Am I Being Punished?

Who in there right mind gives a company driver
A company credit card, and tells them to get
Whatever they want for the truck.
Your just asking to be ripped off.

I been out here a lot of years.
I've never heard of any company doing that.
I know it's hard to get drivers,but it ain't that hard.

 

i have to wonder if it was a "flippant remark" from her boss, like for instance, "all women go crazy with a credit card, and max them out"..

(if no one is married, then you don't know what a woman will do with a credit card, I KNOW, I AM married....)

then too, her co-workers tell her to get what she wants. to me, more flippant remarks. it would appear to me, the boss, and the co-workers have no respect for a female trucker.

(the o/p self identified as a female, earlier)

 

Yours is more of a worse case, but, just about every driver on the road today is also suffering because of the "sins" of drivers in the past! I would imagine at least half of all the parking available 30+ years ago is not available. Trash, drug activity and lot lizards!!!!!! I could write several thousand more words on this subject but will stop at the loss of parking. One thing though!

You purchase the fuel needed. Oil and fuel treatments too. Need wipers etc buy them BUT keep receipts! Account for every $ you spend. If in doubt about later make copies of these receipts! -----and!

 

I only have experience at smaller carriers, both as a company driver and as an owner operator. My 10 years as a driver for a small carrier l, I always had a company credit card. I never abused it but it was always there if I needed it. A few times it saved my bacon on repairs after hours and I was fixed and rolling again without even needing to call the office. As an owner operator I’ve had trailer owners give me a card for trailer repairs on the road. I guess they figure less paperwork on their end if the can just pay the cc bill instead of going thru receipts and reimbursing the truck owner for trailer repairs.

 

I took the "get yourself comfortable" as a fridge, maybe blankets and some food, and maybe the cb cause that is essential. The gps and the scanner are luxuries as I see it.

I would ask the owner what exatcly he meant by get comfortable and get nothing more. Unfortunately, there are people who take advantage of the system and hurt every one else.

 

I’d find a new job.
The dispatcher has more authority than the boss who writes his/her check.

 

The dispatcher's 'sigh' is just a part owner realizing that this added expense may have just taken their profit away from that trip.

Smaller companies are often a combination of a few people, each doing their best at what they do. and often hyper focused on how things may affect their part of the place.

"The Boss" sounds like the 'face' of the company, recruiter, sales, PR, etc. while the dispatcher may be more involved in the day to day things. Cash Flow, making fuel, truck and payroll payments and other financial pressure.

Note how OP said 'The Boss' backed water when the dispatcher pointed out the past financial losses, hauled him back to reality and the ever haunting bottom line. Real good trucking companies have an operating ratio around 90. That is spending $0.90 to make $1.00. more run in the 95 to 98 range.

Big companies can be financially constipated. I had to wake up my regional controller in the middle of the night because terminal mangers were not trusted to issue comchecks. Yeah, I can understand controls for large amounts but a 3 am tire repair doesn't need to go 'up the ladder' either. A few days into the new month I see him driving into the yard on the heels or the UPS man and I knew my terminal P&L was on the truck and he was here to drill me about one mis-coded invoice to the wrong account and blotted his perfect regional P&L...

On the other hand; smaller places can be very different. Two men purchased a company from the original owner. The tank wash supervisor would walk up to the owner and hand him any cash sales which promptly disappeared into the owner's pocket. I watched the super walk up to the new 'ceo' partner and hand him the cash and he didn't know what to do with it, called out to the secretary to have the controller come up and get it....The other partner was an ex-driver who later rolled his eyes and then had a long conversation with the ceo....

Forest was right, Trucking "is like a box of chocolates, you never know what your gonna get".

 

I’m not driving anymore but the Company I currently work for , had a IT guy steal over a million dollars worth of equipment.

so now every dime we spend at a job site has to be documented etc .
Paperwork out the eyeballs .

And these are construction job sites, so there’s a lot of last minute purchases at a hardware store or something.

we call all the new rules “Focking Paul rules “
Cause the Embezzling guys name was Paul.

 

I've had that too at small carriers.
But it was for fuel,repairs and fluids for the truck.
Not bedding, televisions, cb radio, PlayStation,
Personal hand tools, etc.

Sounds like the other drivers outfitted
The inside of the truck with the credit cards.

 

That is a fact. 5-6% profit is about the norm in this industry. So.......a 500 Truck operation will show a bigger profit dollar wise than a 1 truck operation, but as a percentage it remains about the same.

 

Meant to quote this in my last post