The Shaffer Experience

Hired on in September 26, 2005 as a SAGE PTDI Graduate.
Started my training through the Deland terminal with a trainer named Larry Shamp. For the first couple of days I just rode along because they forgot to put in their data base. After the first couple of days I began driving. As a new driver I obviously wasn't perfect, so there were times when I would leave my signal on and my trainer would yell, "cancel". He never explained himself, instead he would just yell out commands as if I was supposed to know exactly what he meant at the time.

He would do this continuously throughout the entire 8 weeks of training as if I was supposed to know what these expressions of outburst commands were supposed to mean. Throughout the entire 8 weeks of training he spend a total of 2 hours helping me with maneuvers and backing. For the first two weeks, my trainer was very short tempered with verything on the road...not necessarily with anything that I was doing, but with traffic (especially when he was behind the wheel) dispatch, and shippers. I knew the next 8 weeks out were going to be dreadful when we were approaching heavy traffic on a main Interstate... my first traffic jam in a big rig. I started to slow down and began downshifting. My trainer reached over and grabbed the shifter preventing me downshifting and began yelling out commands. I simply pointed out what was up ahead of us and he apologized for being distracted while talking to his wife on the cell phone while he should have been training instead. Another time, again while we were in a heavy traffic jam, he leaned out the passenger's side window (obviously while I was driving) and started yelling at the cars passing us on the right trying to cut over into our lane. He then barked out another command demanding that I tailgate the car in front of me so no cars could get in front of us. I refused to do so. One time as we were going through a toll booth I slowed down to a stop as one of the toll booth's attendant was walking across to another booth. As usual, my trainer started barking out commands. "GO... GO NOW!" I asked if he wanted me to run over the attendant. The attendant looked up as she could clearly hear my trainer yelling. "Oh, I didn't realize that there was someone in front of us", he said. Once while we were sitting at a truck stop, we got a message on the qualcomm stating that we would have to change loads for whatever reason. The trainer took the qualcomm and threw it across the truck cab. The same day the trainer pulled into one of those TA Idle Air parking spots and the Idle Air attendant came out and asked us to move unless we were going to use their system. He started yelling at the attendant, "I should run yer a@# over instead!" He then sped out of that spot and into another. By the second week, we pulled into a Walmart DC to deliver a load. The guard explained everything to me as to where to take the paper work and also include the seal. I tried taking the seal off the door and placing it into the envelope and the trainer started yelling that it wasn't necessary. I tried to tell him that the guard wanted me to do this. The trainer jumped into the driver's seat and started driving forward as I was trying to walk around the front of the truck.

I placed a call into the Safety Department and tried explaining my situation to a guy named Ron Astergard who mainly treated my grievance as a joke. "No", he said... "You may not request another trainer. That's just the way it is out there. If you don't like it then you'll simply have to find another line of work." This Ron Astergard claimed that he documented everything and did talk with Larry Shamp, my trainer, but it didn't end there. Larry never allowed me to plan out my trips or to double check the directions that came across the qualcomm. He also would always tweak the log books, something that cannot be done anymore as you have to log it the way you run it. He continuously got us lost and on several occasions, told me to make turns into parking lots that were too tight to navigate. At one time he demanded that I turn into a shopping mall while a car was trying to pull out. This was a very small drive area with only room enough for two cars.

By the end of the 8 weeks I was pretty well fed up with Larry. He continuously chewed tobacco and kept his spit cup in the cup holder so whenever I shifted into 9th, I would bump it and he refused to move it to another location. He always took garlic pills so the inside of the cab always reeked like garlic. When it came time to fill out the paper work at the end of the 8 weeks, Larry stated that by writing anything negative about my training experience could result in either further training time with him or my dismissal. So, instead of being honest, I gave him a satisfactory approval rating. Not only that, but after trying to file a complaint the first time with Safety and getting slapped in the face, I thought, who would listen tome anyway.

After orientation in New Kingstown, I got my own truck and I figured from that point, I would try to learn things on my own due to the lack of quality training through Shaffer with Larry Shamp who is out of the Deland, Florida terminal. By trying to recoup some driving skills on my, I managed to acquire several avoidable incidences to which I had credited several points on my record along with some log violations. With that all out of the way, I am now working on getting my points into the minus, but have a ways to go. Since then, this is how things have been going so far.

For the most part, I really love my job and love what I do however, there are some issues that seem to make me feel as though I am on someone's crappy list.

Came back from home time and had to wait a day and a half to be dispatched, this has happened several times.

Trip #1
May 30: Dispatched to Velda Farms - Winter Haven, FL
Velda Farms/Shipping Supervisor, claimed that they had no accounts w/Shaffer. Contacted dispatch (Tom) @ 14:30 and was told that someone will get right back to me. 18:00 I contacted dispatch again (Randy) and was told that I was forgotten about and I needed to contact dispatch first thing in the morning. The next morning Dispatch told me to head back to Velda Farms and once again, Velda Farms (same guy) told me that no one had contacted him. After a few hours, Velda Farms contacted Shaffer and straightened everything out. I was compensated with layover pay.

Trip #2
June 23: Dispatch sent me a load which was to be picked up on the 23rd of June, and according to the QualComm information, was to deliver on the 25th at 2:am (1st Stop). When I arrived, I was informed by the guard that my delivery appointment wasn't until the 26th @ 2:am. As a result, I could have done a 34 hour reset but instead ended up logging unnecessary driving. No lay over pay.

Contacted Fleet Manager
June 26: Informed Fleet Manager in Deland, FL and requested layover pay for Trip #6606363 for being inconvenienced and robbed out of a 34 hour reset. She assured me that she would do what she could and reassured me that she would update me via QualComm that day. I also asked her about switching over to Crete in hopes that they ran things a little more professional and she once again, assured me that she would update me via QualComm. I had since called her to remind her that she had not gotten back to and I would appreciate a little more effort in her doing so. To this date I have not received any updates from her.

Trip #3
June 29: After picking up this load from Williamson, NY I had a blow out on Trailer #834481 in West Virginia/I77 SB/MM 35. Contacted breakdown @12:30 in the afternoon. 2 hours later the State Police arrived and asked if I would remind breakdown that I was on the shoulder of a busy highway. Breakdown informed me that the garage that they had contacted cancelled on them and no one contacted me back. In other words, no one in breakdown tried getting anyone new to come out and it wasn't until I called breakdown back and asked to speak with the person who overlooks the breakdown department did I finally get any results. After 5 hours of sitting on the side of the road, Hutch's Body Shop from Handley, WV arrived.

Trip #4
June 30: After arriving later than anticipated to my next pickup due to the lengthy unreliable resources from breakdown, I headed towards Omaha, NE for delivery. As I was running later than expected, I tried contacting night dispatch @ 19:00 on July 1st to explain that I will be out of hours and could they T-Call this load at the Kansas City Terminal. After 4 hours I did not receive any communication from night dispatch so I once again tried contacting dispatch at 23:00. Again, after not receiving any notification from dispatch I once again tried QualComming at 03:30. This time, after telling dispatch of exactly how unprofessional they were acting, I finally got through to someone. Chris, who explained to me that it wasn't his fault as he had just came on at midnight could not explain why then it took him 3 ½ hours to get back to me and only after I reminded them that this was an ongoing issue.

Trip # 5
August 12: I am a National Driver fromthe beginning. Gold Kist loaded at Russellville, AL to Dial Corp at Fort Madison, IA.
August 14: Premium Standard Farms loaded at Milon, MO to Birmingham, AL.
August 16: Gold Kist loaded at Russellville, AL to Dial Corp at Fort Madison, IA. This load was supposed to be loaded on the 17th according to dispatch. I notified dispatch (Michele Cool out of York, NE) and asked her if she would check out why I am waiting for a day to be loaded. She only stated that I should let her know when I am loaded and she will send me a new delivery time due to the delay in being loaded. Michele never followed through with my request to find out any more which left me hanging out to dry. I had asked Michele if she could get me loads going out West as I am supposed to be running National and every time she insisted that there was nothing going out West. I then contacted my fleet manager who stated that she had put a notice on the screen that I would like to get more miles, preferably going out West.

Contacted Assistant Fleet Manager
August 17: Complained to Darrell in Deland about previous situations. He insisted that I need to give him a chance seeing how others have not been helpful at all. I was finally informed that CSR had entered the wrong P/U time and date for trip #x which caused me to be a day earlier making me sit for over 24 hours. Darrell did get me 2 layover pays and promised to get me back on track as a National Driver instead of the Dedicated routes that I have been given. At that time I asked for a different dispatcher as I felt that Michele had been misinforming me about several things. Darrell also promised me that I would start seeing more miles as I was only getting 2,000 miles per week on average. After trip #x I got a load that delivers out to CA even though I was told by Michele that there was nothing going out that way. Once I got out West, I noticed hundreds of Crete and Shaffer loads going out West and coming in from Out West.

Trip #6
Sept, 14: Waited 3 ½ hours to be dispatched for my next load. Once again, contacted Asst. Fleet Manager out in Deland and he stated that he see what he could do to shake things up. An hour later I ended up contacting dispatch who finally got me a load.

I have spoken with other Shaffer drivers and they claim that I should be getting at least 2800 miles per week. We'll see how Darrel out in Deland handles my protests.

 

Bill, doug, Zonegale and Kathy... gone,gone,goneand gone.All left just last year around september and they have a new crew in there now. 75% of the mechanics in New Kingstown, PA quit not too long ago and are now short handed. My main grip right now is only getting 2,000 miles per week. I have complained to the new Terminal Manager there and to JR in PA and so far no one has gotten back to me. I have a meeting with Ray Dunn who is President. We'll see what kind of promises he can come up with.

 

No, Roehl and Shaffer are two separate companies. Shaffer (Refrigerated Division) is now owned by Crete (Dry Van) who also owns Hunt Transportation (Flat Bed).

I am doing better. I know I’m sounding a bit hypocritical here but, just starting out I am having some difficulty with the deception that others offer within this lifestyle when it comes to dispatchers and fleet managers. Overall, from what I am seeing out here and how this company treats their drivers, this is probably one of the better companies out there. I would check Crete/Shaffer out but if you have to go with a trainer, try to stay away from this Larry guy as he is only in it for the extra cash. I am getting better miles now that I threw a tantrum. I love the driving, the solitude, and the lifestyle overall. I am hanging in there and trying to be less of a whiner when things don’t go as smoothly as expected.