COVENANT -- From a wife's perspective

Thanks Stranger, that's exactly what I'm doing. I talked to Melton today and heard something I've not heard before. They were hiring drivers with at least six months experience (which Redcoat has) but they wanted SOLO experience, not team driving. (???!!!) So that's a new one on me. That really disappointed Redcoat because he likes driving in the Southeast region which is where they mostly operate.

Then I talked to Maverick. They were friendly enough and told me come back in 5 weeks when he's got a year with Covenant under his belt. Speaking of Maverick...I checked out a couple other threads about them and found one where the drivers were complaining that Maverick cut their pay for being away from home over the weekend. I told Redcoat about it and he responded exactly like I knew he would, "THEY GET PAID FOR BEING OUT OVER THE WEEKEND?????!!!!!"

What a concept!

Next I filled out an app with TMC so I can't wait to hear what their deal is. I tried to talk to one of their recruiters but the man was the most unpersonable stone I've ever tried to speak to. He either doesn't like women or I don't know what but it's got to be something along those lines or else I can't imagine how he ever got the recruiting job. After a few questions with monosylabic answers I just gave up and went to their website.

I know I don't want Arrow. Redcoat had a terrible experience at their orientation last year after he got out of Roadmaster school.

So that's about the extent of my knowledge of flatbed companies. I would love to check into the smaller outfits but I'm thinking it may be kind of hard to work with them as far as getting him home whenever I move to another city/state. That's why I kind of look to the larger carriers.

Covenant does a pretty good job of getting him home when they take a notion to allow it. It's just that they tend to cancel driver's home time a lot. Redcoat told me they got a QC message that there would be no home time for anybody from now till after the 4th of July.

And that idle thing Stranger mentioned is pretty sad isn't it. That makes no sense. Nothing like having a driver keel over from heat stroke to keep from getting fired for idling too long.

Today Redcoat got the word that they have a truck ready for him for his GP dedicated job. That figures since he's stuck at French Camp. The man said the dedicated division is not allowed to "influence" his trips to get him back to Chatt. What kind of BS is that? Redcoat put in for the job, he got it, they finally got a truck, so what's the problem with telling his DM to route them back to Chatt. so he can get started? What kind of power do these DM's have anyway that everybody tiptoes around them? Never mind. I know the answer to that one.

OK so if any of you know any flatbed outfits here in North Carolina that are hiring and that do long haul, let me know so I can send them RC's resume.

On the other hand, Maverick sounds like a fairly decent company so maybe Redcoat should stick it out for another month before making the jump.

Stay tuned.

 

Hey MCR! Good to hear from you again. Got the IM and I read your post carefully. Everything you say we have already considered. Redcoat knows working in the hot and cold can be brutal but he's kind of already been there done that working in Florida setting up tents for used car tent sales and you're sweating so bad you can drink gallons of water and not piss for hours. The cold doesn't really bother him that much. He knows it can be hard work but he's actually kind of looking forward to it. He says he's really gotten out of shape this past year just sitting and driving or sleeping in the bunk. He wants to be able to get out and do some physical work. He felt a lot healthier while we were working the tent sales in Florida and these days he just feels bad all the time. We know it's from not being able to do some good old-fashioned manual labor so that is another reason why he wants to make the switch.

Actually from day one, he wanted to drive flatbeds but couldn't get hired by anybody this time last year. So he's bided his time and ground it out with Covenant until he could meet the requirements to get hired by TMC/Maverick/Melton. Doesn't really matter; any of the three are worlds better than Covenant.

And yes he knows how dangerous it can be but he's a very safety-conscious driver and doesn't mind having to stop every couple hours to recheck the security of the load. Keeps the blood flowing he says having to get out and climb up to check on things.

He has a friend from CDL school who has been with TMC since they graduated last year and so far the man has no regrets and likes the work. Redcoat knows how one slip can mess you up because this guy slipped off the truck and broke his elbow on the fall. He ended up having surgery on it and then worked at the company headquarters in Iowa doing gofer work while he was rehabbing. He's all new again and back in his truck.

So trust me when I say that Redcoat isn't going into this line of work blindly and has given serious consideration to all the pros and cons of the work. But thanks for trying to warn him anyway. Shows what a good friend you are trying to be.

Latest update.

Team Redcoat had an assignment yesterday to pick up a load and take it to Tennessee which was good news because Monday the man called him to let him know he had a truck ready for his GP dedicated job. They made the pickup and had driven 60 miles when the QC beeped to let them know they'd been de-assigned. So it was back to the shipper, drop the load and then back to the yard at French Camp. Redcoat said it was a day's work for $8 (because their DM would only pay them for 50 miles) and he spent more than that for lunch.

Today they've been assigned to pick up a load of water and take it to Utah. Then they pick up another load headed to PA -- nowhere near Chatt. Wonder if that is accidentally on purpose.

And finally, Redcoat got his bonus money this week. It was $2500 but after taxes the amount was $1794.17. That's enough for our RV payment that was due on the 9th and gets us caught back up.

Stay tuned.

 

OK now THAT was funny!