I believe i made a mistake

Crace trucking out of Bellefontaine Oh, or mt zion illinois, or Louisville ky...you catching on here? His website shows he's out of bellefontaine ohio, the business address on his freight con is mt zion illinois, but him and his wife live just north of Elizabethtown ky.

They are nice people, ill give them that, says he's been in trucking for 25 yrs, but i believe there is some serious cause for concern.

His offer 30% of the freight revenue that the truck makes. Paid for health, vision, and dental (aka free) Preemission trucks, well maintained equipment. Paper logs or elog via keep trucking app on supplied tablet. Nongovorned truck. Sounds pretty good right?


When i originally interviewed with him he stated that his operation was contract freight with his own customers. By his own customers he meant freight brokers that he has carrier contracts with, nothing more. Every load i pulled to this date was a broker load. They book it, i have to contact the broker to get dispatched, i have to call and update with status.

Now the story i got was he owned several trucks and trailers up to a couple of years ago when his wife and him got divorced. In the divorce he was ordered to sell everything and split the money even with his ex. Would make sense being that he just recently got married again this last year. Up to this point it's not been a big deal. He purchased a 2007 volvo vnl670 for me to drive. Put me in a hotel room for 5 days waiting for mhc memphis to dot it and get issues fixed. So far so good. One they claimed the truck was road worthy, i went and did my own dot inspection, right off the bat i find oil leak, leak from the steering gear box, Crack across the windshield, and two high beam head lights out. They fixed all but the oil leak. When i tell him about that leak again he says that is not a big deal, he will fix it at the first oil change. First red flag

I had to bobtail from memphis to ashland ky to get my trailer, not a problem. He issued me a comcheck authoritation for fuel. For the next 3 weeks the truck uses a gallon of oil a week, of which i paid for out of my pocket, scanned in the receipts to him. Not a problem. Being that he's just getting back into things, im letting things go that normally i wouldn't. Like as of my currently this up, ive yet to receive a single pay stub. When they send me the load info, it is always a copy of the rate con with the rate blacked out. I asked her how come i don't get to see the revenue the truck generates and she says that's the way her husband runs it. I told her then I'm supposed to go off blind trust that I'm getting the actual 30%? She said she would run it passed him, and never got back to me.

Today was the final straw for me. I was in central north carolina lastnight to pick up this am, was relativity cool, but muggy as hell, so i idled, which according to him is fine because the truck doesn't have an apu. I got a comcheck for fuel $200 (which is the only way to get fuel with him) as i don't have a fuel card. After fuel I'm at 1/2 tank after picking up 84 gallons. Being that my route home to west central ohio is taking me up 77/64 into west virgina i tell him I'm going to need more fuel to get home. by the time i get to nitro wva, im down to half way between 1/4 and 1/8. After much debate from him of doing my trailer in columbus, bobtailing home, he states he doesn't want to put anymore fuel into the truck this week because he wants to keep his profit margin sheet looking good. Meanwhile in sweating it by the time i get to Bidwell ohio at the loves the light comes on for low fuel. He finally gives me another $50 fire fuel.

There are plenty more issues i can get into and will do if anyone is interested. It's all maintenance issues. One thing i did find it today, he is beholden to a company out of new jersey called red oak capital investments. That is where several of the bills were mailed to after I'm empty, the comdata card they gave me that doesn't work says the same name.

In the end i think i made a mistake conning to drive for this guy

 

Well I'm at the house right now, i don't want to quit while under a load, and certainly don't want to quit unless i have another option. He doesn't use dac so I'm not worried about him burning me.

 

No ive been paid on time, ive yet to receive a pay stub

 

As of July 7 I'll have my license 2 full years. I'm discussing my options with my wife and will make my mind up before this weekend is up. My only concern is one i have something lined up, should i wait to tell him once in at home, or tell him while on the road. My concern is him leaving me stranded someplace

 

Oh and they finally sent me all my pay stubs at one time tonight, and it still doesn't show how much my pay was bad off of. My stubs at tmc and pgt both showed the rates for each load, my percentage of each load, plus any and all accessorial pays