Magnum ltd - fargo, nd

Thank you Winny! I realize I would be sitting more but I do like the idea of loading and then a good day or two of just driving. Now I often load and unload in the same day.

 

If anyone finds themselves delivering to US Cold Storage in Quakertown, PA, I recommend Kathy's Country Kitchen on PA309, they have overnight parking, good food and are only 2.5 miles away.

 

I use to think the insurance was expensive too, until I bought Big G's insurance. We had the Healthcheck crap, even with what healthcheck discounts it was more than Magnum's.

And, the length of haul in reefer is longer than most other types of trucking

 

Hope you’re doing well SSB!

 

Sitting at the Rodeway Inn in Knoxville waiting for orientation tomorrow. Cold for this time of year here, didn't get out of the 30's...and a freeze warning tonite. Perfect weather to learn flatbed stuff

 

Delete

 

No comment (I plead the 5th)

 

Well... I have some sad and some exciting news.
I am leaving Magnum. I have been here since July 2014
I have a new job that will get me home more and I should make more money.
I’m going to talk a bit about the positives and negatives of Magnum. I have been accused of being a Cult Member when it comes to Magnum. But I feel as though I have been fair in my opinions here.
First the positives:

1)Hometime. I worked a pretty consistent schedule here. 3-4 weeks out, 6-7 days at home. The usual was 3 weeks out and 6 days at home. Make your request 10 days ahead of time and they do their damnest to get you home on the day you request.
2) Pay. Plain and simple. Magnum has a performance pay system that works really well for newer drivers and drivers that don’t need their hands held and don’t mind working their ##### off.... It ticks off some seasoned drivers cause someone with 1 year can make more than someone with 8 years experience. It’s based on miles, mpg, on time performance, log violations and incidences. I’ve made .42 and I’ve made .50 cpm. Usually around .47 for the amount of miles I ran.
3) Equipment. All Pete 579s 2015 and newer with 80” sleepers, APUs, inverters, fridges, tv mounts and built in antennas, satellite radios, nav systems. Right now it’s a mix of autos and manuals... but all the 17’s and 18’s are autos and all new trucks will be also. That’s a negative for me.... but may not be for you. In the reefer game, it’s nice to have a nice truck to spend some waiting time in...
4) Detention. $15 an hr after 2 hrs whether Magnum gets it or not from the customer. It’s ‘free’ money. I always figured I was gonna be sitting somewhere....so I might as well get some money for watching tv. It rarely messed with reload times... but when it did I was fairly paid for my time.
5) Nick in Dispatch. If only he was the Operations Manager. I may not have left. He is the guy that gets stuff done. By far the best thing about Magnum LTD.
6) The Shop. Excellent maintenence program for the trucks. If you have something wrong, make a call!! I like the Fargo shop much better then the Coon Rapids shop but either one is probably better than most companies shops.
7) Communication. They like it... even if they don’t recipricate all the time. Make calls... the minute I know where I was headed, even before I was loaded, I was calling the next dispatcher to let them know I was going to be in their area, when I would be there and how many hrs I would have availible. If I didn’t know what service was needed on the truck, I called the shop. If I had a question or concern about a trailer, I called the trailer shop. If I needed something from Safety, I called and asked. I did well in this system. I prefer to talk it out... not just send a peoplenet message. Guess I’m ‘old fashion’.... some people think it’s ‘brown nosing’ to make so many calls.... maybe so.... but I averaged over 10,000 a month and took off 6 days+ every month....
8)Fueling.... any Flying J or Pilot. We are not told when and where to Fuel besides that.
9) Routing.... we are not routed on a strict route. They don’t mind if you vary some as long as you aren’t stupid about it.


Ok... some negatives

1) 63.5 mph trucks. The newer trucks are 62 on petal and 64 on cruise. Just to slow. Not bad in the east... but downright dangerous out west. You are a rolling roadblock. Even Crete, JB Hunt and others are turning up their trucks.... we are just the turtles out there.... one of the slowest.....
2) One for all and all for one. We used to have reembursement for paid parking. Some drivers abused this nice benefit and ruined it for everyone. Instead of talking to the drivers that abused this privledge, they took it away from everyone. Seems to be their thing. Instead of addressing the ones who are abusing the rule, punish everyone. Some drivers had excessive idle time. So instead of addressing the problem drivers, they put idle timers on everyone’s truck. Now it’s 5 minutes between 40-80. Your APU WILL break down. And if it’s 79 degrees in a smelly truckstop you will not be able to idle. Just plain punishs the drivers with good idle percentages. I was below 7 or 8 % every month and usually below 5% most months .... but I get the same treatment as the driver with 40% idle time.... Some drivers were not filling out their loaded and empty forms on the peoplenet. So Instead of addressing those drivers... they force the forms through to your peoplenet like your a child. You have to suspend the form just to log in or out and it keeps reminding you to fill it out. Over and over till you do it.
3) No Paid Holidays.... if you work a holiday....say you pick up on Friday before Labor Day. You have a 900 mile run. It normally would deliver Monday morning. But because of the holiday you have a Tuesday delivery. You don’t get a paid holiday and you do not get a lay over day. Your just screwed. Every other employee of Magnum gets a holiday pay day. LTL, Office, Warehouse, Logistics, Service, all of them..... your just ####ed..... I can see no paying the OTR drivers who are home for the holiday.... but if your working, you are penalized for the day.... sit... no pay and no ghost miles for your performance pay....
4) communication .... yes... that was a positive. But it’s also turned into a negative. If you need to call Chad, our Operations Manager for something.... good luck. He might answer, he might call you back and he might remember what you called for. I’m sure he is over worked and spread thin. But who suffers.... the driver. We have filled out 3 surveys where Chad wanted to know what we think about things. Not ONE single thing has changed in the drivers favor. Even the things where the driver voted overwhelmingly for something, nothing changes unless it’s against the driver. Every money saving situation is on the drivers backs. As drivers you get a ‘one year’ jacket. I never knew this till I had two years. When I asked Chad about it he said I ‘slipped through the cracks’ I ordered a 1 year jacket.... and never received it. I have never received a ‘driver appreciation week’ gift in 3 1/2 years. They ‘say’ they have them but you have to hunt down out driver liaison to get it. I have to do all the work to get a Free tshirt. No thanks. We used to have ‘driver of the month’ awards... but not in over a year. We, as drivers only learn of new developments within the company from drivers just coming through orientation. I heard that we have now have a few parking spots in Chicago at a future Company terminal from a new driver. Just 6-7 parking spots for now but a possible LTL terminal in the future from someone just through orientation. Yet they never keep the veteran driver informed. It’s a virtual abyss of communication to the very driver that’s earning the salary of every single office worker......we are kept in the dark.....
5) Dispatch..... Dispatch has been a TOTAL cluster #### since they fired Ashley and Jeremy left. This was a POSITIVE of Magnums. A great Dispatch team. And now they are going towards a ‘Driver Manager’ system instead of the regional dispatcher system that has been in place since I started. I really thrived on the regional system. You, as a driver really had to work it. You had to know the lanes, know the good reloads, know the dispatchers with the sweet runs. You had an active part of your trip planning and miles you ran. With the new system, that they haven’t told us is coming.... but is... you will have one driver manager. That may be good. It may be bad.... just another incidence of uncertainty with Magnum.....Nick is the Angel of Dispatch. If it weren’t for Nick........ I’ll leave that unsaid.......


So I am taking a new job... a new opportunity. A paid by the hour, overtime over 40, more hometime, stay in hotels, better benefits type position. The grass may be greener because there is more cow ####.... but it’s time for a change.
I emailed Chad 3 weeks ago and told him my decision. He was on vacation. So I got an email from Matt Gadberry... the owners son and the head of the OTR division. He asked why I was leaving. I told him to call me and I would be happy to discuss. I never received a call. Chad never called me. Tony, our driver liazon never called me. I bet no one but Matt knew I was leaving. I took a few days hometime and emptied my truck. I kept Dispatch informed about getting back to Coon Rapids and returning the truck. Nick was the only one who talked to me about it. Who asked why I was leaving and that I was a great driver and I was welcomed back at any time. It saddens me that I was SO ignored..except for Nick..... but I guess that’s the way it is....

I cleaned out the remainer of my stuff today, left the keys in the truck, ubered to a hotel, and I fly home tomorrow....

I have LOVED Magnum. I would even come back if this new opportunity doesn’t pan out. It has its faults. But so does every company. It’s a great place to start your career. But this isn’t they way you retain drivers.....

 

Best wishes to you, hope it all works out. I've always enjoyed reading your posts here.

 

Thanks. I’ll still be here. I’ll post about the new company too