[lucky1]

yes thats what i said there castrating them to 62 mph till fuel cost stabilize i have been working for this company for a year and half and they seam to be going down hill lots of drivers are losing miles i used avg 2200 2900miles now im down to 1800 miles its not because of time of the year. this as been going on since aug before u think about coming here pls go to a ts and ask our drivers the ones that have been here for a 1 more will tell you this thats if they havent left yet.

[Texas88]

I just told my son, who quit Celadon after 2 years driving for them for the same reason stated, No Freight.. He called a friend he knew at one of the Terminal garages, it is verified, They have orders to turn them all down to 63.

[lucky1]

yeah its getting bad here they just unassigned me from a good load just to reassign me to crappy load

[Texas88]

Yes, my son had to get out, made over 50K last year, if he stayed at Celadon, he would not have made 40K this year. He went over 4 months before his last 1K bonus check, then still was far from it when he quit, he already had 4.5 months in for the next one. He also stays out 5 to 8 weeks at a time, he does not request much home time.

[lucky1]

yeah that sounds like me its been 4 months since i had my bonus and im about 3k away from it if keeps this way it will be another month till i get it dont think im one of those drivers that dont like to run. i love driving hell im driving fool. wish celadon would let me drive. they used to be a great company and i would have told everyone to come here but i think its time to jump off this sinking ship

[Fozzy]

You folks might as well stay put! I see MOST companies in the near future turning trucks back and or going out of business. If you have a job now and have ANY seniority, you best stay put! The fuel prices and poor logistics of most of these companies are going to cause a lot of drivers to be forced to grab whatever they can..

[Cat6869]

Originally Posted by lucky1

yeah that sounds like me its been 4 months since i had my bonus and im about 3k away from it if keeps this way it will be another month till i get it dont think im one of those drivers that dont like to run. i love driving hell im driving fool. wish celadon would let me drive. they used to be a great company and i would have told everyone to come here but i think its time to jump off this sinking ship

Lucky: Hang in there and be patient, it's going to look up as they are working very hard on getting new accounts .
Senority has something ok! So hang in there if you can and if you can't well I totally understand. Be willing to go anywhere and be willing to take any load (Canada etc). :lol:

Good luck!

[Copperhead]

Until drivers factor the cost of fuel in running the truck, companies will take action like cutting the speed back. Driver pay and fuel are the highest costs. It's either cut the truck and save some money in fuel or cut the driver pay.

Now.. I have been running around 60-62 mph for over a decade even though most of my tractors would run 75 mph. I have averaged over 135K miles a year, never been late on a p/u or delivery. I have also averaged 6.8 - 7 mpg in that time. I have, to date, 142K dispatched miles this year. That is with taking 3 weeks off for vacation.

The reason miles are lacking for most drivers is NOT because the truck is choked to 60-65. It is because the planning personnel at the company are not booking the loads and scheduling them right. Some drivers are at fault for not communicating availability or hours they will have at the other end. I make a concerted effort to let my travel agent know when I will be somewhere, how many hours available, etc LONG before I get done with a run. Fortunately, my travel agent knows how I work and knows that she can count on me to be where I need to be. She then has me preplanned most of the time for the next run. That is why I consistently run around 3K miles a week and am home on the weekends.

After a LOT of years doing this, I can spot a lousy planning staff a mile away. That is one of the reasons I left CFI in '99 after 7 years with them. I see the same problem with a lot of carriers. At least the larger ones. Where I have found the best planning/operations personnel is with the smaller, regional carriers. I will never work for a large national carrier again if I can help it. That two or more weeks out crap is just that... crap. It shows that the carrier will make the driver suffer for a poor operations staff that can't plan their way out of the bathroom.

Before you criticize the carriers for choking the trucks back too soon, consider what you would do if YOU were paying for the fuel. I know. I gave myself a $10K a year net pay increase by improving my mpg by just 1 mpg at the current fuel prices. Now if the carriers would just kick back a lot of that savings towards their drivers, they would have no one complaining and no need to choke the trucks back since the drivers would do what it takes to get good fuel mileage. Since the carriers will not share the savings, there is no incentive for drivers to manage the mpg's better. The only way a person can see the gain is to get their own truck.

[lucky1]

understand the need to cut cost somewhere and to save on fuel. I would be all right if, they would have came out and told us look this is how it is we need u to run 62.

I would have done that ( i know lot of drivers probably wont ).
buta least if i need to pass someone i had the extra speed.

but now if i get grandma or some one talking on the phone going a little slower now i gotta try and pass them so now im in the left lane going 62 while ur be hind me cursing cuz traffic is backed up in the left lane.

its not the point that i have to go 62 its more i dont have the extra speed to pass

and as far as being patient well .... i am ... but my bills are not.

[steelhauler2007]

Maverick is turning all their trucks back from 70 to 65.They gave the drivers a chance to slow down on their own,but it didn't work.