Abilene Motor Express....A New Place To Call Home

I have a few hours of down time after running this 3535 mile load with 5 drops from Richmond out to California.
Soooo....here’s a little something I’ve been pondering.

March 14th 2018, just got done with 5 days off, kissed the wife goodbye and went on my merry way into my little world of trucking. After deadheading to Georgia, getting loaded, then making it to Richmond on Thursday night, I was given a 4 drop load to Washington state. I didn’t need to leave until Saturday morning, so I did a reset, took care of a few things on the truck and went to sleep.

Friday morning, March 16th, at 8:45 am I was in the shower and my phone rings. It was Rusty telling me that the company had been sold and that the new owners were Knight Transportstion. At that moment I froze. I immediately thought of my next company and what I needed to do right at that moment to protect myself. I told Rusty that I will finish my shower and go into safety to give my 2 week notice. I remember him telling me some mubo jumbo but all I did was hang up on him.

I went downstairs and walked into Kimberley’s office and gave my notice. At that very moment she picked up the phone and called someone, he came in and I was introduced to the Predident of Knight Transportation. He extended his hand and we all sat and talked for an hour. Out of that conversation, I was told repeatedly that no changes will be made to the company, it has been a money making entity for years and it will continue that way. The only changes will be on the operations side and some benefits for the drivers.

I left feeling a little better, but left my 2 week notice on the table. Fast forward to today, 9 months later. What I was told back in March has come true. My important things that keep me employed at Abilene have not been touched, changed or adjusted. It starts with my hometime. I get off when I want for as long as I want. I never abuse it, I work within the parameters. Occasionally I do ask for an extra day off here and there, and always get it. My miles are the same today as they were then. In fact, our last pay check had our new year end bonus on it that was instituted AFTER the buyout. That came to $1965.00. We just got in 125 new GREEN trucks, spec’d just like all the others we’ve got in over the years. And they run 72. 100 new dry vans, and 100 new reefers will be arriving the first of the year.

Our facility in Richmond has been going under extensive renovation.

In a nut shell, my job here at Abilene has not changed one bit. I’m in the same position today, December 14th as I was on March 14th, two days before the buyout. I get home when I want, my miles are great, I’ve been given an attainable monthly mileage bonus and I now have a longevity bonus based on miles run for the year. Our vacation is an average of what you make per week. My 401K was matched to the tune of $2565 by the company. We have one more pay period left for 2018. My only complaint? I missed making $90K by $1300.

The changes that are being implemented have to do with operations. Do I and a lot of other drivers get frustrated with the way things are done at times? Absolutely. It’s trucking, trucking sucks at times. I still am able to say this, if Abilene doesn’t run me off, I’ll finish my driving career here in 3 more years. And I could give a rats arse who owns the company. I’m just as loyal today as I have been since April 13th 2013 when I started here at Abilene.

Please understand, this is my take, not everyone of us have the same feelings. I didn’t write this based on anyone’s experience but mine.

And finally, when this buyout took place, every person that works here, use to work here, got fired, couldn’t get hired or have a degree in business management, chimed it about the immediate doom and gloom that would befall Abilene, guess what? As usual, they were wrong.