If you could improve 1 thing at Knight, what would that be?

Yeah, Knight (with its mgmt roots in Swift) is a Swift wannabe----cheap freight, short runs, lots of hunting MT's, etc.

Tulare when I left was one of the better Knight terminals. But hope you like driving CA99 in the fog & heavy traffic with many accidents and no MT's along the way...

 

Thanks for the info. ... hunting MTs (though frustrating) is a lesser issue for me, along w/the fog amongst other things too numerous to waste space (and time) to describe. .....for me it's the miscommunication issue that has gotten consistently worse. Everything from fuel route (stop)in opposite direction of load destination, to WRONG TRAILER (number of pre-load) to p/u at shipper.

 

Yeah, drove for Swift o/o (DSW) for 4 yrs---hated the Swift fuel routes, but the Qualcom bad directions are still the same w/Knight....however, generally Knight is still a step above Swift.

And altho Knight touts their trailer tracking system (was Terion back then) and inconvenienced drivers to wait and have their trailers modified enroute saying would help find MTs, was mainly a ruse as was installed primarily for lost/stolen trailers---and even if an MT could be located (which wasnt often) Knight would still send multiple drivers after the same MT where it shud have assigned the MT ahead of time to save the wasted driving of the others for the same MT!!

 

icdf15, the bendix system we are referring to is a radar mounted right below the license plate on the front bumper of the truck. During my time with jbhunt I had to deal with this so called....."system" which calculates and monitors your following distance using distance and speed parameters.

If you are following too closely, it alerts the driver by a very distracting, annoying beep with 3 yellow bars and 2 red bars (this monitor is a iPhone shaped message system on the console near your speedometer). If you're following too close, depending on the distance, the yellow bars light up. when you are in dangerous following distance the red bars light up.

Also if the first red bar is lit, the bendix over-rides the driver and brakes the truck at 2/3 braking power. Irrespective of whats around you, it brakes the truck.

you heard that right, the bendix overrides the driver and brakes the truck. Very Very unpopular with the drivers here at jb hunt. Many drivers have left because of it. Management lives in la la land as usual. like my 25 yr old so called 'supervisor' who has never driven a truck. 10-4 over and out.

 

Egad! Knight used to monitor 'hard brakes' as one of the 'many excuses' for not giving drivers raises!!

All of these technological 'improvements' are not geared to help the driver but to get more ammo to beat him/her up! Used to be safely delivering on-time freight was up to the driver's discretion what was primarily counted---now they want to micro-manage the driver with a technological 'whip!'

 

Not funny but I to chuckle about the "hunt" experience since it reminded me of two recent T-called loads I had to p/u without EXACT info where the trailer would be; one was in the common area of a WalMart parking which was nice so I didnt have to waste precious HOS I had, manuevering through a mine field of cars, parking islands, signs, shopping cart racks, (sarcasism)... the other was later to be discoved at a tow yard instead of repair shop. ...but yeah if Knight is a step above then that is a improvement of a work environment I'll have to consider and research further on. Thanks again foryour input.

 

One of the benefits of being an OTR driver was the "illusion," again the Illusion, of working for themselves---were given a pickup point & time, a delivery point & time, and how the driver got from point A to point B was up to him. Now, they monitor the driver to the point of how much toilet paper he uses to wipe his butt in the process!!

 

next we will have heart rate monitors and daily piss tests along with 10 cameras all over the truck

 

Reminds me of the time at Knight that I picked up a Coors beer load in Denver and drove it back to a distributor in Phx. 1 Pallet at the end (near the doors) wasnt wrapped all the way up and so "1" 12 pk of beer came loose and was busted (probably jiggled off going up Raton pass) . The distributor didnt say anything, but as soon as I got back to the Phx terminal after unloading they 'randomly' ran an 'oral swab test' which I was told (when I asked as the tester wasnt volunteering any info!) looked for alcohol...coincidence?!!

 

Yeah, and it seems to randomly do odd things as well. I don't drive, well, I can't drive, with the cruise control anymore because it will randomly fire off the engine brake with nobody around, I've also had it slam on the brakes when I've hooked up to a trailer with a buggy ABS system.