Anybody ever just abandon your co. truck?

Honestly , I never experienced such an issue , only worked OTR a couple years , and was lucky enough to get to work for one that was really decent. Then was fortunate to get the job (GSF) I stayed with for the next 33 years. I understand how you feel , and I agree that a driver should allow himself to be pushed just so far , you only owe a company one thing really , and to me , that's act professionally , in your treatment of the customer 1st ( always) they pay the bills , then your employer , he pays your bills , then most importantly yourself... an employer can't do a thing to me that would deserve getting his investment left abandoned. The way I see this is , by not abandoning a piece of equipment a driver does/did the right and adult thing , didn't lower their standards to his level..... protected their integrity , their professionalism , and most important of all their future hire-ability. Maybe in the past those things would have gotten a pass from some folks hiring drivers , actually it might have been considered a take-no-junk attitude and some folks like that. But in today's world , with lawyers looking to sue for any reason , it's not such a good idea.

 

Most MAJOR carriers don't do employees the way being discussed here....the fly-by-nighters , the Mega's , etc do....that's a problem folks have with defining companies these days...the Mega's are in business only because there are so many folks looking to gain entrance into trucking , the fly-by-nighters exist only for those drivers that can't get a decent job because of past bad , stupid choices they've made ....the Major outfits have been around for decades because they know how to treat drivers......HUGE difference.

 

In my 30+ years I have never just left a truck anywhere..I wanted to a few times!

I always took them to the yard,cleaned them out and took plenty of pictures.
Made sure every thing that belonged to the company was locked in the truck..

I just would not feel right leaving a rig hundreds of miles away......just a personal thing.
I figure they gave me a job so show a little respect....Man up and drive it back.
I have paid for fuel on my credit card to get it home too...

It can be understandable for some of these Mega fleets that refuse to get you near home to just up and park it...
In that case I would take it to the nearest yard or secure lot....Just my opinion.

 

I dont want to say never because i dont ever know how this job could change me in the future, but as i am right now and the way i currently think i wouldnt just leave a truck somewhere. Its not professional.

 

Call it what you want, I wasnt going to be pulled out of the truck at a scale house in the middle of the midwest in zero degree weather, accusing me of operating it illegally and expected to find my own way to the nearest town with all my things and hope they had a bus or train station.

I swallowed my pride for 12 months. I had hit my boiling point. He kept my last 2 weeks of pay. I left the truck in a safe secured location. I payed for a truck wash and cleaned out the truck before leaving it. I even paid for the trailer to be washed out. I didnt want him to be able to put anything back on me.

You obviously have never been in a situation like I was in. Pride or not,.. every man has his own reasons. I like to hold myself to a higher standard with integrity and honor being focal points of my personal character. With that said,.. no man should endure what I and others at this company were put through. I should have quit long before that point, yes. I had every intention of returning the truck. Things just came to a breaking point with no way to find an even ground.

All I asked for was a way home. I felt I deserved at least that much. Instead, I was called a low life, scum of the earth with some choice words thrown in between. I was told I would never amount to anything. Sitting where I am now,.. I beg to differ.

I am a grown man. My respect is earned,.. not given.

Hurst

 

We will get the police involved before a driver abandons our truck.

 

You need to be cognizant to the stories of people who made arrangements to park the truck someplace, BY DIRECTION of the trucking company mind you, that still get DAC'd!

You need to be cognizant of people that have quit while on the road, got back and were DAC'd for abandoning under a load!

Just because many "do it right", is NOT a guarantee of the company playing fair.

This leads me to a thread here a long time ago about giving a 2 weeks notice.

I never do. I just quit. Usually when I got back to the terminal. I feel that in today's world of "Hire at will"?, the company can fire you or lay you off at any time, with out notice. A company can have you fired at any place as well, on the road, or at home. Wanna have to try to find a way home from the middle of say Idaho?

I have NEVER heard of a company about to fire someone or lay them off, (I was laid off more than once) and it happened ON THE SPOT!

I wasn't given any notice.

I care not what other people do, or say about me up and quitting on the spot. I always got a job, and now, this ever so close to my retirement, I care not about the up and quitting any more now than when I was younger.

 

Hurst , my post wasn't meant to offend you , or judge you...

Sorry if it did. Let me ask you this though.....Who is gonna pull you out of a truck at a scale house...... ANYWHERE , and accuse you of operating illegally without someone reporting you as doing so. The folks at the scale house don't have x-ray vision , and they certainly aren't physic , , nor are they mind readers. I find it pretty hard to swallow , that a company/truck owner would ( especially one of the caliber you're describing) purposefully have you pulled in , checked-out , hoping to find some sort of disqualifying violation that would STOP THE TRUCK , that would be counter-productive to him getting paid. It would also be very , very expensive to either re-power that load , or get another driver to go ( as you say in your 1st post) into " the middle of nowhere to get the truck moving again...just saying.......that's your story...

I only posted my thoughts on the matter....I never asked for your respect , I won't either....you did what you though at the time was all you could do....I posted what I perceived to be options other than abandoning a piece of equipment. Never implied what you did was wrong , Just posted the way I thought a professional , as defined ( by me) should have handled it.
You see it different....I didn't call you , or your character into question you brought that up....

You said he kept your last 2 weeks of pay...I would have too. He had to pay someone to get to the truck , and probably had to take a beating one his settlement from the storage facility or secured location you left it in. If all you really wanted was a ride home you would have returned the truck to his facility , and personally handed him the keys. You took the easy way out , costing the truck owner lots of money.....had you returned it to him , handed him the keys , that would have been respectful.....Carry-on...

 

It is impossible to say that no dispatcher, or owner, would drop a dime on a driver. When people get to fighting with each other anything is apt to happen.

There are a lot of dipwit people in this world.

When a driver begins to feel trapped in a job because they are not allowed to go home after a month, a person really needs to ask at what point involuntary servitude comes into play.

A job driving a truck is a job, not a sentence. A fella that works city, delivering to the same stops day in and day out, will never have a clue what OTR life is like. 33 years off the road is a lifetime in trucking,

As free American citizens, no man, or company is entitled to control another persons life to deny a freedom of choice.

If a driver says they want to go home, no man has the right to intentionally block them from going home, particularly after a responsible advanced request is made.

 

rearview , I Respectfully disagree sir......trucking may have changed, and indeed I believe it has.....certainly not for the better.

But people haven't.....what drives a man to own a company is and always will be.....PROFIT.....period. My question was pertinent to his situation , and not at all out of line. Why would a dispatcher ( knowing he would have to explain the cost entailed in doing so ) cause a driver to be deliberately pulled off of a truck...And , a company owner , no way he's gonna do that til he has a driver ready to take over at a palce of his choosing , simply to hold the costs down. Could someone set-up a driver...sure they could..... But if you want to run a business ,you only do something like that when it benefits your bottom line...not when its done like Hurst tried to say......that's not only expensive..it's stupid. I'm not paranoid...don't have clue where that came from.

if a driver begins to feel trapped..then he moves on...it's not like it's a hard thing to do...thousands of jobs available everyday in thousands of newspapers nationwide , and on-line 24/7. " involuntary servitude " only comes into play when a driver chooses to let it.

haven't been off the road for 33 years...you read my profile wrong...I retired in 2011 after 33 years driving for GSF. I wouldn't try to compare the job I had 3 days a week to OTR....there is NO , ZERO comparison , they each have their good and bad points. I agree a job ( any job ) driving a truck , or sitting in an office , or digging a ditch shouldn't be a sentence , we all have the freedom to control our own destinies...it's all about choices. No one has even implied that the OP , or Hurst didn't have the choice to make a change in their employment , it was the way they chose to leave that's being discussed.

Thanks TTTD.....