ShadeTree Network

Just a shortage of GOOD drivers.

 

Roadside repairs every few hours? The 2015 Detroit diesel I am in has popped more check engine lights since August of last year than all the 3406B, Detroit 12.7s, and N14’s I have driven combined. It would probably be a much more efficient and dependable engine without all this emissions nonsense, which every check engine light has been. Currently looking at SPN 3058 fmi 10, a delta p sensor causing the EGR flow data too read too high. But it is ELD compliant

 

Define good? The price of the donage issue is around $50. So the margin "good - bad" is $50 thin for that company. Shortage is that intense. The company was not willing to invest $50 in its new driver because a sucker with extra $50 is standing by. That is what I call extreme profit maximization.

 

It is not the carriers responsibility to ensure that you have dunnage available. That is 100% the responsibility of the contractor. If an individual cannot ensure that they are prepared to do the job, that is not the fault of any carrier. It's called personal responsibility, and it is in very short supply.
As far as defining good vs. bad, well, that is a discussion for a much longer thread.

 

brokers, carriers, shippers, etc. would do a lot of things that is not their responsibility if they are in a bind. Responsibility is a very flexible concept then. Besides because of the nature of the flatbed biz it is not even reasonable to expect a driver to have all the dunnage available any time, any place. Not willing to work out a $50 issue with a new driver is called being nasty.

 

That wasn't the reason they let him go. He said his phone went dead and they couldn't get hold of him.

 

While true, I doubt even that was the reason. The main reason I can see, from reading into his posts, (so yes, an assumption) is that this brand new contractor lost them a load and might have costs penalty monies because he
1. would not answer his phone (doesn't matter why)
2. refused to get the proper dunnage (again, doesn't matter why)

 

I have had new employees who right out of the gate had severe issues with communication and service failures. And yes, they we're let go immediately. Why? Simple, neither I nor my customers have the time to deal with someone who can't get the job done. Not about being "nasty", it is about running a trucking company. Not a daycare.

 

Up here an employee can be let go within the first 90 days without cause or notice. They can just say the person wasn’t the right fit.
I imagine a similar policy can be applied to a contractor.

 

"Worked for them as an Owner Operator(my truck fully paid for) for a week. Fired me and never paid me a dime." My edit/update. Lack of money was discussed before starting. Had no dunnage/carrier new this, before starting. Could not make pickup on time with dunnage.