company driver & tire chains

i would never buy chains for a company truck.

 

I would certainly think the company would provide chains. I would make him send you a written message. Never let an FM give you verbal instructions if you are not sure. That said, maybe you do have an attitude problem when you say things like "Love to play with my FM he's such an idiot!".

Usually respect is a two way street. If you do not fix this you will quickly find out that everybody (except you, of course) is an idiot and changing companies will not fix anything.

 

When I drove for covenant; many years ago; they did not require us to have chains. However if we wanted to be dispatched into areas with required chain laws then we needed to buy them. Now of course they did have a few cables floating around the system but if you found them they made you swap with other trucks. I bought my own and wrote it off on my taxes. After I left covenant I sold them and got my money back since they were still in the bags.

 

I dont think there is any kind of law making an employee buy or not buy saftey equipment. That being said is it the best thing to be calling ur dm an idiot? Do what you want but name calling never helped me get anything. Usually made things worse.

 

There is no law one way or the other on who needs to buy chains. The law is the truck must have them on it. That being said, there is no law saying company drivers dont have to buy fire extinguishers and triangles, but normally a company will provide them. Truth is, it is both yours and the companies responsibility to make sure you drive legal. Any decent company would buy you chains. If I were a company driver I would never buy safty equipment the company should provide, although you do always have the option of quitting. They cant force you to buy anything, but they can fire you if you choose not to. If it was not mentioned in the contract, then you kinda sol if they refuse.

 

It is not uncommon for a person to have to purchase items that they need to perform their job safely and effectively... When, I was in construction I had to buy my own tools of the trad

It does seem like you have an attitude and enjoy playing games.. which means you will probably not be able to develop a good working relationship with dispatchers and FMs and run into this sort of stuff with what ever company you go to until you work out and improve your part of it..

The truth is, I would imagine that other drivers with better people skills were able to effectively communicate with the FM or Who they needed to and either got chains or got reimbursed for the chains they bought... Or, just bought them and got more and better loads..

 

There is no law regarding this, but that said, the company in question went this route many years ago due to the fact that company drivers would sell them at truck stops to make a little extra money.
You should not have been allowed to leave the yard without them anyhow.

I kinda look at it this way, the company is/going to provide me the bare minimum to keep legal, its up to me to provide anything else that I feel is nessary for where I run. Enough said.

 

When we were company drivers for US Xpress, You filled out a form at a terminal and checked out chains. If they did not get turned in when you left they charged you for the chains. Pretty simple. Do not go into Colorado or any of the Western States from September to May without chains or it is a big ticket, even if the roads are dry. You are required to carry chains.

 

You did the right thing IMO. maybe getting what he said sent as a message instead of just verbally to CYA would have been better.

I'm sure there is no shortage of idiots out there more than willing to buy chains for someone else's truck.

What's next? Maybe like taxi drivers that split the fare 50/50 with the car owner and then have to pay for the fuel?