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

Sounds like everybody's having fun.

 

Got back to the yard from Nashville and truck still not done, somebody sent the wrong part but got the right one delivered and finally fixed and off to Savannah tomorrow.

 

Well made it to Ms and truck acted up again. Had to temporarily move into owner op truck and headed towards RVA to swap into another truck. Asked if I wanted to stay in the owner op truck and said no cuz the right fender is torn off and covered in duct tape. My truck needed to go to dealer and AJ told me to call breakdown to set up dealer stuff. Call breakdown and they said no our shop gotta set that up cuz they are the ones that diagnosed the truck. Go back into shop and get told no and to call breakdown again. Breakdown again says no. I just left the yard after that to get my load and DM said he would message Joe. Our should have been able to fix it….got the service fuel injection message on the dash but it isn’t the fuel injection system, I think it is ECU related cuz if you clear the codes truck runs normal. Oh well….guess they just want to pass stuff onto someone else…..

 

One of the mechs called me a crybaby cuz I wanted the hood replaced and other stuff fixed…..I don’t care. Im a professional driver that takes care of my truck and don’t like driving messed up trucks. I said it before and Ill say it again, they need to raise hiring standards and make drivers pay the insurance deductible if they have a preventable or just plain smash stuff and run stuff over purposely. Some won’t agree, maybe most won’t agree with me but I worked for a company that did that the equipment was impeccable cuz everyone knew they were paying if they smashed stuff up. Im sorry to rant so much….

 

Give that mechanic a busted toolbox and call him a crybaby when he complains…..that truck is a tool for your job, mechanics and mentalities like his are one of the many things I’ve grown to hate about this line of work.

 

My company does the same thing…if you mess up a truck or trl due to being stupid, it’s up to $1000 the first time driver has to pay and then $2000 every time after that for damages incured by driver…does make a difference

 

You have no idea what you are suggesting, You are opening a lid on a Pandora box. Who makes the determination who is at fault, a person behind a desk? I have seen drivers involved in accidents that came away with no tickets or citation, but then the company comes around and says the driver is at fault. I would not touch a job with this policy hanging over my head. You overlook damage to a trailer that you are picking up in the middle of a night and then the company blames you , now apply this to yourself and don"t think for a moment that it won't happen.

It is a company's position to determined if a person is a safe and capable driver before employment. Once a person is employed and that person is "on the clock" the company is responsible for this person's actions while he is "on duty" performing the job.

 

I get what you are saying but I do understand what Im suggesting because Ive worked for a company that did the very thing Im suggesting. It requires a high level of integrity and professionalism on both ends. That place never had one ounce of scratches or any old damage on truck nor trailer cuz they meticulously inspected and kept track of everything and fixed and restored anything back to its original form if a driver damaged anything. Everything was live load or live unload too so no drop and hook. Yards were the only place we dropped anything when I worked there. Been many years since I was employed there and maybe stuff has changed but Ive experienced what Im suggesting and I did have an accident that was my fault while there and owned up to it too cuz it was pretty easily preventable and had money deducted in small increments over time for it. They explicitly explained stuff in orientation so no whining nor complaining when you had blatant preventable accident and damaged stuff. If you quit they just black balled you from ever coming back. Im just angry and ranting cuz I don’t like driving junky looking equipment. Im just biding my time here until I can leave this industry for good cuz I can’t stand how down hill things have gotten in the 19 years Ive been around this industry.

 

What is the old saying, "#### runs down hill".; The "executives" have no one to blame but themselves. As I posted a few days ago, the leadership in this business are much like what we call "job hoppers", they move from one company to another. "Different day, same ####" I have seen this play out time after time.

The "leaders" wanted cheap labor, they wanted "yes sir boss man" employees, they got what they wanted and now look at the shape of the industry. You have management who have no idea how to manage truck drivers because they have never experienced the life of a driver. The "elite" feel that they are above drivers, they do not admit it, but they actually view us as a necessary evil, why do you think they put cameras and all types of monitors on a truck???

Mr. Jarhead, you mention you been in this business for 19 years, you did not have the privilege of driving when the motoring public actually looked upon us with respect. I started in 1963, words cannot explain the decline in so many aspects of trucking. Once upon a time in trucking, I could not wait for the phone to ring to call me to work, now I actually dread going. When the government deregulated trucking, the gates were opened for "wild boars" to stomp this industry into the ground.

 

Grouch, if you dread goiing to work I would hope your be able to retire. You're 80 years old or so. I read you started driving in 1963 so that's how I came up with your age. I sure wouldn't be doing something I despise if I live that long.