The Next "Former" Lonestar Driver

[catalinaflyer]

LS Update
Well DD said it first (and he lasted here longer than I did) but sometimes no matter how had one tries there just is no way to make a company fit.

I have given 110% to LS since day 1, never complained about anything as far as loads, took everything thrown at me in stride and when push came to shove and I tried to have a rational, adult conversation with the powers I became "a childish *******". Over the last three days I have figured out that there are at least 2 people above the driver managers here and there is absolutely no, I mean NO communication between them. As long as a driver just accepts whatever load comes across the satellite and never questions anything you will go a long ways here but question someone’s poor choices and expect to get called childish and hung up on.

I'm pretty easy going and in my 19 year career as a driver there isn't one single former employer with bad things to say about me or my work ethic. And in fact all of them would hire me back in a heartbeat (well except maybe one and I know he's reading this - CE -). Anyhow this past week and a half everything I have touched has gone to crap, wrong trailer, wrong delivery times, wrong load information etc. Well here we are on Christmas Eve and I'm sitting 1100 miles from home. I was supposed to be there in the morning but the load that had me pick up this morning is over height and has to be permitted. Now I asked twice yesterday if this was a "legal" load and was told twice without hesitation that it was. I even questioned the fact that they said it was only 8'6" but required a Double Drop. (Our double drops can handle 11'6" and be legal) Well here we are on a holiday (for permitting) and I pull in to load and could tell from the other end of the building that it was too tall and sure enough it's 14'6". I called in and ***** hit the fan, I asked why we couldn't have done something about this yesterday when it could be handled only to be told again that it was only "supposed" to be 8'6" high and that they were given the wrong information. The customer showed me the e-mail they sent out and it clearly states 8'6" W X 8'0" L X 153" H. So, because I'm only a level 1 and this is a level 2 load they inform me that I'll have to wait till they can find a driver to swap loads with. Well they found one loading on the other end of the state who will be here this evening with a load going to Gonzales, LA for a f*&^ing Monday delivery. I questioned how that load was supposed to get me home for Christmas as I had been promised for the past two weeks only to be told that I had to haul it and that was it. So I'm going to get a 2500 mile load taken away from me and put under a load only going 1000 miles that doesn’t deliver for 5 days and because it's a legal load I don't get paid for sitting for 3 days. But the driver coming to pick up my load will get paid for sitting till Monday because it's a permit load that can't move till they get the permits.

I ran my ass into the ground to get the load before this one going to Nova Scotia by Saturday to facilitate getting home for Christmas only to be told Friday evening not to deliver it till Monday because the customer said so. When I arrived at the customer on Saturday I find out no one had contacted them to ask about delivering early and therefore we couldn't get permission from our customer to deliver it early. I was told today that with that particular customer that they charge us with a service failure if we deliver early the same as if we deliver late. I have never heard of such a thing but if so then so. After some reasonable deduction I figured out that no one from our office ever called to see if I could deliver Saturday and get the date switched. Originally I thought I wouldn't have enough hours to get them both off on Saturday and had it set up for Sat - Mon delivery. After arriving in Bangor Maine on Friday I did the math and I would have had 1/2 an hour extra to get it done but no one bothered to make a call all day Friday. Guess the "one hand doesn't know what the other one is doing" came into play. The DM has to let the Load Planner know then the Load Planner has to contact Customer Service who in turn has to contact the consignee to find out if it can deliver early then Customer Service has to let the Load Planner know so the Load Planner can then contact a different Customer Rep to call the Customer to get the delivery date changed then the Customer Rep has to get back to the Load Planner with the OK then the Load Planner has to contact the Driver Manager then the DM has to give the thumbs up to the driver. Now that load was originally planned for a Monday delivery (well Friday until the trailer snafu then changed to Monday) but once I was under way I said that I would without a doubt deliver the first machine on Saturday and probably the second but wouldn't know till Friday morning for sure. But if I wasn't going to get both off on Saturday I would rather stick to Monday for both so I didn't have to spend the weekend in Canada. Well come Friday morning they got the first one arranged but never did anything about the second so I sat in Nova Scotia all weekend. Had I just went with the flow and delivered both on Monday the they would have just bounced me all the way home for Christmas because I couldn't have made it here to Sharon, PA in time to load this morning. But because I ran my ass off to make up for lost time because they sent me the wrong trailer I'm now headed to Louisiana over Christmas and only making $440 for 6 days work.

Well I have rattled on long enough and I'm sure that someone at LS will read this and add some more negative crap to my DAC when it's all said and done but right now I have a wife and kids sitting at home alone instead of going to Wyoming to visit family because I told them I would be home.

So as of Tuesday the 30th of December I will no longer be with Lonestar and as of Monday he 5th of January I'm going to another specialized carrier who deals with the same customers as LS and the Dispatcher is also the Driver Manager, Load Planner and Customer Service. I asked them about their policy with that customer and they said that they have never heard of such a thing and that delivering early on any load of theirs will only help with my reputation within the company. They even called me back an hour later and instead of having me ride the bus they are flying me to orientation so I can have an extra day at home. The VP of the company said he wished there was something he could do for me for Christmas but they would give me an extra day home to try and make a little difference.

Oh and one last thing, to the person at LS who reads these and also told me this morning that I wouldn't get a job somewhere else in this line of work because "no one is hiring right now" - I just got hired an hour and a half ago. And I also re-financed my house last month!

[devildice]

I am sorry to hear about what you went through. In fact I feel your pain as I experienced the exact same B.S. I know this won't sound right and I hope it doesn't offend you, but I am glad posted what happened to you on here because now if there was anyone that ever doubted what I was saying or going through can now believe it/me/you.....us.

Just when I thought I was done with the B.S. there, I get a settlement statement this week with a beautiful screwing in it. Guess it was my terminal manager's way of saying "Merry Christmas"

Anyways, even though you won't be home for X-mas, I want to wish you and yours a blessed and happy holidays!!

[Colts Fan]

I'm going to another specialized carrier who deals with the same customers as LS and the Dispatcher is also the Driver Manager, Load Planner and Customer Service

You going to work for GMAN?

[Orangetxguy]

DD and Catalina...I'm really sorry to hear about the beating you got from Lonestar. I have always heard good things about that outfit. NOW I know to stay the hell away, if I make a change from what I am currently doing.

DD....I'm going to watch your post's about LandStar and see how you do there. Hopefully better than what you have seen so far. At least you get to run yourself...after a fashion.

Catalina...good luck where you are headed after the 1st.


Looks like Lonestar is the typical "Gulf Coast" trucking operation. It's ok to lie, steal and cheat, as long as they don't get punished for it. Pretty damn sad. Not any better than ACE Transportation....which is pretty damn bad.

[Mike Hunt]

Man, that sucks being stuck in a truckstop on Xmas. You're not the only one, tho. I drove home today from the liquor store and the nearby Pilot was overflowing with idling sleeper trucks.

Who knows, maybe Santa will airdrop their presents from his sleigh as he passes over tonight. And what about all that free coffee at rest areas and those scrumpcious free truckstop buffets? What more could a supertrucker ask for?

Well I'll drink another beer for you driver and wish you luck on your next predicament...eh I mean motor carrier. Funny with all the high unemployement and so many drivers looking for work that you'd get hired on the spot. That would be a hint-and-a-half for my ***** that it's yet another cut-rate churn-n-burn low-ball outfit (aren't they all?), but stranger things have happened I guess.

[catalinaflyer]

DD - They are a great company as far as pay goes for a company driver, I have no complaints on that part of the job and as long as you never want to go home, you'll go a long ways here as a company driver. Money doesn't mean everything to me and I will go home so I'm not their ideal driver and was told so in so many words yesterday. In fact after looking at everything last night I realized that all the drivers I have ran into that are happy with LS either have their wife/girlfriend riding with them or are single and live in the truck. The drivers I have ran into that aren't happy have a family at home.

Colts Fan - I have no idea who GMAN is.

Orangetxguy - Just telling it as it happened to me, not trying to steer anyone away from LS but if you go to work here as a company driver you will make really good money, or at least I did and you will need to take a picture of your house and family because by the time they actually get you there you will need a picture to remember what they look like. I now know what "we'll work on it" means in LS speak. Tell them you need to get home and "we'll work on it" is the response which is LS speak means "keep taking these loads and sometime in the next 3 months you'll pass by there and can take you DOT mandated 10 hour rest there". I need to be home for Christmas was my line, theirs was we'll work on it and when ***** hit the fan yesterday and I was told to take the load to Gonzales, LA I asked how that was supposed to get me home for Christmas and was told that there's no point now because it's too late. Was also told by the load planner that even if I left right then at 9:00 am I wouldn't get there. I was 1,000 miles from home, drive 11 hours, 630 miles in the next 12 hours take a 10 hour break and drive on in in about 6 hours and by my math that would have had me home by about 1:00 pm on Christmas day. Yeah I wouldn't have been there at o-dark-30 to see the kids get their presents from Santa but I would have been there in plenty of time to spend the afternoon with the family and enjoy Christmas dinner with them. But when I tried to explain this to the load planner I was told that he has 30 years in this business and I didn't know what I was talking about. Then I was told I was being childish and hung up on. To me in a business where your contact with fellow employees is limited to a telephone the ultimate insult is to hang up on someone. These spineless people are the ones that get into this line of work because they couldn't handle being in a situation where they are face to face with another employee. They don't have the ability to stand in front of someone when they are called out; they have to have the protection of the telephone. Look at trucking terminals today, jersey barriers surround them and all the doors are security controlled. That’s no to protect the gold and diamonds in the display cases, it's to protect the people inside from the pissed off drivers outside.

Mike Hunt - The company I'm going to work for is one that I applied to several weeks before applying at LS but I had already committed to LS when they finally got through my app. and made me an offer. Once they did clear me and I told them that I had taken the LS job the VP of the company told me that he would keep me on file because "I would be calling him back shortly". When I called them yesterday the VP called me back and said "I told you so" and you know what, he was right. But I'm going as far away from those "gulf coast carriers" as I can get this time. The company I'm going to is a small outfit with a single office, one terminal and the drivers actually have access to the same bathrooms and coffee makers as the dispatchers and managers. Their not locked behind bullet proof glass and told that little rat box out in the corner of the parking lot is the driver facility. DD will know what I'm talking about there.

[Trk_driver_NC]

hey man...if you don't mind..and if you can..whats the name of the company you will be driving 4? i'm already set up for an orientation for ATS...but from some of the feed backs from some drivers on here..ATS dont sound to be a great company to go to... Thanks man..and sorry to hear that you wont be home for Christmas...i just got back from Iraq..working with KBR..missed allot this year...hope to hear back from you soon...

[devildice]

DD - They are a great company as far as pay goes for a company driver, I have no complaints on that part of the job and as long as you never want to go home, you'll go a long ways here as a company driver. Money doesn't mean everything to me and I will go home so I'm not their ideal driver and was told so in so many words yesterday. In fact after looking at everything last night I realized that all the drivers I have ran into that are happy with LS either have their wife/girlfriend riding with them or are single and live in the truck. The drivers I have ran into that aren't happy have a family at home.

I agree with you 100%. Their pay package is impressive and overall I think LS as a whole is a decent company, my personal issues stemmed from my terminal manager and their shady way of doing business. Many of my friends said I was crazy for leaving because the money was good. But as you said, money is not always everything. There was something like 9 or 10 drivers (including myself) in orientation when I went. There are only 2 still there, all the others left and I know for a fact that 3 of those that left did so for basically the same reasons you did. The 2 that are still remaining are hanging on by a thread and have said after the holidays they too may be leaving if things don't change.

Their not locked behind bullet proof glass and told that little rat box out in the corner of the parking lot is the driver facility. DD will know what I'm talking about there.

Yeah I know what you're talking about and what a joke that place is.......

Once again I am sorry that things didn't work out for you, but I am sure that you'll b fine at your new company. BOL to you and keep us posted.

[jonp]

I racked up a number of service failures with Roehl Transportation and didnt know it until one of the dispatchers, who was a friend of mine, showed me my record. Since I have never been late with a load I was perplexed to say the least. Checked into it and found out that, yes, if you arrive at a customer BEFORE your appointment time they counted that as a service failure also. Go figure.

[Jackrabbit379]

I'm sorry to hear that, catalinaflyer. I wish ya the best of luck. Sorry to hear that it didn't work right for ya..

Keep us updated on your next journeys.

[zipy46]

Lone Star or Land Star

?????

I thought Land Star was A-ok

never heard of Lone Star

[Rev.Vassago]

We seriously need a Land Star thread...i am about done where i am and dont want to hop to another

OTR company....(seen one...seen em all it seems)

Land Star is on my mind....I have the experience...can run like hell (legally) and would like to hear from

those that roll with them

I had a thread I started when I first moved over to LS back in February, titled "From Hauling desks to Landstar's Authority", or something along those lines.

[Rev.Vassago]

Lone Star or Land Star

?????

I thought Land Star was A-ok

never heard of Lone Star

Lonestar is based out of Texas.

[zipy46]

I had a thread I started when I first moved over to LS back in February, titled "From Hauling desks to Landstar's Authority", or something along those lines.

Do you drive for the Land Star currently Rev V ?

[repete]

Man, that sucks being stuck in a truckstop on Xmas. You're not the only one, tho. I drove home today from the liquor store and the nearby Pilot was overflowing with idling sleeper trucks.

Who knows, maybe Santa will airdrop their presents from his sleigh as he passes over tonight. And what about all that free coffee at rest areas and those scrumpcious free truckstop buffets? What more could a supertrucker ask for?

Well I'll drink another beer for you driver and wish you luck on your next predicament...eh I mean motor carrier. Funny with all the high unemployement and so many drivers looking for work that you'd get hired on the spot. That would be a hint-and-a-half for my ***** that it's yet another cut-rate churn-n-burn low-ball outfit (aren't they all?), but stranger things have happened I guess.

Mike, your a real doom and gloom type of guy huh? Do you ever find anything good in something? Have you ever seen the "siver lineing"
I drove by a Pilot and sevreal rest stops that are useually packed and none of them had many trucks in them at all!
Life is what you make it so use it don't abuse it

[Rev.Vassago]

Do you drive for the Land Star currently Rev V ?

I do.

[catalinaflyer]

Mike, your a real doom and gloom type of guy huh? Do you ever find anything good in something? Have you ever seen the "siver lineing"
I drove by a Pilot and sevreal rest stops that are useually packed and none of them had many trucks in them at all!
Life is what you make it so use it don't abuse it

I don't know what Pilot Mike drove by by at was sitting in one Christmas Eve and Day and there was only 6 other trucks there, 3 or 4 of them had no one around. Even this morning here in Jackson, MS the J is only about 1/4 full and it's usually standing room only on Friday night / Saturday Morning.

On another note, my DM was back in the office yesterday and she called me the minute she got to her desk to try and smooth things over. After 2+ hours on the phone with her and the terminal manager I'm wavering on my decision to leave. She's paying me for three days of detention since this load to Gonzales could have been done in 2 days and I was given 5 to get it there. She also assured me I would be going from Gonzales to my house as soon as I get the truck serviced in Baton Rouge.

If everyone in the company treated drivers the way she does we wouldn't be having this conversation. As I have said earlier, this is trucking and when you get into the heavy/specialized line things don't always (rarely) go as planned. 2" of difference in measurements from the customer can mean a totally different trailer/driver/route and we all know how some customers work. Same thing with weights as was the case with load going to Nove Scotia, if the customers weights had been exact I would have been fine but when you add all the little crap all of the sudden the trailer I had wouldn't work.

Anyhow I had to give up on a company because of the holiday confusion, that's the absolute worst time of the year to make a decision. So I have te weekend to contemplate and see what actually happens on Monday.

[Mike Hunt]

Mike, your a real doom and gloom type of guy huh? Do you ever find anything good in something? Have you ever seen the "silver lining"

Well, I'm a realist. And the hard reality of today's trucking industry is that wages/rates have gone nowhere over the past 20-some odd years since deregulation. I hear drivers pulling for .25 cpm, leasing trucks for .85 cpm + FSC...where do they find these people?

I move in a wide circle of friends and associates and one of them is a truck broker. Every so often he'll gets a few drinks in him and he'll start bragging about how he gets these quote "dumb truckers" to haul loads for peanuts. Like i told him, that's why I'm not in that business anymore. People hauling freight for nothing to get home, to get to a supposedly "better" freight area, to stave off the repo man, or the hobby truckers in their rooster cruiser wearing their "cool" trucker hats...the list goes on and on.

And despite all the short freight and companies going belly up, they're still crying about a "driver shortage". Driver shortage? If there was a real shortage, you'd see empty store shelves, produce rotting on the dock, etc. And if you can't find quality help...do what every other business does and increase your rates/wages in order to attract qualified, professional drivers. But you see, like the rest of corporate America they don't want that. Their real agenda is to pressure congress and the public into getting illegal aliens behind their wheels. This will further drive down already low rates/wages and spell the end of the American trucker. And let's not get started on EOBR's and speed limiters and the whole shebang...Ontario is already beginng to regulate big trucks at 60-some mph rolling through. The days of tall miles running hot and heavy in a large hood are pretty much over.

But you go on putting on that smiley happy face and keep thinking everything's gonna be alright. It's not and it won't be and the sooner people get that into their thick heads, the more they will realize that STAYING AWAY from irregular-route, OTR trucking is the best course of action.

[steelhauler]

Im sorry to hear about your bad luck. Usually this kinda garbage happens with a large carrier, everybody runs in circles and points the finger, at which after enough time, it gets pointed at you. However when you run OTR, youll get this. Too manay variables. If hometime is something you value, why not stay regional, with an option of long haul? Stay close when you want to get home, run farther away when freight is better.

This happened to me around Thanksgiving, only I was 400 miles from home. Load 1 fell through, but sure enough they came across another that was a fit for me, and I made it through.

1100 miles is a whole lot harder to do on a holiday, when freight sucks even during a busy time.

Again, Im sorry this happened, but tomorrow is another day, whether you leave or stay.

Another quote...from Catalinaflyer,"So as of Tuesday the 30th of December I will no longer be with Lonestar and as of Monday he 5th of January I'm going to another specialized carrier who deals with the same customers as LS and the Dispatcher is also the Driver Manager, Load Planner and Customer Service. I asked them about their policy with that customer and they said that they have never heard of such a thing and that delivering early on any load of theirs will only help with my reputation within the company. They even called me back an hour later and instead of having me ride the bus they are flying me to orientation so I can have an extra day at home. The VP of the company said he wished there was something he could do for me for Christmas but they would give me an extra day home to try and make a little difference."

I have found over my years, usually with a more one on one approach, it makes life/job more simplier.

[Orangetxguy]

Well, I'm a realist. And the hard reality of today's trucking industry is that wages/rates have gone nowhere over the past 20-some odd years since deregulation. I hear drivers pulling for .25 cpm, leasing trucks for .85 cpm + FSC...where do they find these people?

I move in a wide circle of friends and associates and one of them is a truck broker. Every so often he'll gets a few drinks in him and he'll start bragging about how he gets these quote "dumb truckers" to haul loads for peanuts. Like i told him, that's why I'm not in that business anymore. People hauling freight for nothing to get home, to get to a supposedly "better" freight area, to stave off the repo man, or the hobby truckers in their rooster cruiser wearing their "cool" trucker hats...the list goes on and on.

And despite all the short freight and companies going belly up, they're still crying about a "driver shortage". Driver shortage? If there was a real shortage, you'd see empty store shelves, produce rotting on the dock, etc. And if you can't find quality help...do what every other business does and increase your rates/wages in order to attract qualified, professional drivers. But you see, like the rest of corporate America they don't want that. Their real agenda is to pressure congress and the public into getting illegal aliens behind their wheels. This will further drive down already low rates/wages and spell the end of the American trucker. And let's not get started on EOBR's and speed limiters and the whole shebang...Ontario is already beginng to regulate big trucks at 60-some mph rolling through. The days of tall miles running hot and heavy in a large hood are pretty much over.

But you go on putting on that smiley happy face and keep thinking everything's gonna be alright. It's not and it won't be and the sooner people get that into their thick heads, the more they will realize that STAYING AWAY from irregular-route, OTR trucking is the best course of action.

:roll2::roll2::roll2:

#1; For someone whom joined this forum just a few weeks ago, whom came on with his first post being aggravated and down in the dumps about being a "Newbie" whom was unable to make a good enough living and was hanging up his "spurs"...You certainly try to come across as an experienced driver, with a vast understanding of the trucking industry.


#2; Did you ever think to tell your "Broker Buddy" that HE is part of the problem? Yeah...He bragged to you (maybe) that HE gets some dumb "truckers" to haul his loads. BUT did YOU look him in the eye and tell him that it is thieves like him, that have turned trucking into the low pay profession it is becoming?

No...I seriously doubt that you did.

Now...I'm of the opinion that Mike Hunt is CFM in a new unimproved manifestation, here to bash the men and women whom drive trucks OTR for a living...unable and unwilling to present a reasonable solution to the problems that plague this industry...........or contribute insightful information to help a fellow driver.


There are far more trucking companies out there that pay in excess of 30 cents per mile, for all the miles that the truck travels, than there are carriers which pay 25 cents per-mile for short miles.

LTL is not the end all and be all of truck driving. Pulling wiggle wagons is not for everyone. Local driving is not the end all and be all of truck driving. Some people prefer to travel the long distances...see the country.

It is up to each person whom chooses truck driving for a living to decide what fits for them.


Where was this Pilot you saw "overflowing" with idling sleeper trucks??

The Pilot here had maybe 10 trucks sitting in it. Most of them are driven by drivers whom live in this area and park there because they can. The Flying J had about the same number of trucks at noon..but did have half a lot full, at 18:30 when I went to Beaumont to see a movie.