Starting with Gordon

Tonka, if your in Co. overnight try arranging to stay at Johnson's Corner if possible. The Pilot and T/A's are crap. I-25 N of Denver at MM 254. If you must stay in Denver go to T/A at I-70 MM 266, best of the bad.

 

Cool..You'll get the hang of it and everything will fall into place on its own. Just remember that sometimes when you're mt, your dm will get you a crappy short load to keep you moving but he will remember you and give you a great load next...I used to listen to all these guys complain about their crappy loads then it dawned on me that they were the ones always on the phone with their dm's...########...alot, while I was racking up miles left and right...lol

 

Well stated and absolutley correct. It doesn't hurt to stay in touch to get loaded, but then to complain about what you get will not be remembered kindly. Get the load, run it, and then get another one. Those who work get the work, those that complain get something to complain about.

 

I hired on with GTI several years ago straight out of school. They pretty much had the best starting pay out there. More important to me is that their training program is "for real". Unlike most companies these days, you do not team drive with your trainer. They are there to observe you and help you improve. Over all I was very happy working for them. However, I did have a couple instances that where annoying.

My fifth wheel broke. I had to take my truck to the shop in L.A., CA. They couldn't get it fixed for about a week, so they where going to have me take a truck out of there that was "fixed". This was on a friday afternoon. As it turned out the brakes on the tractor I was getting where locked up, in addition all of the registration and etc had expired.

My dispatcher put me up in a hotel for the night, and said the registration would be faxed in the morning. The following day, they still hadn't fixed the brakes on the truck, and the registration still hadn't been faxed. The weekend dispatch refused to put me up in a hotel. I was highly pissed about this due to there being no restroom facilities available after hours, nor any food to be had within a reasonable distance.

The next morning (sunday), the truck was finally fixed, but no registration. The weekend dispatch tried to get me to drive the truck to a drop yard. I refused to do so because I would be illegal. They then told me that I would have to wait until later afternoon before someone that could take care of this issue would be in.

I had enough. I turned the keys back into the shop(I was not under load, and the truck was already at a shop). I got a taxi to a car rental and drove home. Monday, I contacted my normal dispatcher. They appologized for dropping the ball. I parted company with GTI at that point because I had already turned in two week notice for a local driving job. It was just after christmas, so freight was slow anyhow.

I left on good terms with GTI, and while that incident was rather annoying, they still did right by me. They where nice enough to reimburse me for the taxi trip and the car rental to get home. If I where forced to go otr again, GTI would without a doubt be my number one choice. They have a fantastic training program, and my normal dispatcher did a great job keeping me rolling.

 

EX Watkins Shepard Driver here.. Looking to get back into driving , have talked to Gordon recruiter / Modeso area/ Jon M. //// Just wondering if Gordon is still a good Co, to work for?? Anyone have anything good or bad to say about them ??????????
Thanks for any info.

 

Luman you hit the nail on the head...The problem I had with them is that the ball gets dropped a little too much.Some things are small but when the people can't seem to get it together,it gets very frustrating. They have the best training in the business..2nd to none. If I went back otr again,I would seek them out too.
Sal, Jon Martin is a really nice guy and won't mislead you at all and GTI is a very good Company to work for...

 

Good morning all.

Well.... after a bit of a wait, I got the call and will be officially starting orientation with GTI on 3-16-10.

Thanks to everyone for all of the info posted here.

Hope to see ya'all out there sometime.


........ Jim

 

Gota question on dispatch , are you given one person that you work with or is it an area type dispatch ? Looking at US Fleet, anyone give me any info on this ?

 

You will have one dm, however when you go to the midwest your planner changes to that area. Your load assignment still comes from your dm. It does help to make contacts in the midwest when your out here. Stop by the terminals and say Hi.