Knight Transportation, MY TURN

This is a post from a guy that gets it!!! Many valid points are made here and all of this is done without the usual whining, pissing and moaning.
Statements and facts are shared and then it's out and onto the next thing.
Many of you should read (and reread) this post as a prime example of how properly to address a grievance.

 

preach on, bruvva!

 

It's what you make of it.
Part of the job.
Sunsets, rainbows, and pee jugs...

 

1) Since you say you are getting over 7mpg and have a idle ticket, I guess you are in a older 10 speed Volvo 670. Did you know that the newer Volvos get almost a mpg less than the older 10 speed ones? I drove one of the older 379 petes you have down there in Tulare and got better mileage than these new Volvos. Even the 2010 Volvos are getting junk mileage, and the new Internationals blow them out of the water. Mileage did improve with the 2010 Volvo over the others, but Knight won't, or doesn't know how to upgrade the ECU software....

2) Knight should only have California idle trucks out of the California yard, there is no need for those for the east coast truckers that never leave the east coast, give them the knackered out old cows. Knight won't install APU for any excuse will do reasons.

3) Better planning would mean hiring better DMs. I've had to walk some of them through the reasons why what they are saying is a "bad idea". Tulare has some goods ones, so I've been told, but even then, raw panic sets in with most of these kids and they can't see past the first drop time, or why haven't you dropped this load yet. Case in point, almost completely out of my 70 hours and not going to be getting any hours back after this day, I get handed a short run with a open drop for five days later, but can drop early. I figure I'll run the load as close as I can to the drop and take a 34 because I'll be out of hours, get my restart, then do the load they have on me next with time to burn. I inform my DM, at the time, this, and all seemed to be going good, until they completely freaked out because I didn't start running right after my 34 hour was up (4am) to the drop. Now my next pick up was 140 miles away from my drop at 3pm that day. I burned some people a new one for not being able to understand that fact, because they took my second load off me because they didn't know if I could make it in time. I've had to tell them (the DMs) about the HoS and what they meant too many times.

4) They do this because Knight gets a tax break for each truck with a driver they have on hand. Rumor has it that it's $3000 a unit, but because they are starting to get such a high turn over, and hiring a new driver is rumored to cost about a grand, they are loosing money. This is another case of stepping over dollar bills to pick up pennies.

While Knight is crying that profits are "flat", or bragging about it, I can't which, what they need to do, is invest in APU, invest in idle air, and put some of that profit back into the company. I wonder if the Knights took a pay cut like the drivers did.

So in overview, the Volvos need reflashed ECU, all trucks need APUs, DM need to understand freight movements and, they need to stop hiring drivers. I bet if they stopped hiring drivers in Tulare and Fontana, moved all the current drivers to California idle trucks, and left the old ones empty, they would be able to have a complete California legal fleet.

 

Knight will not put APUs on the trucks bc they dont not keep them long Thats what Knight in Memphis told me which is ######## they keep them about 4yr like any companys Knight will tell you DONT IDLE BUT AT NIGHT then if your idle time is too high bc you want to be safe and get a good night sleep your truck will go from running 64/66 to 62/64 and i thank if its really high it runs like 60/62 or 63

 

A friend of mine showed me a copy of her review that was recently done. In the review it said she had averaged of 6.8 m.p.g. in a 2007 Volvo and a idle percentage of 9.5 with no service or safety issues. I believe she runs mostly I-5 corridor and sometimes over to Phoenix.

She has asked about the same issues others have raised about hot cabs and was told to buy a fan and window screens. And only run the engine enough to cool the cab down and then turn it off. She also has slowed down to increase engine time while driving to bank time for idling.

I think Knight has taken a like it or lump it attitude and could care less about something they do not have to go through. As long as they have new schmucks willing to climb behind the wheel of that hot rig and for less pay I might add, why should they care about your comfort.

She can't even get them to pay for a truck wash once a month let alone care if she can be comfortable in a truck. She has worked for them for almost 2 years and has only gotten a penny raise and thinks her miles will suffer now that they have a new lower pay rate and Squire drivers making .28 a mile coming over to Knight. She is looking at other options.

 

Bigblue tells it as it is.This company has declined from only a year ago.The driver is last in the current equation.What is the turnover % currently.With weekly orientation classes
swelling and drivers constantly bailing, it is obvious this company sucks.

 

the orientation i was in had only 4 people, myself included. there are groups of that many or 10 every week at the terminal i'm based out of, and trucks that had drivers the previous week being filled in by newbies.

as of late, i've been hooking up to trailers with their landing gear cranked as far up/down as it can go, causing the deal to be unable to grab when i need to raise its legs off the ground. it ticks me off to no end and i usually go into a profanity laced tirade because of it. once the landing gear is on the ground, they shouldn't have to feel the need to keep cranking away.

my dispatcher called me last week with one of those pre-plans with only a pick-up and delivery time on it. something about it seemed menacing. he and i argued for 30mins. my time for the day was about over. it would take about 2 1/2hrs with evening rush hour traffic to get to where the pick-up was. i also didn't have an empty trailer. this place required one for the live load. it was one of those last minute cannonball loads. they could have had plenty of time on it if they hadn't jerked around and found somebody early on who had an empty trailer. unfortunately there are more drivers than trailers, loaded or empty.

the very next morning, i got a message on my qualcomm from a nameless hero that blamed me for the account being jacked over. i sent a lovely message back with some profane langauge, and called my dispatcher to find out who the hell sent the message to me. it's not my fault that somebody within the planning department dropped the ball.

i recently tested for a couple of spots within their california motor carrier enforcement division. i passed the tests in the 90th percentile. hopefully thigns get moving even faster with that. it's where i want to be, and hopefully at some point, as a sworn officer.

 

Another problem with going to MPG over idle time is trailers hauled, I've hauled some QUALITY TRAILERS with a new sticker on the nose that were in such bad shape (off tracking going down the road, etc etc) that I have gotten almost half a mile less per gallon than the new trailer, with a heavier load.

Also retreads, or a mixed set of old junk tires on the front drive axle, with a new set of recaps on the rear, leads to a differnce in axle temps, and heat = what?

Friction. So who knows how much that can be adding up.

I dont know how much they are saving vs cost with their current plans.