Indian River

Thank you for the replies and insight IRT drivers.

As you might have guessed, I’m looking for a new carrier to drive for, with the main issue being money. I’ve learned that I can deal with the negatives of driving as long as pay is there, but when it’s not, I can’t justify the negatives that come with OTR life.

Your input has definitely swayed me to consider IRT against the negative reviews I’ve seen. To recap the specifics, these are the issues I’ve seen written online:

-Favoritism.
-Too much sitting.(2-3 days possible.)
-No detention pay for sitting.
-Alternatively: Have to wrestle with payroll to get detention pay/Payroll department will actively fight against drivers getting requested detention pay.
-Layover pay doesn’t start until 48 hours of sitting.
-Owners shout, use profanity, and abuse office workers.
-“Good Old Boy” club is present here.
-Constant turnover in the office and with drivers.
-Indian River Transport is “constantly firing drivers.”(Implying IRT being trigger happy?)
-If you run milk loads you are treated like “scum.”

I’ve attached screenshots of some of the negative reviews online for reference. One of the things that concerns me is that there are upvotes in the high tens all the way up to the 30+ count.

I guess I’ll conclude with this: If you’re willing to stay out and run hard, will you make bigger paychecks? I’m just trying to avoid carriers that don’t operate off of a give and take principle.

 

A lot of these types of reviews i take with a grain of salt because nowadays so many people whine just to whine..

 

Yes, a lot of them do. Some of them, that's all they do.

 

The most annoying was sitting at a terminal waiting hours for load then when I finally get one, it's a preloaded tank that had been sitting on the yard since the day before.

 

I don't know why so many of them are saying they sit around and don't get paid for it. They must have just assumed they don't get paid for sitting and never asked about it. When you sit for more than 24 hours, you get $150 a day. I have been paid for sitting before so it's not like they blow you off. If you don't get paid layover, instead of freaking out and whining like a [female dog], maybe just talk to them and let them know because, I don't know, maybe they forgot?

 

I haven't read the reviews posted but will comment/opine on the individual points you have made.

Favouritism - I can't say for certain they have "favorite" drivers, but there are drivers who have been here for many years. These drivers have proven themselves, run everything they are given, don't complain, don't deliver late and don't damage equipment. Such a driver is more valuable to the comp than someone who has not yet proven themselves. It stands to reason that the company would look out more for the proven driver than the new guy. Is that "fair"?, not really. Is it "favouritism" maybe, but it would be understandable that they are taking care of a driver who takes care of the company, customers and equipment. Likewise I can understand why the new unproven driver would not like that and feel motivated to write a bad review.

Too much sitting. Agreed, I don't run the way I want to. I will sit for hours at times, but never for days. In my experience, they would rather deadhead me out of a slow area than have me sit. Do they do that for everyone?. No clue, I do know that if you are constantly calling or if at a terminal, going into the dispatch office and getting under their skin, they will deadhead you out of there even if it's just to get rid of you bothering them. On the other hand, it's such a laid back operation with no one checking up on you, that if you don't bother them, noone is going to chase after you to find you work. I have heard of drivers who only want to run 1 or 2 loads a week and no more. They basically want a truck to live in and only need to earn enough to feed themselves. If you sit quietly, you are going to get lumped in with those drivers.

No detention pay for sitting - detention pay is only for being delayed at a shipper or consignee and it only starts after 2 hours past you appointment. I don't always put in for it, and when I do, I don't always get it. I don't stress about detention. As long as my pay at the end of the week is sufficient for the time and effort I put into work I am fine.

Layover pay doesn't start until 48 hrs. No clue, I have never sat that long unless my truck was in the shop in which case I got breakdown pay. I wouldn't even know the procedure for submitting a layover pay request.

Owners shout, use profanity and abuse office staff. Never met the owner, don't even know what he looks like so I definitely haven't seen any evidence of him doing that to office staff or anyone else. Doesn't mean he has never done it, just that I can't comment. Having said that the Winter Haven dispatch office can get intense and I get the impression that mistakes etc are not tolerated so maybe that's where the "abuse of office staff" comes from.

Good old boy club, I guess that is a continuation of the Favoritism claim. Again, some drivers and employees have been there for decades. Does the owner or management treat them differently?, Possibly. Is there a club?, not that I know of as I am certainly not in one. There is a Facebook group "Tanker Mafia" maybe that's the club mentioned. If so, I am not in that either.

Constant turnover in the office and with drivers. Definitely the case with office staff, less so with drivers as I know of many drivers that have been there for years which is not that common with an OTR operation.

Trigger happy IRT constantly firing drivers. Definitely not the case from what I have seen. If anything it's the complete opposite and on more than one occasion I know of drivers where I think to myself "How does this dude still have a job here"?. I'm talking about drivers that constantly refuse loads, complain about the loads they do eventually take, drag their feet delivering, and damage equipment etc. I know of one driver that tried refusing a load because he wanted to "swing by" (he would have had to drive nearly two hours) his house to get his
Amazon package. He was told no as he was nearly two weeks away from scheduled hometime and he raised hell about it. He eventually got fired, but not before causing more headaches for dispatch.

If you run milk loads, you are treated like scum. Not really-ish. Milk loads are their own PITA, that is more to do with the barns and dairy plants not caring how long drivers sit around waiting, not because of IRT treating you badly. I suppose the "scum" is more accurate when you take into consideration how much farms stink. Yeah, I definitely feel "scummy" when I am standing in two inch deep muck with the "aroma" of hundreds of cows filling my nostrils.

In summary, I like IRT and hope to finish my driving career here. I am still hesitant to encourage anyone to come over as I can't honestly say they will have the same experience I have. I regularly speak with a driver I knew from a previous company who is thinking of coming here. I welcome his questions and answer them honestly. I have told him point blank that I don't want any referral bonus as I don't want that to cloud any information I may give him.

I would be absolutely mortified if someone thought I was painting a rosy picture because I wanted to profit off their decision .

 

I saw this on Facebook. And it's right about truck drivers

 

Question. Does IRT drivers do any unloading? Because I don't see lines for a pump on any of their trucks. Or does the customer just pump it out themselves?

 

The whiskey tanks have hoses and most have pumps but they need a tractor equipped to power the pumps. We do very little pumping and as such most tractors don't have the ability to run the tank pumps.

Nearly every customer I go to does all the connections and opening the valves and top hatch. I do occasionally run into a customer where they are not allowed to climb on the tank (or so they claim) so I have to climb up and open it.

 

I have a pump truck and like Redtwin said we do very little pumping so I don't get a lot of those loads. I've probably pumped less than 10 times since I started here