Post Gordon ~ Thoughts, Commentary & Reflections

Keep reading, tow614

This is only week 7 of some 5 months with Gordon. It's real life--mine--and anyone else's experience with Gordon may be different. Or not! Whether another driver makes more or less money is irrelevant. I think my experience exposes Gordon's corporate culture, for better or worse. It's normal, I think, that with 2000 drivers, some think they have too many miles and some think they have too few.

Gordon was a valuable learning experience for me that I don't regret. I moved on just as I moved on from grade school and then moved on from junior high and so on. You really don't have to apologize for Gordon or wish my experience with Gordon was somehow 'better'; I had take-aways from my time with Gordon that made it 100 per cent worth it. Others who read this will weigh it against their own experience with Gordon.

Anyone can start a thread and tell their story at Gordon.

There is life after Gordon (as Blu-Ogre points out) and Gordon, with excellent, signature smurf-blue late-model Cascadias and tons of freight, is solid enough a trucking company to provide a strong springboard to go beyond Gordon. I went in with solid skills from many years of driving but without experience in the 'OTR' realm, which has this reputation for use, abuse and discarding of drivers.

[I am especially struck by reports in this forum of Gordon discharging drivers who gave two-week notice (Thread 'DD-15', pages 3-4, messages 30-39; 'Gordon Hiring Practice', page 3, message 23, for example). Sounds obscenely retaliatory. Also see 'Gordon Trucking Pacific WA real truth'.]

On any given day, though, Gordon needs 2000 drivers to keep the machine running. Gordon knows that if every one of those drivers had a string of bad weeks all at the same time, even those $1500-$4000 bonuses couldn't keep up. The company has pushed itself through tremendous growing pains as it expanded and continues to expand into the Mid-West. Perhaps the expendability of even experienced, senior drivers had to sharply increase to make that expansion happen. Dunno.

As the saying goes, you can't make an omelet without cracking an egg.


Written July 30, 2013 at home, six miles north of Spencer, IN. Exactly 8,000 views as of 2:01 p.m. today. All rights reserved by author.

 

Trip and pay details of my first 3 weeks.............. page 2, message 17.
Trip and pay details of my second 3 weeks.......... page 9, message 81.
Summary of loads............................................ page 14, message 139.
Best short summary of trucking for Gordon........ CougFan, page 16, messages #152, #153.

Dispatch #34--Neely's Landing MO E McBride MO L Joliet IL
353 miles......................................................... $109.43

A 'standard' work week in this country has been 40 hours since the union battles of the early part of the last (20th) century. Yet again and again I hear drivers who run for Gordon, Crete, C.R. England, Swift, Interstate and the like claim that 'it ain't so', 'it's a lifestyle'; you want a longer week, longer hours... more miles.

What a rip-off! And how lucky these big, wealthy companies are that you think that way. The FMCSA is trying to drag you in from the 19th century sweat shop flavor of life and you kick and scream: "No, no, no, it won't work!" I tell you it will.

You are the backbone of the country. The backbone. If you have a better life and better pay, you and your family will spend more, have more time together and a rising tide raises all boats, yours, mine, even Gordon's. As this is written fast food workers are demonstrating and making noise for a living wage. What a concept!

Say-it-ain't-so if you want, but your wages if you drive for Gordon likely vary from $350 or less to $600 a week for a 98-hour or more week as a rookie traditional driver out 10-14 days. Gordon tells you at Orientation that you'll run 2100-2200 miles per week. All this talk of big money is so much hooey. Phooey! Use Gordon as a springboard, not a career move. Gordon provides a solid foundation and entrée to a better paying job.

If you disagree, start a thread. Detail your trips and your pay as I have.

'Nuff said. After the Neely's Landing fiasco where Gordon had me shut down the afternoon before and then drive 43 miles to move a trailer one mile (for $36.74 total), I had a power load (live load, Gordon calls it power, which just means you back up to the dock and they load that empty trailer you brought while-you-wait) in McBride, MO. Light load, under 15K so no need to weigh.

I had an appointment for 11:30 a.m. and got backed into door 47 by 11:45. Pretty efficient despite a lot of company trailers and a large, mostly dirt lot. Out of McBride I drove mostly on I-55 north, fueled and refreshed at the TA in Troy (exit 18) until I transited over to I-80 and about eight (8) miles east into Joliet.

The customer is a large dollar-type retailer and open all night. My PP (Pre-Plan) was empty less than 35 miles to Hammond, IN and from Hammond to Columbus, IN. Homeward bound! Better late than toast... Gordon takes with one hand and gives with the other (CougFan, page 16, message #153, this thread).

I made Hammond with almost nothing left on my clock. But I made it. I'd get loaded first thing in the morning before I started my clock. I still didn't know how to 'correct' my on-duty time to off-duty, but I had figured out that I could drive two (2) miles 'off-duty' before my QC (QualComm) went over to 'on-duty driving'.

And used it where ever I could.


Written July 30, 2013 at home, six miles north of Spencer, IN. All rights reserved by author.

 

Response to tow614, Zippe1 and Blu-Ogre

I think your upcoming thread 'Succeeding at Gordon' sounds great, tow614. I'm still concerned that we haven't heard from chowick1966 'Pastures New @ Gordon' for 3 weeks now. There's an enormous thread over in the Crete (Favorite trucking companies) area 'CRETE - A Year in Review' started back 1/11/2008 when a driver started it by posting his earnings statement showing $61,500 for 2007.

That thread has 897 pages and 8970 messages tonight and still going strong! Of course, we know where the world economy went in 2008, not just the American economy and not just trucking. I read just the first two pages and the last (page 897) and it pretty much reflects the trucking industry but I'm not going to try wade through 897 pages of messages. I recommend pages 1, 2 and 897 though as required reading.

Zip, I haven't read those two authors but will see if my local library has something from either. I actually 'think' at least part of the time in a writing fashion, dunno why but always have. That is, how a few sentences might lay out to describe a situation or scene as my day passes by and it kind of runs through my head. Probably a brain thing. Haven't thought about doing anything other than this thread and have some metaphysical thoughts on why this thread may be important more than just to me. I've had a number of times when the Universe sort of pummeled me into a particular corner where I found I had just the skills and experience needed there to make a difference. This may be one of those. Dunno.

The outfit I work for now runs out of Indy and back to Indy. Some triangles, you might do Cleveland or Detroit and then to KY and back to Indy. Some Chicago turns and as far out as Albuquerque, Shreveport. All return to Indy and that means most drivers are home daily, every other day, every third, etc. Limited weekend work. So $1200 for a five-day week with the longest and strongest pulling in $1500/week and better. Dispatch is always scrambling to keep up. Senior drivers have mostly more nights home than out. High turnover like everywhere else though. One of the guys who came in about 1-1/2 yrs ago as bottom of 40 is now 20 of a lot more than 40. A growing company with growing pains.

The American trucking industry is vast, simply vast and Gordon, while a powerhouse of a trucking company, is a small, small part of that backbone of the nation. There are lots of options for drivers but it's very fragmented and lots of crap jobs--more crap jobs than good ones. Within any given company you may have crap jobs along side the sweet, too. To name the outfit I'm working with would distract from the point of this thread, which is my experience at Gordon. But if I weren't here I'd be somewhere else that paid similar. What they offered that mattered most was part-time that I could choose. "Vic, you can work whenever you want..."

Blu, I am definitely interested in your O/O experience since you left Gordon and shout outs from you and other drivers who found a good life after Gordon. A move from one Gordon-type to another is often not always good as Sc00ter pointed out (see page 12, message #119) and I think that's why we're not hearing from chowick1966. Dunno. Don't know if I've mentioned it yet but if not it's coming up, an O/O with Schneider for 15 years from KY I met in Plainfield. Picks a load northeast for his money load every Monday and then takes smaller hops to get home for the weekend and church on Sunday. It is possible.

As CougFan said about trucking for Gordon, "...your DM controls your loads and roads, then to a big part they control your MPG's and productivity..." (page 16, message #153). Now, if a DM were to chime in here... any Driver Managers out there?


Written July 31, 2013 at home, six miles north of Spencer, IN. All rights reserved by author.

 

Dispatch #35--Joliet IL E Hammond IN L Columbus IN
246 miles........................................................... $76.26

Hammond, IN to Columbus, IN was close enough to the last run I had with the Trainer that I new exactly how to set up for it. Had I not had that experience with him, though, I don't know that I would ever have figured out on my own how to run that. At Hammond, you can park facing the wrong way along side of the fence, then pull out into the street in the morning and make a left turn into the guard shack. You can load 'off duty'!

Otherwise, you're in the middle of a commercial/industrial/residential mix and a long, surface street run to get there with no where to park. I'd probably wait at a truck stop and go in first thing in the morning. If you know this little trick you can arrive any time at night, park and load first thing in the morning. Yes, off duty.

Two weeks with the Trainer would have cut who knows how much time off my learning curve. 'But, noooo!' (Like the SNL skit... ) "You'll be fine," he says. Oh, sure. It'll just take the proverbial month of Sundays to get up to anywhere near his determined, hard efficiency. (See all of page 7, then page 8, message #74.)

The 'Say-It-Ain't-Sos' are right about one thing. Experience matters. Experience counts. You could drop the best gear jammer who knew nothing about the Gordon system into a smurf-blue Cascadia and he'd flounder like punchy-loopy driver trying to remember his trailer number when he's not sure where he is, what truck stop or why he waited in line.

As I breezed through Indy, the QC started to squawk. Oh, this can only be bad, I thought. Somebody wants me to drop this on the yard so I can run some other little local Business Sandwich before going home. No, no, no. No. They stranded me in Pacific, now Gordon wants me to run a local shag run instead of getting me home after Columbus. No. Not even.

So I ignored the QC, proceeded to Columbus, ignored repeated calls to my cell, too. When I arrived Favorite DM called again on my cell and she was tweaked. Her voice was fast and sharp; she was upset and it was too late. I had upset her apple cart although she never quite told me what apple cart. "Whoa! Whoa! Slow down. I was under load. I'm about to deliver if I can get off this phone with you. What's the problem with that?" I asked in defense. A Wal-Mart pulled in and got the only open door. Arghh!

She kept on and this wasn't like her. Finally she slowed up, her tone changed to nice and she said she had a load to Green Bay for me and would I please take a new driver fresh out of Orientation up to Franksville to get his truck. "Does he smoke?" I asked. "Yes," she answered.

"He doesn't smoke in 3579," I said, now the tables had turned in my favor. "Should he even think about lighting up, I'll dump him right there on the side of the road! As long as he understands that, sure."

So I wasn't going home after all.


Written August 1, 2013 at home, six miles north of Spencer, IN. Hadn't intended to write anything, just got up to pee at 2:00 a.m. and peeked to see a whole bunch of you here when you should be sleeping, so thought you deserved something more. That was an hour ago, it's 3:30 and I've been doing edits since 3:00 a.m. Now everybody's gone except tow614 and me. tow614, don't you sleep? All rights reserved by author.

 

No Smoking - 3579

"Did they tell you there's no smoking in this truck?" was the first thing I asked the newbie. He said they did. "Bring your stuff," I said a little more gruffly than needed. His gear kept coming and coming. Filled up my upper and lower bunk, the floor up to my armrests. I had room to shift. Just.

That's a lot of stuff because the Cascadias are roomy, very roomy. In spaciousness comparison, a T800 (Kenworth) has the gear shift right tight up against the seat so you climb over it and I mean climb. I was able to get an ab machine, a slider, from Sam's Club in 3579 with enough room to easily move around it back to the bunk or into the jump seat. He had enough gear with him to move into a small apartment.

Fortunately I didn't have the ab machine yet. The newbie was ten or more years younger than me but looked much older. Well, most do. At Orientation, I was approaching 64 and when I mentioned my age, that I was the oldest, Super Service put his hand out with this gimme look.

"Don't you want to put some money on it first?" I asked. Without a word he shook his head and gave me the 'gimme' forward-and-back hand-and-finger wag. When Super Service looked at my CDL, he didn't just look at it. I thought he was going to cry. "Hey, don't let it bother you. Go out and have another cigarette," I said. For once Super Service was quiet, really quiet. He just shook his head and handed back my CDL. I figure he thought I was younger than him and he's 45-ish. An old 45-ish.

I left the newbie in 3579 and went in to talk to the Fleet Manager. I had concluded that they would easily accept that I had met a woman, not that she was happily married and a Healer. No, that part I'd leave out. Basically, the Fleet Manager, once she understood that I wasn't going to budge, decided that if I gave 7-day notice Gordon would get me home to Indiana and 10-day notice would get me to Pacific, MO.

She insisted, of course, that home time was 'no problem' and I scowled at her with my best, "You're kidding, I'm sure and if you're not, you should be." Then I said we needed to talk about trips to California, too. "You're not going to California. You're not going west of Denver," she replied with a matter-of-fact shrug.

"That was part of my understanding in signing with Gordon," I said. "Part of my calculation whether this would work or not." She could care less. "Vic-you're-not-going-west-of-Denver." The way I figured it, the $1,500 bonus and two trips to California that would save me $1,000 each would make up for lots of Gordon Grief. I had meant to do six months with Gordon no matter what. Get $1500 bonus and two trips to California. (Well, due to my two screw-ups I wasn't expecting any more than the $1000 of the bonus Gordon had already erroneously paid me. See page 5, message #47, paragraph 3, for example.)

There wasn't any doubt in my mind that I was going to California around the end of December or early January and again before the end of six months. I didn't bother to complain further, explain or argue with her. The Recruiter had said all I had to do was come in to the office. It would be arranged. I was in the office and the answer was no. Okay, fine.

I decided right there that when 3579 went into the shop next, I'd pull all my gear out without a word and arrange my trip to California. And when 3579 did go into the shop, I did. Sent her an email requesting at least three (3) weeks off, effective immediately (3579 was in the shop, all my gear was out; I was home and not about to answer my phone for Gordon), said that I was making the California trip that had been planned before I started with Gordon. She emailed me back that she'd have a truck waiting for me.

So Gordon does blink. More on this later.




Written August 1, 2013 at Los Reyes Mexican Restaurant, Martinsville, IN. Little Steven's Underground Garage tonight 10 p.m. to Midnight, WTTS, Bloomington-Indianapolis. truckinmike1984: See page 10, message #93. All rights reserved by author.