My Experience with Lone Star Transportation

Well I was given a dose of reality this morning about hometime in Detroit and seeing my grandmother for the last time. I had to call my DM after I reminded him of it via XATA.. and was informed theres a high possibility I may not make it there (was told that if i'm in laredo right before I'm supposed to be there then obviously it's not gonna happen).. but they could get me to FW and I could find other means there... which would cost me 1,000 to fly for only 3 days or I lose my truck. Hmmm... with a months notice you would think theres a better way to plan.. if your not gonna take advantage then why pay a planner?

To be honest, theres more and more i'm seeing that is going against Lonestar in my opinion that i've found in my meager 3 months here. The reasons I mentioned earlier... lack of banking days and the loss of my truck after 3 days no matter how many months i've been out (I didnt know this before orientation) are 2 major reasons... then this. I'm starting to become disappointed. High pay is nothing if you can't take advantage of it and spend all your time working.

 

I can't remember if it was in orientation or another driver told me in gainesville.. but they said you can get 4 off max.. after that they will want to take the truck. So, i've been paranoid 'cuz.. frankly.. I dont want to move my stuff out.

Bob is my DM. I found it interesting to hear that quite honestly. I still have 11 more days and i'm still holding my breath...

 

Special circumstances can out weigh the 4 days off thing. I have taken almost a week before. Came out of Ohio got home Saturday morning delivered Monday morning 90 miles away, went back home left out again Friday.

 

4 days max but you can get more with approval of someone higher up than your dispatcher, not sure who it is.

 

I haven't decided what i'm going to do yet. I want to see if I can get there to see her.. but i'm holding my breath at this point. I like the work but dislike the policies.

 

I've found the big guy looking at the trucks in the morning to see who is still there... seeing that I park at the yard I have no doubt theres pressure to keep the truck rolling.

My AC went out this morning... so I rolled to the shop recommended in Chicago only to find there is no shop there! I called her but got VM... so i'm most likely gonna have to find one and let her know where i'm going when she calls... i'm about to heat stroke out... it's 104 here right now.. friggin HOT! Pick up pipe in the morning though (anyone know where I can buy pipe stakes in IN) near the Ohio border and take it somewhere in SD for Friday.

**edit - Nevermind.. I lost that load. Peterbilt can't get to me until "sometime tomorrow afternoon."

 

I quit after a similar situation. I had notified them at the time of my hiring that I needed to be home the first weekend in December. They said it would be no problem. A month out, I started reminding them about it...and it never seemed to be a problem. I'd typically stay out 2 to 3 weeks at a time, and was on my way home Veteran's Day weekend for a regularly scheduled home stop when I got the call that my grandfather had died. So, rather than going out for 2 days and then having to get back for the funeral, I took a week off. I dropped the trailer here at the house and they repowered the load leaving me an empty.

So after the funeral, I headed out again. Delivered a load of pipe to an oil well in BFE Wyoming on Thanksgiving day...and then had to fight dispatch to get me out of there before a storm rolled in....they were going to leave me sit until Monday when the broker they normally work with in that area got back to work. I guess they never heard of a pre-plan.

The bounced me from the Southwest corner of Wyoming all of the way to Deluth, MN for a load of mulch going to Dallas. I start reminding them daily about my upcoming home time....and from Dallas, I got a load to Houston. Then they loaded me for Eagle Pass....delivering on the day I was SUPPOSED to be home. After that, they wanted me to "go to Laredo and we'll see about getting you a load back home."

Apparently when I told them I needed to be home Thursday night/Friday morning (I still needed to drive to my mom's who postponed Thanksgiving until that Saturday because I'd be in town for the Toys for Tots Motorcycle Parade on Sunday)....they must have thought being laid over in Laredo all weekend would be OK, and that the plans that they had known about for 4 months could be rescheduled. When I mentioned that they KNEW this had been planned for 4 months, their response? "You just took a week off."

Yeah, for a funeral....doesn't change the plans I had for the weekend I had requested off.

I forget who my dispatcher was, but he sounded surprised when I asked him "Where do you want the truck?" I had Enterprise pick me up at the Gainesville yard...cleaned out the truck, drove home, jumped in my pickup, and made it to mom's an hour late for our Thanksgiving dinner. I was tired as hell (just drove from Laredo to Chicago stopping twice to swap rides)....and I took a week off so that when I returned the rental (had to take it back to Gainesville) I wouldn't be charged out the wazoo for miles. After I returned the rental car, Enterprise gave me a lift to the Greyhound terminal where I caught the bus to my next job.

When I say I need to be somewhere on a specific day, that means I'm going to be there. Jobs are easy enough to come by...or at least they were back then. 1 phone call and I had my next job lined up....of course they had been my 2nd choice when I went to work for Lone Star, and they still had my application on file, so the transition was pretty easy.

 

And, thats my issue. We haul to the MI, IN, IL, OH area so it shouldn't be hard to get me there.. or get me out for that matter. If I don't get there as planned I suspect I'll be going to a company that can. I have many aging family members i'm close to.. and if this company can't provide then its the wrong choice. The company i'll be going to may have an 8 day window to get me there.. but at least i'll be there.