ATS Lease Program?

Well I've decided what I am gonna do. The hell with driving over the road,90% of the OTR company's are pure crap anyway. So I am going to be a freight agent instead,still pretty much running my own show and the ability to clear (net) more money than I did in my o/o years,(and be home everyday),with very little overhead costs,vs a ton of overhead/risk as an o/o. My goal is to become a broker,but starting as an agent will allow me to learn what I don't already know without the "risk" I would be taking by starting a new brokerage.

Don't get me wrong,I loved driving,but with the rates,traffic,additudes of dispatchers,shippers,recv's,etc,I am just burned out after 24-25 years of this whole mess. I am going to do things the right way as an agent/future broker,and treat my drivers like they should be treated,because God knows I've been there and done that. Once I get established,I'll still post on here once in a while and maybe find a few o/ops that will want to haul for me.

Best of luck to you current and future ATS drivers.

 

Well, good luck to you. I hope you post your experiences. This is an area that I have an interest in.

 

Hey Terry,yeah I'll might just do that. Start a thread kinda like what Pathfinder did......good idea! These OTR company's just keep going further and further downhill,I've talked to several "recruiters" who still try to talk down to you,and I am just sick of it. I am 45 so I really need to make some cash...well extra cash to put back towards retirement,and I know a few brokers that have done very well money wise,I just don't agree with how they look at/speak of drivers. I am gonna try to do things the right/decent way. I'll never forget where I came from! Take care man,I'll keep in touch.

 

Funny you should mention something like this. I was in Houston last Monday, and emptied out around 10 am. I was LAST in a line of 12 trucks with crane parts. I went to the pilot, and sat most of the day. During this time, an O/O was parked next to me. About 1 pm, he asked if I'd had any offers yet, and I said no. I asked if he'd had any.

"Oh, yeah, I turned 'em all down though."

"Really? What'd they send ya?

"Something going to San Diego outta Louisiana someplace, then twice they sent me a Phoenix loading today outta Houston."

"Why'd you turn down the Phoenix?"

"It's too hot out there."

WE WERE IN HOUSTON, AND IT'S TOO HOT IN PHOENIX FOR THIS MORON.

I think my only response was to blink a few times.

I was never offered the Phoenix, unfortunately. I had to load the next day in Broken Bow, OK. I wasn't too thrilled about it, but I'm sure there were guys who sat overnight down there, and were still fighting for scraps the next day at lunchtime. Hell with that. One of the things they told us in orientation was 'Do not lay over if a load is available.'

I do have one question though. Currently I am in Des Moines, having loaded out of Savage, MN with several other trucks. I loaded this this morning, and deliver at TWO pm tomorrow. That's my whole middle week burned up for this one load. I told my fleet manager that I'd like to see better use of my time on the road, and I'd also like to see load offers earlier in the day if at all possible. His response: "You are getting unloaded tomorrow. I do not control when load offers appear."

At first I thought, "Well you little punk. You never even asked me if I wanted this load, you just blasted it to me, and now, I'm going to get smug answers. WTF..."

I asked who sends the loads to the truck then, and he replied simply, "Planners."

My question is, what role do fleet managers really play then?

And is what I'm going through normal? Seems to me like I was right. I don't think 10 am getting empty in a place like Houston, for a company this size should warrant my first load offer not even appearing until 2 pm or so...

...still bewildered by this whole thing.

 

Your dispatcher is correct. The planners are the ones who offer you a load. As you get to know the freight that ATS hauls you can start being proactive. I tell my dispatcher all the time I want such and such load before it is offered. Now, I may not get that load, but I get her working on it. I deliver in Round Rock, TX on Friday. She already know I want a preloaded trailer to pick up on Sunday. I will be out of hours when I arrive and I live in the area.

Your dispatcher likes to think he is your boss, he isn't you are his boss, he is a glorified secretary. His job is to act as an interface between you and all the various departments that would bog you down if you had to interact with them. If there are special circumstances, your dispatcher can go to the load planner and tell them to look for a special load for you. I don't know exactly how it works, but your dispatcher gets a percentage of the loads you deliver. This is incentive for them to keep you running.

That Houston to Phoenix load was probably from United Galvanizing being delivered to North of Phoenix. I have done this load a couple of times. It is preloaded and you can pick it up anytime. It passes right through the house. It is one of the runs I as for all the time.

Don't get mad at your dispatcher, the load planner is the one that sent you that load. Not long ago my planner sent me some loads. I was trying to get back to Texas and replied to one. It was already taken. He sent some more, he was qualcomming me directly. I told him I would pass on the offers as I was holding out for a load to Texas. A couple of minutes he sent me, and I'm sure it went only to me, a load to Houston.

When I deliver late on Friday, chances are I won't get anything offered until Monday, I start in on my dispatcher and usually I get a preplan offered a day before I deliver so I keep running.

Where ever you work, there is a system, learn to game the system.

When I first started, I sat over a weekend because they took a load away late Friday evening and once I sat 24 hours becasue I was in Ocala, FL. For the last couple of months I am not sitting more than a few minutes. After delivery I am scared to leave my truck because I will miss a load offer. I think there is a delay in my qualcomm. Either that are there are some other drivers with quick fingers. I usually respond within seconds of a load offer. Sometime I am so fast I reply to an offer while other offers are still comming in and I have to change what load I want.

Right now I am butting heads with the HOS wall constantly. I am delivering a day early all the time. Lately, though, I notice it is becomming more challanging just to be on time. They, my dispatcher and planner, have learned I run hard and have been taking away my cushion. That's OK, I'm not out here on vacation.

 

Further proof that being a success is just how much your are willing to sacrafice and how hard you are willing to work. Not every company is for every driver and vice versa, but I hear drivers complain about their companies all the time and every time they are complaining from a truck stop where they are sitting over a cup of coffee turning down loads becuse they do not pay enough, are tarp loads or do not get them going in the direction they want to go. They never take into consideration that the "crap" load they just turned down probably would have got them in the right spot for the load they wanted. They sit back and look at the drivers who own their own outfit, who can run the way they want and are jealouse, but they do not take into consideration all the sacrafices those drivers have made to get in the position that they are in. It usually takes a failure or two, maybe a divorce, missing seeing your kids grow up, and driving the best part of your life away. It takes time and hard work, sometimes you end up with nothing but a bad back and a huge IRS bill, but sometimes it pays off, It is not given to you, you have to earn it

 

There you are you are an ats driver.Well for one i was a van driver in the northeast.Ok one more time in 06 and 07 i did very well with them they treated us different.I grossed 130,000 in six months.When i went back this year company drivers were making more than me.And i never turned any loads down and was always available and ready to roll.They gave me a junk truck that broke down for 2 weeks after only 8 loads.I saw some of the freight bills at a customer.They lied about what they were getting paid for the load.I'm glad you are doing well(if indeed you are) and i wish you the best.But i stand by my original statement.They are a scumbag company now that steals from their drivers.I am not the only one this has happened to.I talked to at least 20 other lease drivers including flatbed.They like to have a few guys succeed that way they can feed the rest of us bull to get us to hire on.They have changed from the company i worked for in 06+07.You are happy there i'm glad for you.I posted to warn others of what i went through.Maybe as fltbed driver you do better.But the van division is dieing.

 

Why didn't your 30 day bumper to bumper cover your breakdown?

And, if you look at the year end statement on the ATS website, the head of the van division clearly says that both the blessing and the curse of the van industry is that it is first to get hit by a slowdown, and last to recover from one.

terrylamar, you are HUGELY helpful in this thread. I really appreciate it. I've been here almost a month, and am learning things every day about how to work the system. Hell, even trying to remember the policy about logging my inspection at the end of the day rather than the beginning trips me up sometimes! I'm so used to working for smaller outfits that were short on rules and regs about such things. Driving, loading and unloading is the smallest part of things here!

 

It doesn't matter.I was down for 2 weeks the truck cost an average 200.00 a day when it sits.So it was down and i had no work.So i ended up further in debt.Again i stuck with it for four months.after that first break down i broke down 3 more times at my expense.And as i said i saw some freight bills i wasn't supposed to see.They lied to me about what load paid.I am happy you think so highly of them.I posted here to let other drivers know my experiance with them so they can put some imformation together if they are thinking about hiring on.My fleet manager practically begged me to stay.He told me i was the best driver he'd seen sign on in at least 6 months.We had a conference call with his boss.They talked me into staying in april when i had had it.What you guys do'nt get is that i f you run all week busting your behind only to see zeros in your account at the end of the week how could you continue on?I had bills that were piling up.I did the math and i couldv'e made morre working at burger king than doing what i was doing there.I am fine now i quit on thur may 21st and was back to work locally on tues. i do two drop and hooks a night one locally to my area and one to e.brunswick nj it takes me 10 hrs and i average 520 miles a day at .44 per mile 6 days a week.I am home every day and much better off.Yes i liked running the road but if i want to do it for free i'll get a camper and do it that way.

 

Made it back to civilization!

Met a L/O this past Wedsneday at La Port. He too was going to that windfarm in UT. He loads before me and leaves and I have to wait for my 1300 appointment time. By the time they load me and I get tarped, its 1530...just in time for the Houston rush.

I blow by the L/O around the 118 on 45N. He tells me that he wants to run with me. But his speed is set at 62. When I dont drop my cruise from 67, he starts talking about the virtues of better fuel mileage. I tell him how Friday is going to go and why I need to boogie until I am out of radio range.

Stop in Amarillo to catch some sleep and then I'm back at it. L/O calls me and we both fuel up in the same place. Somehow tho, I make it to Green River, UT before he gets to Gallup.

Catch some Zzzzzs at Green River and refuel. I roll into the windfarm at # 0500 and set my alarm for 0700 and go back to sleep. The workers start moving around at 0700 and I untarp my load. Theyre slow about everything and I get unloaded around 1000, deadhead 60 miles and reload in Cedar City going to Miami.

Suns going down by the time I reach Flagstaff and I stop in Winslow. Loooooong day. L/O calls me today and tells me that he has reached Winslow and asked for my wherabouts.

To make a long story short, you have to be able to decide which is more advantageous for your business....1-1.5 mpg better economy or an extra load or two in the week. I am 2 days ahead.

Keep up the good work guys. Happy motoring.