Eobr next gen...

I have been staying away from the micromanagers for a while now.

don't make as much money, but more laid back atmosphere.

no quaalcom, just a dumb phone. no governor, not alot of appts, just a window.

most of the appts are made by dispatch ,I found out.

it's a way of the company to keep control and push you.

the consignee, usually doen't make them.lol

I don't need someone to hold my hand to get the job done.

oh, and paper logs.

 

A way for the company to push you? How? One can only be "pushed" if they allow themselves to be "pushed". I have had an understanding with carriers for several decades... I will decide when I am safe to drive and when it will happen. Never have been terminated from a carrier in over 30 years and as an leased on O/O, never had the contract rescinded. True, I will try to do things to make sure the customer is taken care of, but I will not be ridiculous and play some stupid Smokey and the Bandit crap and whenever someone in an office has tried to play "pushing" games, I have been known to tell them my location and they can send another unit to take the load on and I will go home. I don't advocate EOBR for everyone, but I have grown to like the one in my truck. Doesn't "nanny" me at all. Just takes care of the compliance stuff so I don't have to. All the of the log stuff, IFTA stuff, etc. Why work any harder than I have to? I have already "paid my dues" out here.

 

As a leased O/O you have much more leeway than a company driver. Company dispatchers can and do retaliate with drivers who refuse to allow them to be pushed. Just recently I witnessed a dispatcher make the comment, "Let his ### sit for a few days and see how he likes that" in response to a driver refusing to run his last hour of remaining time to get him closer to the terminal.

 

That happens to us leased drivers also. Unless you're booking your own loads a la Landstar/Mercer, this can happen. Any time you delegate load planning to someone else, it's always in the background.

 

Retaliation is only possible if the company driver allows it. Last i checked, a driver can park the truck at the terminal, clean it out, and go on to another venue. Same for leased on, except take the truck with you.

How a carrier does all of this, is the responsibility of the driver, company or leased, to find out before committing to the carrier and being subjected to this stuff. I am leased on with a carrier, I spent 6 months researching their procedures, business model, customer base, and I have as much say in when loads are picked up and delivered. I will try and meet the needs of any customer as much as possible. But in the final outcome, I decide when the load can be safely delivered, and no one will tell me when to move the truck. Sure, the carrier can see what the EOBR shows them, but we have had a very clear understanding from the git go. No one will tell me when the truck will move. Or, they can arrange for another power unit to take it, and I will go home. 6 years at my present carrier, with last 3 of them on EOBR, and not one call on the phone, not one message on the box telling me that I need to get moving. I work with my "travel agent" and loads are selected and booked and delivery times are agreed upon, with me in the loop all the way. I have never gotten any grief from the carrier. Based on awards and other nonsense I have gotten from them, my guess is that they are perfectly comfortable with our arrangement. And by extension, the customers do not seem to be getting their shorts in a wad either.

So, i guess you could say that the entire load planning, in my case, is not delegated totally to someone else. I don't have total control either, but we work as a team and we work together to make it all click. And I am on an equal footing with load planners, travel agents, and anyone else when it comes to making the final decisions. The key to making all of this work is communicating things back and forth and respecting each other. We are adults and we treat each other that way, even though my recent travel agent is a youngster only a couple of years out of college. He doesn't talk down to me, I don't talk down to him, and he knows I have more experience at this than he will for a long long time and we trust each other.

If a person cannot develop that kind of working relationship, then move on to somewhere that you can. To stay tied to a losing situation is not very bright.

 

Your first two sentences can apply to almost any position in any profession. It's more prevalent in the trucking industry. As a driver with 30 years experience, you have many more options than the majority of drivers, especially if your record is clean. Other drivers aren't so fortunate. Simply packing up and rolling on to another carrier isn't always practical or possible. For example, beginners or cons who are with a starter company, a driver with a blemished record (for whatever reason), drivers who have a family to support and can't risk a lapse in health coverage because of either themselves or a loved one undergoing serious, ongoing medical treatment (although that's about to change with the new laws) or drivers living in the middle of nowhere or a place where most companies won't hire or service. I'm in Florida and I can't even begin to convey how difficult it is to get exactly what everyone aspires for in a driving career in this place. One usually has to sacrifice SOMETHING in this state whether it's wages, home time, shifts, runs, lanes, etc. One would think after putting your time in a driver can get near whatever he/she wants. It's 20 times more difficult in this state. The only states I can believe offering worse choices may be Hawaii, Alaska (although I understand there are some very good paying driver jobs there) and perhaps Maine.

You can provide the utmost customer service and be a model driver, never miss a day of work, never late with a load, never refuse a load, customers love you, etc. With some companies it goes unnoticed and you're nothing but a faceless number to them and a means to move the product from point A to point B in the fastest, most efficient means possible. Many managers, dispatchers and companies don't give one iota of a hill of beans about your well-being, what you have to go through, your family, your time or your personal world as to them, you don't have a life outside of work and if you do, it's of zero consequence to them.

I've been extremely fortunate coming back to the industry after more than 25 years. My company has a few bumps in the management pipeline but so far I have managed to stay on the good side of everyone. I don't get hassled, called, pushed or dumped on but it is happening. I see it. I hear it. I watch it. And it's not necessarily because these drivers are doing anything wrong. It's because they're not one of the select favored drivers. I can tell you with no doubt if you asserted yourself at my company like you did in the above paragraph you would be sitting more than you would be driving and when you were driving you would be getting short runs with crap pay. You don't make waves and everything can usually run smooth. If you don't like the way something is being done your -only- option is to roll on, as you mentioned. But many times there is nowhere to go ... unless relocation is an option and for many, it's not.

I'm glad you have the ideal position. As I said, so far so good for me but I see what is taking place in this industry today and it's a far cry from what I experienced back in the '80s when I first drove. Drivers had job security and solidarity, traits all but gone in most positions today.

 

for those who think companys will not push drivers on e logs or paper, you dont live in the real world.

 

I am glad I don't live in the real world then. Maybe just lucky. But I think, more than anything, that the main reason I have not experienced this "retaliation" and "pushing" thing, is that I have made a concerted effort to check out, thoroughly, the carrier I have either drove for as a company driver, or leased on with. And truth be told, many drivers do not ask anything more than than the superficial questions of a potential carrier. And if a carrier will not answer the tougher questions and be a little forthcoming with information and allow a potential driver or lease on ask questions of other folks in various departments of the carrier, then that is a carrier that has something to hide and is not worth consideration. I suppose my experience plays a part, but more so to making sound decisions based on that experience than the experience intimidating anyone at the carrier.

 

i too own my truck but have my own auth.i have never been told i had to run,i
did it cuz i enjoyed it.36 years.but to think nobody gets pushed is naive.

 

The gist and crux of it all. That 30 years experience goes a loooong way.