greatwide ripoff!

I went back and re read some old posts. I must have been really sick when I replied to you last because I don't remember it at all.. lol


So, you used to work for GW? When was that if you don't mind me asking? Just curious if we worked together.

 

THATS FOR SURE

 

just got assulted by Great Wide Driver....I guess he took his frustration on me...well that is his freedom I defended for him for 22 yrs...that what I deserved

 

Well good thing you didn't shoot him in self defense..... Couldn't stand another episode of Al Sharpton on TV.

 

I'm really surprised to hear so much negative about GreatWide. No company is perfect but I think that there are many problems that O/O face and they are multifaceted. Sometimes, we have to make lemonade out of lemons. Or make a well structured situation work for US.

My other half is the driver - O/O. He (I should say "we") have been leased on with GreatWide ATF for about a year now. Running Dry Van. The first few months were a bit bumpy... simply because it was a new endeavor for us. He signed on under an agent that was supposed to have drop and hook round trips that had us home most every night with great pay.... But you all know how that story ends! LOL! We believe everyone, including our agent had good intentions. Just one of those things that looked good on paper but was not logistically feasible or as easy as it seemed. (ie: not always round trip, mostly brokered loads to the pick up etc.) Anyhow....there were a chain of events that lead us where we are now with GreatWide, and at least twice a week, while driving in the truck, we converse about the fact that we are very happy with GreatWide, and we agree that they are worth their weight in gold where it counts. Since Sept.1 of last year, we have been doing things a bit differently.

It so happens that one day last August, we were at a delivery somewhere in NY on a Friday afternoon. Consequently, the dispatcher at our agency had to leave early for the day and we had no load to get home for the weekend. I said "Honey, we spend far too much time in the truck to spend our weekends off sitting in a truck-stop." So... We bobtailed up to a fancy hotel (Traditions at the Glen in Johnson City) and spent the weekend pretending we were on vacation. It was lovely. The filet was divine. The hiking trails with waterfalls were breath taking. The photos are marvelous... But we can't afford to spend every weekend like that.
That's when we discovered that GreatWide had a load board. Although it is mostly used for the flat bed division- it is interfaced somehow with transcorr and we are able to search the external boards to find all of the brokered freight that is available. The next time we found ourselves in a similar pickle, we fired up the laptop and found a load out of wherever we were ourselves. A short time later, we started seeing good loads that we wanted to take. By nature, my guy is an OTR guy. He likes to go out west and other places and eventually end up back to home base in Michigan. He's a 30 year driver and has been at this for a long time. By September of last year we were basically booking all of our own loads. I have since become an expert at finding freight and working with brokers Prior to this, I had zero dispatching experience but plenty of business experience. So there was a learning curve for me, but I picked things up pretty quickly. Eventually we did get set up with the help of GreatWide, with a different, more user friendly load board since we are running dry van.
Here we are finishing up our first year with GreatWide's name on the door and have no complaints about the revenue we've earned, pretty much ALL OF IT being brokered freight off of load boards!
I'm sure this is not for everyone. As it is a huge benefit for any driver to have a personal assistant (or personal help bi**h, as my counterpart so lovingly and jokingly refers to me as.) But the point is, that we made a good structured situation work for us. I do understand that many other drivers find their own freight as well, albeit a bit more challenging since you can't physically drive and look for loads. Drivers obviously have to wait for some down time to search for loads.
I believe this has worked so well for us for several reasons. First let me say that not all brokered freight is "cheap", and not all brokers are bad. I NEED BROKERS because I can't do EVERYTHING. I don't have time to negotiate contracts with shippers etc. However, I won't haul cheap freight NO MATTER WHAT they tell me about the "area" etc. I will wait to work with someone who is willing to pay a good reliable driver a decent rate. Period. And that attitude has never failed me. We have never taken cheap freight out of desperation. I'm not saying we haven't taken a SHORT RUN that could have easily been ded head out of an area with no freight to get to our $$$money paying$$$ pick up. But that is the exception, not the rule. Second, I don't believe in the concept of a "backhaul" and all that it implies with some of the brokers. THEY ARE ALL HAULS and you don't get the luxury of getting your freight moved for "free" just because we found a decent paying load that delivered in your town! Period. I've been known to politely tell a broker from time to time "I'm sorry, your rate barley covers fuel money and we can't afford to move your freight for free, Good luck with moving it." Just to keep them conscious of what's going on out here. All of this said, when we are planning on staying out for over two weeks after a nice weekend off, we don't ever sit. And we rarely plan all of our loads in advance. Some of the best freight we find is on the same morning that we made a delivery on. Third, follow the money trail. If it takes 5 phone calls before deciding to take a load... so be it. Anyway.... I'm rambling now.
As far as GreatWide is concerned, they have been great, and are worth their cut of the revenue. These are the things we appreciate about GreatWide:
1)We have access to their fuel card and discounts
2)We receive weekly settlements while they wait for payment
3)Weekly settlements are very concise and the ladies in billing over in Langhorne are on top of any rare oversights quickly.
4)Their percentage of the line haul is AFTER they exempt a generous per mile FSC.
5)They never take any part of detention pay.
6)Our agent has offered us a percentage for acting as our own "salesperson"
7)Everyone at corporate (with the exception of one lady) and our agency are very pleasant, helpful and respectful. They treat both of us as if "we" are all working together.
8)They have a good tire program which we have used and came in handy in the beginning when funds were tight.
9)No one from GreatWide ever calls us for check calls. That is worked out between us and the brokers when we book the load.
10)We have never been questioned about taking time off for any reason. We run when and where we want.

As far as the down side:
The only thing I can really say is that their safety score is indeed in the toilet. However, they are working on things to try to remedy that. We have been occasionally told by a broker that they can't use us due to the safety score... But we move on and find something else.

Just remember: "When life gives you lemon's "....


I think how we think about things can make a big difference in whether you succeed or not. I hear many O/O's refer to the company they are leased to as "the company I work for"... An O/O is essentially in business for them self as a contractor. YOU are hiring a company to provide a service for you. If you look at it that way, I believe you are more likely to be proactive in your approach to how things are handled, and have a better chance at success in this business.

~BridgettAnn

 

Its not really how you think of things it is the fact that some of us are on a structured account and they over hire trucks.. some of the guys are making 6 and 700 a week as O/O.. The ones that work everyday do ok at around 1500.. but to use a fruit analogy to yours lemons.. and lemonade .. Most of us are apples and oranges to what you are doing and if I tried to move within the company they wouldn't allow it because they need to keep trucks on their accounts and they have lied to us so much they can't hire drivers anymore. So it is either quit or deal with it.. I work hard and avg about 1700 a week so I deal with it..

 

try gwd in salem va and you will be working 16 a day doing kroger. and if you can't get back by the 16th hour they want you to sleep in the truck with no apu and 5 min idle timer

 

Sounds about right for the company drivers.... I am an o/op I can idle when I want... just can't idle due to cost of fuel..

 

Any fresh updates for AWG OKC and WM Paul's Valley?

 

I know they needed help badly last month...