswick, NJ

welcome back Json. you summed it up perfect. If you can manage yourself ,get your assignment, and manage your hours and leave the GANG alone, you will get by. If you constantly call, pull over, complain, they will bury you till you quit. unfortunatley, the latter is the majority of the drivers. If you didnt have so many years in, you would probably leave also. cutting that last cord is the toughest. talk soon.

 

you still with us?????

 

Yes still here. Been a hectic few weeks.

We had to slip out of our truck 9940 for the past 3 weeks. It had a rough idle and the Camp Hill shop couldn't seem to figure it out so they sent it down to the Volvo dealer. Turns out is was a sensor on the fuel pump or something that was messed up. Of course this was after Camp Hill replaced the oil pressure gauge (had a minor glitch) and replaced the engine brake assembly in an attempt to solve the problem in house.

In the meantime we were using another truck 40227 which was fresh out of the shop (turns out it was Wayne and Henry's truck) which had been downed for repairs a week earlier. Even so we had to get a few problems ironed out with that 1 too. Unfortunately this is rather common place. Many drivers do not document any defects on a truck when they slip seat. We on the other hand will document EVERY flaw or defect right down to a torn seat or privacy curtain.

The very first run with truck 40227 to Miami, the Speedometer, Odometer, and cruise control failed while in route. (This is one of the former Jevic Trucks set to run 65 mph max). Rather than down the truck for repairs we made the run to Miami and back using the tach for shifting and my notes from previous runs to track the mileage. A few electronic speed signs along the way and we were able to make notes of what speed corresponded to what tach reading. Kinda nice having a truck that was basically "ungoverned" for a change.

Of course I wrote it up and had the "problem" fixed before we took it out again. I cannot afford to get busted doing 85 mph in a cmv or worse yet take an exit ramp too fast and roll the truck over because we have no idea just how fast we were going.

The bunk heater had apparently been replaced and who ever put it back together at Camp Hill didn't get the inside doors lined up so no heat was getting to the bunk. Kim likes it warm so she was pretty upset about it not working and insisted they fix it before we took it back down to Miami. The guys at Camp Hill got on it right away and had it fixed within 45 minutes.

The following week we had a bad alternator and had the TA in Richmond Va replace the alternator. A 3 hour job that cost over $500.00 but I could not take a chance running it after dark on just the batteries.

3 days later the brand new alternator that the TA installed started over charging the system. Apparently it had a faulty regulator and cooked the batteries. A wonderfully pungent rotten egg smell greeted us when we exited the truck in Florida at our lunch stop.

Unfortunately NEMF road service had already gone home and weekend dispatch was unavailable. Rather than sit on our duffs, I got out my tools and disconnected the alternator, tied back the leads so they would not ground out on any metal and continued the run to Miami on battery power alone. We turned off the a/c and radio to conserve power along the way but I forgot to pull the fuse for the day time running lights and the OBC which continued to drain the batteries for the next 6 hours.

We made the delivery in Miami and made it back up to exit 244 when it started to get dark. Our voltmeter showed we were below 12 so I pulled off and figured I would try and re-attach the alternator to get a quick charge but by then the batteries were too depleted to start the truck back up.

We finally got a call back after calling Brian, Tommy, and Ray (who was on vacation). Brian was able to give me the home number for Carlos (NEMF weekend emergency road service). Carlos was able to get a repair truck out to us with 4 new batteries and a new alternator later that night. Around midnight is when the road service guy finally showed up. It took him 3 hours to switch the alternators and batteries. Apparently Volvo's are a real hassle to work on.

After being broke down for 7 hours the repairs were complete but the truck would not throttle up. I didn't dare drive it on the road at an idle and we didn't have the heart to bother anyone at 3 am in the morning so we slept for the rest of the night in the same spot we broke down at.

At 9 am we contacted Carlos and explained the truck would start but would not accelerate and we had some fault codes showing there was an error in communicating with the ECU. The truck was summarily towed to the Volvo dealer in Jacksonville. We suspected we might have fried the electronics due to the faulty alternator.

Monday morning the svc tech got right on the truck and discovered a ground wire had not been attached to the batteries which controlled the ECU. Once the wire was re-attached the truck worked like a charm.

The good news is we are finally back in our old truck. Kim calls it "Shelby" and called the former Jevic truck "Junk Yard Dog." She hates that blue truck with a passion even though it was bigger than ours.

Kim was pretty upset over losing her time off at home but has taken the break down in stride. Of course it made it easier knowing that Eastern management stepped up and paid us both for the break down in addition to putting us in a hotel for the night on Sunday.

In trucking sometimes bad things happen. Trucks can and do break down. Road service may take a while to get to you but in the end the problem does get resolved. It is gratifying that we work at a company where the management personnel do in fact value our efforts and takes care of us when these "things" happen.

 

Bro , do your self a favor , just stay away from this company . . as for Gary, he is the only decent man in the building , he is fighting a tuff battle and has his hands full . If you go back far enough in the tread, you will see how jillk talks about Ray , Ray is a total idiot.Knowone will ever know why Rich got the axe but I do know that Rich spent the begining of his nights fixing what Ray had screwed up during his shift. Jllk praises Ray on being able to run 1000+ miles a day.... HOW LEGAL IS THAT ?????? Gee I wonder why he had a heart attack. I think NJKatwomen mentioned about DOT . One of the NEMF drivers killed several people not that long ago and when DOT relized Eastern was a part of NEMF , they came in and did a audit and had a field day . I have been DOT'ed so many times ,its not funny . DOT is gunning hard for these trucks .
After having a talk with a very nice DOT officer , I was told that the two things they find most with Eastern is , POOR EQUIPMENT AND FALSIFIED LOGS .Most of these trucks should not even be on the road .
If you choose to work for this company, you can expect , garbage trucks , piss poor managment and you will be treated like a dog .All this crap about drivers crying the blues ,makes me sick when I hear it ,, Just because you are new to a company DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD HAVE TO PUT UP WITH A PIECE OF CRAP TRUCK
Eastern can not retain drivers because they are a low life company. Talk to an old timer who has been around for a while who knows about this place and they will tell you . I ended up here for reasons I do not want to get into on here but I am here and I have to deal with it until something else comes up .So if all of you want to listen to these two slurp on each other then go right ahead and when you are sitting in that match box ,starving to death with your phone ringing from the bill collectors and your land lord looking for the rent , dont say know one told you .
We as truck drivers have more power the the US Government itself, but drivers are to STUPID to relize it , we can make or break this country .What does this country have with out us ????? NOTHING .ITS THAT SIMPLE .We as drivers can change this industry into what it should be

 

you must know who I am or you wouldnt post what you did. I dont agree altogether with Jason but I respect him. Are you one of the malcontents from NJ????

 

Ive noticed a couple post's have become rude and personal
We all have our opinions
But if you don't keep them polite you will not be allowed to post

 

Any driver worth his salt can drive 1000+ miles per day. Under the old hos this was even legal (believe it or not). Begin at midnight, 10 hours driving= 650 miles (in a 70 mph truck), take an 8 hour break (re-setting drive hours), continue driving for another 10 hours. 5.5 (factored out pre-trip and fuel stop) of those additional hours would come in before midnight which adds another 357 miles for a total of 1007 miles.

Under the current HOS the best a solo could do (again start at midnight) "legally" would be 11x65mph= 715 miles then take 10 hour break to reset hours and begin new 11 hour drive shift. 2.5 hours would come in before midnight so that adds an extra 162 miles for a total of 877 miles "legally" logged within a 24 hour time frame.

I find this comment surprising. I have almost 8 years in with Eastern now
and have been DOT checked "maybe" 6 times. None of the inspections resulted in ANY violation issued to me or to Eastern. Now in all fairness VA did catch me running a hazmat load slightly over weight on the drives a few years back (34,500) and did write me a ticket for that. It was my error and I paid the fine on the spot.

Eastern does not order the trucks. NEMF purchases new trucks every 3 to 5 years and rotates them into the fleets as needed. To my knowledge the trucks are not financed at all and are completely paid for when they arrive. NEMF has a habit of parking the new equipment and taking the tax breaks for 1 to 2 years though. The older trucks were specced for northeast regional runs and are pretty bare bones as compared to some larger OTR carriers. This means low horse power engines, no engine brakes, and small, light weight, sleeper trucks. I drove the same trucks for several years before I was given one of the new auto shift trucks. As a matter of fact I refused to give up my old truck for an additional year because I do not like auto shift trucks. I finally gave in when I asked to train my brother (I needed the double bunk and the extra space). I believe they have over 60 new auto shift Volvo 610 models (2006/2007) integrated into the fleet. Last I knew we only have about 120 trucks so that would make a 50/50 mix.

While I do not know what the current turn over rate is here at Eastern I do know that there are many "old timers" that are still with Eastern. Lets not forget the current Eastern has only been up and running since 1994. The old union organized Eastern was disbanded and closed up shop in 1976. We have several drivers that have more seniority than I do still working here and making a decent paycheck.

Based on the current economy you should be happy you have a job at all. Of course you could quit and file for unemployment. I suspect that will not help you make enough money to pay your bills either though. Personally I have also taken a hit in my take home pay. I am about 12% lower per paycheck as compared to last year at this time. I attribute this to the current economy rather than a conspiracy concocted within the offices of Eastern.

 

I have to agree with with him i worked there for about a month and he is right there trucks are crap and they dont give too ##### about you or your needs. I told dispatch that i had a family emergency you know how long it took them to get me home 4 days. my dad was in a car crash my family would tell me much more than that just to get home bye the time i got home my dad had already passed away so #### them now they want to charge me 500 for not returning the truck back to NJ but the funny thing is NEMF has been using it for the past month to pedal freight with so stay far away from this outfit

 

Sorry for your loss Warner. Perhaps this explains why you hung up the phone when I called you a while back.

The 1 thing I have always been able to count on with them was to get me home to take care of any problems that came up. Of course I live in the Harrisburg Pa area so it is a major crossroads for us and I have always gotten home when I needed to.

I hope you find a company that will better suit you Warner.

 

I TOLD YOU ,I am so very sorry for your loss Warner . number One I dont care if you boot me off here or not , I am telling people the truth about this company while you and that other guy are just blowing 100% smoke . The origonal poster also is telling the truth about Eastern . Turn over in this place is off the scale . out of the 9 or 10 guys I came in with, I think there are only me and one other left . You can call me what ever you want . Cry baby , malcontent what ever you want , I am not like what seems to be a very large percentage of americans these days , they drop their pants , bend over and let the white shirts ram it home . maybe back in the day you could run 1000 miles a day but you can not do it legally now and you know it , And as far as what YOU thiink a driver should drive each day ,means nothing to me . trust me I can run with the best of them , been there done that ... I can do creative logging with the best . I stopped doing it because its not worth it and you know it . WHY ANYONE CONTINUES TO TRY AND BEAT THE REGS IS BEYOND ME . sooner or later you will get caught . Why would you let a scum bag company force you or threaten you in to driving past your hours, haul things you are not suposed to be hauling , and haul ovverweight loads,just to have a job is STUPID .
I am sure you have asked your self if I hate this place so much, why am I still here , well, I have plans in the works .
Just like one other poster said , you two guys are the type of people who Get a few crumbs and your **** stands up and you think you have a gold mine .I have been working since I was 13 years old , and through my years I see the same thing over and over , in a poor work enviroment , the only ones who do well are the white shirts and the blue shirt SUCK UPS that park them selves under the bosses desk.I have been around truckers and trucking eversince I popped out from mom, My grandfather drove a truck back in the old days and he died in that truck . The trucking industry has gone straight to hell and there is know one to blame but the drivers for letting it happen . I will continue to drive and I will continue on with my plans. We have dam near more power then the Pres himself but we choose(not all of us ) to let them stick it to us day after day .
Truck drivers should be among the highest paid people in the USA , with out us , this country has nothing but instead ,, we are treated like some of the most vile forms of life there is , we are poorly paid , we have had rules and regs slammed on use that are for so called SAFETY and well most but not all fall for the hype . We have let these anti trucker groups turn us into ruthless, none caring killers and when in fact , its these vary groups that are causing the accidents . Do we defend our selves NO , again , we drop our pants , bend over and take it .
Do you really think those people in that South Brunswick office give a tinkers dam about you ? if you think they do , you are more of a fool then you are showing on here . They are making tons of money off of your blood and sweat , they go home every night and laugh at you and me . Its the same in 99% of all the companies out here . Why would you like you said , offer any more time to these people then needed ?
Warner is the perfect example of how much they care . I did work for a company who in Warners situation, would have routed him to the nearest safe place to park the truck , and got him to a airport and got him home . I know this because I saw it happen with in that company several times . To bad they turned out to also be DIRT BAGS .You two need to get your heads out of your ***** and smell the roses . Just because this industry is all screwed up and old timers as well as newbies are complaining does not mean we are all cry babies , we like so many others in other industries are tired of getting screwed while the white shirts take home all the money . . I can tell if you had a company , you would buy cheap garbage trucks and expect the drivers to be happy .
FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DONT MIND TAKING IT IN THE *** THEN SIGN ON WITH EASTERN ,
FOR THE REST OF YOU WHO HAVE A BRAIN STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY DO NOT LISTEN TO THESE TWO GUYS .THEY ARE LYING TO YOU JUST LIKE THIS COMPANY WILL LIE TO YOU WHEN YOU ARE IN ORIENTATION .