Company driver needs to buy staps, and chains??

Guess I’d have to agree with @Long FLD and some others on this to a certain degree. I can’t see making the driver buy any equipment up front, but if you lose it or abuse it, then yeah you contribute.

I am a little surprised that some are making drivers buy all equipment up front, I also didn’t know this was happening but I’ve owned my own truck for a long time now so I haven’t kept up with what company's require of drivers.

 

The ones I have seen doing it it’s your stuff once you buy it. You quit and you can take it all to keep or sell or whatever you want to do, or you can sell it back to the company at a prorated rate depending on condition.

 

Is this a common thing now? With a lot of companies?

 

I wouldn’t say it’s common, but I’ve heard of a few trying it out. One of them was a company that hauls for Prime, but I can’t say if they stuck with it or not.

 

Something that was touched on briefly, and you guys overlooked. Lost tools, negligence towards tools and equipment. My company provides basic tools to do the job: two wrenches (3/8 x 7/16, 1/2 x 9/16), adjustable wrench, vise grips, bolt cutters, pry bar, bailing wire and cutter, 3 lb sledge and tire guage. When a new driver is hired and assigned a truck, all those tools are present, and they sign for it. Used to be, you loose something, you ask for a replacement. They got tired of replacing the same items 3 or 4 times per year for the same driver. Now, the first replacement is free, the next one you agree to pay for or buy your own. For good or bad, all of us have become good snitches as a result, I've had coworkers ask me for a wrench that they should have, I ask where theirs is "I don't know, guess I lost it", sure, you can borrow my wrench while I'm standing there and it's in my line of sight, and I'll make sure dispatch knows you're missing your supplied tools.

In 20 yrs, I've lost one sledge and one wrench. But, in that same 20 yrs, I've learned that those tools are not enough. I carry my own binder bar, two cheater pipes, a 50 pc electrical repair kit with cutter/stripper, a few lengths of 2x4 in addition to my chain boards, 8 trailer inflators in addition to my 50' air hose, tire chuck and a 4" cut off wheel. I also carry a gallon of coolant, a gallon of coolant water, 4 gal. of washer fluid, WD40, and a qt of brake line anti freeze. I have my own bolt cutters and specialized wire cutters, they never leave my sight, they are never loaned, they are brightly marked and hard to overlook. My boss laughs that I carry all that, all paid for by me, but if I break down, depending on what it is, my boss can walk me thru at least getting the truck into limp mode with what tools I carry, vs paying road service $500 for a simple repair. Very rarely do I loan out my tools. A few times now, I've had a blow out, I know I can limp it home, but don't want to throw chunks of rubber, I'll stop, break out my air line and cut off wheel, cut the carcass off and toss it in the container. Road service generally wants $150 to $200 to single out a tire like that. Back in July I blew a radiator tank on the top of Vail, by the time my boss showed up with the new tank and coolant, I had the old tank 99% removed. In 20 minutes, we had the new tank installed, the coolant added, and I was rolling. Easily saved 40 minutes.

 

And again ,it depends on the rate of pay.or how you are treated otherwise.

 

ROFL HOLY ####, Thats some funny #### right there ROFL.

 

So go be a mechanic or a doctor and work all you want. Pretty simple solution. The rules are pretty clear when people choose to enter this industry, if unregulated hours are what you’re after then choose a different industry.