Groendyke Transport

After a long, hard time, my suffering has finally ended.

Back in 2008, I was driving for Foodliner, pulling out of their location in Fairless Hills, PA. After they brought in a new terminal manager in Delaware, things started going south quickly. After I made a few comments right here on this very website, I was terminated on the spot. Just over 5 years with them, and it all fell apart in a couple months.

Looking for a new job, I had the misfortune of hiring on with a company "HWC" in the same local area. Things went good for a while. I was making $1,600 a week, or more, although I was working hard to do it. About 4 months into that job, my pay started going down each week, till I was lucky to gross $800 a week. There were about 30 of us there.5 or so guys made OK money, and the other 25 were working for peanuts.

Just as I was planning to quit, another company bought the company's equipment, and offered all of us a job. I made the HUGE mistake of signing on with Gypsum Express, out of Baldwinsville, NY. The phrase "out of the frying pan, and into the fire" would be a perfect description of the situation. They started out paying us well, and the equipment was good, so I gave it a shot. 3 months into working for them, the head honcho comes out for a "safety meeting", during which he gave us the great news. Our pay was going from 51 cents a mile, down to 38 CPM. I started looking for a way out, but it was tough to find.

Then I heard from a company I had been talking with for a long time. They needed drivers, and they made me an offer. It took all of about 3 seconds for me to mull this one over. Funny thing about being at the bottom of the barrel; you have no fear of changing jobs, since the only possibility is moving up the ladder. I had a 3 stop load on my trailer, going to Home Depot stores. I was already unloading the first stop when I got the call. I finished that stop, then went on to do the next 2. At my last stop, I sent a short, sweet message on the Qualcomm. I fought the urge to get nasty, and just left it at "My pay here is a joke. I AM GONE". I drove empty to the terminal, and cleaned out my truck.

To give credit where credit is due, Gypsum Express did pay me every dime they owed me, even though I quit with no notice. Maybe they were as glad to get rid of me, as I was to leave them? Anyway, I get down to business with the new job. They brought me in, and let me run empty trailers to a local customer, while I waited for my training to begin.

I was flown to Chicago, where I was picked up at the airport, and brought to the terminal. They introduced me to the office staff, then gave me the keys to a PickUp truck, to use while I was there. I was put up in a motel a mile down the road, which was nothing fancy, but nice enough not to complain. Later that same day, I did a pre-trip inspection with a trainer, then we were done for the day.

Day 2, I went with the same trainer, and loaded a load at a chemical plant. Their procedures are very involved, but not too hard to get a grip on. The main focus of this day was learning the Peoplenet, which was a breeze, since I had used it before. Brought the load back to the terminal, and dropped it. Went inside, and took some safety tests. Got done with that, and went to the Motel.

Day 3, I was sent out with a different driver, who hammered the "Smith System" into my head. It took a little adjusting, to get rid of a few bad habits, but things went well. We loaded a load in Chicago, and headed to Saint Louis, MO. Halfway there, we were told the customer's place was flooded, so we dropped the load at the terminal there.

Day 4, we hooked to a loaded trailer, and headed back to Chicago. I was still trying to get rid of a few bad habits, but the trainer said he did see improvement, so I got a passing assessment.

Day 5 was a long one. Started out at 6 AM, and finished at 10:30 at night. We had to cram a lot into that day, since I had a plane home to catch the next morning.

The entire training week was fast paced, but they made sure I completely understood everything before we went on to the next item. It's still an ongoing process, but I know enough to get the job done, and my terminal manager is always just a call away if I have any troubles.

Now I am back to the top of my game, working for a company that seems to be top notch. I have been put through the screws enough times, that I can see warning signs if the company isn't as good as I thought it was. So far, they have only treated me better than I ever expected to be, while paying me very well. The equipment is rock solid, and the customers treat us very well.

The only other time I have even come close to being as happy as I am right now, was when I drove for JEVIC, back when the original owner was running things. This place is treating me even better than JEVIC did, which is a h[SIZE=4]igh mark to reach. One way to tell how good a company is, is to listen to other drivers. I have yet to hear even a single driver complaining. Honestly, being in a terminal, watching drivers walking around looking happy, is a bit like being in a Twilight Zone episode. I want to be completely honest, and give you the bad along with the good, to keep things real, but I have yet to find one bad thing with this company.

I have been driving a very long time, and have had my good times and bad. What I write here is just my own views, but I hold myself to a high standard, when it comes to telling it the way I see it. There are a few things that a lot of people would not like, but I actually enjoy them. Things like an average haul of 800 miles, which means you are not going to be home every day, [SIZE=4]unless you get a local position. T[SIZE=4]heir delivery times are very strict, but you always have the time you need to do the run, plus 5 or 6 hours. [/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE]They have 2 week pay cycles, which some people have a hard time with for some reason, but that doesn't bother me.

To find out more, just Google the name "Groendyke Transport", and check things out. If you have a good driving record, as well as Tanker and Hazmat endorsements, feel free to PM me.

 

Yes, they have women drivers. If you are going to apply, let me know. Feel free to send me a private message, and I'll give you any help I can, to get you where you want to be.

 

Let me know if you are going to apply, and I can help you get squared away. They do have local positions open sometimes, but even running the system will only keep you out on the road 10 to 14 days. Some people don't like being out for more than a week, but the pay makes it worth it, and when you are home, they let you get a good couple of days home, before sending you back out.

 

For the interest of full disclosure, I no longer drive for Groendyke. I was very happy there, but in a chain of events, I was terminated.

The people who run the terminals are great people. Bensalem, PA is the best you could hope for. The people in Chicago are great too.

Then you go to the Corporate headquarters for orientation. Those people are the ones to be very careful around. They will hear you say something, and not ask you about it, but report their concern to your terminal manager. The safety department is a bit over-reactive in my opinion. I talked to another driver while at orientation about smoking my brakes 23 years ago. The safety guy heard what I was saying, and acted like I was talking about something that happened a few days earlier. Instead of asking me for details, they called my terminal manager.

About a week later, I was involved in a major wreck. I was in the right lane of the highway, and was hit in the back by another Tractor Trailer. Even though the accident was determined to be Non Preventable, I was still put on a list of drivers to be further scrutinized. Later on, someone from safety followed me over 400 miles on the highway, noting every move I made. I entered a construction zone, where the signs said "Speed Limit 45 when workers are present". Since it was a holiday weekend, and there were no workers there, the limit would be 65. I went through the zone at 50. The spy's report said I went through a 45 zone, and never slowed below 50. That was the truth, but he just happens to forget to mention there were no workers there, so the limit was 65. Their "POLICY" says I should have slowed to 45, even though the law said 65 was OK.

Then came the final blow. I parked my truck in an unauthorized area, and it got towed. The signs in the lot said "NO DUMPING", but did not say anything about "No Trucks". It cost $1,260 to get the truck back. I am the one who paid the bill, not Groendyke. The next day, everything was fine. My terminal manager was OK about everything, and truly sympathized with my situation. The next day, he tells me he is taking heat from Corporate, and needs to talk to me when I get back. They ended up terminating me. No equipment was damaged, and I was not cited for parking the truck where I did, yet I get fired?

Like I said, the safety people are bad news at Groendyke. If you work there, you can make great money, doing easy work. Just don't expose yourself to any situation involving the safety department.

Even though I am a bit annoyed for getting fired, I still have nothing bad to say about most of the company.