Any Drivers Pressured to Violate DOT Regulations

IP...just how deep is that hole you sit in? Check out her profile...does it say driver?, no it shows truckers wife....get your facts straight.

This isn't about what happens within any specific company...it is about one dispatcher overstepping his legal limitations and putting a company in financial jeopardy. Get a clue before you type....at least think it through before you post it! PLEASE! Try verifying some information before you make statements.

Neither Deb or I stated that her performance was even adequate. We went on the simple fact that she was doing what was safe at the time...NOT MOVING OVER DONNER was her choice, not her dispatchers choice 1800 miles away. As you and many others have stated...the dispatchers "timing" sucked and bit the big one then with that set into motion an easy out for the driver. And as U2 has stated...she made out better than the average driver based on the damages already set forth, not to mention the punitive award...whatever it may or may not end up being.

 

Then let it go for heaven's sake! What you wrote above is pretty much what we all agree on!!

 

Otter, be irritated if you like. You know I'm posting from a (not so) smart phone. I thought I had acknowledged our conversation earlier on. Apparently, that post, like many others, was lost to the smart phone vortex.

And, as said before, AND IN OUR CONVERSATION, my mind has not changed with regard to this driver's poor productivity. Even Swift has a goal of 2,500 miles per week for solo drivers ON AVERAGE, which even our rookies are doing in 62mph trucks.

When Ms. Ferguson started with Prime (within a week of my own start date) leased trucks were governed to 72mph. Hers would have been, too. They didn't start turning them down until January of 2010.

Therefore, a 3,000 mile/week AVERAGE was fairly standard throughout Prime for solo "A Seat" drivers. This lady was making barely over half that.

Mechanical problems would have been documented and brought up by her attorney in court, as would illnesses and freight availability. They weren't. From my observations, Mr. Taylor is very thorough. He would have brought these up if they were issues.

One or two bad weeks is not going to drag even an average driver's numbers to 1,699/week. Not even at Swift.

You'll just have to accept her performance with regard to productivity was well below average. And, it was her fault. Therefore, this history of poor performance reflected strongly on her decision to remain on the east side of Donner while many others were making their deliveries. Either by chaining up or by rerouting.

This incident was icing on the cake. Her FM had finally had enough. Poor timing, bad judgment on communications and now it appears, collusion by silence by Prime adds up to a tidy court case. But it does NOT take the fact away that she was a sorry excuse for a trucker....as noted BY THE JUDGE.

All that's left to do now is figure out how culpable Prime will be held. The appeals judge appears to think Ms. Ferguson is culpable as well and wants the settlement revisited by the trial judge. I am in agreement with that judge....and with the trial judge with the statement recorded in court transcripts that Ms. Ferguson was a sub-par driver.

 

Nobody has disagreed with the fact that she was a "sub-par" driver!

The fact that her "average" over the limited time she was with Prime being a mere 1699 miles per week...(L.A. to Portland and back to Sacramento as example)...most all of my first week students were capable of that plus more....is the one point that Prime should feel awarkdly grateful....it cost them less in the long run...just a shame they can't get it back from the wages of the ####### dispatcher who couldn't step away and let another dispatcher "soft soap" her back to "meet her fate another day"!

 

My own opinion is, Ms. Ferguson knew she was going to be let go. She also knew Thomas is a bit of a hothead. How do I know this? Another friend of mine who I met while a company driver at Swift, went to Prime when I told him how well I was doing. It was during my first year there, when I was making good money. He went to Thomas' board. He never ended up in the hole like Ms. Ferguson, but he went round and round with Thomas over a number of different issues and reported to me that he had been even called names over the phone. I tried to reach him yesterday to tell him about this case and to pass Mr. Taylor's contact information on to him. His cel phone has been disconnected and I have no other way to reach him. He might have been able to help Ms. Ferguson's case, believe it or not.

But, Ms. Ferguson would have known Thomas to have a short fuse and to not think clearly when irritated. Through communications on the Qualcomm and, perhaps, refusal to answer the phone, she irritated him so much he sent damning messages via QC. She set him up. He took the bait and now she has a court case.

It does not excuse his actions nor reduce culpability. Anyone in the office positions needs to have a cool head and be rational when dealing with difficult drivers. This guy couldn't do it. My friend Barry M. Is not that hard a guy to handle, just stubborn as a Mississippi mule. Yet, Thomas would get so angry that he would be swearing him out on the phone and hanging up on him. It is not too far a reach to think Thomas would lose his temper and his foresight with it, and send messages over the QC that would paint Prime in a very bad light.

If he is, in fact, still employed there, it definitely does not make Prime look any better.

 

Yes, her status as a poor excuse for a driver is being disputed.


I had three weeks straight when I didn't run at all because my truck was in the shop for a cracked head. It took Detroit Diesel that long to get the parts and fix my truck.

I was out of the hole in a period of two weeks, while taking advances to pay bills and eat. There was no reason for her to be consistently in the hole, unless she refused to run on a regular basis. With an average of 1,699 miles/week and barring health/mechanical issues, that is what I see.

Again. Mr. Taylor is very thorough. Had there been constant weather issues affecting her overall performance, he would have brought it up in court.

 

Injun....IP said that Thomas was terminated!

*please note I am qualifying this with identifying the perpetrator of the remark!*

 

That's what I heard...

of course, I stay away from SpringMO. Too dang many slackin' truck drivers!

 

I would think that a responsible company would from time to time pull phone calls, emails, and sattcomm messages to make sure everyone understands how to communicate with drivers.

 

no I didn't. She got paid a company driver newbie wage at her average miles per week. .30x1699/week

Unlike a newbie, she didn't get a .04 raise that a newb gets after their first 20k miles solo. I was a newb, fresh out of training when she started and I averaged over 2500 over that fall into winter. And I had took off almost 2 weeks of hometime too.

Not even close to what the average driver makes. Way less.