Buchanan Hauling & Rigging

I'm under the impression JIT is still the same people under the buchanan umbrella?

 

Whats it like at Buchanan in Clute right now? They're trying to hire me to work out there.

 

Buchanan Hauls for us out of our Columbia City IN plant, and do a lot of OD work for us as well. I'm not sure how they are to work for but the drivers we currently work with do a great job.

 

They have constant work.. On the cheap side and expect to do alot of cleaning trailers for free ,Im talking trailer full of cardboard and plywood seriously dont know how many of these older guys do it . taking empty trailers did I mention alot of cheap freight ? What company you coming from?

 

Interesting posts here...mine is negative, sorry! Like the other guy said, I am not a whiner or complainer. I try to be nice to everyone, give them the benefit of the doubt, even when they are having a "bad day". Let me tell you, seems like most people at Buchanan are "having a bad day". Mostly though, their communications skills are flat-out horrible, and, well, they completely lied and mislead me.

For those wondering, Buchanan does offer a L/P program. It is their "used" fleet the company drivers had, they say they go through them and make sure they have decent tires, brakes, but, anyone I have talked to has had to do major overhauls while still under payments. A driver I recently met said just that, at least the story was very similar. He said they tried to talk him into trading the truck for a new one. But, you got to figure, company drivers are NOT going to drive trucks like an O/O would. The upside of their L/P program is, they will offer to repair the truck at their facility or another (with approval) and then take it out of your future settlements a few hundred or so at a time. Which, on the surface sounds good, but, when you stop to figure, this is also the SAME outfit that is getting you your work, it kind of makes it easy for them to just "keep you broke". Run you enough so you can pay off the debt, make a little for yourself, but, if you aren't banking big, you'll run into another major repair down the road, which, puts you right back to square one. I bought my truck used from the original owner/operator. It has an 18 speed. Just as we were about to start the test drive, I asked him if the gear splitter worked good or was slow on the up-take. I nearly fell off my seat. He was a household goods mover, his loads were always very light, he said he had NEVER split the gears! WOW!!! A real cream-puff. Anyway, you can find them if you look. Don't "fall in love" with a truck. Be smart, use your head. Ask questions.

Anyway, I just went through their orientation as an O/O, and quit before I got under my first load. I own my truck and trailer, so, it is a bit different for me. Here is what happened:

They will tell you what they think you want to hear to get you to orientation...but, just because you get to orientation, there is no guarantee you're hired, so, don't quit your job before you go!

Before I went to orientation, I asked several times for the opportunity to speak to other O/O's to get the "skinny" on what life was like as an O/O. I expected to hear things weren't as great as the recruiter said, everyone has their gripes, and I know recruiters are all salesmen. But, they did a GREAT job stalling. I even got to talk to the owner's son, Brian Buchanan, who I was told I would primarily work with since I run a flatbed conestoga. I figured "great"! I even knew of the accounts he was dealing with. They promised to get me names and numbers, but, nearly a week went by, there were NONE. So, I decided I'd see what orientation brought, and, seek out a few veteran drivers on break. My advice, don't ever join a company, as an O/O or a company driver, without first having talked to 3 or 4 of your peer drivers. I did speak to a few O/O once I got there....but, things were NOT the way they painted them to be.

Orientation was a joke, a real waste of time. If you are new to flatbedding, I'm telling you now, they are gonna give you wrong info on how to do load securement. My advice if you are new, read closely and understand the FMCSA handbook where it deals with load securement. It is not that many pages and all straight forward info. I have been doing flatbed for nearly 20 years, there have been times where I have gotten my handbook out at an inspection, and educated the DOT along the way. Many of them are still learning themselves. If you speak the right way to the officer, are unassuming and ask them a few questions along the way too, they are most appreciative. We all have the same goals, and are trying to collaborate on keeping roads safe for travel. Flatbeds represent one of the most dangerous and unpredictable loads on the road. Straps or chains break, come loose, stuff flies off, people get hurt or die and property gets damaged or lost.

I questioned the Buchanan instructor in a few places, even showed her the DOT rules and regs (which they give you the latest copy of in class), that got an icy reception, and, I was told, "Well, we have NEVER done it that way at Buchanan!". The DOT is NOT going to accept the answer "Well, this is how they taught me to secure the load in training.", and, Mr. Buchanan certainly isn't going to pay your ticket. I don't mind doing things that go "above and beyond" DOT regs to ensure safety, to an extent, but, you cannot do them differently!

They will also give you a "strength and agility" test at orientation....but, it's not easy, and frankly, it is dumb! Unless you work out a lot, you will be sore afterwards. My advice if you still want to go, stretch and get to the gym! When was the last time you stepped on and off your truck very quickly for 3 minutes straight? Or, did numerous deep-knee bends, walked up and down stairs with weights several times? And, there is a LOT more to it. If you do a lot of flatbed work, and not completely out of shape or 150 lbs over-weight, you should pass, its just over-done. No need for it, really. And, if your not used to it, a good way to get hurt!

As the one person described, many attitudes run very sour at Buchanan as well. The recruiter I spoke to was very apologetic for them. To me, that is inexcusable, and, it typically emanates from the top. I never did get to meet Mr. Buchanan, his top exec, or Brian Buchanan in person. You'd think that since we'd be working "closely" I'd at least have met him. That is very telling as well....they don't have time to meet with new recruits. They must get so MANY in and out, why bother getting to know them?

But, all this was very minor in comparison to what I was to discover very quickly.

What urked me was, my recruiter AND Brian Buchanan (owner's son) said that flatbeds at Buchanan Hauling and Rigging in Fort Wayne Indiana averaged $2.50 for all miles, pulling a Buchanan trailer, and, since I owned my own trailer, AND it was a conestoga, that I should average well above that. I thought "cool". But, was never given anything documenting this. That was my mistake. I realize I may sound like "sour grapes" here....and I certainly knew better before coming on board. What it re-emphasizes in my mind is, talk to other drivers. Ask to see a report of recent settlement statements going back however many months they are willing to show you. Ask what kind of miles it takes to get to that kind of revenue, and, find out how and where those guys run to get that money? Are they home most weekends? Or, do they expect you to stay on the road for weeks to make that? What are backhauls like? Where do they go to get backhauls if there isn't an established customer nearby? Compare it to what you have been doing and how you want to run.

Here is what I found out, very quickly I might add. Every flatbed load dispatch offered me paid far below $2 a mile heading into areas which seldom have a backhaul or, if you can find one, are usually low paying. And, when I asked about it when being told about each load, they of course had no backhaul scheduled with the trip. "We'll look for something while you are driving" was what I was told. Famous last words...and, if you have ever run east coast, you know that what is typically coming back from there usually pays closer to $1 a mile heading back, if you are lucky!

One backhaul load they did offer me was over-dimensional and would have required me to drive all night to deliver in the AM after having driven days. I refused it before we got to discuss the route, but, you know my choices of roads would have been either lots of tolls (which were to come out of my pocket), or extra miles on backroads with little or no shoulder riding through all kinds of little towns. This load paid gross a whopping $2.70 mi on 400 miles, but, was not getting me any closer to home, just further north and into congestion of eastern PA! So, not what I really consider a "backhaul", more a "sidehaul".

When I refused that one, I was told by Jeff the dispatcher not to be so "picky". Sorry, but, I am not being picky, Jeff! Just not willing to run under $2 a mile heading to the east coast. In all, these loads were not getting paid anywhere near what was told "everyone else" was getting.

They asked when I was at orientation how I liked to run, where I liked to run. I wrote it all down on a questionnaire for them. Then, on the second to last day, I met my dispatchers, Jeff and Drew. We went over everything I wrote. I was adamant, I don't want to run for under $2 a mile average. It costs me a $1 a mile to operate, if I am only going to average $0.80 after expenses, I might as well drive a company truck, be an employee...you pay less taxes and WAY less worry and hassle! I like owning my own truck, it gives you the freedom and ability to tell people "hell no" when they offer you a big bite off their crap sandwich. I also was adamant that, even though my conestoga can convert to run open, I don't want to do it unless the haul is paying money that is just too good to pass up. My final request was to be home most weekends, or, at least have the choice so I can plan family events. If I am going to work a weekend, I want my wheels turning, not sitting in a truck stop waiting for Monday to come around. Being 52 years old, owning my own truck and trailer, I think I have worked hard enough in my life to at least deserve that.

Evidently, all those things I wrote down were just for my benefit, because, they ignored everything we went over, and then, like I said, had the balls to call me "picky"!!! Why didn't they just have the balls to tell me the truth up-front? Had they done that, I wouldn't be going out of my way to post up about them.

So, I had to say "good bye". And, good riddance to Buchanan Hauling & Rigging in Fort Wayne IN!

One last note, their contract says you owe them $500 as a flatbed O/O if you quit within the first 180 days of the year, to cover permit costs.

My advice, stay FAR away from these guys.

 

Should've quit as soon as Puke Canon bought JIT. Right: they do have constant work, a lot of it they don't want to pay for as mentioned here, unloading cardboard & plywood from trailers (just to be able to use it for a back haul!), unpaid detention time at warehouses 4-6 hrs more often then not, pulling crappy Grief Bros. trailers that were built in mid 90's & sitting on the roadside with them...a lot. The Clute terminal is much better at getting you paid however. BUT, you WILL get to have the displeasure of hauling from their LaPorte, TX terminal frequently, so...plan on standing at the dispatch window listening to drivers and dispatchers socializing in Spanish for a while as you wait on them to get load to you when amigo hour is over. I quit recently on 11/4/15 & should of left the day of the BS meet & greet when they came from Indiana to tell us how good, & family oriented they are, & all the charities they donate to, blah, blah. And nepotism is alive & well at both terminals, especially at the LaPorte terminal. They take care of their own...i.e., if you ain't there speaking Spanish, you're more or less a substitute driver, until their boys need off, or off for the holidays, etc. Actually filed a wage claim yesterday covering pay periods going back to 8/3/15. Manipulating pay periods, loads not on settlement statement, & if you get advances, make sure you look to see how they got it back! Some of mine were paid back by company just using one of the loads to pay for it. Well, when it's $184 load they use to cover $100 advance ($101.50) the math fails to work for me. They are a flatbed operation w/ dry vans secondary, know too many drivers that hired on for flatbed, wound up pulling dry vans locally or in the plant as a shuttle driver. Needless to say all but 1 of them left, but that was of last week, he may have said" F.I." by now too. Think I'll end it here because there are just too many issues to even list here. Basically not gonna drive for any company here in TX now, stay home for the holidays & go back to driving out of Atlanta or Nashville after 1st of the year. Back to northern Midwest/ northwest hopefully! Good luck in whatever you do, but I gotta agree with prior post-er here...stay away, stay far, far away! Later!

 

is anyone on this thred still employed at Buchanan? i drove down from MI yesterday and talked to Mike but would like to talk to some currant drivers.
Thanks

 

so if i may ask have you found a new place yet. i just talk to them in office yesterday and don't want to make a mistake.

 

it's been a while. so how is it still working out? pay good? Things going well? I was told drivers in the van division make 70k a year gross.

 

So how's it going at Buchanan?

 

Depends where.