[BIG JEEP on 44's]

Originally Posted by Kevin0915

this is what i dont get. W TF does it matter if i start out making 28 or 31cpm? an extra $40 take home a week? again, its better than zero...but your paycheck is either $1000 or its half that. quite a big difference. and it all comes down to how many miles you run. WTF does it matter if someone just starting out is making 28 or 31 if they arent getting the miles??

am i happy where i'm at? BARELY. But going to ask my DM if he cannot start looking for dedicated routes for me to run. the hard work dont bother me. unloading a trailer a day in 4-5 stops dont bother me. I would rather do that....get the free workout, and save time doing it....than to sit a day, drive 500 miles....sit a day.....drive 300 miles.....get the picture?

When I go to work I do so to make a living It's not a free donation of my time/life so some multi millionaire can bid low on freight rates ...leaving me wondering if I'll make money or not for the week or month because I'm only paid when/if they can scrounge up enough loads for me to piece together a decent pay check ...I consider myself to be at work from the time I step into the cab off hometime until I return back on home time ,and during that time inbetween If I'm not making decent money for my service then I can't see the reason to keep working to stay broke ...And decent money is not $400.00-600.00 wk for a 24/7 commitment ...I liked driving OTR ,but the earnings were terrible ,and without earnings the job can't afford a quality living .

[Windwalker]

I had one company "PUNISH" me, once. I never did know why. For two weeks, every one of my loads only ran about 200 miles... 300 at the most, and about 90% of them were also tarped. At the end of 2 weeks, they realized I had run 3,300 miles each week, with all the short loads they gave me. and decided it didn't do any good. After that, I went back to the normal runs.

But, then, running flatbed is not the same as running a box and having appointments to meet. The customers I had with flatbed were very happy to see me, no matter what time it was, whether loading or unloading. One even gave me a $100 tip for helping unload. The previous load of glass... About half the load got broken because of the Mexicans they had doing the unloading.

[Syncrosonix]

Originally Posted by Windwalker

Well, Kevin, you're beginning to see one of the problems with the BIG companies. Being as big as they are, they even have problems trying to keep things straight. Wait till you get sent after a "PHANTOM LOAD". Or, you get to a shipper and find out that another driver already ran with the load. Or, they want you run with a load, and you have to cross a "bad weather front", and when you tell them it isn't safe to run, they come back that half a dozen other drivers are running through it, and you realize that if you don't go, they PUNISH you with short miles. By the end of a year, you'll learn some of the games they have in store for you.

But, good luck to you. There are smaller companies that try playing those games with you, but most seem to realize that drivers are NOT a "dime a dozen".

that has happened to me TWICE with those phantom loads. man, i was livid and had many things to say to the a-hole planner and dispatcher who sent me on those.

when a load finally came around that was available, it had to go literally 750 miles in less than 24hrs, which i sure as fizzuck couldn't do. the idiot planner, dispatcher, whatever kept sending it to me regardless of how many times i shot him or her down. after the 6th time within 30mins, i was sent a message demanding that i take it. i quickly replied with, "shove it. i know for a fact that there are over a dozen teams in the area. why are you sitting on me while losing time on this run. especially since it's one of those 'cannot be late' types? even more so that it had all of a day and a half to pick up. why did you wait until the last minute?" anyway, to make a long story short, i found out through the pipeline that the planner got canned the very next day over a load going to where that one was. :clap:

kevin, when you see a pre-plan, get a good look at it. if anything feels wrong, figure out a good reason to decline it, and be able to back it up if/when your dm sends you a message demanding to know how come you keep declining it.

[Windwalker]

Oh, and Kevin....

Have some patience with your DM...

It's been said many, many years ago... "Forgive them, Lord, they know not what they do".... If they knew what they are doing, they'd be running the company, not you.....:smokin:

[boneebone]

Originally Posted by Syncrosonix

to my knowledge, swift NEVER pays detention pay. even when i had documented all the b.s., they still said some bullcrap story of how i didn't qualify for it. something that i forwarded to somebody within my circle of family friends......

I never had a problem getting detention pay, you just have to fight for it sometimes.

[wepwawet]

"Okay, the other day i got this pre-plan. I notice that it was already a day late on pick-up. I figure 'what the hell' it wont take me but a day to drive it there, and ill get it there 'on time' anyways. I come to find out, i totally forgot about 11 hrs dropping off one night, but the next, i only had 3hrs coming off...and i was short hours. I was about 150-200 miles short of the final. I message ahead, when i find out the mistake, letting them know i'm running late."


Your right someone did drop the ball and that person was you. So no det for you sorry. Did someone else drop the ball on getting a new appt.... sure but if you would have made sure of your hrs then they would not had to change the appt.

You dropped the ball

They dropped the ball

But you did first so you lose sorry welcome to OTR.

[Windwalker]

Kevin...
Remember how you were so staunchly supportive of, not just Swift, but big companies in general?
I suggest you do not let the attitude you showed us on here, show at the company. Just hunker down, lick your wounds in private, and get your one year in. There really is a light at the end of the tunnel. Don't lose sight of it, and don't lose control till then. After that, before you lose it, make sure you have a better spot lined up... Then, tell them to take the job and shove it.

One year is not that long. Back when I started, it was a three year commitment. I did get through it and was able to move on to better things. You'll have that chance too. just bide your time till them.

[AC120]

You will not believe how good you will feel when -- AFTER YOU'VE GOT ANOTHER GIG -- you tell them to shove it. It's the best therapy in the world. It is truly something to look forward to. I've heard it compared to great sex. Hang in there.

Make that: "after you've got another gig and don't owe Swift any money."

[cdswans]

Originally Posted by wepwawet

Your right someone did drop the ball and that person was you. So no det for you sorry. Did someone else drop the ball on getting a new appt.... sure but if you would have made sure of your hrs then they would not had to change the appt.

That was your fault as superbly stated above. Orphan loads suck but you made it worse.

Red Flag #1: The bygone pickup. Unless you need that load to get moving to a better area, don't take it. Your response should be: N and "can't meet load commitments."

You may well be the only Driver within a few hundred miles, which is usually their excuse to keep sending it or it might just be the only load. Tough.

Red Flag #2: If the planner throws it back but can't (won't) change the commitment, it means he/she is covering "someone's" rearend but not yours.

Be prepared . . depending on available freight, you may wind up sitting right where you are/were for at least as long as you waited at that customer. Speaking of whom, the customer IS king. Don't take your lousy experience out on them. If that ever got back to the CSR and he/she were to take action on it, the consequences could be quick and severe.

Stay on top of your hours. It's happened to me a few times, too. You get a nice plan of a couple thousand miles and in the rush to snag it there can be lots of things to overlook. I still do it but only to the extent my mistakes are "manageable."

Finally, there is plenty of wisdom in the posts up above. I wouldn't even think of changing jobs right now. I'm even considering getting back into xteamingx . . I mean training!

PM if you'd like to talk things over.

[dle]

Hang in there.

I've also said yes to loads and then after re-checking I just didn't have the hours to do it. Make sure you do your check calls like your supposed to, and when you you put in your estimated hours available at PTA, I've used conservative numbers, until I am almost there or there. It sometimes means that I wait for a bit, but at least I know my hours and so does the computer system.

Detention pay as far as I'm concern is a nice extra - if I get it, if I don't ... You wouldn't have been paid for the entire time you had waited anyway. It's also a bit of black magic involved - you have to be either ontime or early, the necessary documentation on the bills (including signatures ), etc etc etc.

Just hang in there. The first year is your extended training period.