the final straw?
 

Well after sitting a day and a half at a truck stop waiting on a load, i finally get one sent over the Qualcomm. Pickup and I have 6 stops all in florida. So again I'll be driving local at 28cents per mile. Tell me this isn't normal? Tell me I chose real bad with going with LCT?

What I was always told by mentor is to push for the longer runs. If there is something that does not work for you, communicate with your DM, and tell them that you would like something longer.

Don't give up, you gotta push some times to get a good run!

I've pushed. I went in and talked with the head guy who pulled up my stats and called my dm into the office (much to my embarrassment) and then he gave me another. Yet the same stuff keeps happening. I was making good money driving local in florida but wanted to go otr, and in two months i love it. But things are what they are, lct has a lot of freight delivering around florida and that's the way it is. Someone needs to deliver it and it isn't going to be me.

I was hoping it was going to get better, but I see it isn't. I was hoping I'd at least make 3 months cause I don't want another company to tell me I need to be with a trainer again, but I'm not driving local in florida unless they pay me by the hour.

Hmm, well, see what they say when you ask for something out of state, or even cross country. Never hurts. Especially if you have been stuck in the "local" scheme of things. It took my mentor some time to get them to give us a run that was of any distance, but evenually they caved in.

Re: the final straw?
 

You chose REAL bad going with LCT (Last Chance Trucking).

Well Rev, I see that now, but tell me, as I only have two months otr, six stops with no stop over pay isn't normal is it?

wait now they are telling me that they will pay me stop off pay. Telling me they don't want me to quit. All of a sudden they want to pay stop off pay. I did this once before and was told no stop off pay.

Get it over the Quallcomm! The Quallcomm is your best friend, because you then have something to go back on if they screw you out of pay!

They may just want to see what you are made of or they may just not have much freight other than the short runs. It would be better if you could stick with it for a few more months. Once you get a year or so behind you, it will be much easier to find a better paying job.

I also took photos of messages on my Qualcomm for really serious moments. (Because if you don't watch it, it will auto erase the old messages on your end as the computer fills up) If you've got a digital, that would work... but a throw away camera works too. Had a friend of mine get a dispatcher in hot water because he kept a copy of Qualcomm transmissions on film.

Doesn't LCT haul a lot of flowers and other types of plants? The used to anyway if I remember correctly.

If they do/still do then that could explain a lot. Not much call for tullips in most of the nation right now?

Very good point. I did that on occasion!

Gman honestly they know what i'm made of. They know I drive with the door shut. They give me a load and they don't hear another word from me. I'm always where I'm supposed to be early. Besides that I grew up in the city and I know all about being tested. I'm a grown man, I don't want to play games and I don't want some company testing me. I want to work.

I can deal with short miles and sitting but I will not drive local at 28 cents per mile. I've read your posts for a long time and respect your words, so if this is trucking then maybe I am in the wrong industry. but as much as i see you rail against cheap freight I can't see you doing something like this and I truly mean that in the most respectful terms.

Anyway, i told them I'd pick up the frieght and take it back to their terminal and then i'm turning in this truck

hey merrick, in response to your comment about only going back to local if you get paid by the hour, i definately know what you're talking about, they guys where i work all get paid by the load, i said hell no to that, i get 14.00 an hour, and overtime after 40, some people might say that's not great pay, but you know as well as i do that 14 dollars an hour in florida is pretty good money. The way LCT made it sound in orientation is that they would keep you busy all the time, with long loads, and the way i understood it was that you were supposed to get stop off pay. I'll say it again, good luck with everything, and there is definately something better out there, much better than .28 cents per mile, and all those miles being driven in Florida.

I am sorry, I didn't realize they weren't paying you stop pay. If you are running short runs without stop pay, then it is going to be difficult to make much money. The only way mileage pay makes sense for the driver is if you either have long miles or stop pay. Most companies who run short runs with multiple stops pay extra. In fact, some of the higher paying drivers I have known over the years haul LTL freight, where they have a lot of stops. I recall one driver who was earning over $80M/yr. pulling a van doing LTL freight. That was several years ago.

I was paid $13.25 and made 28k in 6 months. of course a lot of overtime and it was union so i got double time too. easiest job in the world too. same 3 stops a day. But they got strict and cut the overtime so i left.

I know someone else who works for LCT. From what I have heard of them, if you give an inch, they take a mile. If they find that you are the type that will run illegally, they will give you trips that REQUIRE you to do so.

There aren't many companies lower than LCT, in my opinion. C.R.E. and J.B.H. are the only two I can think of right now, and that is only because they shove Lease Purchase down their drivers' throats.

Did you go to this company right out of school? My suggestion would be that if you went to a legitimate CDL school, talk to some other companies (without quitting your current job). That way you can at least get some feelers out there as to whether or not you could be hired with only 2 mo. experience.

Rev, yeah i went to a good school, but I drove local for 6 months. I know local doesn't count with otr companies but it helps on the road test. Hell I got perfect scores on the lct road test and was only supposed to go into training for a couple of weeks just for logs etc but they dragged it out of course.

Yes they deliver flowers, but I don't do that. That's mostly team drivers. I just haul reefer. They haul a lot of oj, but general foodstuff mostly what I've been doing.

Re: the final straw?
 

If you are dependable and have 1 year, I know of a company that needs a good guy to run out of Davenport, FL regional home every weekend.

Re: the final straw?
 

Thank you LOAD IT, I truly appreciate it, I am dependable as they come, but I won't have a year until the end of march. On top of that so far out of the time I've had my license only 2 1/2 of those months is OTR. The rest has been local. I called a couple companies today and I don't understand why local driving is so anathema to these people. They won't even consider it. I feel local driving is much more difficult. Anyway thank you again, and if it's still open in the of March, I'd be interested.

WRONG, they can go and delete whatever they send you... FFE did that to me, had them send info and I called them on it , wow somehow it vanished off the qualcom.... DELETE , thats what they can do....all this happened within an hour so its not like it got to full and pushed the old messages off, so qualcom is not actual proof, get it in writing, try that...... like that would ever happen from any of them...