Any new information on saia trucking?

I’ve been a driver since 95 most of that time as a teamster for a beverage company. The way I see it is Saia pays me a really decent wage and I have no issue leaving my phone in my lunch pail. It’ll still be there when I break my set and take my 30 min break. I’ll check it then. I’ve never been a guy that had to be on it constantly to be happy while I was at work. I drive 550 miles and I go home. Not much different than my last LTL job except I no longer sleep in hotels.

 

Well you got a couple years on me, I started driving in 1998, but yeah I agree, I have adapted just fine to their rules, in a sick twisted way, SAIA kind of reminds me of the Marine Corps the way they do some things, I feel right at home honestly.

 

Mack while I respect alot of your opinions, I have to agree with Junior on this one, I will be honest, I am 45 years old and quite frankly don't give a #### anymore about rules ,the way I look at it is I am just biting the bullet early, it will only be a matter of time before all the other companies start practicing this stupidity, you said it yourself, the industry is being dumbed down, automatic trannies, cameras, baby sitting mentality you name it, and let's talk about LTL managers, these ####bags move around as much as NFL coaches from job to job and still manage to weasel their way into other companies, you don't think they don't take their "well this is how we did it here" mentality to their next employment, where do you think these asinine ideas like at SAIA come from to begin with, you watch just like ELDs, the driver facing cameras will become law eventually, and there will be some up and coming managers who want to make a name for themselves that will suggest that drivers need to be monitored and coached.

 

Buisness is booming up in that region with the rapid expansion they're very short on drivers its putting a strain on us midwest region drivers. One thing about LTL everything depends on your terminal and terminal manager. Every terminal is unique. You will work 10 - 12 hours a day rarely more rarely less. You will make 85k to 100k here at Saia. Were 67cpm to 69cpm if you have 1 year experience you'll get around 2500 miles a week plus stop pay that adds up to a couple hundreda week just depends on your route. With Buffalo being a newer terminal its a good time to hire in no one has established seniority. You may very well get a bid high $$ dedicated route immediately. Insurance is United cost varies based on what you choose to get its anywhere from $15 per week up to $50. Generally its a Mon - Friday schedule weekends off. They will work you! They will ask alot of you! They are saftey conscious will never expect you to violate hours of service in return they will pay you very very well. Dispatch is done electronically thru Employee Information Center (EIC) you no exactly were your going how many stops you have pretty much what your gonna make for the day before you start. Rarely do you talk to Dispatch.

 

Yep, that IVR is great, rarely ever talk to dispatch, as long as it doesn't have a hiccup like in last Fridays case, kept getting the "were sorry but we our experience systems problems" message, that is really rare though and when it happens just keep repeat dialing and you will get through, took about five times but it worked.

 

I couldn't get thru at all i tried 17 different times over the course of the night. I heard this lasted into Sunday morning. I was just arriving and departing at the the terminal when i could. My first stop is a relay point my times weren't accurate at all. They didn't have me assigned to emptys for my second to last leg so i got a bad trailer ID couldn't use the terminal units anymore at that point i was just winging it. I called central yesterday gave them my trailers and times. Definitely a rare situation.

 

At our terminal it's once a year for the line drivers, the p&d side I am not sure though, but I would imagine it's the same.

 

I would have been in the same situation myself, but the driver I was meeting told me to keep redialing that's what he did and it worked, I used the clock in kiosk at the terminal to initially dispatch that day, at the meet point IVR, and then IVR again when I got back to terminal that night because terminal was dark, had to call about 6 times on that one, it worked fine on Saturday only issue was trailer numbers were not showing on EIC schedule.

 

The rule is twice a year. But depends on the terminal and necessity if there's high turnover they'll bid more if needed. Im out of a smaller terminal it has low turnover we may bid once every two years. This year we've already bid twice its only July.