My new experience with Gordon Trucking, post-buyout

Gordon has ample loads from Mid-West to West and loads back are hen's teeth. So, yes, they'll run you up and down the West, Northwest, out to Denver, Grand Junction and back, for example like my second to last load that delivered to Sam's Club, Grand Junction. Altho out of Indy, I preferred to turn the truck in at Rancho and another driver there at Sam's Club wanted to get back to Pontoon. We switched loads with Pacific's permission as I had a PrePlan back to Mid-West. Hard to get. We traded. Picked up nearby and headed to Loma Linda. Which was my last run for Gordon as had given 2 weeks notice.

You may do fine.

 

Well I'm going to jump in here and say a few words since I have some recent scuttlebut... I was in the 12/22/14 orientation with Zoomy and a few other guys - sent home because they didn't like my CPAP machine (no printout). Two of the drivers I have kept in contact with -- For the month of January, one ran almost 12K/mi and the other was at 9700 -- out of the four of us in the 12/22 class, only one (a former GTI driver) is still there. The other guy had some personal problems and we all know what happened to Zoomy according to Zoomy! I'm probably going to go back on the 16th or 23rd of this month, I haven't decided yet. With everything I have read about GTI here and on other boards, the only real negative things have been the driver's problems, or not any worse than anywhere else.

I spent 8-years with American Eagle out of Lancaster, TX (FFE, Conwell Corp) and I think I was the only happy driver in the fleet! Life on the road is what you make it... I find most of the complaints to be more of a lack of common sense or improper planning on the part of the drivers (no offence).

 

Good luck.....

 

Can't agree with you that the driver is the problem. No one is more critical of other drivers than drivers themselves, unfortunately. Trucking needs structural change, to come out of the sweatshop era.

 

Ok....somebody write this down..


I absolutely agree with Victor....there...i said it !!!!!

we do often like to blame the drivers when there are legitimate complaints about companies...

far too many companies employee more drivers than they actually have freight for in order to fill contractual agreements with customers to have a certain number of trucks available whether they need them or not. Thus resulting in drivers not getting enough miles due to sitting all the time without freight.

i dont sweat the trivial stuff but when i am not making money i am not happy...period

 

The drivers exacerbate the challenges of being a professional freight representative by, 1) not asking for help or advice when they need it 2) trying to show off 3) acting unprofessional and I can go on for an hour. I'm not saying all drivers are bad examples, I'm saying one bad apple spoils the bunch! My best experience was running team with an O/O for 10 years at the start of my career. It may sound silly, but being the #2 for for all those miles teaches you not only the business, but how to be quiet, respectful and humble -- three things this business lacks!

I have never been mistreated in this business by an employer. I act professional and it forces them to reciprocate. You are treated exactly as the company can/will treat you, or I should say as you let them. Call someone an @ssh01e and they'll call you one back! I only worked for one big company so far, American Eagle, and they had about 2,000 power units at their best. Everything I did was yes Sir and no Ma'am, even in the wash bay. I never spent time on the phone because that's where misunderstandings happen. All of my communication was via QC and all of that was thought out and friendly and respectful before I sent messages.

You get what you give in this business and there are far too many drivers on the giving end. I truly believe if we had more professional drivers on the road, we would get a whole lot more respect and the industry might treat us all differently from the get go. You can think what you want and blame who you want for your problems... Maybe I just travel a different road, but I can sure tell you that mine is not as bumpy as most, there must be a reason for it -- I hold that steering wheel just like you do.