The company is NO LONGER Gainey Transportation Services, Inc. it is now GST Transportation Services, LLC. Gainey's name has been removed from the trucks, though the trailers still have it. The USDOT # has changed, as have several other permit numbers. It is owned by Michigan Trucking, LLC. They use T-check. You can be paid check, direct deposit, or on your T-check card. Or some combination of them.
This post is intended to chronicle my time with this company. This first post is just going to be easy to digest information for potential employees considering the company. Please do read this thread, and the Gainey Experience thread if you want complete information OR you can just reply with a question/comment and I will get back to you. Unless its answered in this post here, as I hate repeating myself
Please note I am a TEAM DRIVER.
-------
FAQ - Questions I have been asked repeatedly on the company.
1) Do I like working at Gainey
Yes I do, it has its ups and downs like any company, however, overall, I am far happier here then I ever was with Werner, and my husband whom has 11 years of experience with companies like JB Hunt, Salson Logistics, Schneider National, and so on also says this is the best company he has ever worked for OTR. I would endorse and recommend this company to anyone who asked, whom was a hard worker, level headed, and able to work without their hand being held. Now, that said, what makes this endorsement sincere is the fact that as far as I know the company does NOT offer referral bonuses of any kind. Thusly me telling you this will not help me in anyway.
2) What kind of trucks/trailers. I heard they were getting new trucks?
Currently most of the fleet appears to be Kenworth, there are a few Century classes, however the greater portion of them seem to be being retired. For the most part teams are assigned T-2000 and solos are assigned T-600's & Century classes trucks. There are exceptions to this rule, including person's who started team and went solo after the teammate quit/was fired. I have heard rumors of new trucks here and there, I have seen nothing in regards to this. And when I say that I mean literally, I see no new trucks at any terminal. My dispatcher states that they haven't yet decided on who they are buying from but International, Freightliner, and Kenworth are on the table, and they are currently leaning toward Freightliner.
Trailers are all van for this company, with the exception of a handful of reefers baring the Gainey name, most of if not alll of the Gainey reefers ARE out of Grand Rapids, headed west on dedicated runs. They have different van trailers with different internal setups, but for the most part this will not bother you in the least, there is only about 5 companies they haul for that need a certain kind of van trailer. The trailers are either full Gainey trailers, or GST trailers. Generally you can haul both interchangeably.
A quick reference to tell your trucks age is the truck number. Trucks starting with 500 are 03/04/05 and most are Century classes, most of them are being retired. 600s are newer, 05/06. This seems to be split mostly between T-600s and Centuries. However there are some T-2000 in the mix. 700's are newer 07/08 most are Kenworths. Most are T-2000. A handful are W900, but only drivers with 10+ years of service are even considered for them. 379 trucks are all Peterbuilt 379's and most if not all are quite old, as far as I know they have added on no 379s in the last few years.
3) Is Gainey going to paperless logs?
Short answer no, long answer yes. The new trucks will be equipped with paperless log systems under the current plan. Older trucks will not. This is due to the expense of retrofitting the trucks for paperless logs. From what I am told there is more to them then just updating the QC. So there is the slight possiblity that if you come to work for this company after they get new trucks, and you manage to get assigned a new truck, then you may have paperless logs. But from what I am being told, they plan to cycle the new trucks into their expierenced drivers/teams first.
4) Does Gainey Pay tolls?
Yes, and no. They do not have any payment system. No Ezpass, no K-pass, nothing. You pay the toll and submit the reciept for reimbursement. Now here is the catch. And its a big one. This is why people who work here might claim they don't get reimbursed. So READ THE NEXT LINE CAREFULLY!
To be reimbursed you must be on line 3 at the time shown on the toll reciept.
Tada, thats the secret. They check your logs against your toll reciepts. If they do not match you will not get reimbursed. Sounds harsh but DOT does this to them, and you as well. So get used to it and just log the #### thing as you do it and you will have no issue. I've never not had a toll reciept paid back.
5) Didn't they go bankrupt? I am scared to miss my pay!
They did indeed, however, the cause of the bankruptcy was writing checks with 'forecast' rather then writing them on incoming cash flow. During the time working here I havenot had one pay issue. Ever. Not one. EVER. I get paid for the loads on time everytime. I cannot say the same about SNI or Werner. I get reimbursed for everything that I spend and follow the rules to get reimbursed for.
They are no longer in banckrupcy court. The compy was purchased and reformed, the new company seems to have gotten the snags out of the company by eliminating some positions, reworking terminal locations, and selling off the massive amount of rigs they had sitting around at the terminals.
6) What do they haul?
Alot of my freight is UPS, however, we are team. Niagra Water, Michelin Tire, Quad Graphics, J-Crew, T-Mobile, Footlocker, and UPS seem to be their big accounts. I haven't pulled any brewry loads from here that I am aware of.
7) Do they go to NYC?
I've been #### close, but never gone into NYC. But thats not the say they do not ever, they might, but its not common.
8) Where do they haul?
Alot of the solo freight is EAST of Mississippi. To be honest most of it seems to be out of Louisville, Kansas City, and so forth, headed north east, or south east. Very rarely, about 4 times since we been here, have we seen FL. We have seen alot of Cali, and some Colorado. A bit of Utah, but we are a team.
----------------
Now I will list my pros and cons.
Pro -
Company seems to be well put together. There is a geniune care about getting loads delivered, when you communicate effectively they will work to solve issues that at the other larger companies seem to stump their dispatchers. Things like having someone grab a load to ensure pickup is ontime when you are going to be running a few minutes late, swapping out a load asap when given notice that you are having truck/log issues, and being on top of truck maintence issues show me this company is far more service orientated then SNI or Werner ever was.
Well maintained trucks. Not lying, our first truck was nearly 600,000 miles, we had it for 2 trips. It ran perfect. That 5 year old truck ran better then the 1 year old truck at Werner with 100k miles. They get them in for their oil changes. They fix crap when you tell them its wrong (with the exception of the Dallas shop sheesh).
Straight forward truck service. The way they do it makes a driver feel the shop is LISTENING to them. You write your truck writeups down in the booklet for repairs and hand the truck and book in. The service team goes down the list you wrote and writes what they did, didn't do, or what was ok when checked beside your list, so you see your writeups getting worked on.
Miles come freely here, if you keep your logs straight, and keep good communication you can get excellent miles.
The dispatchers seem a lot more attentive and caring then anything I've ever seen. My dispatcher bought me and the hubby lunch when he lost a bet. How many of you disaptchers have bought YOU lunch? Or talked to you face to face with no bullet proof glass, security guards, or metal dectectors? I can walk INTO the dispatcher/safety/corp building, freely and right to my dispatcher. If you take the time to build a relationship with your dispatcher you will reap rewards. I can call my disaptcher or walk in and he KNOWS who I am without having to give a truck number or id number. I have my dispatchers cell phone, I can call or text him ANYTIME. And sometimes being as I am night I've done that way later then I realized (oh crap its 1 am isnt it), and he answers usually!
Pay is on time everytime. And lets face it, thats more important then the miles right? Afterall it doesn't matter if you run 10000 miles a week if you get dont get paid on time or the right miles.
Hometime has never been late. Well it was once but I did tell dispatcher if he found a load that was great but got us home later that was fine. When I say I need home I get home.
Road Test seemed to be spot on, not too hard, and not too crazy easy. About 10-20 miles long, with many turns some tight, so they get a feel for your skills. But we were taken individually (or for a team the team is taken together), and the testor was laid back not crazy in your face like some of them. This enviorment makes the road test far easier then those where you get thrown in with 4 other people and of course the laid back instructor makes your nerves get settled. The length and makeup of the test are good enough I feel confident that people hired are able to drive a truck effectively.
Easy in easy out terminals. No dreaded safety lane, or truck searches.
Cons
Orientation is four days of borning drivel that could easily be condensed into 2 or 3. I am not going to lie the 4 day orientation is a joke. If they wanted to stream line the process it would easiy condiced into 2 or 3 days. I have a feeling part of it has to do with the fact they are waiting on drug results. But most of the information they tell you in orientation is standard orientation stuff. Its not overly hard, its just long and borning and tedious. And the pay is like 125 dollars or something, which is also a joke.
No Ezpass - I touched on this already, but seriously, this one drives me batty. Plus it would save money for them to have it. Nevertheless, I have never had issues getting reimbursed.
No Pets Allowed - Some wouldn't find this a con. It is for me. In fact, I'd be 20308403480934x more happy if they allowed my pet to come. But they do not.
No truck wash plan. My dispatcher did say he'd approve a 35 dollar one but offically there is no truck wash plan and all the truck washes at the terminal are broken.
Logs are hard core. They can mess with your pay. Don't log a toll on line 3 you aren't getting paid for it. They check the logs vs. the QC tracking. Be where you log, or they will catch you. This was implemented when they got nailed hardcore by dot checking the logs against the QC tracking. Its simply not a game anymore. Its expensive to be an outlaw company anymore. And soon its going to be fatal to the company. So just log it legal and you have no issues. I've gotten one log violation (tech. two) for overhours because I cannot count. But thats it.
----------------------
Advances - Limited to 150 a week, without special permission from dispatch. Issued on T-Check card, can be gotten at ATM. Cost something like 80 cents.
Straight Talk about Gainey Transportation Services.
Discussion in 'Superservice' started by IROCUBabe, Apr 27, 2010.
Page 1 of 5
-
-
Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds
Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds
Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.
Page 1 of 5