Dealer's Supply (Columbia SC)

Not sure where to start on this one. It was my official first gig since moving back from Montana after quitting Reddaway.

The company is based out of Mebane NC and has two terminals. One in Columbia SC which I worked out of. They are a flooring distributor that ships Mannington products. Six major routes divided by three drivers that alternated between two routes each day. Four day work week with Wednesday and weekends off.

The job was cake. 6 AM start time and you ran new equipment and you ran assigned routes. It was basically P&D work with little emphasis to pickups since this is a private carrier delivering flooring products. We rarely had returns.

To get on board you had to go through ProDrivers. This is a temp agency. Flat pay of $18/hour with no benefits. They assigned you to Dealer's Supply and you were under contract for 800 hours. Once your 800 are up, Dealer's Supply would offer you to onboard you.

Here is the bad part and why I left the company after only 3 months.

Dealer's Supply boasted 43 hours a week of guaranteed pay. 40 hours at $18 plus 3 additional hours of OT, regardless how many hours you worked. This came to $669.42 per week of guaranteed take-home income for me.

I stuck around because up to the 800 hour mark, I was working more than 43 hours a week. I did not get OT but my temp agency paid me $18 hour for all hours worked. 50-55 hours a week looked better once getting on board. Condensed four day work week and all.

Gonna break this down why I didn't jump... But leap off this ship.

I had to sign two documents.

Document #1. I am accepting a 43 hour salaried position. I will get 40 hours of regular pay and 3 hours of OT, regardless of hours worked

Document #2. All drivers are responsible for the freight they carry. Any damages or shortages can be recouped out of the driver's pay to the company.

Husband/wife/child health insurance was $1,390 a month with a $15k annual deductible. This comes out to $38k a year vs the $44k I was making gross.

The final straw for me was when they told me all drivers were being put on standby on their days off. I could be called in on a Wednesday or weekend off. I asked if they pay OT or double time. Their answer:. It would be included in the 43 hours I was salaried under. So basically, I was at their convenience and their leisure with no additional pay

Thanks but not thanks.

 

Here is the funny thing. I was there for a year. After the first three months, the two top drivers finished their contract and got hired on board. As soon as they were company drivers, they both quit within two or three months. I was top driver until my contract ran out of hours, then I also only lasted three months under Dealer's Supply.

The job was manageable while running as a temp agency driver. But once you got fully hired on, the company was structured to pay as little as possible while trying to generate as much money as possible, even if it meant running us for free or reclaiming losses directly out of our pay.

To be fair, I worked hard and got my weeks done without ever going over 43 hours and nothing was ever damaged or missing. On average I was working 38 hours a week, but once they did the whole standby thing I knew I'd eventually be doing a ton of driving with no compensation.

All those Wednesdays off helped me a ton. I got a bunch of errands done that needed to be taken care of on a weekday. This included finding my new job which pays more than double that Dealers was paying me. My old boss tried to keep me. Did everything he could except offer to raise my pay or take me off their unpaid standby list. The company must come first.

 

At just over a year, some customers considered me one of the longest lasting drivers. I was only working 6-10 hours a week so it was a cake job. They figured they could make me work an extra day each month and it would basically average everything out. I knew they payed me below fair market value but a four day work week was a pretty sweet deal. So once they started taking that away, it shouldn't have surprised them that I wasn't going to stick around.

New job is paying me more than double if you include the benefits.