The Worst Trucking Company In The Industry

Everybody situation is different, but the same. most of the time the only way to investigate a company is go there, then its to late. thats kinda what this site is for. ITS saved me twice now, every blog about the 2 companys i almost went to was correct down to the T. that being said im very happy about this site.

 

As I was reading this I almost thought of another company. They have pretty trucks , and that's it ...........everything else is a royal headache and needs to be cleaned up Literally.............and legally ............that word "Legally" anymore has been altered .
The word "Common Sense" is the most important word, which the fine art of that is slowly leaving this nation , grain of sand at a time.

 

What are you going to do about it? Why do you think they get away with the things that they do?

 

Hubby and I have been team drivers for near a year, with 'a certain company' and began to discover not a week after getting out on our own the lies that were told to recruit us. To say nothing of the trainer who, bless his heart kept us a week longer than he needed to not because we needed the wheel time, but because "I really like the trainer pay and I like you guys".
The first lie was "Teams get the best equipment" We were issued a filthy truck with a broken 5th wheel and bad rubber all the way around. It had more miles on it than the trainer's truck had, and he was being made to turn his in in a month. The truck had near 400K on it, was not set up for team speed and still had the previous driver's chips and cornflakes all over the interior.
Lie 2: Teams average 2000 miles per dispatch (at least that was the lie when we were recruited and hired. within a couple months of our hire date, all those recruiting posters with the skier dissappeared, and the avg touted for teams went down 300-400 miles. The LAST time my hubby and I averaged 2000 per dispatch was our second run. Every load we delivered was early, so it wasn't that we couldn't "handle" the runs. Our actual average before we transferred to a dedicated run was actually closer to 1300. I have all our logs and job pads documenting this.
Lie 3: 70% drop and hook (actually this number was also higher when we were recruited last year, but I am unable to recall the EXACT percentage given). Our REAL avg of drop hook versus sitt on the thumb in the dock.. 50%
We too were basically forced to take perdeum, but I didn't think it was too bad an idea, so we went with it.
Lie 4: Teams income will be 40,000 + ea. the first year. At the end of 8 mos with this company, the gross we had gotten was right at 20K .... so we began to look for something else. We found com message about a dedicated run near family in the midwest that advertised itself as being 5600 miles a week garunteed. (THAT is more like it we thought). We called the supervisor, and he told us that yes, the run was 5600 miles. and since it paid less than the national runs, there were bonuses etc that were paid. We were reassured when we told this person we HATE sitting around in the dock waiting that "you will VERY RARELY ever have to do any waiting on this run". Unfortunately, we need you down here in a week, and there is no money to help you move, it's all on you. We nearly went broke getting ourselves and our belongings moved, but we did it. One blessing was we were released from our 12 month lease, so we didn't lose all that.
Sure enough, we got to work on the dedicated run, and the very first thing was a 16 hr wait for our very first load... which by the way was a run of only 5200 miles. (we should have gotten the warning and run, but we wanted to believe the veracity of the current liar we worked for).
Week after week (also documented in my pads and logs) we would sit for anywhere from 6-12 hours. This after we had been reassured at recruitment that the only thing cutting into our TAH was the speed at which we could compete the run. I did the math on the run and figured we should be able to be home EASY for almost 3 full days.
that would have put us home at 6 AM to begin home time. In fact, the earliest we EVER got home was 8 AM, the next early time was noon, it was usually 4pm to midnight. so, stolen from us, nearly 10-18 hrs a week unpaid. Added to the fact that the loading dock we spent the most time IN was less than three miles from our house.
we won't even talk about the "alternate winter routes" the supervisor came up with for these mostly northern routes. Nightmares of hundreds of extra miles out of rt.
I finally came to the end of my rope with the lies and the working conditions, that included a truck that was down on the side of the rd 4 times with a gunked up fuel filter compliments of the adding of ULSD to tanks that had held the old stuff. Was told by one tech who put the new one in, that the combination of the old and the new fuel in stations fuel tanks created a black sludge, and that the best way to take care of that was to add treatment. I passed this info on to this supervisor, and his reply was "well, if you don't like to wait 4-6 hrs for repair, I can always reimburse you for some filters and a wrench and you can change them yourself." So here's me out on the side of a road in the middle of the night in the 5 degree weather common where we ALWAYS had our problems, trying to figure out how to be a diesel mechanic.... THOUGH I was told at school that I was NOT to attemt to do my own wrench work EVER. Not gonna happen.... Not even if getting fuel on myself and having to breathe fumes for any time at all didn't make me sick.
We tried to quit a month ago, and were cajolled into staying for the duration of our contract (after they discovered that my BP had shot up to 170/100. Havent gained weight, never had prob before, purely stress related) They promised to take us off the run, and put us back on southern runs with less snow ice and stress, promised to accomodate all the dr. appts' that job stress has put on us; GERD in spades for hubby, and Heart and BP probs for me.
We went back to work after BP came down and were on a 1 week run national... all of which was through ICE.. Then we were begged to HELP them out with a dedicated run before Christmas.... I told the dispatcher I knew I would be sorry but we would help them out again... once more into the ice and snow for a week.. trying to run ahead of that blizzard that caused all those pileups in the midwest. We got back.. 10 hrs later than expected, but alive and non wrecked. spent Christmas, after telling these people that we had docs to see on 2nd and 3rd. When we returned, shazam.. back on the dedicated run into the teeth of several snow storms coming. I refused to do it... had panic attacks that night and all the next day. Now I think we are going to be let go. And they want us to bring the truck to an OC... Any advice?

 

Dont know if that co you asked about is still there... tried to do a PM but I don't get to till I gab a lot more apparently... so I figured since you read my post here, I could come back and repost, and you would find it here. I do still see those trucks around... and CFI is in fact a subsidiary of Conway now.

 

I had a driver that had been out there for many years tell me when I had only a few yrs behind me at the time, and was getting frustrated about the Co. I was with say "The BS is everwhere. Some just pay more than others to put up with it!" And after almost 19 years, I know hes right!

 

Like burky was getting at, and many other posters here. Every company is the BEST and the WORST company to work for. Its all about making what you can and finding what you like to do. TMC sucks? dont drive flat bed. CR englad sucks? pull a dry van. Being away from home sucks? Tough it out or look harder for a local job. bottom line you have to make life what you want it to be, No matter how old you are or how long you've been driving. If you read enough posts here you all know my opinions and what I do for work. Some days I love it, some days I hate it. Either way it provides a good standard of living and valuable expirience to take with me.

 

Calling Turbo Trucker ... I am in Ringgold GA and wanting to get back into trucking. Any connections or suggestions that might help me out? I am looking for most home time, not most money. Maybe I could meet up with you one day, I currently work for local retailer driving straight truck. Just graduated from NTC to get my CDLs again. Open to advice and TIA, T. Morris