K&B transportation inc Iowa is the worst truck company

I've been here for many years but it's gotten to the point I may be pursuing other options. First off the management here sucks. As far as I know none of the top brass to include the head honchos (Korey and Brock), the Executive VP (Mike), and the safety director (Lance) have ever driven a truck but keep coming up with bogus micromanaging nonsense that you'd normally only find in a mega carrier instead of correcting the issues that have been plaguing the company for years. We get morning messages which consist of clean inspections, bad inspections, safety reminders, and the executive VP blasting drivers when they've had a bad week. Drivers now get bad inspections because the maintenance department decides an out of service violation isn't important enough to get fixed due to the tight deliver windows on some of these loads or because they don't want to pay the extra money to send someone out on a road call. They'd rather risk killing a bunch of people just so the load can be on time. Then the executive VP blames the driver when they get a bad inspection but also gets irate if the load is late as a result of getting maintenance defects corrected. It's like you can't win for losing. Some of these loads pick up on preloaded trailers. They only give you a 2-3 hour window in which to scale, fuel, get maintenance defects corrected, and any other line 4 duties. If a shop is closed or has any kind of wait they just keep kicking the can down the road until they find a shop that's open. They have some good and bad apples in each department but they do nothing about the bad apples. When something goes wrong it's always the driver's fault. It's never the planner's fault. It's never the maintenance staff's fault. It's never the dispatcher's fault. They never hold any of their office staff accountable. They promote the bad apples to positions of authority while running off the good office staff. If they do discipline the office staff it's done behind the scenes without our knowledge

Pros:
*Pay guarantee depends on which position you apply for. They have local drivers that are home daily. They have all 48 state drivers which can go home about once a month if you live in their operating area. They have regional Midwest drivers which has the same home time as the all 48 drivers but keeps them regional. Then there are the Road Warrior drivers. Road Warrior drivers stay out two months and get 10 days home. Road Warrior and Regional Midwest drivers get paid the highest but those programs are optional depending on where you live. I haven't had an issue with home time getting denied although sometimes they get you there late on the day you're supposed to be home. The pay guarantee for their highest paying programs was in the $1700 range but their website now states it's in the $1600 range so I'm not sure what's up with that. I don't know if the info is out of date or if they had to cut drivers pay to help pay for all the costly claims and lawsuits they've had over the years
*If your APU goes out on the road they will put you up in a hotel until the APU gets fixed
*Clean trucks although some may have some miles on them. Some aren't as new as they boast. Some are new while others might have over 500k miles on them
*They are not afraid to put new tires on the trucks and trailers. Occasionally they might put a used tire on in a pinch but they do not believe in using recaps

Cons:
*Lack of office staff accountability. Maintenance staff doesn't want to correct defects at times. Planners not leaving enough time for line 4 functions. Sometimes you run out of time before you can deliver a load into a customer that only lets you check in 15-30 minutes early. They expect you to be 2 hours early to customers that are strict on appointments then get shocked when we get turned away
*Constant relaying of loads. Sometimes this is to get a driver home. Other times they book loads designed for teams but have to relay the load because this company doesn't do teams
*Trucks limited to 65 mph
*E-Smart tech in trucks prevents speeding and bridge hits. It also limits the trucks to 55 mph through big cities and 50 mph in winter weather which ticks off other motorists. It also limits the trucks to 2 mph when you approach low clearance bridges (even ones you can fit under). I have been flipped off, cussed out on the CB, and nearly ran off the road as a result
*No passengers or pets
*Force you to use an app on your phone that prevents cell phone use while driving except for navigation and phone calls with Bluetooth
*They don't believe in shutting down for winter weather unless the roads are closed. They just limit you to 50 mph even when there are travel bans/advisories in effect and even try to get you to take back roads if the interstates are closed
*They don't pay for detention or layovers. However they do pay extra for yard checks and shagging short loads out of drop yards to nearby customers
*Cruise control will not work when the headlights are on even on clear summer nights
*Trucks do not continuous idle unless it's below 5 degrees outside
*Only allowed to fuel at Pilot/Flying J locations unless you are in a remote area needing reefer fuel for next reload
*They are sexist towards female drivers. They had several office staff telling the female drivers in orientation their life would be difficult there if they were employed as a driver

 

Very well detailed post. Definitely different from what we’ve seen from the usual complaints about K&B.
Hopefully you’ll find something better.

 

Thank you for a clear, comprehensive, assessment of your company!

 

I am glad I saw this now I know not to go to K & B. I thought the pay was good but if they make you drive when you’re tired that’s lame.

 

K&B is about the same as Swift.

 

No cruise with headlights on is a bit much...I wouldn't be into that.

 

"Drive half asleep or we take your paycheck"

Happens all the time. I don't see it getting better anytime soon. People die because of this.

 

Have a friend that went to orientation there..he lasted the 2nd day and walked out

 

Did himself a big favor.....