New driver (covenant) not getting freight - can anyone advise?

[New Drivers Wife]

Anyone willing to give advise? We need help.

My husband was laid off back in November, he drove a boom truck for a local oil company. He had his Class A / with Hazmat and Doubles for about 9 months, however he had been driving class B stuff for years (mixer trucks, etc.). After sending out about a million resumes, he was offered a job OTR with Covenant. We were so happy he found ANY job. My husband is a hard worker, he never takes off sick, he is not late for work and will always work over when needed. (Clean license, no drugs, clean health card. )
But it seem to take Covenant a long time to get him IN a truck. It was the same story everyday… come back tomorrow at 3PM. He finally got a load, and now he is stuck out in no-where-ville, waiting, with no load at all. I guess we are now thinking we made a mistake. Is there a “trick - of -the-trade” to getting dispatch to give you freight? Do you think he should hang in there with Covenant - or can anyone recommend a company that will keep him on the road most of the time- and out of the truck stop? Why would Covenant hire new drivers, if they do not have enough freight to go around?
We miss each other, ( I work full time too) and we have a little 3 year old girl, but right now we simply need income. We went thought all of our savings since November and want to cut our losses if this is not going to get any better. Thanks in advance for any insight you all can offer. Good Luck to all.

[catalinaflyer]

I wish someone had that "magic trick" they could sell it and be a millionaire overnight. It's unfortunate that these companies continue to put drivers in trucks when they don't have enoug freight for the current drivers. That seems to be the norm at most big companies. The equipment manager is pushing the recruiters to fill the trucks so they can have a good report to turn in to upper management. Then it falls on the load planners and driver managers/dispatchers to get them moving. Unfortunatly it's the driver left hanging without any income and the threat of a bad DAC report if they quit.

It's going to be very tough for your husband to find any OTR work because of his lack of recent experience. There are many more drivers out there right now looking for work than there are jobs so even the driver mills that two years ago would take someone who could fog a mirror are all of the sudden only looking at drivers with 2 years recent experience and an absolute spotless record.

E.W. Wylie out of Fargo, ND is going to havean opening for a 4 axle heavy haul driver in about 2 weeks but we are doing a lot of sitting right now. We do get paid by the hour aftert the first 24 but it's nothing like what we can make moving. I have only run 1660 miles in the last two weeks and been paid for 8 days of layover. I'm leaving the company on the 27th but it really has nothing to do with the miles or work. Wylie has been really good to me since I started but my old employer has made me a generous offer to come back to them. I'm sitting in Lansing, MI where I have been since Wednesday morning and there are three other heavy haulers from other companies who have been sitting here as long as I have.

Maybe there will be someone else on here who can give you some suggestions but I don't really have any. I wish you, your husband and your family the best, this is a tough time to be in the market for any job.

[Kevin0915]

I actually wrote a book a couple years ago about magic, and on chapter 33 i actually talk about teaching yourself the ability to perform 'magic'. You first have to spend an hour in deep DEEP meditation, lower your heart rate to 30 beats a minute. you CAN do this. Then eat 2 bananas and a brown egg......aaah i'm just kidding, i never wrote a book. HAHAHAAHHAAH

but i do have a friend called tinkerbell. =) The best thing you can do to get a load? always be polite and professional, do not COMPLAIN, and always send in a mac 10 every hour on the hour. Like someone told me from here a while back.....the squeeky wheel gets the oil.

I found out early in my 'career', that the more you complain, the easier it will be to drop your name back to the bottom of the list. I found this out the hard way, when i only ran 83 miles one week. Since then, anytime i feel the need to 'complain', i type out what i'm wanting to say....then i edit it. and remove any sarcasm. Seems to help.

Someone in our class at the company driving school didnt make it, and ended up quitting, and getting on with CR England. where he took their 2 week road training, and then promptly waited almost 10 weeks for a truck.

Now is not the time to jump companies, or think about getting into this business, because the already saturated driver pool just cannot support more drivers.

oh, and one more thing....there was this couple in the same class too. Their plan always has been to run team. They are doing it, but i know they BOTH have a tendancy to complain. Her more so. And being a team, you would think they would get the miles over a solo driver, but they are always sending me text msgs complaining about sitting. They once sat for 4 days waiting for a load, then they did a couple local runs, no more than 100 miles, and then sat again. they get screwed out of 'home time'....which i dont get because their 'home' is in minnesota, yet they want to take their home time in Lancaster, TX.

[GMAN]

Unfortunately, catalinaflyer, your husband is not alone. I just deadheaded one of my trucks about 600 miles to get him home for the weekend. Trucks are doing about as much sitting as running right now. We have more trucks than freight. On top of being in a seasonally slow time of year we are also in a depression. Many companies are laying off or cutting back hours. People are not buying as much so they don't need to replenish supplies. That means that there is no need to buy more products to put on the shelf. If there is no need for more products then there is less need for trucks to haul those products. Things should begin to pick up in a couple of weeks. It isn't any better with another carrier. Everyone I have spoken with is sitting more. Some owners have parked their truck altogether. The economy affects everyone regardless of what they do for a living. Tell him to hang in there for a while and things should improve somewhat. It may take a while to get back up to where we need them to be, but things will improve.

[catalinaflyer]

Unfortunately, catalinaflyer, your husband is not alone.

I hope that's just a Freudian Slip GMAN. My wife of 16 years would be a little pssed off if she found out I also have a husband.

[Creek Jackson]

Unfortunately, catalinaflyer, your husband is not alone.

??? Did I miss something? Or have you not had your coffee yet this morning, GMAN.

[catalinaflyer]

??? Did I miss something? Or have you not had your coffee yet this morning, GMAN.

Or has he had too much of his "Special" coffee??

[Creek Jackson]

Or has he had too much of his "Special" coffee??

Or maybe GMAN's husband is out on the road.

[chris1]

I always knew there was something different about you. If your bored call me on the 800#

[catalinaflyer]

I just deadheaded one of my trucks about 600 miles to get him home for the weekend.

Well GMAN, since I'm 900 miles from home and 850 miles from the terminal and I just gave 2 weeks notice I doubt they'll be deadheading me anywhere.

I was a little torqued yesterday though. I was empty on a Saturday morning 270 miles from my house a few weeks back and was told that I couldn't DH home because it was "too many miles" so I sat there for 4 days @ $96.00 a day. So I got paid $384.00 for sitting. Now if they had let me go home and not paid me for the miles as per comapny policy it would have cost them roughly $200 in fuel and truck expense plus I would have had my home time out of the way. Now yesterday I find out one of the other drivers in HH was deadheaded over 400 miles home on Tuesday. He can't understand why the company doesn't pay for DH miles home and thinks it's wrong but he's home. Meanwhile I haven't been home since Jan 4th.

[catalinaflyer]

I always knew there was something different about you. If your bored call me on the 800#

Isn't that the Pot calling the Kettle Black! I don't have the 800# anymore.

[INKTOXICATED]

my local fleet just downsized to 16 drivers from 25 and gave two trucks to another terminal in minnesota. not good. there trying to utilize the littlest amount of equipment and manpower possible to keep the budget inline. scary

[Hawkjr]

wow... i'm hearing all those horror stories and i must say hands down i'm blessed.. as much as i hate this job right now, i'm clearly blessed... 2,500 miles last week and $250 dollars in accessory pay...

[cdswans]

On a particularly inhospitable day, I watched a (former) Covenant driver removing her personal belongings in an obvious fit of disgust and in an apparent act of abandonment. Before she left, the last thing she did was roll down the windows.

Good luck!

[Walking Eagle]

Right at the minute freight is bad in all segments of the industry. The best advise, if he want's to stay in trucking, is to stick it out. Cut back on all exspenses while sitting, i.e. eat junk food instead of the buffet and tough it out. If the company sees that you are willing to be a "team player" he will start to get loads. I'm lucky in that my equipment is all paid for and I only haul HH OD loads and can just say "I'm out here (Ca) and going home (Fl) but I feel for the guys I saw sitting in a truck stop on the way out and 5 days later see the same guys on the way home

[GMAN]

I hope that's just a Freudian Slip GMAN. My wife of 16 years would be a little pssed off if she found out I also have a husband.

Sorry about that catalinaflyer. I meant to say New Drivers Wife. I suppose that I should also apologize to New Drivers Wife. I had been up since 4 am and guess I should have had a few more cups of coffee.

[GMAN]

Right at the minute freight is bad in all segments of the industry. The best advise, if he want's to stay in trucking, is to stick it out. Cut back on all exspenses while sitting, i.e. eat junk food instead of the buffet and tough it out. If the company sees that you are willing to be a "team player" he will start to get loads. I'm lucky in that my equipment is all paid for and I only haul HH OD loads and can just say "I'm out here (Ca) and going home (Fl) but I feel for the guys I saw sitting in a truck stop on the way out and 5 days later see the same guys on the way home

You are fortunate indeed if your equipment is paid for and you can afford to sit and wait on a decent paying load. There are so many guys out here who cannot afford to sit but can't afford to take the cheap freight that is being offered. They are taking anything they can put on the truck to keep the wheels rolling. It will be interesting to see the final figures on how many go out of business and/or lose their equipment during this time. I had a truck in Houston last week. My driver told me there must have been 150 flats in the truck stop where he was sitting. A friend of mine counted 75 flats in one stop where he got stuck for a couple of days.

[bentstrider]

Definitely stick with it, the freight will eventually pick back up and it'll probably become the best thing you ever did.
And as far as all these stories of truck-abandonment, it just goes to show that despite hard-times, people will still hawk an attitude and stick to their guns.

[Uturn2001]

I do not know how Covenent exactly does things but I can offer a few tips.

1. If asked for on the loaded calls make sure to put in a good ETA (est time arrival) and a good PTA (projected time of availability), and send in updates as needed. For the PTA, even if the is not a space for it on the loaded call you can still send in one by free form message if nothing else.

2. If you do not have a dispatch or load plan within 30 minutes of sending in an empty call send in a free form message saying you are ready for a new load.

3. If after 45 min to an hour you still don't have a new load call your fleet manager/dispatcher on the phone, and keep calling and sending in messages every hour until you get that load.

4. Make sure to send in or make your check calls every day to report your hours status.

This is about all you can really do. Freight is slow. This is typically a slow time of the year anyway and with the economy being what it is things are even worse, but things will pick up some what regardless in a few months though it may not be a big improvement it will still be better than what it is now.

My advice is to do your best to stick it out for at least 6 months. Once he has 6 months of experience he can start hunting around for a job with a different company, but right now the worst thing he could do is quit before finding another job.

[Truckin Tim]

well i got away from bein a companyhand i went and leased me a truck at Prime. best move of my life now im makin good money runnin my own business thats the american way. i get .90 cpm plus FSC and I get lots of miles cause prime has plenty of freight. Got me a brand new frieghtliner cascadia with the extended sleeper its a real pretty lookin rig. Sittin around is part of the job you just gotta take the sweet with the sour in this biz. besides coveant is letting your hubby sleep in their truck and hes burnin their diesel fuel which is dollar billz right up the stack. If covenenat aiint making money than why should your hubby covenenant is the one buying the truck and taking the business risk theres just no freight to haul it aint the companies fault. Some drivers want top dollar to play the pinball machines in the truckstop. Im stuck here for the weekend with lots of other guys at the petro but Im watchin movies and sleeping and eatin the buffett its kinda like a vacation so I don’t see why anoyone should pay me im havin a good ole time here its what you make of it.