Back at Dart

mnmover, sounds to me like you need to find yourself another profession, perhaps barber college or a bank teller course at the local community college would suit you better. Or maybe professional BS artist.
You want to get home more? Why did you go buy your own truck? Surely you didn't think an owner operator would get home whenever he feels like it.
Your post is so full of outright lies...where do I begin?
"If you mty out 50 miles south of your home on Friday, then take a load on monday from 60 miles north of your home, they will not pay the mty miles because you went home" Regardless of the fleet you are on, you are paid from last empty to next dispatch, treated like deadhead miles--so in the scenario you described you would be paid 110 miles deadhead pay. They do not pay you to go home. If they can get your next load after home time so your house is between your last empty call and the next load, they'll do it. They try to just get you through the house with some extra time so you can just take the load with you. It's easier on the dispatcher and the driver. If they can't find a load that way, you eat the fuel to go home. It's in the contract; did you even read it?
"If you are at a shipper-receiver and run out of hours, and can't park on their property, they advise you to get a wrecker and have the truck towed to the truckstop." Really? Who told you to do that? Safety, operations, or maintenance? That story has been going around as long as there has been HOS. I've been hearing it two or three times a week, every week, for the past 7 years. Funny thing is, of all the people I know in the towing and recovery business, not a single one of them or anyone they know has ever gotten the call...they pretty much agree it's an old wives' tale. Kind of like the one about the driver getting DOT'ed and calling the Federal Marshals, who then come swooping down in helicopters to save them from the mean old DOT officer. I've been in that situation several times--called it in the first time and was told they could not advise me to drive in violation. I told the guy he wasn't advising me--I was telling him what was happening. Told him I was notating logs "Kicked off rec property, going to nearest safe haven." Heard nothing more about it. I didn't call next time--again, grownup handling a situation.
"...if the trailer license plate is rusted and not readable, you are supposed to get some paint and paint the letters/numbers so it can be read again." Again, really? You're telling us that someone at Dart told you to break the law? Again, who was it? The paint on license plates has to meet a reflectivity standard and can't be purchased just anywhere, certainly not at a truck stop. Also it's a federal document and offense to mark on a license plate, and that includes repainting one with the paint that you can't get and won't adhere to a license plate that's too rusty to read anyhow. Last time I reported one (I've written up four) they had me drop it at a Pro Stop (it was an empty--the other three were loaded and they were marked in the system as needing new plates).
"Finding empty trailers is usually a problem..." I'll give you that one, except for that "usually" part. Depends on where you are. In the Carolinas (where I live) finding an empty can be a time consuming project. Name one company that doesn't have trouble keeping empties in some areas. It's also true that some of their trailers need work and some drivers don't report them...us grownups take care of the problem and move on. Life is unfair; deal with it.
I do believe you don't get treated too well by dispatchers or planners; they tend not to tolerate whiners too well.
They do have several different pay schedules--so what? The only one I need to know is the one I'm on. Somebody else's pay is none of my business.
Finally, I have numerous friends on OTR (non-dedicated) who are doing VERY well for themselves. They're the ones who have a work ethic and don't turn down every other load because they don't feel like running northeast, or because they want to hang around Memphis because they're in love with one of the lot lizards. Point of fact--it's the dedicated guys who get the leftovers. OTR planners get first pick. If there isn't a Collaborative load available for me, I get the dregs no one else wanted from the OTR pool. Doesn't happen often, but when it has happened, I took the load because I have a job to do. Also, on dedicated, I don't have the option of turning down dedicated loads. I have to run a much tighter schedule than the OTR guys. Price of being in the dedicated fleets.
I know you have scathing retorts ready for me, and I can't stop you from slinging some more bull on my thread. I suggest, however, that you join the rest of the crybabies over in "Report a BAD trucking company here" and let me answer the adults' questions for myself.

 

Sheeeeeesh.

 

I'm the one on the right. You can tell on account of I'm wearing a red shirt. I'm also the one not suffering fools gladly.

 

Tues morning, and I'm in Tulsa OK. Need to bobtail to Muskogee, pick up an empty container, get that to Ft Smith, swap it out for a loaded one, then get that to BNSF in Halset TX by 1900. I hate rail yards but the one I'm going to isn't so bad. No preplan yet, and I'm supposed to be home Thurs--don't think it's gonna happen on time. <Much put-upon sigh> Oh well, that's trucking for ya. First time in 1-1/2 years they've missed my home time. Gotta call and reschedule my appt for next week; need to get truck to Volvo dealer and get my bunk heater working. It's fresh out of warranty...guess I should have scheduled the appointment before I ever tried the thing Gotta scam!

 

Well, taking a 10 in Upper Butt Crack, MS on my way to Lower Butt Crack to pick up some paper <snicker> and run it to my hometown for delivery Monday morning. Will get a 34 in at home which is okay. Been running hard but it will be a short week due to the weekend off. Shouldn't go into the hole though. I'm learning that when they said, "Collaborative Dedicated," what they meant was, "Georgia-Pacific Dedicated, But With The Occasional Wal-Mart Or Target Or 3M Or Andersen Windows Run Mixed In." About 1/2 my loads are heavy (over 40K); the rest are like 15-25K pounds. Most of what I'm doing is drop and hook, with no live unloads so far--the few live loads have been at vendor locations. Gonna drop my canine copilot off at the house and hit the ground running Monday after my live unload (first one since I got on this account). Tried the bunk heater when I was up north--surprise, surprise, it's not working. Need to get to a Volvo dealer to look at it but it's out of warranty (service date, not mileage). Hopefully won't be too expensive. Averaging 7.68mpg over last six weeks, which includes a LOT of idling time. That will drastically improve once Luke the Wonder Dog is out of the truck since I won't have to keep it cool for him all the time. I have a hat.

 

No, I haven't ever had any problems. There have been maybe 2 or 3 times in the past year and a half that a mistake has been made; each time a quick phone call to Settlements took care of the issue on the next settlement. You get paid on demand at Dart--that means if you get your trip scanned in (Transflo) before 1pm Central time you will get paid that day. You have the option of EFS check or direct deposit, or split it between them, or even get a check mailed to the house (don't recommend that one). If you scan your trip in after 1pm central time you will be paid the next business day (read: scan after 1300 Friday, get paid Monday). If you are at the Eagan MN or Lancaster TX operating centers you can get your settlement 24/7 (usually an hour or two delay after you hand it in). You can settle at the Sellersburg IN operating center from 8am-4pm, Mon-Fri. I recommend settling once a week, on the same day, but you have the option of settling after any trip if you need money quickly. I know a couple of guys who settle once a month (you can scan in your trips and mark "Do not settle" and they go into a pool until you scan in a trip and mark "EFS Check" or "Direct Deposit" and they settle on everything you have scanned until then). That works for them but I can't afford to wait that long for my money.
There are fueling and settlement strategies that will help maximize your money, mostly to do with timing versus your fuel (your fuel comes out the next day after you fuel). If he comes on board he should call to the guys on the A team (retention team) who can help him set up a settlement strategy to maximize his money. Also the fleet managers can let drivers know how much they will make (or be in the hole) after a trip in progress to help with the decision whether to settle or not.
Again, neither I nor anyone I know has never had trouble getting paid.
Good luck!

 

Made it home (finally--seems the Universe was trying to slow me down)! Getting a 34 before delivering up the road Mon morning. Happy weekend to those few of you who aren't working this weekend!