Barr Nunn on short list

I drove for them for about 6 months, was very happy with everything at the start. Orientation wasn't drawn out too long, got us on the road quick. First couple of weeks went pretty well, checks around $1000 for each week, things looked pretty good for me. Then it was like someone threw the brakes on, no loads after unloading, qualcomm quite for days on end. Found myself sitting at truck stops for days just waiting and waiting. There were times of a little nibble from time to time just a little run though 70 - 100 miles. Really wasn't worth getting out of the bed for but what can ya do...ya don't want to piss in their corn flakes. I took anything and everything I could get but the miles were not coming. Actually saw a check with a $000.00 on it after insurance. I kept getting mostly checks of 300-400 and it was time to say goodbye to them. I gave them a 2 week notice that I was going elsewhere. My teamleader asked me why I was leaving, I told him I was dying out here, just look at the loads you have sent me out on lately and you will understand. I still took whatever they had for me to run but I was so fed up with them I could not wait to leave. Weird thing was, the topic of me leaving never even came up again. I had the date marked and when that day came they had sent me from Pennsylvania into Ohio, I figured well this is plan, we have a terminal there, was the same terminal I started at "Washington Courthouse, Ohio". So I dropped my load and sent my info in the qualcomm and as quick as I hit the send button I recieved another load from a place in Ohio near where I was and to drag that down to South Carolina. Now this is my last day, I live in Kentucky, but they want me to go to South Carolina ? I didn't hit accept on the qualcomm I just started up and headed toward Washington Courthouse. I wasn't very far away when I got a phone call, asking me where I was going. Well surely they weren't watching the gps from the truck. I told my good ol' teamleader that today is the day I have to home I start my new job in two days and that I would turn in my truck in Washington Courthouse, Ohio. He informed me that the terminal there had been closed down. Without missing a breath I said to him, I am heading to the house, he needs to decide what I need to with the truck. He called me back after about 15 minutes of consulting with those who have screwed people harder. He tell me that I would have to take the truck to Granger, Iowa or somewhere out in Pennsylvania...can't remember where...I reluctantly said to him, okay let me run to the house, unload my heavy stuff, I will take it to the closest terminal and then you get me on a bus back home. He sounded happy about it and we ended our call so I could call my new employer and let them know I would start little later. Before I could call them though, my teamleader calls me back and lets me know that since I am quiting, I have to pay for the bus ride home. I said to him they had not paid me a decent wage in the past 6 months, I can not afford a bus ticket. Well it's already been a long story...dropped the truck off at a truckstop near home, started my new job, was informed I was being charged for truck abandonment, started getting harrassing phone calls for me to pay $5700 for recovering the truck, I called a lawyer...sued for harrassment and threats of being sued and won that. Oh...my taxes showed I made $8,600 in the 6 months I was there...figure that one up for the year. End of story...I didn't like them very much in case you could not tell.

 

any company that tells you the average length of haul for an otr driver is less than 550-600...RUN. lets not even take into account the horror story above. lets run some numbers. each load you get will take 5 hours to load and unload (some less maybe, but lets figure average time of 2.5 hours on each end). lets also figure that the average NEW load takes 3 hours once you get unloaded and send in an empty call. figure all loads at 500 miles each. how much crap are you gonna put up with to get 5 loads per week...thus achieving the bare minimum of 2500 that you should expect? 10 hours of driving for each...50 hours. 25 hours of loading and unloading. and 15 hours waiting on new loads. 90 friggin hours just to make the bare minimum 2500 miles? i think not.

 

oh, and sherryts, i was not trying to be dismissive about your story. always disgusted to hear about any company who wont take someones notice professionally. dont understand why you would want someone working for you that was miserable, and understand even less the vindictive junk some companies pull when they are given proper notice. even worse when they know darn well they arent using you anyway. i hope you got a decent verdict...not that i think they shouldve made you rich, but if i was on your jury i sure wouldve been doing everything in my power to make THEM poor. punitive damages....8 figures sounds about right.

 

Oh...what you said was right on the nose, a lot of companies like to use those big numbers, even though they do not apply to their company. As for me I lost a lot while working there, bills kept piling up, things got repossed, turned off, etc... they had it coming, they made the mistake of saying the right things on my part. It mostly was a lawsuit to stick it to them for doing someone so badly, not that they would learn from it since they obviously havent. Just made me feel good about it, the money didn't hurt !

 

companies that spend more energy screwing drivers than booking loads should be put out of business, period. every lawsuit they lose is one step closer to that goal. dunno how much they awarded you, but ill wager it wasnt nearly enough to be a real punishment to them, which shouldve been the larger point of the award. glad to hear you got some of the money back that they "stole" from you. like i said, if i were on the jury, you would not have had to work another day in your life, and this thread would not exist, as barr nunn would not exist anymore.

 

Why would you give a two week notice to a company your so unhappy with???

this is trucking not Wall Street ...go home for home time ...clean out the truck then call in and ask them where you can turn in the truck....simple!

and yes leaving the truck at some truckstop near your house is abandonment ....and decent driver knows this....and I won't even go into carrying a pistol on your truck ....permit or not
big issue with 99.9 % companies and Federal Dot

 

I have a pal that worked for them for about 4 months..I do not know what he was making per mile but he said he was happy with the pay..he did a lot of time sensitive fed-ex and ups loads he was never late and they took notice of this and thanked him every time ..told him how they really appreciated what he was doing...he was driving a slighty used fliner but was offered a brand new prostar if he wante d..he said equipment was top notch his team leader or whatever he called him was a swell fellow at first he stayed real busy alot of 400-600 mile stuff but they kept him busy had a new trip planned before reaching destination with the one he was under...he was loving it...then whammo...the hot loads slowed down he started sitting sometimes a whole day waiting to unload or waiting on a new trip( all this waiting was 100% unpaid)...he started being unhappy but still said he loved working with the people and hopefully things would pick up soon ,t hen he got sick while at home and went to doctor and was off work trying to get better he stayed in touch with his people every other day for 2 weeks then the day before he was to go back to work they came to his house and took the truck ..said they have a policy if you miss more than 8 days you are considered terminated ...he said you know I am coming back tomorrow they said sorry its our policy you will have to call recruiting and start over ...alot of this sounds like bs to me but this is his story ...

 

How did you afford a lawyer if you didn't have money for a bus ticket?

 

Lol. That's funny.

I've been here for 5 years, check my earlier posts. It was a long road but I'm happy here. North east drivers average 1800 -2000 miles per week. The band pay is a better deal than the flat 50 cents I think. Most of the "good" loads run at night. The guys that try to manage their clocks so as to run during the day eventually quit because they average closer to 1500 miles a week. The OTR guys average closer to 2500-2600 miles per week. Our teams do real well! The bonus program is nice and also pays extra time off up to 2 days for a clean CSA year. It's a 48k-55k first year job depending on how you run. Prove yourself and it becomes a 57k-62k a year job after the raises.