He's been there over 2 months I have been in the truck about 5 1/2 wks. Yep the pay is not all that great.
Bill is done at Melton. I know he wasn't there very long and most of you would say not nearly long enough, but he was there long enough to be treated very badly by them and long enough to know he didn't have to take it anymore. When I first got in the truck, things went ok. It seemed like they were giving him plenty of time to go pick up loads, time to secure them, and enough time to drive. It didn't last long. We were running a lot of Southeast and Gulf Coast, which was fine because it's a lot nicer down there in the winter most of the time. It slowly disintegrated into a textbook example of how a crappy company treats their employees. One thing that really bothers me is how Melton toots their own horn as a "family company". They have these posters all over their terminals that say "You Are Melton". Actually, in my opinion, the drivers are the least important member of their "family" and the "family" extends to the office employees and management, the driver is the neglected stepchild that gets beat down every day. I plan to post all the "fun" we had there but like I said earlier, I really don't want to forget anything because if someone reading my post is considering Melton, hopefully they will come away with a different, honest perspective before they choose to go to work for them.
Thanks for the updates...... Have you found a new company if not where is your home 20 and mabey i can make a few sugestions to help you on your quest..... I love flat beddin and it truely is my passion but i know a few places that are really busy !
At this point I think he is done with any OTR company. We live in Western New York about 60 miles south of Buffalo. I don't know what kind of local gig he can get with almost 2 yrs experience but unfortunately, OTR just hasn't worked out. He tried reefer, dry van and flatbed and was unable to make a living at any of it. Sucks because he is willing to work his ##& off and I have seen him do it-but he is tired of being herded like cattle. I can't say he won't ever go back to OTR because every time I think we're done with it, he gets back in the #### truck but at least for the time being we are gonna shoot for the simple life. Melton snuffed out any little bit of enthusiasm he had left for driving a big rig around the country. They effectively killed the dream. I have always said I commend anyone who is able to live that life and be successful, I commend you even more if you enjoy it! There are a lot of things about riding with him I will always love, a few really good memories but mostly just a big black cloud over us.
Well the best of luck to the both of you and if and when you decide that you would like to enjoy the OTR thing again .... if you enjoyed flat bed ..... you might check out Howard Transportation out of Laurel Miss. They run east of the Miss. river and all over the east coast. I was very happy with them except i could not get that west coast runnin outta my veins at the time. They own an manufacturing plant right down the street from their yard and they make transformers . Solid working , solid miles , solid paychecks.... and they will hire you with limited flat bed experience or non at all and train you.
Here are some reasons why Bill is no longer part of the Melton "family". I was reading another Melton thread and another driver had almost the same experience we did. Like a lot of places, they have unrealistic pickup and delivery times. They preach about safety, and they have a chart in their handbook that states all loads are dispatched at 50 mph. This is completely untrue. Bill got an 1889 mile run from Carson, CA to Gillespie IL and they gave him 2 1/2 driving shifts to get it there. Also factor in the 3-4 hour securement time and of course the tarp-and it's not humanly possible, let alone legal according to their chart, to get the load there on time. Then they act surprised when you update the ETA. Our last 2 weeks there were a nightmare. Bill got a good run to Brownsville TX right before Christmas. He picked it up in St. Louis so if I remember right it was over 1000 miles. Oh, and they love to send you loads that you have to go buy dunnage or v boards for or some type of securement gear that you don't carry on the truck. By the time we got to Home Depot in St Louis, bought the wood, (which of course we ended up NOT needing) we were not on time for the pickup. Took about 4 hours to secure-I think it was some kind of iron bars. Then they expect him to drive out his 11, which is not unreasonable I guess but keep in mind he spent 3 hours untarping and unsecuring a load that morning, usual crap. So...we get to Oklahoma and they want him to give up the load to another Melton driver going home for Christmas. OK whatever, we did that and next morning we got a load that was over 350 miles empty to Monroe LA and the load headed to Benicia CA. Nice run, over 2000 miles and we were excited at the prospect of a nice paycheck. The actual dh mileage was 377 miles and that Christmas storm was just starting to blow in so we were driving in a rainstorm thru Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas into Louisiana and Melton loves to dispatch you on US highways and back roads. So he kept calling his DM, letting her know that the pickup time was getting later and later, would they still load him? and generally just keeping her advised of the situation. She just kept telling him to "keep heading there" and she told him that she called the shipper and "they would wait for him". Anyway, we got to Monroe about 330 pm. Bill went in to the office and the first thing the foreman said to him was "I TOLD Melton for you to be here tomorrow" AHA!!! So he calls the DM up and basically confronted her with the fact that she flat out lied to him and she just played dumb. Then the next day we picked up the load, he got it secured and we were on our way, into the middle of the Christmas Eve snowstorm. By the time we got to Van, TX the rain had started freezing and the weather was bad so, knowing we had till Monday to deliver, we shut down. Next day the sun was shining and we headed out. Once we hit 287 North in Tx, the roads were in such deplorable condition it was almost funny. Apparently they don't have salt or snow plows in Texas. There were over 200 cars off the road, 30 or 40 tractor trailers, and it took us 9 hours to drive 224 miles. Next day, nothing had improved. We drove 10 miles in about 1 1/2 hours and shut down again. Every night the roads which were snowpacked would refreeze. So...we did not get to California until Wednesday. Could not get the load delivered before pay period ended on Monday so 12.00 paycheck that week. The next load we got was due on 12/31 somewhere south of LA, can't remember where but then his DM told us we had to sit on it til 1/4. Stuck in California for 4 days with a 12.00 paycheck. No one would give him an emergency advance for food. We had to call relatives to western union us some money so we could eat. We reminded the operations manager that we would have had a paycheck had we not given up the load in Oklahoma so one of their drivers could go home for Christmas, gotten stuck in a snowstorm in a state that doesn't know what to do when it snows, and how did she expect us to eat? Ever buy ramen noodles at the Pilot? Not exactly 15 cents. Ever try to park at a Walmart in California where they build them into strip malls where there is no truck parking? They did not care. The family atmosphere does not extend to the drivers. Oh, it gets better. Finally on Monday, 1/4 we got the load off the truck and the forklift guy says to Bill, "Oh you could have dropped this off on Friday, 1/1-we were here till 100 pm." Mind you, we could have found this out easily but Melton absolutely forbids you to contact the shipper or consignee. I believe it is so they can create their OWN pickup and delivery times and make themselves look so efficient and prompt. To hell with the driver! This story is just one example of what went on during our time there. I got more!!!
the advance should of been there..... I would of took an plane home after dropping the tractor trailer off at an dealership...... Melton sounds like a joke company...... I am glad that you broke ties.......
I knew I would forget some stuff. Here is another little thing. Melton has a new program called ICare. I can't argue with the company wanting their employees to be healthy. Healthy is good. Unfortunately, the lifestyle of an OTR driver does not usually lend itself to eating and living all that healthy. They expect the driver who participates in the program to have a dr. apt and cholesterol check, all that stuff, then regular cholesterol checks, I believe. If you do all this, you get a 20 percent decrease in your health care premium. Not a bad deal, if you can afford to eat healthy and avoid the typical diet of fast food because they don't equip the trucks with refrigerators so you can store food, most trucks dont come with apu's, etc...so cooking in a microwave is not an option for everyone. Anyway, if you don't participate in the ICare program, which I dont think is bad in theory but difficult in reality...they raise your premiums 20%, on top of the original weekly deduction for insurance. Then they say you participate in Idon't Care. Also, if you smoke, they charge you 5.77 a week as a tobacco user. I think smoking sucks. I wish to God that Bill would quit before it kills him but he smokes, so out came 5.77 a week. Just another heads up, if you are considering Melton, you will need to consider whether you can "care" or not. Probably a great plan for the people who work at the terminal and can actually have a little more control over what they eat, also they get to work out at the fancy exercise facility that they claim is for the drivers but we all know who it's for...Im sure it's all a great tax write off for Mr. Bob P. Also, they pay 30 bucks a tarp, it used to be 40 and I know that companies pay less than that but can anyone actually tell me how much Melton charges the shipper to tarp the load? I have heard they charge between $200-300 to the shipper but only give the driver $30 or actually $15 to tarp and $15 to untarp. Again, not sure about this but would not be surprised if they charge a lot more to shippers then they give the driver.
