Want to stay broke? Work for Conway!

double yellow, for one so bright, how twisted!

On the one hand you want dissatisfied drivers to 'vote with their feet' and also to 'grind it out for a year or two'. Somehow the inconsistency is lost on you. How company-centric of you. Who benefits when drivers just 'suck it up'?? The mega carrier benefits that has already adjusted its operations and recruiting to dissemble (lie), to reel 'em in with false promise and then dispose of drivers who 'figure them out' with retaliatory DAC negs, that's who!

If that isn't enough, you submit that "[if] the company leaves a negative... on your DAC -- you probably deserved it." Again, how nicely company-centric! Conscience-less corporate blackballing. Can you spell 'blame-the-victim'?

Civil suit, you suggest. Really? Rather than advocate for change in the industry? Civil suits are great for parties roughly on par with each other. When an individual takes on a mega carrier, he/she will be lucky to get through the initial discovery stage and a law firm to represent you will ask for at least $5K up front and more every month, probably thousands. Get real!

They'll drag it out for years until you give up.

These mega carriers are companies that can self-insure against auto accidents! Self-insuring means they have the means to be formidable in courts of law against high-priced injury firms and concrete damages (missing and broken limbs, months in hospital and recovery), all evidenced by hospital bills.

You want individual drivers to take them on??? For negs on their DACs that will fall off before the litigation concludes and then make it all moot (useless, meaningless)? For hard to prove ethereal (but real) damages, which is the difference between what you would have made without the DAC neg??

Remember, these claims can't be lumped together in a class action because each claim is fundamentally and uniquely individual. When the positions of parties are grossly lop-sided, we need change in the law to protect the little people, not endless, useless, meaningless litigation.

That 'sense of entitlement' that you bemoan is the very 'we aren't going to take it any more' that has made this country great. From the British. From slavery. From child labor. From crony-capitalism. From gunboat diplomacy. From corporate waste of the environment. From 18th and 19th century labor practices. The list goes on. Thank god for 'entitlement' and si se puede! We can change things. In this country, we can speak truth to power.

And backbone of the country?? You're sick of that?? Then you don't belong in a truck. You lack respect for what we actually do and the significance of what transportation does. It makes all those other jobs possible, double yellow.

 

So if you have something bad on your DAC it's only ever the companies' fault? I don't get it. I'm just really surprised by the amount of people who come on here and do ALL KINDS of reasearch on the industry and read a milllion posts about all the different companies (good and bad), then are suddenly surprised by anything that doesn't go their way and magically get bad DAC reports for no reason and they have never done anything wrong to deserve it. I had plenty of people tell me, on here and in person, EXACTLY what I was getting into. I understood the school scams ( yes, I went to a "CDL mill"), the company training requirements ( I left for Joplin the first week May, and didn't get home with truck until the 2nd week of July), I knew there would be good times and bad, shiddy truckstops and bad food, rift raft walking around wakiing you up in the middle of the night to bum money or sell their aces. There really should be no surprises here. The insurance companies want the two years OTR with no accidents, because it shows you can drive most anywhere, in all conditions, and hopefully not cause a multi-million dollar lawsuit cause you're too lazy to check your mirrors because your feet are on the dash and you have earbuds jammed in both sides of your head while you're going down Donner sending a text. There are countless posts on here about all the big companies, warning everyone about all the pitfalls and the glory of these companies. For some reason unbeknownst to me, we tend to believe all this stuff as it's the Gospel, even though we've never even met anyone from here and don't even know if they actually have a CDL or have even ever driven a truck or worked for said company. There are lots of people on here who do not have a CDL, yet they spout all this stuff about whatever truck related, even though they've never worked for any of these companies or even driven a truck.

I'm thankful for the people that gave me a chance at Conway. Yes, I put my time in and left, well at least to the LTL side.....just like people on here, and elsewhere told me to. It's amazing the offers I get now, from companies who didn't want to take me at first. When I got my CDL, I applied to 12 companies. I followed up all my apps with a phone call and an-email. I didn't even hear from 6 of them, 3 declined for various reasons ( Roehl, Werner, and KLLM) and three gave me pre-hires ( Con-Way, Trans-AM, and FFE). I chose Con-Way since I heard the LEAST bad about them, they had a good stock rating as a publicly traded company, and lot's of people on here and in person spoke highly of them. I had friends who own trucks tell me to basically pick what color and what kind of truck I wanted to drive in the beginning and choose your company that way, since they were basically all the same. There is a lot of truth to that. If you have spent any time researching anything on here you've heard plenty about any company you might start out with.

I always shook my head listening to the morning report at Con-Way, about drivers who missed loads because they OVERSLEPT; really? you're an adult, show up for work on time. Did you get lost from the sleeper to the wheel? Give me a break. Went out of route? Whose fault is that? Can't manage YOUR time? Forgot about a timezone ( fair enough once or twice maybe) but after that, you are the trip planner. Buy an ATLAS and learn how to use it. I drove my first three months without GPS, it was probably one of the best moves I made, even though I enjoyed having one after I got it. The other message that would get me was people didn't communicate that they were going to be late? Really? If you're on here, you at least have a computer, so I'm guessing a cell phone too. Not to mention Qualcomm or People Net; if you did n't let your company know what was going on, there really is no excuse. For once, I'd just like people to get honest about what they're bringing to the table, not just Company A sux and I did nothing wrong ever and now I have a bad DAC . Are you a good employee? Do you really understand logistics, routing, trip planning, freight lanes, JIT, and other important industry needs?

I thought I had a pretty good idea of what this business is about, and what I realized when I got into it was I really had no clue, and that I used to drive like an idiot. I learn even more now on the LTL side and am amazed daily at the complexity of it all, and I'm really just thinking about Con-Way. Magnify it by all the other companies and it gets kind of overwhelming. I'll say again, if you think you are so smart and know all there is to know about trucking, buy some trucks and go into business. You think drivers should make more in their first year??? ( I do agree to a point), hire some rookies and pay them top dollar and see what you get. This industry is wide open with opportunities to make money; go for it.

Gotta run for now, 10:45 start time today. Be safe out there and get out and look.

 

Great post, Wharf Rat. I enjoyed reading of your trucking experience.

However:

There shouldn't be a DAC report or HireRight. It's a blackballing system and should be outlawed. Think about it. Do you really think CR England wants to protect Gordon or Con-way from a bad driver??? That's laughable. IMO the whole purpose of the DAC/HireRight blackballing is part and parcel of an industry practice of mega carriers with low pay, long hours and miserable working conditions to punish drivers (where they can) and discourage those who want to leave. There are reports on TTR of Gordon terminating drivers who merely checked out other opportunities.

That's a lame argument; you're better than that.

In fact, you're the very poster child for moves that OTR drivers are forced to make to have better lives. Move on. Move on quickly. There's plenty of room for improvement in the OTR realm, better pay, better working conditions and we should all support it, not criticize and belittle those who speak up (truth to power). I well agree with you on the complexity that the Gordons and the Con-ways deal with on a 24/7 basis. It just sort of boggles the noggin, doesn't it?

 

just to let you know...you said back in the day.... drivers didnt have to deal with DAC...

my first DAC....1994 Kennedy trucklines....part of CL flatbed (owned by by comcar)

tire blow out... not my fault ...but I traveled down the shoulder of I-75 south GA & added a bent rim to the issues.... I think DAC has its place... like i said if you cant take the heat head to a smaller company that doesnt know what the heck a "DAC" is ....

 

Not a question of being able to take the heat. It's an unconscionable and unfair business practice that needs to be left behind with the bad labor practices of past centuries.

 

I have never been wronged by DAC but I certainly don't agree with it and think it should be done away with.

 

Thanks. I don't think it's lame. Some people just don't get the complexity of it all. They wouldn't last 10 days as a business owner ( that's coming from someone who didn't punch a clock since 1994 until I started driving in 2011). I've met a payroll and payed taxes with checks over 250K) I've made money along the way and I've lost it all too; business is tough and having one with employees is even tougher. It's the truth of what I did with what I was offered. Fact is, were I a younger man with no house and no wife and no kid and grandkids, I'd have stayed OTR for 10 years and banked some nice money not having any expenses, but that is the glory of hindsight. We all know these mega carriers are starter companies for most. So do the companies. They realized an opportunity and try to take advantage of it. They train people and give them experience, and for the first year, they move freight cheap unless they have a multi-milllion dollar crash. It's a gamble they are taking. Some will stay on and put in ten-twenty years ( check the fender stars on some of those trucks at ConWay....some of these men and women have been there a long time. )They've made it work, or they stay because it's comfortable there like an old pair of socks.

I don't like Hire-Right or Credit reports or any of that stuff that companies use to protect themselves, bu.t it is what it is. They also have to deal with CSA scores now and it doesn't help them when they get scored on people who don't give a crap about pre-trips or placard placement or driving over curbs like they're free. Keep your nose clean and keep your report clean; it's no different than your CDL. I make very sure I do the best I can to protect that meal ticket in my pocket.

I liked my time at Conway. I was impressed the first day I walked in the door. I was even more impressed a week later when an F5 tornado leveled miles of Joplin while I was there and every day after that for the next 5 days, I had a phone call from someone in that building checking on me in the hotel to make sure I was ok. They had a lot of other stuff going on, but they made sure I was taken care of. They had nice equipment. Joplin is by far one of the nicest terminals you'll find and there was never an issue with my paycheck; it was always in the bank on Friday. They have their share of good people and bad people at all of the terminals. Any time I had issues with anything, as long as I was right, I stuck to my guns and things got solved. I've ranted at the dispatch window, and I've been just peachy there too. Being nice usually worked better for some reason , but showing my arse once or twice got results too. It also resulted in a few calls from my FM saying why didn't you just call me? They have a hierarchy for a reason.

 

I'll say this about Con-way after thinking about the title of the thread. I've been broke while working for Con-way but it wasn't their fault. I wasn't handling finances well and I was sending out more than I was bringing in because I was irresponsible with my finances in my mid 20's.

Too many people expect financial utopia from day one with any job but when you take an objective look it's your own fault you're in the tight spot you're in.

I drove otr for two years at another carrier and was making good money - the Con-way TL pay is even a little better than what I was making and even though that was 10 years ago, otr has become even worse if you look at speeds and bonus attention.

I'm on the Freight side but will say the company as a whole runs a pretty good deal for drivers as compared to the other companies in the segment of the industry you're in.

It isn't all roses but if I lost this job for any reason I would do something else altogether before driving for another company. I've worked here for 10 years and there's a reason for that.

 

My GROSS pay for this period was $21,345. That was for eight months worth of work. An extra four months (to total one full year) would only have been several thousand dollars more (even based upon GROSS pay).
To me, these are pay levels well beyond poverty pay, and I know that, based upon nearly all of my associations with other drivers, and not just Conway, I was not alone in regards to salary.
Not to mention knowing the real amount of work and sacrifice that I contributed to earn this pay is not only an insult, but an outrage.
And the CEO for CWT for the same year made $43 million. One man.
Bottom line: Driver pay for the mega carriers is about $600 bucks a week.
For what drivers actually do, along with both the responsibility and time involved, the drivers are all getting screwed; at least as long as they are willing to put up with it.
This is the message that I hope anyone considering a career with any mega would pay attention to.
I have done my best to back up what I have been saying with both actual figures and by encouraging any future prospect to engage in actual, real time communication with other drivers.
Why is it that all the other posts in "defense of the megas" don't encourage you to do the same?

 

Yes, and not to mention the 'addictive' nature of OTR, as you are pulled from load-to-load living in a rolling, jail cell-sized living quarters barreling down the highway. It still surprises me how drivers cage themselves in their trucks when stopped. They're tired, tired of bouncing, rumbling and confinement, too tired to get out and get a little exercise. The result is a life expectancy that stops at 61, high blood pressure, diabetes, over weight and heart disease.

In contrast, there is so much to do when you do get home that it's almost overwhelming. Grass to mow, fences to mend, critters to feed, see a movie, have friends over. Get a little nookie for change. All of which an OTR driver is insulated from while out on the road for 2-6 weeks. It's an imprisoned, 'institutional' life, highly regulated and all-involving and encompassing.

A priest-hood of near-celibates.