My 2 "abandonments" went like this. After putting up with not being treated as a human being i decided that if the company wont keep up on their end of the deal, why should i? So I took their trucks back to the company terminals and told them i was quitting. "But you cant quit without notice" they said. I then asked them why I had to be fair with them when they werent fair with me. Neither of them could come up with an answer for that one. Fast forward a little bit- Im now working for a FAMILY OWNED COMPANY that treats me with all the respect in the world, Im only out 1 or MAYBE 2 nights a week, and I make more than I did with either of the 2 DAC companies. And Im banking on the fact that they probably wont go out of business because I dont see too many mega carriers pulling fertilizer around in hopper bottoms. Only time will tell, but I do believe there is life beyond big companies. And Im not bashing OTR, there are plent

 

Yeah, I got ya TF, I should have phrased my response a bit better. That said, what size companies do you predict are going to survive in the trucking industry?

Long haul is over. Short to medium haul is there, yet how do the companies properly compensate the drivers for the increased waiting and less mileage involved? I still say that feeder networks are the answer. Much cheaper and efficient. Sleepers and long haul will certainly be around, but more as a specialty I believe. As it should have been all along. Now you've got me started TF! Good thing I gotta fire up the 1/4 cab in a little bit.

 

Your coast-to-coast mom-and-pop outfits are going to be the first to go. The long-haul mega carriers will have a rough time of it. I agree...it's the era of the short-to-medium haul carrier. Those will survive, providing they are positioned to do so.

I don't have near enough info or insight to make an informed prediction on LTL's and feeder companies. I imagine some will be fine and flourish and others will disappear, again depending on whether or not they are properly prepared to weather the storm.

It's going to get rough out there. We're going to see a company reduction that to date is unprecedented in the industry. Those that survive will come out of it stronger than ever. But the key is to be able to roll with it. A lot of companies out there, particularly the smaller ones, are not ready for it. But there will be some large ones folding, too. And I'd be willing to be that a lot of those soon-to-be casualties will come as a big surprise to a lot of people.

 

Care to be forthcoming with some specifics fly boy?:batman:

 

So... if DAC services does NOT have the word "abandonment" as an option, and the company says it was Unauthorized WITH notice, then the fax from DAC should NOT say "abandonment."

So.... isn't it the COMPANIES that are interpreting this as an "abandonment?"

You gave some very good info here, Twilight, on how things work, but I notice a bit of bias on the company's part. I guess that is part of your job and/or business culture.

And, maybe I misunderstood something you said. But, it seems to ME that DAC is not the bad guy here, if they are only reporting that the truck was left in what SOMEONE considers an unauthorized location (although it is often company property!) It seems it is an industry wide bias that allows them to even USE the word "abandonment" to deny employment to a driver who MAY not have done anything of the sort.

As someone said, there are often good reasons for the resigning driver's actions..... certainly understandable in the case of the O.P.'s son!!!

It's bad enough that there is so little "workplace" regulation on the big trucking companies, but to allow them to use DAC as an excuse for not considering an applicant, when DAC didn't say it was an abandonment, is bordering on a violation of the EEOC regulations or standards, and to me colors those companies as self-serving cowards, looking for an easy way out.

I understand that it is just easier to "pass" on someone rather than actually INTERVIEW them and find out the truth, especially when the driver pool is rich. But, that doesn't make it RIGHT.

I am not excusing abandonment of a truck on the side of the road, in my front yard, or even in a truckstop. But, every other company in the country is required to accept the return of their property TO any location that IS their property.

There are dozens of ways to put that truck back in service from ANY location/terminal the company owns with little expense.... and usually it is profitable for them to DO so. And everybody KNOWS it.

I'm sorry, but it just seems to me that you are attempting to justify the continued rape and abuse of the very "resources" that companies continue to seduce with their ("collective") lies and/or half-truths. And throwing a bit of "black balling" in for good measure!

I'm all for keeping "quitters" and WUSSES out of the industry... but, it seems there is little recourse for the driver who has been lied to and screwed by a mega carrier if companies can "attach" labels to them that even DAC doesn't use!

If I have misconstrued your explanation, I apologize. I have little experience with DAC... and mine is clean. And I certainly didn't mean any of this as a personal attack.... so, I'd appreciate a response that doesn't reflect your bias against me (if you so choose to respond.)

Hobo

P.S. see THIS thread for reference

http://www.classadrivers.com/forum/n...ve-notice.html

 

Just for the heck of it since I have not been able to drive for 8 years now I requested my DAC report. I got it. Millis tried to black ball me for Company policy Voiliations I asked them what they were here is what they told me I liked to run I-294 around Chicago to much to save time. Florilli states eligalble for rehire. Orbit is out of Business Henderson states left with Medical condition truck in unauthrized location however ELIGABLE FOR REHIRE. Now I hate DAC as much as every driver yet only one company says they would not rehire me and they are a company I would not touch with a freaking 100 meter cattle prod.

 

Hobo gets it. DAC is merely the repository of information, nothing more. From there, though, you move away from logic and into the realm of emotion.

Try and follow me here:

When a driver leaves a company, that company can either use DAC or not. DAC is not cheap for companies to use, but the cost is offset by having ready access to the employees job history.

DAC reports consist of the following:

Company Name and contact information
Dates of Employment
Eligibility for Rehire (YES or NO)
Reason for Leaving (QUIT, TERMINATED, LEAVE OF ABSENCE)
Status (COMPANY, LEASE, or OWNER-OPERATOR)
Driver's Experience (LOCAL, REGIONAL, or OTR)
Equipment Operated (DRY BOX, REFRIGERATED, FLATBED, Etc.)
Loads Hauled (GENERAL COMMODITY, REFRIGERATED, EQUIPMENT, Etc.)
Work Record (*****See Below*****)
Accident and Incident information (USUALLY SHOWS WHAT IT WAS AND WHETHER PREVENTABLE OR NOT)

Here's where things can interesting.

Work Records will consist of the following. Bear with me, I am going from memory:

Outstanding
Superior
Satisfactory
Company terminal without notice
Company terminal with notice
Company Policy Violation
Authorized Location With Notice
Authorized Locatoin Without Notice
Unauthorized Location With Notice
Unauthorized Location Without Notice
Late Loads
Log Violation
Complaints
Excessive Complaints
Unauthorized Use of Company Funds

I think that covers it. Those are the DAC options that a company can choose if they report the driver's employment to DAC. As you can see, it doesn't allow a whole lot of different choices and abandonment is not on there.

Most DAC reports come back Satisfactory. A lot of those choices above are nothing for a company to worry about. However, the Unauthorized Location is one that raises a big red flag. Once again, it means that the company had to expend resources to retrieve the equipment, whether from your house, a truck stop, the side of the road, and/or yes, even a company terminal that is not a dispatch terminal.

Hobo makes the point that equipment can be put back in service from just such a terminal, but it STILL costs money or resources to get a driver out there to pick it up, get it back to a shop to be detailed or worked on if needed, etc.

Another point that Hobo makes is the interview process. Any and all companies worth their salt will do an interview over the phone and will ask questions about anything that pops up on the DAC report that is worrisome. Many times, a simple explanation works (it does with us anyway) but keep in mind that not every driver is truthful and if a driver has a history of multiple "bad" hits, that's probably going to be a deal killer right there. But a driver, like the original poster, that has a good history besides the one ding, could probably be workable.

So, that's the DAC. Companies are still required to fax for verification and D&A information for any company within the last 3 years. And there are a lot of other companies out there that do not use the DAC, so actually of a lot more information that they can give out on a driver, including using the word ABANDONMENT.

As a side note, DAC/USIS can also be used to order MVRs and criminal histories, but for the sake of my explanation, we won't bother with those.

1. DAC reports are on file for 10 years. Anything past 10 years is purged, AUTOMATICALLY.

2. However, WORK RECORDS are only on file for 7 years. After 7 years, that part of a driver's DAC report is purged AUTOMATICALLY and not available at all.

If you have been off the road for 8 years, the only thing that will show will be are your dates of employment, for companies up to the 10 year mark. So, unless you are talking about a DAC report ordered several years ago, you cannot be seeing the info you are stating. :roll:

 

:batman: said:

What?? I DID??? I mean I DO??? :lol2:

Thanks for the further info, Twilight. I DO understand what you mean about it saving time for a company or recruiter. With all the turnover in this industry, a company HAS to do the quick research to keep from expending resources on a guy who is job hopping for a REASON!

Would you advise someone like the O.P.'s son to include some letter of explanation with any application right up front to counter what DAC will say? Cuz, I fear that if he doesn't, MANY companies won't even call him back.

However, expending resources to retrieve a truck from a COMPANY terminal seems like it would just be part of the cost of doing business. In that thread I linked, it seemed that MANY were forced to return the truck to terminals other than where they got them in the first place! If they were there to get in the first place..... then, it seems that there are ways for a company to have some new guy get that truck if he is hired from that area. See my point?

In fact, if they needed a guy from that area when they HIRED him, and he has quit, don't they still need to hire someone from that area? So.... here's your truck! :lol:

It just seems like one more money grab from the company to have someone return a truck to where THEY want it to save them money, when he was able to get it from the closer terminal when they hired him.

And it doesn't seem right to ding his DAC if he doesn't help the company with their own logistics problem!

That's all I'm saying. Good thread guys!

 

Twilight I ordered it 4 years ago so all the companies I drove for OTR are there. All the info is correcrt listed. I am getting ready tyo have the surgery I have fought for years to have and hopefully in 10 years will begin again to drive OTR except will take a regional job instead of an OTR job.

 

IE....OK, if you ordered it 4 years ago, then all that info would be there. That's why I asked. If it was ordered today and you've been off the road for 8 years, it would only show those last 2 years of history and no work record.

Hobo, yes the original poster should definitely let any companies know up front what's going to show up on the DAC and his reasoning for it. It'll be a bigger hurdle to overcome since it was his last job, but not insurmountable. It would still behoove him to contact his last company and see if they can remove it from the DAC or work with him somehow.

As far as the truck going to a non-dispatch terminal, here's the rub. There is only one company I know that will hire a driver, rental car them to a terminal with a truck, drug-test them there (onsite and immediate), then orientate them when they get through the home terminal. That's Crete. In their case, it doesn't matter to them which terminal the truck ends up at.

Every other company will put the driver through a full orientation and drug-test first at a full dispatch terminal, before sending them out in the truck. That being the case, if the truck is in a non-dispatch or non-orientation terminal, they cannot legally send a new driver there to pick up the truck. That drug test must be taken first at the very least.