Looking for info on national carriers < the elite fleet>

They kinda were years ago, the kind of company you had to use three logbooks, 4000-5000 miles a week, 100% O/O. Then, DOT came calling and fined them millions, and in turn, the president of the company got fired. After that, one joke of a company. I am just amazed the whole industry doesn't know about them, they are so bad. Knowing what I know now, if I had a choice only between them or Swift, I think I would pick Swift.

 

Any more info?

 

With a clean record, and 10 years experience and working for several companies, I can honestly say NCI is the worst. I hired on being told 34-38 sliding scale, running CA, NV, AZ, restart every 10-12 days at home. That sounds like a fair compromise between pay and work....Reality is 2-3 months out, running 48 states forced dispatch like I have never seen. And the culture within the office is disgusting...(I have to give this example to warn people how bad this place really is now)...

A driver is home for his daughter's Dr. appointment @ 2pm. I am 100 miles away on a break with a load with an extra day on it. I'm requested to give him my load and stay put until 8pm so I can pickup a short haul nearby that wouldn't be ready until 10pm and delivers in the morning. The driver calls me to see if he can wait to come get the load. I #### you not, with my dispatcher, his dispatcher and the planner on the phone, his dispatcher declares "I don't care if neither of the loads need to be moving right now, I want my driver out of the house right now, not in four hours!!!" Needless to say, I then declared it was time for time off to clean out the truck. A couple days later I was asked to FLY to the area near the other driver to recover an abandoned truck, I hope it was his, but I told them the only place I'm going is home to clean out my truck. ...Suddenly an opening magically appeared to transfer to the west coast fleet, but ironically even "West Coast Regional" includes all 48 states. At least my new dispatcher keeps me from the inside conversation and I'm choosing to tolerate this prison sentence until I get my year in. I've never been a job hopper, but I can't tell you how many times I've looked into flights going home.

I honestly can't find a job with a lower payscale, the truck maintenance is a joke. (Tell them you have an air leak and are in El Paso headed to LA..crossing Banning...told to deliver and get to their shop, only to get a Level 1 and my CSA score hit due to their refusal to service it.) ....(Tell them steer tires are wearing badly, still have time, but needs to get done...Not once, but twice giving their shop the chance to fix it, and the second time being told "Absolutely Not, those tires are only a month old, you aren't getting another set"...the next month I had to put my foot down, I'm getting tires...only to be lectured about letting them get down...I gave them 2 chances, lost 4 days without pay trying to resolve it, they have documentation I told them. Next thing I know, I get an alignment and tires, and it's like a new truck)

I've heard horror stories about every company large enough to recognize the name...I've always taken it as a grain of salt because I have never experienced such bad treatment as I have here. If they were to do 30% of what they say they will do, pay what they say they will pay (Even with pictures of messages saying you will be paid....you won't be paid here. Unless it's in your bank account, don't expect to get paid at National), they would actually be a descent, maybe even "Elite" fleet.

I do what I say I will do, and I expect my employer to do the same. I recognize they hold the cards, but don't say you'll do something if you won't do it. That's why I tolerate my dispatcher now. He never makes a promise he can't keep. I get lots of "I'll try", "There are no guarantees", I can't hold that against him. I take pride in my work, and I enjoy it....think about it, the multiple stop beef loads going to small distribution outfits getting a couple pallets each...They are counting on me to keep my word on behalf of National Beef and National Carriers so they can keep their word to the local restaurants and stores. If we don't offer reliable service, it's not a far stretch for one of the final links in the food chain to go out of business. When I say I will be somewhere, I've been doing this long enough to time it to dang near the minute almost anywhere. 34 cents a mile does not pay me for that experience and dedicating 100% of my time to their company.

 

Then why are you still here? Thats an awful lot of rambling to still be employed at NCI.I get EVERYTHING im due. I do my job and they do theirs.

 

why are you still driving for national?

 

i was called by recruiter ''christine'' and approved to go here for orientation, but i don't think i want to now. i was formerly a dry van driver with knight a yr. and before that, covenant. and swift .

i have been approved by Arnold, PTL, and national . all the good companies wont hire me cause i was ''terminated'' at knight. but there was no accidents or anything. what do you think.

 

It's good you decided not to go with National Carriers, and more then then you know. National does not hire drivers with terminations. They will send you to orientation but they won't hire you. They fill their orientation class as full as possible then start sending people home. When I went through, we started with around 30 drivers. By the time it was over, only 16 were left. They don't check anything on your record until you show up and the recruiters don't care if you qualify or not, they just want to fill the class.
Having a termination is bad, you might as well have rolled your truck. If I had to make a choice between Arnold and PTL, I think I would go with Arnold. Only reason, I haven't heard as many bad things about them then PTL.

 

As a lease driver, I didn't make very much. They have a whole bunch of short-run loads that don't pay very well. Your lease-Truck will be lucky to bring in $3.500.00 for the week, and I only received 70% Linehaul. After taxes, I was lucky to earn $1,300.00. And, it's one load right after another. But, what made me so angry at this company was that my Recruiter assured me that I would earn $2,000.00 on average per week, if I stayed out and ran with it. You can only take so many loads per week, and then, your time runs out. If those loads are paying a whopping $550.00 on average, ... You can't make any money. I started to refuse loads, and then, The Big Boss wanted a sit down meeting at Irving, Texas. He had the nerve to tell me that my Recruiter never told me that I could earn $2,000.00 per week, and the meeting turned ugly. I gave them their truck back, and I had to rent a car to get home. I lost completely in this ordeal, and I regret it all. This company always needs new drivers, and they told me what I needed to hear to get me in one of their trucks. Once I discovered the Truth of it all, I was out of there.

 

Is this suprising? But guess what? One truck gets turned in and 2 more dumbys are asking where they sign.

 

Don't go. You will go broke. I just left. Couldn't afford to WOR for them. They are cheap and horrible people. Al love is a real snake!!