My new adventure with Gordon Trucking

Why am I anticipating Tow taking that olive branch and using it like a flail?????

 

Check out morning activity and new HTLD links at: http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...d-express-inc-acquires-gordon-trucking-4.html

 

Victor, you sure do love your links. Do you receive any sort of financial compensation for pass-through traffic? Just curious...

 

I get an attaboy from tow614, now and then, when he isn't trying to leave tire tracks all over my front lawn. Real answer: no. TTR's just sort of addicting and I share my research. Following the links is always optional.


/See? Thanks, tow.

//More than once TTR has pointed out to me to use links rather than carry complete posts over from one thread to another.

 

I enjoy reading Victors links & commentary.


He is the Pied Piper of Truckers Report

 

Uhh.. i still dont like obama being president..but we are on the downhill side of that one now...

So.. are you going to update the title to your thread

My new adventure with gordon...no wait .. heartland...

Or maybe we could go in together and start a new one .. joe and tow's excellent adventure...

 

Well, interesting reading and interesting times ahead for GTI drivers and staff. Thanks to Victor for posting researched info! My major concern is of HLTD knowing their turnover rate (as most other trucking companies) and yet time and time again fail to take meaningful steps to address this expense. Truth be known, I'm getting to think that all these companies count on turnover to keep driver the company's driver pay down. GTI has entered the merry-go-round and revolving door of drivers. Basically, my hope is that Heartland drivers would be the big winner in this deal as almost any improvement in equipment or driver comfort will be a step up. For us GTI drivers, I can only wait and see what develops. When I quit GTI last August to go back to Shaffer ("Where there are no shortcuts" to the poor farm), I quickly found out that top pay ($.45cpm) plus low miles is nothing to be proud of. Top pay means absolutely nothing is the miles (think 2800+) aren't there with it. I run out west and stay out west. This is my season, Nov-Mar, as I feel very comfortable driving in winter weather conditions. I actually do better in those 5 months than the rest of the year as I don't have to compete with "fair-weather" truckers. The down-side to that is that I lose most of my incentive bonus because my fuel mileage is down...the plus side is my miles are alot better (I consistently run about 35000mi per quarter). I'm really concerned by the lack of posts by HTLD drivers. Why no posts? Bottom line is this, I'm going to be comfortable in my truck, winter or summer, and I'm not taking a step back into the 20th century. The driver retention problem is easy to fix. Obviously, HTLD has made huge investments in their facilities, equipment, and customers. Now, imho, it is time to invest in the drivers...you know, the guys and gals that move the freight that make the money? Bunk heaters are great during the winter. Not so great in Phoenix or Rancho Cucamonga in July and August. Opti-idle? Not an option, for me anyway. I drove for a small-fleet owner that was leased on the Burlington Motor Carriers (yes, I've been driving that long!) who disabled that feature because it didn't do any good in extreme weather conditions. GTI trucks are spec'd with an Arctic package, which means they actually stay warm in the winter and will work the same way in the heat of summer. My idle time is >2% with an apu, and that's where GTI gets 7.2mpg versus HTLD's 6.7mpg (which, I understand, Mr. Gerdin was very proud of until Mr. Gordon spoke of GTI's fleet average.) Invest in the drivers in meaningful equipment upgrades and just in treating the drivers right (think home-time and load offerings). I don't want to go back to the old days of being up all day and then finding out at 1600 I've got a 400 miler that picks up at 1900 and has to be delivered at 0500 the next morning. I'm hoping that both companies can learn and take the best from each other. Hear that...it's opportunity knocking...is anybody home?

 

Is George Carlin coming back in his role...he could probably make sense of all this!

 

Here's sc00ter with paragraphs for readability:

Well, interesting reading and interesting times ahead for GTI drivers and staff.

Thanks to Victor for posting researched info!

My major concern is of HLTD knowing their turnover rate (as most other trucking companies) and yet time and time again fail to take meaningful steps to address this expense. Truth be known, I'm getting to think that all these companies count on turnover to keep driver the company's driver pay down. GTI has entered the merry-go-round and revolving door of drivers.

Basically, my hope is that Heartland drivers would be the big winner in this deal as almost any improvement in equipment or driver comfort will be a step up. For us GTI drivers, I can only wait and see what develops. When I quit GTI last August to go back to Shaffer ("Where there are no shortcuts" to the poor farm), I quickly found out that top pay ($.45cpm) plus low miles is nothing to be proud of.

Top pay means absolutely nothing is the miles (think 2800+) aren't there with it. I run out west and stay out west. This is my season, Nov-Mar, as I feel very comfortable driving in winter weather conditions. I actually do better in those 5 months than the rest of the year as I don't have to compete with "fair-weather" truckers. The down-side to that is that I lose most of my incentive bonus because my fuel mileage is down...the plus side is my miles are alot better (I consistently run about 35000mi per quarter).

I'm really concerned by the lack of posts by HTLD drivers. Why no posts? Bottom line is this, I'm going to be comfortable in my truck, winter or summer, and I'm not taking a step back into the 20th century. The driver retention problem is easy to fix. Obviously, HTLD has made huge investments in their facilities, equipment, and customers.

Now, imho, it is time to invest in the drivers...you know, the guys and gals that move the freight that make the money? Bunk heaters are great during the winter. Not so great in Phoenix or Rancho Cucamonga in July and August. Opti-idle? Not an option, for me anyway. I drove for a small-fleet owner that was leased on the Burlington Motor Carriers (yes, I've been driving that long!) who disabled that feature because it didn't do any good in extreme weather conditions.

GTI trucks are spec'd with an Arctic package, which means they actually stay warm in the winter and will work the same way in the heat of summer. My idle time is >2% with an apu, and that's where GTI gets 7.2mpg versus HTLD's 6.7mpg (which, I understand, Mr. Gerdin was very proud of until Mr. Gordon spoke of GTI's fleet average.) Invest in the drivers in meaningful equipment upgrades and just in treating the drivers right (think home-time and load offerings).

I don't want to go back to the old days of being up all day and then finding out at 1600 I've got a 400 miler that picks up at 1900 and has to be delivered at 0500 the next morning. I'm hoping that both companies can learn and take the best from each other. Hear that...it's opportunity knocking


/Hope ya don't mind, sc00ter!