Windy Hill Foliage Inc. Eustis FL Good? Bad?

are you waiting for a trainer or ru going right into a truck? I really liked my runs when I was there with them. I started out in a green international 10 speed manual, then got more room when they gave me an old trainer truck while mine was in for service. then not long after I got a freightshaker columbia auto. it had tons of room. they were fazing out all the green internationals when I left. but I did see a windy hill on 192 yesterday that was brand new freighliner. I do miss the road but don't miss not being home.

 

No I am not waiting on a trainer....And now I am not waiting on Windy hill.....I think it was real crappy of them to get me down here and then not call me or put me in a truck....Lucky for me i found a job with a local company here home everynight..off on the weekends...they pay 70% of my health and dental family insurance...2 weeks paid off vacation a year...and only 8 miles away from the house.....I passed my drug screen with windy hill...passed my raod test with windy hill......jumped thru ther hoops to only get a big long stick shoved up my butt....and lemme tell ya it coulda hurt alot worse than it did........Hard to believe that the owner jack was a really nice feller i like him rite off the bat...and the same goes for donna in the office....But i guess erik couldnt get his crap together.......So Take Warning DO NOT MOVE OUT OF STATE TO WORK FOR THESE GUYS UNLESS U GOT A BACK UP JOB!!!!!!!!

 

Yogi,

If it's not to personal. where are you working ????

Sorry you got Blown off by Windy hill !!!!!

 

read all and I mean all the papers they push infront of your face! that fat blond is only interested in commision. after trainning you might be told they dont have a truck for you, dont (DONT) take that for an answer.
tell them that after trainning that if they dont have anything (eq.) you'll charge them for your time!
flowers/plants sure! ( 1/8 or less of your 3-5 weeks out). more like scap paper, plastic. expired dry milk bought from some 3rd world country during the cold war.
need your reefer cleaned? open your wallet, wanna get reimbursed? fille a complaint w/ the state.



all in all this place is just a trap for newbies. save time save money forget windy hill

 

Wow, sorry that happened YOgi. I was just passing on info from my cousin that worked there. Where did you end up getting a job?

 

sorry to hear that,as the other fella said read all the papers they give you 2 sign. it might be a trap for newbies but a guy has to get that experience somewhere.it is a learning experience your first yr out, and for us florida boys the winter driving is nerve racking at first but I made it thru unscathed. just a side note for anybody going to start for them i caught a ladder on i-65 in tn and had a flat i called eric and let him know, next thing i'm going over the situation with jan then when i get to marsfield i get a bill for a tire. if you have problems with a tire do yourself a favor and get a used one from the truckstop on your dime so it doesnt go on your incident record.i ran 4000 to 4500 a week for the first yr and into the second. they will run you if you will run. i finally started running looseleaf. for the guys right out of school take everything you learned in class for logging and throw it out the window.but i wonder how it work out for windy hill if the feds make everybody go to electronic logs. that will definitly cut down the miles and at a starting rate of .27 a mile the truckstops will break you.i finally had enough doing more setting than driving,they stopped the layover pay and gave us a thing in our checks saying due to the economy no raises.i went back to welding and started my own mobile welding business.good luck to you guys.

 

Why people work for slimebag outfits like this is way beyond me.
No way in hell should drivers be buying tires...it's their truck, let them pay for the tires.
What happens if you blow a motor? Do you pay for the engine rebuild out of your own pocket?
Next thing you people will be buying is fuel.
.27 cpm is a joke....4500 mpw is another joke...and with CSA2010 a very bad idea.

 

I drove for them for 6 months. i had all I could take with the lead dispatcher. They have a major contract with a paper company in wisc.
Dispatchers get paid bonuses when drivers deliver product on time. The dispatcher doesn't consider loading time when they make delivery appointments.
Drivers are pushed hard just so dispatchers get their bonuses. Of course drivers don't get any of that extra money.
Twenty seven cents a mile.

 

I drove for Windy Hill then quit.

Windy's sales pitch is mostly fabrication. Their trucks are not all automatic, nor are they mostly new. The new truck sales pitch is unrealistic since as a driver you will never get a new truck unless you are a trainer. The truck I got had 940,000 miles on it with a cab the size of a closet.

Their plants on push carts sales pitch, outright fabrication. You will unload by hand every plant you haul.

Their bonuses and raises are based on a 3mos period. If you have any violation/accident you lose all you were due in that period.

Their $25/stop on multi-stop loads pitch is partially true, but only for plant loads. After you're routed out of Florida your first week, you will be in Windy's main area of the midwest, no more plants. Non-plant multi-stop loads are $10 per stop. The plant stops are a joke anyway. If you're lucky you might be able to get 4 stops in a day but generally within 75 miles from the point you get rolling in the morning. Now you may ask why so few stops in so few miles. Simple, getting retail clerks to receive your plants during the time they're open (8am - 9pm) is like pulling teeth. More realistically your window to deliver is more like 9am - 7pm. Otherwise, they will moan and grown about just getting started/shutting down. Generally, my unload times ranged from 1.5 - 3 hours per stop depending if the clerk inventoried the load while you unloaded or waited, sitting there doing nothing, until you completely unload +300 plants and then started inventory. Don't forget to factor in morning rush hour, lunch rush hour and evening rush hour since you will most definitely be driving intown commercial, retail, consumer routes. And you will go 4 or more days without a bath because Windy will not route you to a stop with showers and your closest shower is +30miles away putting you "out of route" and over your 10% leeway if you try. You might say that's not that bad but when you consider you're going to be crawling in dirt, sweating like a pig, you're going to NEED a shower every day.

Training was fine. My trainer was a laid back guy that let me drive the truck, showed me the ropes and didn't push me when situations were difficult while learning. Great guy!

Why I quit:

My truck had a trip computer. I always idled. When I was in the truck it ran 24/7. That trip computer indicated 70% of my time was spent idling, not getting paid. The only thing you're going to get paid for is rolling. That's paid zip to zip. So you're going to be rolling a lot more than you're getting paid. If I'm going to be out on the road a month or more at a time, I expect to work. Not sit a day here, 2 days there or a week on occasion, doing absolutely nothing trapped in a cab the size of a closet.

Windy has no problems running you 36hrs straight and then letting you linger for a week when you finally decline the next load.

If you have break downs or maintenance that needs to be done, you're paying for it until Windy decides to reimburse you.

If you have brake problems, Windy has no problems asking you to drive to a repair shop on the same icy roads they shut you down on the day before you had brake problems. And while you're sitting there they're going to ask you to work on the truck in -30F weather for which you don't get paid one cent all while telling you they can't get a repair truck out to you because most mechanics in that weather don't think the fees they charge are worth their time and effort. WTF?!?

You will sit for vast numbers of hours doing nothing. Then you will be expected to drive 12 hours, unload for 2, drive for 1 hour, load for 3hrs, drive for 2 hours, unload/load for 3hrs, then drive another 12 hours. Or you will wake up, drive for an hour, load for 8 hours and have an appointment time 12 hours later on a 13 hour drive, as if you can just magically get restful sleep for 8 hours just after having woken up.

You will keep your log in looseleaf form. Now, I sat doing nothing 70% of my time on the road and never complained or refused a load until my last week when I was run 36hrs straight. I can't imagine how little the guys drive that actually keep their logs bound in original binding.

And that was pretty much my experience at Windy Hill Foliage.

 

That's trucking !!!!!!!!