COVENANT -- From a wife's perspective

That would be it

After the road was pushed in on the south side (Courtesy of Swift). Lancaster PD started writing tickets to drivers they caught coming in from the north, on School House Rd. About a mile or so, from the interstate to the CFI and Dart yard. It's 4 miles out of the way to enter and exit from the south, if you were on I-20.

I personally was never bothered by them. And was seen many times. But there were several at CFI that got hammered. So much so, CFI posted a bulletin advising drivers NOT to enter the terminal from the north.

They even hauled the city into court, got a stay. So what did the City of Lancaster do? Pass a "No Idle" rule, with VERY strict enforcement. They would drive by the yards....looking for idling trucks.

The city of Lancaster TX sucks...period.

 

That sucks! That keeps the pay rates down to the trainee level!! I don't know how they expect to keep any drivers beyond the first 6 months at that rate!

My son and his teammate are still driving for Covenant, but now they are driving as an O/O and and I/C (independent contractor). My son's co-driver bought his own truck in February which he then leased onto Covenant (the temp-controlled division). My son still teams with him but he (not Covenant) pays my son. My son is paid the same rate he was paid by Covenant after being with them for 1 year x all miles put on the truck (which comes out to more than 35cpm split). Plus he doesn't have that danged mandatory per diem taken out of his pay any longer. He has to deduct and pay his own taxes directly and he has to get his own health insurance....but otherwise, he is still ahead. And they still have their DM (or whatever you call them) who has been really great to them, even during the really slow period last winter. So they are okay. For now.

 

Got that msg today. The co. will cut one cent per mile for every driver, except those with more than 10 years in the co. Those will get one extra cent per mile. I am making now 28.5 cpm in the Walmart dedicated division and will make now 27.5. Funny thing, that payroll dept is so messed up.... the other day, I noticed they paid me 32 cpm on some of the last trips I made... (that is if I were not in the mandatory per diem...) don't know if I talk to payroll or not about that because don't want to get confused when doing my taxes). Any way, all is good here. Running A LOT, and I LIKE IT. Wish you all very well.

 

Covenant is another dirt bag company that needs to closed orbe shut down.. They treat their drivers like slaves and crap---- I dont know why anyone would put up with their crap--There are to many companys out there to work for, if you have a good saftey record that is..."its not a choice its a child"-- I mean come on, your going to preach that stuff, and then treat your drivers like they where sub-human- It is just a cover up for the motoring public- If they see that, they must think- oh, they dont believe in abortions, they must be a great comapny-- little does the motoring public know--

 

I smell something.....

I really smell something now....

 

Now, surely you don't think Covenant would fire someone or state that bonuses have just been discontinued right before one is due.

 

I wish the best to RC. 5000 miles, he can get those in less than a month and then he will be "free"... and with his HM, he can try a much better driver position. BTW, I am taking my time off, moving all my things to a storage in Chatt, since I have been living in the truck for a year now, don't need "my place" here any more. My dispatcher is very nice, he always sends me home when I request, sometimes even one day earlier. All he asks is that I give him at least 10 days advance notice. This weekend at the terminal I met more Cov. drivers (who are not in the regular fleet or teaming) but who are in the dedicated accounts. And they are all satisfied, very busy, making decent money. I met one lady driver who is in the Georgia Pacific account. She was going home for time off too. She said she stays two weeks on the road and goes home for 2 to 3 days. She is always very busy, running 3 sometims 4 thousand miles a week. She said she made 56 thousand dollars last year and she has been in the co. for 3 years now. I hear many Cov. drivers complaining about low miles, dispatcher, bad equipment, etc, But I also hear other Cov. drivers (like this lady and others) who are making decent money, staying busy, going home when they want, running good miles, and enjoying their job. I am enjoying my job at Covenant. But you know what, it is hard at the beggining. Newbies have to put time, effort, put up with a buch of *rap sometimes, and be patient, and keep working hard and doing a good job and eventually, they can step up and get a better position and start enjoying the results of their sacrifice. That's the way it is. I hope RC gets on some dedicated account if he remains at Covenant. He will experience a huuuuuge difference. A good one.

 

Rocks,

I understand where you're coming from. But, this type of account is an unrealistic expectation from the company.

We have similar accounts at the company I work for. And it was discussed that I should take one. I was all for it, for a whole 30 minutes.

What I thought would be a 5 turn per week run. Turned out to be a 6 turn per week run. Roughly translated....3900 miles per week, without fail.

That's too much to ask from a driver who expects to have some kind of a personal life.

Had my company been willing to cover one turn with another driver, reducing me to 5 turns a week. I would have took it. But there's no way I'm willing to give up all my personal time for a dedicated run. You spend your days off, in recovery