Glad I moved over to Poly Trucking

I would say that a hard runner could get 140k miles a year quite easily.

Medical insurance for driver and spouse is $64 wkly.
Dental ins. for both is $14 wkly.

 

Left GP last Wednesday going to Sam's in N.Canton,OH for delivery on Friday morning. Thursday afternoon backhaul dispatch called with load info.. Pick up Friday at 1700 in New Concord,OH going to Dallas for 0800 Tuesday. Once empty I called the shipper and was told they would try to load me early, and they did! Since I would be back in DFW by Sunday morning I asked for, and received a 900 different (a request to drop the load on GP yard and get another outbound load).


About noon Saturday I got a call asking if I would swicth loads with another driver so he could get home for an emergency. I was just leaving Matthews,MO when the call came so I pull over at the next rest area to call the other driver and set up a meeting location to switch. His load was going to Sam's in Brownstown,MI for 0700 Monday and he was not far from Nashville. He was almost out of hours for the day and I had plenty to reach Nashville so the Flying J on I40 at mm182 is where we did the deed.

A couple hours after making delivery on Monday backhaul called with load info.. Pick up Monday before 1400 going to Houston for Wednesday at 0800. Pick up not a problem, but since I'd already started my 14hr clock the 0800 Wed. delivery was going to be a problem. When I called the broker for load info I told her the situation and that depending on what time I left shipper I could possibly be at delivery point by 1000 Wednesday. Was told that would be fine.

This morning while enroute I received a call from the broker at 1005 wanting to know how far from the receiver I was because they had called and were waiting for me. Told her I had to stop for a potty break, she laughed (don't know why), and that I would be there in 45mins.. The thing is that I had called the receiver Monday for directions and was told I could make delivery anytime between 0800-1600, and that there was no rush. Once I arrived I asked receiver if they had called the broker wanting to know my whereabouts and was told no. Don't know who is telling the truth. Either way the load was only an hour later than expected.

Am now at the Love's off 610 in Houston waiting for tomorrow to roll around since I'm out of hours for the day. Hoping to get a transfer from Mount Belviue to Henderson so I can spend the weekend at home to vote and attend a 25th Wedding Anniversary vow renewal service at church Sunday.

 

We all know there are Positives and Negatives in every trucking job in the industry. I'm pretty sure that any driver that's been out here very long knows that quite well. I'm guessing most all of us have had to weigh all the Pros and Cons with every job we've had in this business. I believe for me the Choice to come to Poly was much easier than previous choices I've had to make with other companies. Each person has to decide what works best for them. It's easy in this business to focus on the negative because most of us have experienced the negatives way to many times. I could highlight a lot of things but I'll just say I believe Poly gives me a lot of options that appeal to the way I like to do things. I have a new truck now where I work. Not going to say giving it up will be easy. I'm also paid every week and I hate to give that up. So, those negatives will both hit me right away. However, having input in choosing my outgoing load and getting paid the miles I actually drive is a huge plus. In addition, the pay is pretty good per mile. Home time option at Poly is much better than what I do now. No E-Logs is a great plus as well. There is more freedom without E-Logs for me. It's not always easy to change trucking positions with all the factors that go into what we do. You just got to know what works for you. I've made my decision and I hope it's a good one. I believe it will be for me. Hope I'm correct. Thanks for more info. on a couple of the negatives.

 

I see what the cost of the insurance is but I see they are self insured does it seem to be good ins, what is the deductable or the copay thanks for the info

 

It is a Contract Provider based insurance.

Medical: no deductable. Co-Pay $10 Dr visit, $20 Physical Therapy,Skilled Nurse visit, $30 MRI,ECG, other out-patient diagnostic care, $50 per day (not to exceed $500 per visit)All covered services for in-patient care, $50 critical ER, $50 + 50% non-critical ER, $50 out-patient in office surgeries, durable med equip 20%, $1,250,000 max annual benefit.

Prescription: $5 co-pay at Sam's or WalMart generic, $10 generic elsewhere, when generic not available $15, mail order 3 month $14 generic, non-generic 3 month $27

Dental: don't know all details but the max annual benefit is $1800

I'm not currently on Poly's insurance so I have no other details as to whether it is good or bad.

 

Hey, thanks for the breakdown on some of the insurance cost and benefits. That is all good to know information. How long do you have to be employed to be eligible for insurance benefits? Also, do they offer any vision insurance? Thanks again!

 

Don't remember what the wait time for insurance to start is. Have no info on vision ins..

 

Oh, ok. I'm sure they'll cover all that in orientation. Thanks for getting back to me on it. I'm guessing it'll take 90 days or so. Should know in a few days.

 

Yeah they cover that in day 2 I think, I already forgot how long you need to be there as I did not get it.

Well hell. I don't think I will be choosing that Kansas City load too often as parking is very limited near by although I did find a spot along a dark street the other side of the McD's. Actually not that bad if I hadn't driven all day after getting a late start and then having two lot lizards banging on my truck at 0300 and 0330 or so this morning disturbing my sleep. The actual bad part was the back haul from Topeka that had an appt. time at 1500 and I decided to roll a little early in attempt to get loaded early and rolling toward D/FW. Well no love on an early load and I sat for about 6 hours until done. The second part is it doesn't deliver until 1715 tomorrow afternoon and I wasn't allowed to t-call it in GP so I will just finish it up tomorrow and hopefully still have some time to get something heading out tomorrow late afternoon.

And got some stuff not working with the truck that you don't notice until you are out on the open road. My cruise control doesn't function as well as the jakes not working. My A/C fan is intermittently working and I have a leak in the windshield washer fluid system. Other than that the truck is running fine I just can't believe that a PM was just done on the truck and all of these things were not reported by the last person driving it or perhaps over looked by the shop. Hopefully will be able to find some time to have them looked at before I head toward the house but may have to deal with them for a bit depending on what happens tomorrow.

 

I read ins starts at 120 days which is longer than normal