Evans Equipment - Butler, IN.....A very bad company!

The Big Problem with the Butler shop is one Guy name Lenny....He is suppose to run the shop and direct operations But, he is so worried about keeping cost down and making a good appearance that the trucks do not receive the proper attention they need and the mechanics hands are tied. If they really want to improve the shop and the quality of work that comes out of that shop they would get Rid of Lenny and put Scott in charge. He really cares about the trucks and the drivers and he would get done what needs to be done. As long as they keep going with Lenny in charge, that shop will always be a joke.

 

Hello Groovey!
I was in truck #280 but it was returned yesterday. Yes, the Honeymoon is over. Do not get me wrong however, the company was and is a good place to work it is just that a few Bad apples can ruin the whole basket.
I made quite a few good friends while I was there. Oscar, who everyone on here seems to wants to berate, was and is my life saver. He really cares about the company and the drivers and day or night, he will help you in any situation. He has power and influence within the company but just not enough to right all the wrongs that he knows exist there.Then you have Amy in compliance,who can be a dirty word if logs are abused but is always there to help whenever she can. She is a sweetheart but she wont be pushed around. Jodie in safety (By the way, congraulations Girl on your promotion !!We needed someone in that spot who really cares!) Another sweetheart. Then we have the Owners, Helen and Albert, two of the most wonderful people you ever want to meet! They too, really care but they just don't realize everything that is going on in the background. They try their best but, with everything else they have to deal with, there is no way for them to see what is being seen from the drivers eyes. Then you have Tim and Jim Evans, the sons. They too are good people and they too, have their hands full but even so, they listen and they help when they can. They just went thru a re-stucturing and they are working on new equipment and trying to get all the T's crossed and all the I's dotted. The equipment does need replaced badly.Then you have all the women upstairs who are also tremendous. As busy as they are, if you ever have any questions about payroll, insurance, whatever, they will take time out and show you and explain it to you. Really wonderful people! Evans is a "Family atmospher" and you can walk in and talk to anybody you want to and you will be treated as family. You say with all this why did you leave? Well, we used to have a guy who was in charge of all the dispatchers who was a 100% for the drivers. They got rid of him and Replaced him with a guy they had previously fired named Andy. I think Andy has a problem relating to his manhood because he spends every day of the week trying to prove he is a man. He has told all the dispatchers that they "do not work with the drivers, You control them!" Can you imagine trying to work with this guy?? Then you have a DM named Michelle. She was a load planner but they now have made her a driver manager. As a load planner, she would just grab any load just so she could say she had a load...even if we lost money on it. She was famous for getting water loads and beer loads (loaded to the max that don't pay anything!) and being as the equipment was older and breaking down under these loads, she still insisted on booking them. By the time you added in the down-time, the tows, the repairs, we were in the hole and still delivered the load for nothing! and then they made her a DM. She doesn't like the phone..says she has 50 other drivers...wants you to use the qualcom and by the time you get your load and fuel solution, you are already 200-300 miles down the road. She has no concept that a driver can not sit there and wait for hours while she decides to answer his message and she just doesn't care. She cant answer the phone for 5 minutes when you have a problem but she can sit on the phone for hours and tell you what a rough job she has and how nobody understands what she is going thru!! Amazing! Then you have Lenny in the shop...My air went out (again! My first month there I was in and out of the shop with various problems and the air was the main problem) when I was in Ohio. It was storming so I couldn't open the windows..over 90 degrees and BAD humidity. worked 14 hours and then couldn't sleep in those conditions. Lenny says he wanted me to get it to the shop in butler. They were going to work on the over-heating problem so I could haul frieight as they needed me to take a load to Ft. Smith, Ar and then they would get to the air when I got back! That humidity is worse than it is here!! When Tim sent him a email and asked him about it, He said that he was going to fix the over-heating and "see if that improved the air conditioning!" That air has been a problem for months and Lenny knows that and he was just trying to get the truck back on the road and let the driver sweat it out so he could go back to the boss and say, I tried!"
The Company is not only a good Company, it is a Great Company. Like I said, it is a family type of situation and you end up involved in everything because it is like one big family. You know who you like and who you don't like. You know who is screwing you and who is on your side. I had a DM named Chris. A really great Guy but he cared to much. He would take calls day and night and finally just ran him into the ground and he is now on night's and week-end dispatch. In the shop, You have Scotty. Scotty cares about the trucks, the work being performed, the drivers, and most of all, The Company! Now, if they got rid of Lenny and put Scott in his place, trucks would be better equipped, mechanics would be happier and drivers would be happier. If they got rid of Andy and put Chris in his place, a person who cares and wants to make things better instead of one who is on a power trip and just wants to collect a pay check for doing nothing, and got rid of Michelle who should have never been hired as a load planner, more or less a driver manager....yes, if they did all of this, I would go back in a quick minute but...I am only a driver and I have no say. I can only say, I wish them the best and I enjoyed "most" of my stay there. BTW....for those of you that wrote that other bull....I have never been shot...I have never had to buy my own fuel...my money has always been on time and Oscar, he not only didn't turn out to be a liar and a cheat but he ended up being my one salvation and he ended up being my friend and I Hope he always will be. The trucking Industry needs more "OSCARS!!!"

 

Oh thanks for that! I needed a good laugh! Like any of us would ever believe a recruiter.....I have yet to see a bigger pack of professional liars outside of Washington D.C..........

 

Momma always told me,"If you can't say anything good, don't say nothing at all." Lessons learned, moved on. Oh yeah, they say you can't judge a book by its cover, usually the cover will least tell you something about the book. Always check the (FMCSA) safety record and form your own opinion based on details of your findings and don't listen to people, each opinion is different, you can find facts and proof of their standings, you will know....you just will.

 

Get rid of Andy and Michelle in dispatch and this place is a great place to work. Everything is just as it should be. Jim and Tim Evans are investing in new equipment and are struggling a bit after taking the business over from their parents. To me, the shop is great, provided Andy and Michelle don't take the trucks out to use before they are repaired. My checks have all been good at the bank. Pay and miles are there.
To me, the big picture has Jim and Tim getting better everyday......BUT!!!!!!!!!!
Dispatch is the absolute worst dispatch I have worked with in the industry. Andy has no clue as to what is going on and backs a dispatcher(Michelle)that is the absolute worst.
At this time, I would not recommend anyone come to this company until Andy and Michelle are gone. They don't care about you, your hometime, you driving legally, your health...NOTHING!!!
If this company fails it will be because of these two....Jim and Tim need to seriously take a good look at why drivers are quitting within days of being on the job. Some stay a few weeks, or monthes then leave. I have yet to speak with one single person that can get along with Michelle. She is an absolute catastrophe, she doesn't manage her own work then wants to tell you how to do yours. Both, Andy and Michelle use intimidating tactics to get younger, less experienced drivers to violate the HOS. I will take this to Jim and Tim and speak my peace, I want them to know they lose good people everyday because of Andy and ESPECIALLY Michelle. I honestly don't think they know what is going on.
With that said, Evans I think could be a great employer for that area. I believe Jim and Tim care, I believe that most people working there are doing their best, struggling to keep and expand a basically new company.
With that said, I would not advise anyone, ANYONE, to come to this company as long as Andy or Michelle work with this company. Personal remarks, and an I don't care about ANYTHING but how I look attitude is going to have to stop or drivers will quit daily. They blame anyone, including other fellow employees for their wrong doing.
I will continue to work here and will go to Jim and Tim and let them know my feelings on this, if they do nothing it is their choice, it is their business and I will move on.
I came here with several other drivers....They all quit the first 3 days....I'm giving my best....
Simply put,....Ask the recruiter, Oscar moved on, if Michelle and Andy aremin dispatch....If they are, DON'T come here.....if they are gone, I wouldn't hesitate working for Evans.....Those two individuals are absolutely the down fall of this company....PLAIN AND SIMPLE...

 

If you want the truth, ask...I'll tell you the truth as long as I work for Evans.....and it won't be much longer if Andy and Michelle don't go...more so Michelle...She is abrasive, speaks degrading about and to drivers. She lies to save her own skin. She does not knkw how to work with other people and is like dealing with a two year old. Andy is kinda of stuck, because no one else in dispatch has enough experience to do anything and Michelle makes him look good. I do believe that both Andy and Michelle both, make Evans a hostile work environment. AND I don mean hostile. I have seen people walk in that office upstairs ready to fight. One of these days (I wouldn't waste my time or effort) there will be an incident in that office and it will go to blows....Sooner or later as Andy walks agressively towards a disgruntled employee, he will get popped. He has been lucky so far. This dispatch office is so volatile, it is almost a haven for workplace violence.....SERIOUSLY PEOPLE, it's that bad....And Michelle is the instigator......YOU'VE BEEN WARNED...This is the main reason if things don't change soon, I am filing a 405 with the Occupational and Health Adminstration about this work environment...and I will leave....Hate to see Jim and Tim pay the price for these people but somebody has to do something.......I WILL.......

 

Read all the threads going back two years or so....two names come up frequently and often....Andy and Michelle.....strange isn't it, and the reason most decrepencies have been on my check is because Michelle doesn't do her work....
On the positive side....I'm telling you right now, I would retire at this job. Anyone you meet outside of dispatch is working WITH you. They have good frieght, it's steady, I have all the work I want. If you wanna work they have it. If you have a problem, you can literally walk right in the office and everyone gets whatever you need(within reason) and help you out to set you up with a customized job to fit your needs. My pay has always been right and if I had a discrepancy it was because Michelle doesn't do her job. They just got ez pass and I pass/ new trucks are coming and the shop, although it needs work, drivers have to play a role in taking care of what is given to them as perks.
As far as I'm concerned all of the shop mechs are top rate....you ask and they try to accomodate you, wash bay is right there to wash you truck.....Jim and Tim Evans make me feel like a valued person and employee...Jim went out of his way to get my truck ready...Mr. and Mrs. Evans who still work, are two of the nicest people I've met in this industry......
Bottom line....most of the dispatchers are new, inexperienced........Andy and Michelle take everything and are turning Evans Equipment into a nightmare of a place to work....If it wasn't for them there would be a waiting list to drive here...as Mr. Peck said above, these two apples are ruining what could be a leading industry job....get rid of them and your CSA scores go down because of their willingness to violate every aspect of your HOS....With electronic logs that is literally impossibe but they will make your employment status miserable if you don't....AND I won't! I was old school do what it takes and will run until the sun falls out of the sky for the right people, but I will do absolutely nothing for these two...NOTHING...

 

Maybe a Bad Andy and Michelle thread is in order. It seems to be the subject of this thread now.

 

Ya...not so much. Nothing like wanting $700 for a tire and installation for an o/o