Post Gordon ~ Thoughts, Commentary & Reflections

Funny, you bring up things I felt but couldn't have articulated. Switches out of reach, right. My T800 has that, too. The lights and engine brake, in particular. The ones I use. I did like the little button on the right side of the steering wheel to flick your markers off/on. So thank you's were easy, except the Gordon Way was to not give the courtesy. You don't give, you don't get.

Yeah, out of reach on the dash and above. Lots of useless headroom. Wow. That was a constant pain. Couldn't reach my clipboard, sunglasses, water jug. Passenger seat or floor next to driver seat becomes a catch-all. T800 has spots for quicker access to a few things. Discomfort in the Cascadia seat, I bought a wood bead car seat slide over. That helped but difficult to secure to the large seat, so it tended to slip around. Had to get it adjusted right before pulling out.

Cascadia is a lot roomier than the T800. I bought open storage bins rather than have stuff rolling around loose in the storage compartments. The pull-out drawer would usually pull out on its own. Always had to futz with it. Liked the big floor-to-ceiling curtains, though.

 

What's the deal on finding a reefer? I though most of the loads on the reefer side were live load/unload. Is this like an appointment that won't take place for a day or so and you need to drop on yard? No empty reefer there and have to bobtail to find one or just wait to deliver?

On van side, you're always pulling a different trailer due to drop-and-hook. Some are better and some worse. On the good trailers, I was always in awe of the investment in rolling stock. And little extras rather than bare economy models. Drop-and-hooks often take as long as a live load for that matter.

I'm certain if you dropped your trailer on the yard on Dividend (in Indy), you'd be lucky to find an MT reefer or van. And they won't adopt a simple way to signal you've dropped an empty, like stick an unhooked plastic seal on the billbox. So every driver looking for an MT has to get out and look at each trailer. Again. Again. And...

That's fine for Gordon, not paying for my time to do that. It'd change fast if Gordon did pay for that time hunting an empty. Another bad cheese.

 

You've said that before, General tow. Nothing 'peculiar' about it. Gordon has 2,000 seats and probably, like most mega starter OTR, 100% turnover unlike LTL with around 6% turnover and where drivers stick around. Drivers don't leave jobs that pay well. With 100% turnover, on any given day how many of that 2,000 aren't thinking they could do better somewhere else down the road?

What does it say that somebody (or somebodies) at Lathrop siphoned Blu's gas out of his pickup while he was on the road? Tells me someone was too broke to buy their own and desperate enough to have stolen Blu's gas to get home.

There were a lot of things about Gordon I liked. Pay wasn't one of them.

 

As far as a driver's DM thinking the driver was 'happy', you said it best sometime back that if you weren't getting the miles and loads you felt you deserved you could cuss them out over phone or in person, if necessary and "don't bother me none," is what you said about doing it.

CougFan has said the same. If you don't speak up, they think you're fine with the way things are going. And there's an art, a skill, to know how to complain or beef about something and get results rather than increased resistance, retaliation or push back for your effort.

So my hat is off to you and anyone else who skillfully stands up for themselves and gets a positive result. It's no simple matter.

 

Maybe you're just checking on the wrong LTL outfits, tow.

Not all require drivers to load their own trailers, like Con-way Freight, or even worse, Central Transport where I understand they load and unload. (Terrible CSA, too. Don't know what that means for Vitran folks since CT just bought Vitran's US LTL for $2 million, about Gordon's weekly payroll!)

Many LTLs have break-out crews that work both the PU/DEL and the linehaul so local and linehaul driver's can drive, not work the dock. One of the benefits of LTL is a smaller geographic area that you know cold after a while, how to get into each stop quickly and personal relationships with shippers/receivers.

The exercise is good, too, rather than stuck in your cab all day (in your case, literally all day weeks on end) and another is over time, hourly pay and going home to Momma's good cookin' at night. Not to mention what ever else she might have cookin' after dinner. Back in the day, we hand loaded/unloaded everything, not that much came on pallets unless it was HEAVY. LTL trucking was more a package handler than like it is today, mostly palletized.

But I'm not just praising LTL. I could work LTL up in Indy but would have to make some arrangements up there. Not going to drive 50 miles to and fro each day. (I could use the exercise of PU/DEL--that would be nice.) It's the stark contrast in turnover, 100% for companies like Gordon and 6% or less in LTL... especially when you express something akin to disbelief that someone might find a greener pasture than Gordon.

 

Here's TTR's article that cites 100% turnover OTR and 6% turnover LTL: http://www.thetruckersreport.com/driver-turnover-on-the-rise-again-the-ata-tells-us-why/#more-6402

I have had good jobs in trucking and consider Gordon one of those. Just not the pay.

And, yes, you're a little defensive about criticism of Gordon and that's okay. You've never said Gordon was perfect. And, in fairness, how many times in the last week or two have I PMd you to speak to someone on one thread or another... so you could bring up Gordon as a good choice?