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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;flyingmusician, post: 4265030, member: 61515&quot;]while I wish I could be as diplomatic as sdaniel, it just isn&#039;t in my nature to sugar coat things. I&#039;m not going to bash them in any way....they gave me my start and gave me good training and I&#039;m appreciative to them for that, but there are real issues there. I speak nothing but the truth. for the longest time I was one of their most vocal and active supporters and gave them every opportunity to get it together and voiced my concerns in a professional and concerned manner, but like sdaniel and others, they paid us no attention and it has cost them and still is costing them good, safe, productive drivers.</p><p><br /></p><p>there may not have been 30 drivers quit, but it had to have been a large number for any particular week. I have firsthand knowledge of where that number came from, and while the number can&#039;t be independently verified I did have one of my former students call me last week and ask if I knew what was up as he said there were a lot of empty trucks on the yard when he left Monday and when he came back through the yard Thursday the same trucks were still there empty and he had to park down in the back because there wasn&#039;t anywhere to park. that generally doesn&#039;t happen midweek. I asked another about the current turnover number from the latest newsletter and he said they quit putting it in there. imagine that.&nbsp; if it was still such a good company, there wouldn&#039;t be so many of us leaving, whatever the reason, and they wouldn&#039;t be offering &#039;raises&#039; and dedicated opportunities to get people to stay.</p><p><br /></p><p>you don&#039;t take away a financial incentive for performance (safety bonus) and expect to see the numbers stay the same. they decline when there is no incentive to perform.....whether it&#039;s disguised as a &#039;raise&#039; or not. it doesn&#039;t take my prior 20 years in management to know that. judging from the sheer number of trailers I pulled in my time there that other guys dumped for the next guy with bald or flat spotted tires, inop lights and/or multiple ones, tag and inspection out of date or registration missing or out of date, the majority of drivers there aren&#039;t as concerned about their safety record as you (and I and others who left over these kinds of things) are. only by sheer luck did those trailers not get put oos before I got them ( or sdaniel as well and the few others of us who actually gave a #### both about the company and our own record) and burned my clock up fixing them time and time again because some other lazy ####### didn&#039;t feel like it was important enough to take the time to do. other examples I could cite coming from dispatch themselves when they knew I had a bad trailer but i&#039;ll let that lay. it, among others things, cost them a good driver.....and trailer issues are just one category of things that could affect that bonus. there are many others </p><p><br /></p><p>the &#039;appointment time changes&#039; happened a lot. I&#039;d get a preplan or load assignment that I couldn&#039;t make, decline or advise, and miraculously 15-20 minutes later I&#039;d get a change in the time I could make. sometimes it was fine, sometimes it wasn&#039;t. if it was a customer they knew might have a problem with it, I&#039;d get a wide open window so they wouldn&#039;t have to pay the detention when I&#039;d have an appointment initially and they knew I&#039;d have to sit and wait since it wasn&#039;t there when it was supposed to be. I sat 30hrs in Richmond Indiana on a paper load once because not only the time but the date was wrong. the guy came unglued and came out from behind the window yelling at me because &#039;they do this all the time and I&#039;m sick of it. we aren&#039;t unloading you.&#039; and there I sat until the next day when it was supposed to be there. Always amazing how those appointment times can be so easily changed when they have a need for it, but when the driver needs it changed for whatever reason it&#039;s set in stone. Get it there. </p><p><br /></p><p>ditto for having to pick up a &#039;hot&#039; load on Friday that had to get to the yard for a relay and not getting in Friday but only saturday then when I come back in Monday there it sits.</p><p><br /></p><p>if these things haven&#039;t happened to you then you&#039;re one of the &#039;special ones&#039; that get taken care of or you&#039;ve just been #### lucky. wouldn&#039;t happen to be on Susan&#039;s board would you?</p><p><br /></p><p>one thing I did see a pattern with while I was there is that the ones who had the least problems and were the happiest were the ones NOT based in Greensboro. those of us unlucky enough to run out of the main yard got to see the petty bickering, politics, and backstabbing that goes on behind the glass and sometimes even unwittingly got caught up in it or were victims of it. it&#039;s like watching a bunch of middle-schoolers</p><p><br /></p><p>judging by what I hear from those still there they still just don&#039;t get it and will lose more drivers until they think back and remember things that those of us good drivers they lost have told them for 3 years now. you only know the company as you&#039;ve seen it the last 2 years. what we see as the decline of a once great company, you see as the norm. you weren&#039;t there the 14 months I was and the years sdaniel and others were before you. it really took a downward turn right before you got hired. if it still works for you that&#039;s great, and it still is a better company than many out here and a place I would and do still recommend for going to to get good training.&nbsp; I&#039;ve referred several people there since i left and still do. a newb coming into the industry could do much worse than epes that is for sure. but it isn&#039;t the company it was when I was hired.</p><p><br /></p><p>I can&#039;t even begin to convey the reduction in stress and step up I took where I am now. as sdaniel stated about his gig, where I am now isn&#039;t for everyone.......but it is nice to have an open plan dispatch/safety where I can walk in and talk to anyone, not look at them hiding behind glass and a locked door. a truck that will run the speed limit most places that I run and averages 8.5mpg with an apu and an inverter and fridge that I didn&#039;t have to pay for and 4 figure take home checks every week are nice too, in addition to being paid for my drop and hooks and every live load/unload. home on time every time is a big draw as well.&nbsp; once they get it that it isn&#039;t ALL about the money but the extras they don&#039;t offer that make life on the road a little more livable and paying for the work that is done instead of just bumping the pay per mile, then they might start retaining drivers.</p><p><br /></p><p>but I still smile and wave every time I pass one of you now hehehe. I haven&#039;t seen anything north of Richmond on 95 since I left there.&nbsp; That in itself is saving me many gray hairs. Sometimes the grass really is greener. And softer too.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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