Link America .BAD

When did you work there?

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your string of post begs me to ask the question Are you a dispatcher, terminal manager, Fleet manager, etc. at link america?

I dont know any drivers that were happy working for this company in fact the couple of drivers i know that do like working for the company drive illegal running 2 or more log books which the company supports and encourages and in fact will fire you if you dont run illegal at least that was my experience. This is all fact and supported my the fmcsa company overview just go there an look up link america and see for yourself. 19.6% unsafe driving, 89.9% fatigued driver(hours of service violations which in march of 2011 fmcsa did an investigation into this matter) I believe that and i can't be for 100% sure on this but word on the road is that Link America was strongly encouraged to move to the electronic log system. For all you drivers that complained about their less than desireable duct tape and bailing wire mechanics and other assorted mechanical problems 85.6% in the vechicle maintenance catagory.

I worked for link America from 11/2010 to 3/2011 and i can say that i made decent money but at what cost? I was constantly instructed to run over my hours of service and if i didn't i would have to sit for 2 possible 3 days b4 i could get another load and if i made it a habit of not doing what my FM instructed me to do that would be grounds for termination. Several times i told FM i could not make a run b/c i was going to run out of hours on my 70. FM response "i dont know how you drivers can run out of hours since we are running on loose leaf paper logs. Go ahead and fax me your logs so i can go over them we will redo your log book and get you some extra hours so you can make is run." or "i don't care how many hours you have you gotta take this load and it has to deliver on time you know we are a forced dispatch company we can and will fire you for refusing this load."

I eventually left link b/c in one week i was forced to run 15-17 hours straight (couple stops here and there for loading and unloading) several times. i was so exhausted one particular night that i feel asleep at the wheel 13 hours into what was gonna be another 17 hour day after only 4 or 5 hours of sleep when FM called and woke me up saying once again take this load or else loose your job. I got real lucky i was on a small two lane highway and was going about 45 or 50 it had been rainning alot all week my truck went off onto the soft shoulder and sunk down into the mud. I told them that i had to pull off the side of the road to use the bathroom and did not realize it was a soft shoulder. Thus concluding my time with link america.

I am not saying dont go to work for link they just cleaned house of upper excutive management so they might be doing better and if they are on e logs no more of the FM forcing you to run. I personally had to move on and protect my csa score. Best of luck and drive safe guys and gals

 

I can all but promise you this not a new link truck more like an owner ops truck. although now that i think about it they do hold your pay for the first three to four weeks of employment maybe thats how they afford those new yellow petes. They claim it takes that long to process your payroll. I can't wait to see one all i am seeing is those dirty white beat up freightliners rolling through the atlanta area while i am on the way to my companies state of the art terminal complete with showers laundry tv. Oops sorry link ya'll spent all your money on that one shinny pete cant afford showers laundry or tv down there in lakeland

 

Driver, there are so many lies in your story.

We run peoplenet now so there's no "do it or else" threats
Here's proof....



And when we did run paper logs, they we're not loose leaf....

Here's ones of my paper logs.. same time u worked here



Clearly not loose leaf



And why can't a driver be happy were they work without being labeled a recruiter etc...

 

i know they were not loose leaf that was a quote from the p.o.s DM that i had over there. Yeah i appologize for the recruiter jab I dont know who long u have been over there but they honestly really were an awful company sounds like they have changed a bunch of things. Everything i said in my post they did to me i have no reason to lie. Did they lower the pay when i was over there i got .36 per mile and my P.O.S freightshake me home was set at 65 cruise 68 to the floor. I am glad for the drivers sake they made the changes that needed to be made they were going down hill fast it probably has a lot to do with that new president they hired from fedex ground at least if recall correctly thats where he came from.

Keep the greasy side down

 

We have shower, 2tv rooms with wifi and computer at our disposal.and laundry less then a mile away with a company car at our disposal . Care to continue?

Also, pay is 2 week hold. Where did you come up with 3-4 weeks?

 

Those must be owner ops to coincidently with the same trucks right?

 

i was sw regional the only terminal i saw was ft worth no wifi, no laundry, when the shower worked well i still would not use it, very small tv room small couch four or five chairs, no use of company van after hours and no other company car. I dont think any of what u described was available at lakeland while i was there but i only made it over there a couple times. I tried to get truck worked on over there and was told they only service lakeland trucks they eventually did my pm at a freightliner dealership enroute. As for holding back your pay week 1: no pay check, week 2: no pay check, Week 3: no paycheck called payroll told it can take up to four weeks to process direct deposit which is bs the company i am with now pays twice a week and i got paid after my first three loads. Link had (i know they have new owners now) to hold back pay at that time to make sure they had the money in there accounts b/c they were so broke. Week 4: finally get paid but all i got paid was for orientation pay plus my first two loads i ran. Like i said i can only account for my experience when i was working there it sounds like link is making the right moves to change their image and start treating their drivers better.

 

Your making a assumption that link was broke because they held 2 weeks but have no facts. Most of our freight is contract. Meaning we're not standing around waiting for comcheks from brokers.

The theory just doesn't make any sense. Considering once the hold back is up everyone gets paid every week. Every single dime has been paid to me on time along with mpg bonus, safety bonus and salary pay for getting stuck in a unfortunate situation of a dedicated customer delaying our loads for a week. I ran 1400 miles that week and got paid for my 2300 average. Not ti mention we fill up at every fuel stop. That's not something a broke company does.

Now I understand link america isn't everyones cup of tea, but that can be said by alot of people for several different companies. Most of the drivers on this forum complaining usually have been fired or don't understand this industry and afraid to put there foot down.

Now by the way you rave about your pay frequency and "state of the art" terminal im assuming you like your company, however there's a few people out there don't feel the same way you do. Just because one person posts on a message board that a company sucks, doesn't mean that applies for past, current and future employees.

Everyone has there preferences. Every single person at this company knows my name. I honestly cannot recall the last time I had to tell someone my truck number.

 

like i said i can only tell people of my time with link and it was less than enjoyable. I never once said i made bad money yes the money was good but only b/c i was forced to run illegal and constantly threatened with my job. i would rather make money the legal way like i do now. i commend you on standing up for link and am glad you have found a place you are comfortable working for. I really hope that this new investment firm does you guys right although it has been my experience that an investment firm has one thing in mind MONEY they dont care about drivers trucking or the industry. I have been around this industry my whole life started out working on them all the way to signing contract agreements and now i drive one. When a "investment firm" buys a company they wring as much money as they can out of the company and pass it off to the next sucker or force it under i have seen it too many times. All i can say is keep your eyes and ears open and make sure these people dont screw you over(remember this you sign your name to that paper work which in it self is a contract and you can be held liable for that money contained in that contract. Seen that one done before also.) Just ask yourself who are these investment people and what do they know about the trucking industry. Like you said they "only" held your pay for two weeks b/c they are on contracts well if they are on contracts why would they need to hold your pay. They get paid for those contracts up front. Also like you said they are not waiting on brokers for comchecks so why are they holding your pay back i could see if they are waiting to get paid then hold your pay but it does not make any sense whatsoever to hold your pay on a prepaid signed contract to deliver freight and its probably a couple year contract. At the very least they are given half up front and and half on contract completion plus performance bonus. All i am saying is please be careful
i can tell you from experience these guys are shaddy characters just watch your arse and have a back up plan