Who's The Worst Of Them ALL to work for?

Corneileous:But I also agree that going that slow does make a road hazard when everybody else is doing the speed limit especially through places like Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. Hell, to my knowledge, thats mainly the reason why Illinois, Indiana and Ohio raised their speedlimits to 65 was so that all traffic has the option to go the same speed.

The reason Illinois raised there speed limit was purely political. Some people believed false studies they read about split speed limits. Some truckers groups complained and a new Governor went along. How can you compare a state with a split speed limit to one without, when the split speed limit has never been obeyed? There have been less accidents recently due to less traffic both commercial and private. Common sense will tell you there are less accidents and less severe accidents at lower speeds. If everyone ran the same speed higher speeds would not matter, but since no matter the speed limit is, some people have to drive faster, there is always conflict and some people have trouble changing lanes due to someone passing them. Also trucks speed down the right lane and make it hard for some people to enter the highway. A truck traveling 65 takes a much longer distance to stop than when it is running 55 and always takes longer than a car or motorcycle. Most truck drivers do not keep a safe following distance of at least 4 seconds and drive using a cell phone with complete disregard for their profession and livelihood. The only danger a slow truck poses is if he pulls into the left lane in front of someone. I have made my statements and I am not going to try and explain them all to people who already have their minds made up, especially if they think they got better fuel mileage with the same truck, same weight load, over the same terrain, and with the same headwind, by driving faster.

 

by AfterShock:
And if they're both paid the same per mile, which driver is capable of running more miles? More miles = more money, right?
For a driver in a castrated Big truck to make the same amount, wouldn't they have to run longer to go the same distance?
One driver may take 2 1/2 days while the slower driver takes 3 days to go the same distance. When they both reach 70 hours of driving, who's check would be larger?

I said rate of pay and length of haul were the main factors in how much you make. I don't know what trip you are running in 2 1/2 days that would take me 3 but I will tell you that most of the time truck A gets a load and truck B gets a load, and their delivery time is the same. I have left St. Louis many times in a 65 mph truck and noticed trucks passing me in Missouri and seen the same trucks passing me a couple more times and then they get to Barstow right behind me. I drive for an LTL now and do not waste time waiting for appointments. Most OTR TL drivers do have appointments and getting there a little faster only increases sitting around time. If they get a couple more runs a year I hope they think the stress of tailgating, speeding, watching for bears, braking for people trying to enter the freeway, etc. is worth it. If the slower truck is getting more per mile the faster one will not make up for it.

 

"If you read something somewhere it doesn't make it true."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gondofini

There are none so blind as those who live in a glass house but
will not open the curtains to see what's on the other side of the glass fearing that the truth contradicts what they've chosen to believe and offer as factual advice to others.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AfterShock

Don't confuse me with the facts. :smt104
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unknown

 

I have made my statements and you have made yours. People will make up their own minds as to who is correct. There is no way for me to provide proof here of of the prevalence of poor driving by truck drivers. If you are out on the road it is apparent to most people, especially the intelligent ones. Remember there are more people with an I.Q. under 130 than above it.

 

What I meant was that this situation with CRE was the curve ball.

Yes, you can refuse a load, you can use your fuel to go where the freight is.

Most mega carriers are going to pay for your travel to their facility, even the not so mega carriers will do this to get your butt in one of their trucks and making them money.

I completely understand. It costs money to have a lawyer look over a contract. I'm more aware of the language in a contract now. One very important thing to know (that is, if it's in your contract), your contract may have an arbitration clause in it. Just remember that truck drivers (actually anyone in the transportation industry) are exempt from arbitration. Arbitration is most times more expensive than a regular lawsuit. And it's usually more company friendly than complainant friendly. God forbid, but if you should have to file a complaint or a suit against a company, you don't want it going to arbitration.

I don't recall saying that the recruiter is the one who told you about the leasing end or answered questions about the lease. I'm sorry I didn't make myself clear. You did talk to a recruiter when you got hired, didn't you? Maybe you aren't under a contract to only haul CRE freight.....I don't know. What I was trying to say was recruiters are like the salespeople who are enticing you to sign a lease contract is all. They lie.

CRE owns the leasing company you leased your truck from. IIRC it's called Opportunity Leasing, isn't it? Just like Swift owns IEL (Interstate Equipment Leasing), the company who leases the truck one drives for Swift. It's interesting that both companies are owned and operated by Mormons.

I talked to hubby and during the time he worked for them, he couldn't request another DM. He and his DM started off on a bad note and things didn't improve over time.

Try having an independent thought and see where that gets you with the company.

Dispatching you on a load is probably the only thing they are qualified for and then not so much. I refer to my hubby's experience. If your DM takes a dislike to you, do you have any idea how miserable they can make your life?

Sorry, if I did.

It can make working much more enjoyable. You both don't have that separation anxiety that some experience.

Those are semi decent miles.

Then you are very fortunate, because I don't know of any lease where there isn't a charge if you exceed a certain amount of miles, and this includes a personal car you might lease.

I have never spoken to any recruiter. You might want to take a closer look at your lease contract just to be sure, that is, if you haven't. You're excess miles could be deducted under some other charge though. But you would know better than I.

Never spoke to any recruiter.

My hubby was used to running hard, he preferred this to sitting and waiting for a load. If he's got hours it's time to roll.

Being you are initially team l/o, they would want to insure that you remain team l/o, so they would find the miles for you. It would only make sense.

I didn't say they took it out of his maintenance reserve, they took it out of his pay. Any repair work you have done on the truck comes out of the maintenance reserve. So in essence, you will never cap out at $10,000.00 because you have to have your oil changed, wiper blades replaced, chains, new tires or any other little thing that can go wrong that's not under warranty.

I should go into the detailing business because it is obviously very lucrative.

Good luck with that.

Sorry to misunderstand. How does a "downtime fund" work?

I'm glad for you. It wasn't so good for hubby.

You should familiarize yourself with how Mormons function, they've got a very interesting.....er..uh.....history. Some of the stunts they pulled made the wild west seem not so wild in comparison. Google Meadow Mountain Massacre (I think that's what it's called). They don't like people bringing that subject up. But it gives you some insight into their mindset. And yes, I'm no fan of the Mormon religion, for many reasons and not all work related.

I'm glad you find it amusing.

Good for you, I hope it continues for you and your wife.

I'll tell you what, do it for 6 months and then we can talk about it. Right now you are a team driver even though your wife is laid up on a medical (I hope she recovers swiftly), so you are still a team and treated as a team.

No, hubby did not have paperless logs.

You know why they are cutting down on company drivers? One reason is they make an obscene profit off of o/o's. Another reason would be if all or most of the drivers are o/o, the drivers are taking on most of the financial risks themselves, which works out pretty good for CRE.

I didn't say they took it out of his maintenance reserve.

No repairs, no replacement parts listed on his check. Were we going to stick around and let them waste any more of his time? In a nutshell......no. His truck was new when he leased it and in the same condition when he turned it back in. He had his usual scheduled work done on the rig at all the right times. Nothing needed replacing.......NOTHING.

No, he was more diplomatic than that. He just brought it to their attention and they claimed an oversight on their part.

Who could afford a lawyer? Several years ago we received some paperwork on the class action suit against CRE though. The lawsuit pertains to their lease program. By the time these lawyers are done maybe we'll see a few dollars, maybe not. But the end is a long ways down the road.

I just wanted to give you a heads up on what you might have to deal with down the road. I hope you don't. I'm sure some have managed to slip through the cracks and make a success of it. More power to you.

Good, because the way the economy is going, I'm thinking the IRS is going to get a lot less taxpayer friendly. lol

 

Ah. So in a sence, that statement and the one I quoted before still sounds in a way that Life was still at fault by using England as the proverbial "curve ball", but maybe thats just me.

Weeeell, not exactly. We can refuse loads, but if we do it for a reason that is not important, we can be supposedly "punished". We havent seen it yet, since the only time we turn down loads is when someone wants us to swap with some solo driver and even with puttin the load on a team, we'd still be late.

Well, yeah. You make it sound so dirty. Take Walmart for example..... You think each employee they have "makes" them money enough to buss new recruits to their possible new job in whatever location? I think not.

Although Ive said this before to other people, Just as long as I make money, I could care less if that were infact England's only reason or excuse to bring me to their training facility free of charge.

So basically what your saying about this arbitration thing, if things went sour and we decided to sue, for us, it'd be like takin a knife to a gunfight, correct?

Well, I dont remember seeing anything like that in the contract but if what you say is true, I highly doubt that our case, if we ever had to make one in a courtroom would go into that. If we have an honest case about something, why would England automattically have the upper hand?

I guess I'm just as at fault as you are because of what you said led me to believe you were assuming we got all of our answers from a recruiter

Actually, before we were officially hired.

Well, that is part of the deal. Some may not like that but as long as England keeps us busy with their freight, I dont see the problem. But, if they do ever start to not keep us busy with freight, I would say they are in breach of contract since their freight is all we can haul.

Right you are.

Three days into our classroom training, we had to leave to go to a funeral and our recruiter told us that as long as we werent gone longer than a week, we could just start off from where we left off......WRONG......

Even though we didnt have to attend class for the 3 days we already had, we basically got to sit on our butts untill the fourth day of school came back around.

Who told you that?? England is parnered with Horizon Truck Leasing and Sales. They are the people who leased us our truck. Not England.

And if anyone else who is reading this wants to say, "Ney, Ney", I want proof that England actually "OWNS" Horizon. jUst like how they "supposedly" own Equinox, the accountant firm that does our taxes.

Im confused..... How can two different major truckin outfits own the same leasing company? Doesnt that fall under twhatever hat term is, like for example, take Home Depot..... If you and your husband work for them, and you were a department head, your husband wouldnt be able to work in your department because of that fancy way of sayin favoritism....

Well, if he and his DM started off on the wrong foot, I can see the lack of miles.

What happened that caused the friction between the two?

But, what in the H E double-hockey sticks do you mean he couldnt get a new DM?? Did somebody tell him that? Yes, you can get a new DM, always have been.

Egh, whether you wanna call is IC's or not, we are working for England. They are payin us to do a job. Just like if you were to hire a contactor to build you a new deck on your house. Even though you arent his "boss" so to speak, but you are paying him to do a job that you want. He cant just buid the deck the way he wants it built.

Im sure they can make your life a living hell, but thats why you request a new one and yes, you can do that. Whoever told you you cant is FOS.

Thats OK. A lot of people have a hard time "remembering" what I say on here.

Exactly. Thats why I probly wouldnt be out here if she wasnt driving with me even though we go at it pretty good sometimes!.....LOL

Thats it? Well, in a way, you are correct..... We could do better, but we dont feel the need to run ourselves ragged. Even with the less than sufficlent miles that most would call that, we do run good enough to have our bills paid on average, 2 months in advance.

I'm sorry you feel that way, but how could anybody even begin to imagine that, that would be even reasonable? They know that the more miles you run, the more money you make. That would be the same thing as them telling you that you are only allowed to make X amount of money....

But even with a car lease, most dealers are doing away with the mileage cap because withh the higher price of cars these days, they are doing what they can to keep their customers brand-loyal.

Although I probly should double-check, but I highly, highly doubt there is a penalty for running over a certain amount of miles per month.

Thats good. That right there is more than enough reason why if his DM was being lazy, he couldve gotten another one. Was your hubby the only one in his fleet being treated with lousy miles or was there others?

Same goes for solo's, too. With us being team, we do get quite a bit of solo loads.

Again, you said....

Sure looks to me like you were implying that they did. But if you werent, I apologize.

Its called the downtime fund, but it doesnt necessarily have to be used for downtime. You can use it for whatever you like. Its a fund that you can elect to have and you can dictate how many CPM goes into it.

Im sorry to hear that, but something tells me the proper steps werent taken to avoid having to turn the keys in but again, maybe thats just me.

Oh, I can imagine. The South Park episode about Mormons was pretty funny.

Of course i do. Thats one of the best things I've heard so far. I dont recall seeing a "Are you Mormon" question on the employment application.

No need to. I know how hard it is to lease solo. That 5 weeks I did it wasnt easy. Thats the hardest Ive ever run and why I kept saying to my self the whole time I was out there that if i ever needed a reason not to lease solo, I sure have one now. But, that still doesnt take away the fact that there are plenty of solo leasers out there on the road that are makin it work. I dont know how, but I see more lease trucks than company trucks everyday.

Oh, she's back now. Has been for the last 2 and a half months.

I know that EOBR's on here is a very touchy subject, but one of the things EOBR's help, is theres no more guesswork for the load planners and the DM's to figure out when it comes to getting you your loads.

You may be correct, but if that were true, dont you think it'd be in their best intrest to 86 all the company drivers? There are some companies out there that only hire O/O's....

True, but the best you can make as a company driver with England is 45cpm; And thats after 8 years being employed.

True, but this little comment right here led me to believe they did....

Speaking of which, did he get back what was left in the maint reserve?

Hmmm. Well, atleast he got it, I guess.

Maybe you will.

I dont know what "cracks" your referring too, but the way I see it, if we keep doing what we said we would, I dont see where the potential for something bad happening would come from.

The last I heard, the ecomomy was slowly getting better, but I think I will believe it when I see it......

 

I'm just saying that hubby went into this venture to be successful and it turned out this was beyond his control.

Okay. So then where's the autonomy? Or being your own boss?

LOL. I really didn't mean to.

I see your point. I was referring to the trucking industry. Sorry.

I agree with you. I think it's nice that they do this courtesy. I just meant most of them do this.

No. I'm saying they lead you to believe that you would have no avenue of relief if they screwed you over because arbitration is almost always tipped in favor of the corporation and it's a tremendous financial burden for the complainant. Like I said, they want you to believe you have no recourse in the event of them sticking it to you. They will say you have to arbitrate your claim against them, which isn't true. You, as a professional in the transportation industry are exempt from any arbitration clause, though sometimes union members will have to go this route. But they have someone to represent them from the union, so there is a more equal balance in a legal fight.

One reason they would have the upper hand is they have corporate lawyers on retainer. You would have to find a lawyer and sometimes they are hard to find, especially one who would work on a contingency basis.

Not a problem.

Of course.

I'm glad they are keeping you busy. Unfortunately, if freight slowed down to a crawl, they wouldn't be in breach of the contract because they never guaranteed a specific amount of miles for you in your contract.

I'm sorry you were delayed. But they seldom are straight up with you about emergencies that might crop up while you're in the middle of training. It's just the way it goes. I personally don't understand why honesty is so hard to come by in a business environment, but it is.

Overview: Opportunity Leasing, Inc. is seeking a Director for its North American Leasing Operations to manage and grow "its" Horizon Truck Sales and Leasing organization in Salt Lake City, Ut. and Burns Harbor, In.



http://www.linkup.com/results.php?j...b96#&jobHash=bdc95e55631c160e59197437aecabb96


They all have the same address as CRE at either location. Like I said THEY LIE.


I'm not telling you this to rub it in. I'm telling you this because I hate lying and they have. This is still CRE.

They're not the same leasing company. I gave you Swift business information as an example. Swift owns their own leasing company and CRE owns their own, that's all.

I think the word you're searching for is nepotism. Both companies (CRE and Swift) are replete with this. They both have family members running the business from higher positions in the company. There's nothing wrong with this on its face. I believe it's important for family to play an active role and run the business. Where one could get into a sticky position is if you are pitted against one of those family members and you need to go to the company to get things straightened out. They will most likely side with the family member, regardless if they are in the wrong.

His DM didn't take into account the years of driving experience hubby had and was treating him like a newbie, instead of the professional driver that he was. Hubby decided to talk with his DM and I guess his DM took exception to it. It happens.

This was years ago and maybe things are different now. You've only just recently been driving for them so you really can't say for sure that you could always change DM.

I agree. While you can tell him how you want your deck, it is left up to the IC to decide how he will get the job done and what HE knows needs to be done, otherwise you could have built the deck yourself, right?

Like I said, maybe things are different now than they were eight years ago.

I'm not saying I forgot. I'm saying I might not have gone back far enough in the thread where you posted that you were a team.

In such a confined space, it's understandable. I don't know that I wouldn't get "enough" of my hubby once in a while in the same circumstances. It's good that you both can do this.

Don't get me wrong, the miles you run are good. You don't want to burn out. Hubby used to train at his last job and after taking student after student, with no breaks in between, he managed to come close to burning himself out. I'd tell him take a break.........PLEASE?

The more miles you run the more money you make is true to a certain extent. We found out if he kept his miles within a perimeter he came out ahead moneywise. If he ran more miles sometimes the fuel charge would be on the next check, but the trip would end up on the following. So he just kept his miles within 3,000 to 3,400, unless he was training.

You are probably right. But I'd go over your contract again just to make sure. You wouldn't want any ugly surprises. Although if you've been driving for 7 mos I would think you'd notice it by now.

I don't recall him ever talking about other drivers to be honest. He only worked for them for 6 months.

The other carrier hubby worked for, they charged him 0.09cpm for all miles over 11,000. Sometimes I'd look at his settlements and go "ouch". Sometimes it was very substantial amounts. But it would go toward the purchase of the truck. Unfortunately it didn't get to that point.

It's still miles, instead of sitting and not making any money. It's not so bad if you can drop your load early.

Apology accepted. I don't think he had all that much built up in it. Like I said there's incidentals that are deducted from your maintenance reserve. Even an oil change isn't cheap in a big rig.

If I was you I'd use it for my vacation.

He did make a monumental effort to make it work, it just didn't. I was tired of him never being home and still having no money to show for the absence.

Mormons are a very strange cult.

It wouldn't have to be on an application. Many of them try to have their tithing taken out of their checks and applied to the church directly. Don't know how successful they were in this respect.

Because it is very profitable for the company for them to have many under a lease.

Very good.

I guess this keeps everyone legal.

From a business perspective, they would know that not everyone would sign a lease. If they took out all their company drivers they probably wouldn't be able to sustain themselves, business wise.

45cpm isn't bad. Is it after 8 years of employment? Or after 8 years of driving experience?

I don't remember exactly how much he got back, quite frankly. Like I said, I don't believe there was all that much in it when he turned his keys in. I'm sorry I can't remember those details.

I'm not sure. Since he turned the truck back in before the end of the lease, they might have kept it, but I can't remember. I wish I could.

I won't hold my breath waiting for it.

The only thing I meant by it was that some are successful and managed to make a go of it. I wouldn't expect you to think something bad would happen.

Me too.

 

I have to vote for Swift hands down !! Why you might ask why well there's 2 reason's why I say that. one morning I was headed for Taylor,Pa to pick up my load I was following a Swift Driver into the same plant I was heading for. there was only one way to get into this plant if you went the wrong way you run into a low under pass that was clearly marked for 1/2 mile with big yellow signs with blinking lights. when I realized the swift driver was going to keep going stright I got the CB & started to yell at him but it was to late he took the top of the truck & trailer off. to give you an idea how low this under pass was it was marked for 11'6..

the 2nd reason I was in mass & watched a Swift driver for an hour try to into a dock it was stright line back into the dock he couldnt do it. I finally walked over & asked if he needed help. his answer was yes plez I'm a new driver & have a hard time backing up. I helped him by guilding him in the dock

 

Uhhhhhhh,................

You're a rookie, so I'm gonna cut y'all some slack here, Corneileous.
Lemmie 'splain -------------

In Big truck trucker lingo, "Good Buddy" is a term applied to
homosexuals. :smt112
They chose the words "Good Buddy" though.:smt045
Now, with the new terminology, "Good Buddy" isn't the friendly Howdy Hi like it was in the movie. Say "Good Buddy" to the wrong individual now-a-daze and they might introduce
Mr. Face to Mr. Fist.:smt087:smt104
Somethin' like that could ruin your whole day.
Please make a note of it.

Now-a-daze, the word "neighbor" is used instead of "Buddy" when greeting other Big truck truckers.

10-4 Good Neighbor?

And while we're on the subject of translations, ladies of the evening are referred to as "Commercial Company" and "Lot Lizard" in Big truck trucker lingo, ---- just in case you weren't aware of that.

Additionally, if you hear "Anybody out there that can help me"? Or,
"Where's the Go-Fast"?
Over the CB, don't answer.
The "help" they're wanting are illegal drugs, like crystal meth, that can keep them up and runnin' for days without sleepin', although they'll log sleeper berth time in their log book so as not to appear suspicious.
But after about a week without sleep, they start seein' things that nobody else sees, because what they're seein' ain't really there to be seen.
Actually, they appear to be wide awake, and dreamin' at the same time. That condition is often referred to as "trippin'", or "trippin' out", not to be confused with pre-trip, or post trip.

A tell-tale sign that a Big truck truck driver is using "speed" (crystal meth) is when they arrive at their destination, they often have to wait a day or two for their log book to catch up with them before they can roll again.

Or, if they're short on hours to run, they buy a solution to that problem, usually for under a buck.
A new log book with clean pages, and start all over again. And again
And again.
Solo drivers who keep up with a team operation aren't really Super Truckers if they're poppin' pills to git-er-dun.
Buyin' more go-fast eats up more money than the extra miles they run as a result of stayin' awake for days.
Sorta like depositing $100, in a slot machine, ..... 25 cents at a time, and hitting a $50 instant jackpot and proclaiming I WoN!
I WoN!


I'm back quiet, -----8)
Standin' by on the side. :smt039

 

AfterShock: I was just about to say the same thing about that "Good Buddy" comment. Of course, this individual may already have that information and chose to use that vernacular deliberately in order to create controversy.

IMO, the best way to deal with someone like this is to just let them figure it out for themselves.

I can understand, however, the propensity to defend your own team. I say that because I am returning, by choice, to Swift. And I know I will hear all kinds of comments on the radio about the company I am choosing to run with. I know the shortcomings of running with a training company, but when I was with them before, I just smiled and went about my biz...and proved the hecklers wrong each time I backed into a tight truck stop or difficult, blind-side dock.

I liked to make jokes about my own company such as: How do you get free body work on your car? Paint it DOT yellow and park behind a Swift.

And I know most of the sayings that go along with SWIFT, but my favorite is:
Sweet
Woman
In a
Filthy
Truck.