o & s trucking,

This is about O&S and some other crap added
I drove for O&S since 1997. I started out on one of the fleet owners who was out of Dayton, OH who was a young pup and knew everything because "Daddy" taught him almost everything he needed to know except how to write checks to pay his drivers! He was a looser who did loose in the end. Needless to say I signed with O&S as a company driver which at the time was when they were still more of an O/O company and the company drivers gave Jim Oneal the boost that company needed to get flying! I had to take a break of two years due to my lead foot and Ohio but came back to them before completing a full year with that looser TransAm.

O&S was a fantastic company to drive for. I mean a really great "Family Values" company. Got you home when you needed, paid right on time and if payroll happened to goof on a paycheck it got fixed right away and the equipment was fixed when it need it.

When they rebuilt the building they were in to expand the office they built a 8 or 9 bay shop with 2 drive through bays to inspect every truck and trailer as it came through Springfield, MO. If you picked up a "bad" trailer out from a shipper it probably had not gone through the yard for an inspection AND because some pinhead driver didn't send in the macro on QC that the trailer had an issue because if he had it WOULD HAVE been fixed.

Then the problems started. Fuel prices went up, one big headed female (called something like flirty) was promoted in the company, another company was bought along with some of their not so bright personnel, Jim get's it in his head he 's a political figure after being the president for the MO trucking assoc. or whoever, starts running for mayor of Springfield (and wins) and O&S started the slide into the world of Fleecing to drivers oops I mean Leasing to drivers!

They start trying to get the company drivers to fleece er lease their trucks as someone pointed out to the "Family Values" owner that look at all the money you can make when YOU don't have to pay for fuel, tires, maintenance on the tractors and insurance! O&Ses first dive into becoming just another trucking company came when he stopped paying any of the companies drivers medical insurance. Oh, yes, they DID add a penny to the rate so we could afford the insurance but at $198.00 a week I was only able to pay for my wife and myself. My teenage son we hoped stayed healthy enough that he didn’t have to go to the hospital!

Then they cut the shop personnel and that included the drive through inspections after 9pm then 7pm then 5pm! Next came the push to get the company drivers to fleece/lease the trucks again with a letter coming to the house that "Hey we'll lease you a NEW Freightliner Cascadia" at the 08 prices! WHIPPEE! What freaking moron buys/leases a Freightliner? OH, I forgot, almost all these companies do! AND these poor fools who fall for the fleece er lease programs these companies dangle in front of their eyes! A Freightliner? After 500,000 miles you MIGHT get $12,000 for on a trade in to a better truck! Why would anyone in their right minds lease a USED truck at the same price you can get a Peterbuilt or Kenworth for and after 500,000 miles get twice the money for on a trade! Oh I know because they have NO money to start their own business with and they think they are O/O's when they lease! And they are trying to start a buisness on the cheap!

Any way I was venting there! O&S and Ms Rose in safety start the final push to rid them selves of the "money sucking" company drivers is if they screw up even the tiniest bit they get fired and Rosie knows how to file a great DAC/USISS/Hireright report! This company even reports a BIRD STRIKE, you being hit by another but it can appear on DAC as your fault and so on. (When you apply for another company they see this as 1 of the 2 or 3 incidents on your driving record that they look at to hire you and you in most cases don't get a chance to explain to them, if you apply online what they are, as most of the companies don't have that line on their applications!) They finally called the last 30something drivers into the yard in March or April (most of them already knew the axe was falling) and they were given the choice of lease or get fired. Most of them walked away AND got a negative report on their DAC!

Now, you that want a Freightliner on the Fleece Purchase Plan go ahead. O&S is actually better than Prime or some of the other bloodsuckers out there but it's still a Fleece program! If your dippatcher takes a dislike to you or trip planners do then you'll make squat! As a company driver I did very well with $800.00 up to $1200.00 a week. I have the stubs to back that up and the tax reports also. I CAN put up! I had fleece ops try to recruit me, the last one on Dec3rd who after telling me he couldn't get any miles over 2500 tell me he was bringing in $1200 a week! I had to call him a liar to his face on the Spld, OH yard! To say he came unglued is an understatement but when I picked up my calculator and said prove it to him he shut his face! Look up to the profile box to see how many years I've been doing this and try to BS an old BSer!

You guys and gals who think you'll become an O/O after one of these Fleece programs go ahead and try! You'll bring home AFTER YOUR BILLS maybe $500.00 a week IF LUCKY, BEFORE you take medical insurance, disability and your fed/SS taxes out to hold but go ahead and not hold them out and try to cough it up after filing! (yes the first year you get most if not all of the lease money back. but after a year where is that house you HAD a mortgage for and your car?)You're in this to make money and LOOSING money to Uncle Sam for not paying quarterly is stupid and makes your crying jags at the dinner counter in the truck stops just a tad bit to hard to take for those of us who know! And if you think workers comp pays anything (or enough) when you get injured, someone told you a big ole lie! It doesn’t and if you're trying to run a company (you really are you know) without med ins and disability you must do well at Vegas! You're gambling with you and your family’s welfare!

If you don't have the money to go (run) for 4 months after you BUY a GOOD truck with a RESALE value and get your OWN operating authority and all the other expenses, then go company because when that fleece er lease is up what are you going to do? The truck now has over 800,000 miles on it (500,000 plus the miles you put on it over 3 years) You STILL are with the same company or moved to another IF they will take a truck over 4 years old and over 500,000 miles on it and they will STILL take over HALF of the mileage pay of the load doing you the FAVOR of getting you tags insurance and the other stuff.

Look up what freight is paying, go to OOIDA and get the information of what it will cost YOU to go O/O and then realize that you've been taken to the bank! It only takes less than 1 month of BOL's to pay everything you need to be an O/O! No BS!


But working for O&S. If Birdie, Rose and those leftover from Stevers are still there I’d go somewhere else even if their fleece purchase plan is better than most of the ones offered by other companies. Reread the above, especially the paragraph about having enough money to run for 4 months before buying a truck! If you don’t have the money to operate and pay expenses AND payroll, eat you pride and go with a company! If you can lease a Peterbuilt or Kenworth do it as long as they keep the costs and give themselves .10 a mile and give the moneymaker (the driver) the larger percentage of the profits. Freight is down NOT the cost per mile! Don’t listen to those who run the companies but look it up yourselves! The information is out there all you have to do is look and NO I won’t GIVE it to you as YOU want to become an owner then WORK for it and don’t go for a handout! Remember the ONLY one making money is the one leasing the truck! Why do you think O&S went to all O/O and L/P? HMMMMM I really lost all of my respect for Jim Oneal when he fired the last of the OTR company drivers!
God Luck
Rollover

 

I'm purdy sure it can't be that bad over there...

 

From what I understand it's not so good and they have now hired "company" drivers to do their local work! Some of the long old timers from the office are gone. But information does leak out.

That last post was on 8/2009 a tad bit out of date but it's all true what I posted. The mantra now with a lot of companies is if you can get a fool to pay to drive your truck then do it!
Lease purchase is nothing but a legal scam!


And "purdy" in this case is spelled "pretty" not as the town, trucking company, or persons name! But I could care less as I'm on all the other net works with my real name out there also! So naming me really doesn't matter as, Oh Gosh, I actually put my picture on the profile as I do even on headline news threads and the NL thread here in town and I do speak out just like in TTR as many will attest! ! I ain't scared as I never lie when posting! The truth hurts and when true is a nice thing to fall back on!
Lets see truckin1234 (real imaginative and hard to think up screen name) 2 posts within minutes of each other and both to dead O&S threads so I'll call it as I see it as will most of the older members of this and many other forums....................

CHEERLEADER! LOL!

Yes the first one was accurate about Prime buying a controlling interest!

But still if you let sleeping dogs lay they don't bite the hand that shakes them!
So open the closet door, post a picture and as you did with me throw a name!
Man up, don't hide there office desk driver!
Or did they throw you a bone and give you a few gallons of diesel to post this? ROFLMFAO!

 

O and s is a great company to work for

 

The ones that don't make it put nothing in to there business any business is and investment and u have to put back in to it if u can't stand the heat don't lease and don't open a business o ands is a great company to work for and a money maker if u want to work if u don't don't run-down a good company

 

Wow 2 posts. All to try to bash Rollover? Let me see, Rollover's opinion or yours. Someone who dedicated a lot of time to helping new drivers understand this industry, or yours? Someone who has demonstrated their knowledge through over 3000 posts, or you.
Think I'll trust Rollover on this one.
And please, for the sake of the readers, mix in some punctuation.

 

Another round of lay offs

 

That last charles1194 post I have no idea as to what the meaning is as it seems to differ from those other O&S posts of his......BUT...

THIS JUST ON THE NEWS>>>

Jim Oneal the owner of O&S and Mayor of Springfield, MO has just stepped down as Mayor to take care of "his business."

I know things are not as good as they used to be with some "new blood" in the office and the change to a full L/P program but from the word on the street there might be a major shakeup there and things might get back to where they were, A company you could be proud of and who took care of their employees.

I might have had a few hard words about Jim but if he's about to shake a tree then "family values" just might be coming back to what was a great company to work for!

Good luck Jim, the city needs what O&S used to be and so does the industry.

 

I left I and s trucking 3 weeks ago no more stress it is great .