Interstate Distribution Company - Tacoma, Wa.

no positive changes since saltchuk bought intd. im given them till 1st of the year. if my 948000 truck makes it till then (i hope) and to soarflight you must be a supervisor at interstate spying on us.if you dont like reading the truth then soar away. every thing i read and post is the truth. i have proof of anything i post.

 

I was looking at going with IDC after truck school since they are 30 minutes away from me! But im not too sure now.

 

thanks for the input folks I'm seriously considering joining the team myself I'm a solo driver and am wondering if any of you other solo drivers lease with them ( I D C ) am looking for input about whether its a good deal or not . thanx

 

was told today they will not be sending me to elpaso tx for time off request.i can park a vehicle at a yard and drive there on my own.i know 1 other driver that was told the same thing.reason is and i quote "elpaso tx has been cut from our list of areas" i know they didnt lose any major contracts. my next load is cardinal health goin to elpaso. reason im goin is to put in change of address.but in the future im being told they have no freight in that area.its a sad world when these companies lie cheat and steal to line their pockets.what a waste of 2 yrs it has been here.when they clean out the bosses and hire somebody with at least half a brain then maybe they will have a trucking company.but as of now saltchuk bought a 100 million dollar joke.GOOD LUCK TO ALL. AND BE SAFE

 

Crete has a terminal in Phoenix and they told me they couldnt get me home when I lived in Arizona....

 

I've been with Interstate for over 4 years now and I have had both good and bad experiences here. Pros are good health care, I think we just bought around 1500 new Cascadia Freightliners so most of our old equipment is getting phased out thanks to Saltchuk, weekly pay, built in power inverters in most trucks so it's easy to plug in microwave and laptop tv ect. Built in GPS that gives you turn by turn voice directions. Built in fridges in the new trucks. I've generally not had a prob getting home for emergencies but a few times I was due home for dentist/doctors appointment and was told no and had to reschedule at the last minute #but that only seems to happen on weekends or swing shift when the regular fleet managers are off. The Cons are NO down pay ever, and hard to even get reimbursed for a hotel. I sat for a week in Orland once and had to pay the hotel fee myself. Which is a problem because my truck is an 09 that breaks down ALOT (not interstates fault but all the new regen equipment constantly fails) Trucks are now tracked by gps so there is ABSOLUTELY NO wiggle room on your logs. All log entries must be within 15 minutes of actual event so it's getting harder and harder to make money. #
Now my average pay is around $600 a week when my truck works.
There are NO bonuses for anything like safety or holiday but every year on your hire date i believe you get $1000. Essentially the ONLY money Interstate puts on your check is miles and $10 for live load or unload and if you have to unload truck yourself you get $80 but be sure to request it, and reimbursements for tolls and scale. All new trucks do not come with any type of APU unit and are set to automatically shut off idle after 10 minutes unless the temp outside is above 70 deg or below 40 degs. I don't mind sending in messages every 12 hours for an update on my status but IN MY experience especially now that our logs have to match I struggle to get my fleet mangers to understand how long a load actually takes. Just because they are supposed to load me at 10:00 doesn't mean it will happen and that it might take 4 hours. #Sometimes im asked why i was late and I explain that I cant drive 10hrs without a bathroom or lunch break nevermind a fuel stop. I constantly feel stressed battling trying to explain this to alot of fleet managers that have never driven. Dont get me wrong alot of our FMs #have driven but there is alot it seems that haven't. #The fact is every company has its flaws and I BELIEVE Interstate is still the best trucking company out there. Interstate in my opinion does really care about their employees but hard times in the economy and other financial issues I know nothing about put pressure on our fleet managers and so our fleet managers pressure us. Our pay is not the best but it's not the worst and but I think our health care is as good as it gets for truckers and that's worth something.Through the last few years alot of our perks have been slowly dwindling away. Not fair but it's reality. I plan to stick it out with Interstate through this transition of being bought and give them the benefit of the doubt as I have made PLENTY of mistakes and still kept my job. I still keep my eye open in the job listings though. #Bottom line the good still out weighs the bad. For now anyways...

 

IDC is trying to turn into regional for solo drivers.Teams runnin otr drop at yrd solos del load.Some drivers are being told they cant take truck home has to be parked on a yrd.More then likely this 1200 new truck lease is 400 per year for 3 years.They are even offering $500 and a bus ticket to some drivers if they quit.I understand that i have to take the good with the bad but when will the good come.I like runnin otr here i dont want to run regional for anyone.Times are changing and being 50 its hard for me to change.Im goin to ride the mule out till it falls down.Otr or regional.But if something good comes along ill get on a new mule.The trucking companies are taking all the fun out of working.B SAFE PEOPLE

 

Oops I stand corrected its 1200 not 1500....

 

It is true. Drivers are being run off for a number of reasons. I heard that they are only hiring out of two areas now for regional runs. Before you know it, it will be regional out of each of the terminals more than likely. Drivers who are willing to work for $.34/mile are few and far between. Granted, the health insurance program is good - actually better than anywhere else I have seen and the cost is phenomenal.

New leadership is in place and more jobs have been lost internally. It seems being "forced" out is popular among drivers if you're not absolutely perfect. They are looking for any reason at all, to ditch there drivers, even the most senior ones.

Part of their new missions statement states that it is their mission to deliver freight profitably. Which, to me, means at all costs. Senior drivers better tread carefully and have all your "i's" dotted and "t's" crossed on your logbook and everything else because you're the ones making $.38/mile. You can be replaced by a $.34/mile driver with the snap of a finger.

Saltchuk has their hands full with this one.

The culture there still sucks though. The change in leadership hasn't helped either. I guess in time. But for me??? I'm done. I'm outta' there. I'm not wasting my time for a company who wants an Elite fleet but doesn't want to pay for an Elite fleet.

To get people to stay, you must treat them as the elite fleet that you want to build.

The grass is greener elsewhere.......

 

Even thou idc is going thrue a rough patch right now things are looking up hopefully we can get those extras back bmping doc etc