I'm baaaaaack!!!!!!!!

Part of the problem there, Denali, is putting drivers on without the miles to make money out-of-the-box, straight out of Orientation. Dec-Jan-Feb freight pulls back, sometimes even into March. Yet they keep adding drivers, hoping to add more than they lose so they're ready when things pick up.

And because OTHER companies slow up at the same time and lose drivers due to low miles, this is a GOOD time to pick up new drivers...

Some may stay, some leave.


//Solution?? 1) Truth-in-Recruiting, 2) A Guarantee--we'll guarantee you $450/week of Orientation, $550 week 2, $650 week 3, $750 week 4. Then if driver can't cut it, or carrier does not have freight, at least driver's made some money. Remember, it's the driver taking all the risk here... on promises that too often prove to be mere cotton candy. No substance.

The crap shoot, as CougFan said, is that your DM (carrier) controls your loads and roads, which determines your pay check.

But it doesn't matter. Zoomy's at Risinger now. Or is he?? They've switched trucks on him. Is that okay? Even Zoomy can't know at this point. We await...

 

My exit interview wasn't until at least 2 months later, after I had mentioned here that I hadn't had one. They already knew the issues I had, and the things that happened that made me leave.

1. Other drivers screwing up and leaving me holding the bag for it. It happened a few times where they would pick up the wrong trailers and GTI acted as if I was lying or didn't want to do the load, until later when they did realize that other people made the mistake.

2. Sitting me to do short hauls, and when I say that, I mean 15 miles from Lathrop to Tracy because they didn't want to have any of the locals do it. This happened twice.

3. Maintenance issues. I didn't have ac in the truck for 9 months, and I pointed out why, and they nor VFI would listen. I brought up other maintenance issues also that were swept under the rug until it was too late.

4. Truck 10871. When my truck, 10234 finally was going to be paid attention to, it was decided to put me into a different truck because mine would be quite a while. And 10871 had even more issues. It was not cleaned from the previous occupants, the 5th wheel was malfunctioning, the iteris would go off randomly, the starter was bad, and the engine and dpf were throwing codes. They never even looked at it before handing me the keys. That was the absolute last straw. When I went by Caldwell, I emptied that truck at Lessors and brought it back to Pacific. I had already made arrangements to go back and made flights.

 

The culture at GTI was changing too. People didn't care because they didn't know what their future held.

 

joseph, don't think I've read your Lathrop experience before this. Ended up at Lathrop to move into another truck and it was flat pristine, despite being the older (4-digit) series Cascadia. Former driver must have loved that truck. Showroom. Could hardly believe it.

Long story, had less than 5 hours sleep. Then they want me to wait until 9:30 pm, bobtail 56 miles to West Sacramento and drag a box 9 miles over to Safeway. All day long at the lounge the locals traded Safeway stories, each trying to out do each other on their Safeway horror story. Short of it, told Nikki (Fleet Manager) I'd do the load but she'd have my 2 week notice before I left for West Sacramento.

I liked Gordon but I guess I was ready to move on anyway... Told them I didn't come out from Indiana to run local shag for no money.

Keep the pretty truck!


//Just a little much-needed Gordon venting, Zoomy...

 

When I went to GTI, my goal was to stay. Work out whatever issues would happen and make it work. I did my due diligence. I talked to countless drivers, asked here, talked to the recruiter for a while (weeks) before I made my move to join GTI. I always had it made at Lessors. I was asked where I wanted to go, always got a new truck and had the trust of everyone from the owner to the guys in the shop and dispatch. I was burnt out though, and I wanted a change. GTI appealed to me since 2003. I was never in their hiring area. I went with the best intentions and every intention to make it my permanent home. I was wrong. They weren't the company I thought they were, and I wasn't what they wanted. I have a very competitive nature and I will always be the go to person when needed. I will run the wheels of a truck and ask for more. Even HOAT admitted that I was never going to fit.

 

Aren't there some moments when you wonder whether, if you'd waited, the miles would have come back? I mean, your first load was 2,000 miles. There is so much musical seat movement this time of year--and it's every year.

 

Nope. I miss aspects of GTI. The terminals. The loaded trucks. The insurance was decent too. The miles were there too, but the constant maintenance issues and the drivers ruined it for me. I was sitting in Rancho Cucamonga for 2.5 days waiting for a service (a 2-3 hour thing here) and was lied to constantly by them about what time it would be done, there was one sitting there playing his guitar, every time I turned the tv up, he would play louder. The guys who wouldn't do their jobs and left me hanging, etc. It went on and on. Here if someone drops the ball, it's on them, not me. GTI was/ is a great company. But not for someone like me.

 

You break one mold for sure; not many drivers go back to a company they've worked for, knowing their particular issues really, really well. Easier to believe that it's better at a company you know only by reputation not thinking what else will pop up. And you've done that, gone back to Lessors.

 

Yep, we had a run in with him on a sunday while we were having a football party. A female driver went over and told him to knock it off and take it outside. He did.

 

It's called " The Devil You Know". I'm a good fit here, for sure. My, uh, reputation precedes me here, so to speak. Once my EGR valve went. I was in Fort Pierre, South Dakota on a Friday. Freightliner had no clue what was wrong and it didn't matter because they were going home. I had two choices. Sit in the middle of ####### South Dakota for the weekend or try to limp it to Minnesota. On their computers it showed my truck moving at 7 mph at times. It took from 5 pm to 11:20 am to make it 400 miles to Gaylord, MN. I made it, albeit 20 minutes late. I called Lessors and told them to send me a tow truck, I wasn't making it back to the Twin Cities with her. They couldn't believe I did it. That's the kinda guy I am. And that's why I always had cartè blanche here, and I still do. I get the job done no matter what.