[dollarshort]

Originally Posted by conanj31

Dollarshort says...
Well now I guess I can say I do know you and how you operate.

Missouri to Philly, PA is approx. 1,000 miles.

@ a minimum of .35 cpm that would be $350.00 for that run. How do you end up with a $60.00 paycheck? Explain that one to me.

My guess would be you are hanging out at the truckstops taking advances. How else could you explain the difference?

And if you are not happy with the miles your dispatcher is giving you GET ANOTHER DISPATCHER! I don't care how nice he may be, he's not making you any money.

I fired my first dispatcher because he wasn't doing as well as I thought he should be.

Again, the moral of the story......Instead of setting around bitching about it. Do something to change it and make it better.

It appears to me you had plenty of time to figure out what to do to make it better. Call your terminal manager and get him involved. If that doesn't work go over his head. Do whatever you have to do to get what you want. did you ever hear the phrase "The squeaky wheel gets the grease?" Believe me it works. Just don't throw your hands up and say "I quit!"

Regardless of your personal situation. Knight is not considered profitable unless every truck hits the 2,500 mile per week mark. And trust me they are doing everything possible to make sure that happens.

Ah yes..I hang out in truckstops taking advances..Nope sorry don't take advances so you can squash that theory. Its a little over 1000 miles but instead of making .35cpm how about .22cpm? They have this little thing they call per diem or did you forget about that. So take the .13cpm off for per diem and thats what the load payed. And they only pay you .11cpm of that per diem back on the net side for the load and keep .2cpm for to take care of "expenses" on their end for paying per diem? Are you kidding me? Its a rip off. I've never seen a company whine as much as they did when I asked them numerous times to take me off the per diem pay plan. Did they do it? No. If a company is going to pay per diem, pay the whole daily allowance allowed by the government instead of ripping drivers off by only paying part of it and ripping drivers off by keeping .2cpm for "expenses." And although its none of your business, I do have to pay child support. But thats not the point. The point is what happened that week was typical of every week I spent at Knight. I called Phoneix and asked them who was responsible for getting 2500 miles to the truck. Their answer, load planners and dispatchers. So I asked them to look at my runs and tell me why I'm only averaging 1500. They couldn't give me an answer. Believe me all levels of management got involved in trying to figure out why I sat so much...my dispatcher, my terminal manger Dave and folks out of Phoneix. The response I always got was "we'll get back to ya, lets us do some research." Well you know, I can only put up with this "research" for so long. Its sad when a company as large as Knight won't even call its own drivers back to let them know whats going on or what they've found out. I have never in my life been so direspected by a truck company. And its sad to see they still have trolls like you working for them oblivious to who they really are. You should open your eyes and get the big picture. I worked my ass off for them 70hrs a week only to sit and wait for loads and chase down empty trailers that weren't where they said they were. Ya know it gets old going to 5 different places looking for empty trailers that don't exist. You would think that with this satellite tracking they have on their trailers, they could eliminate this problem. Saying that other drivers expect empty trailers to be across the street or accusing drivers of not wanting to go look for trailers shows how much of a blind idiot you are. You are apparently one of those drivers that knows it all right? You been there done that? You sure do talk like you know me and know my driving habits. Hell you see me sitting around at truckstops taking advances apparently so I must be wrong right? I'm just making this all up, surely it can't be true. The owner of Knight Transportation..former VP of Swift..need I say more. Buty hey Dollarshort, you go ahead and keep driving for them cause it working out great for you so it must be that way for all their drivers right? Oh I did solve the problem with them by the way, I left them back in December. Pretty much had to or I was gonna lose everything I had cause I couldn't pay the bills. I'm done with the trucking industry. 1300-1500 miles per week with per diem pay, are you serious? You have a good time with them.

You are better off out of the trucking industry!

Again you are just bitching and complaining. Why would you be stupid enough to take per diem? Anyone with common sense would realize that if the company is pushing that hard for you to go on it it obviously is benefitting nobody but the company. They told me I had to go on per diem at the end of last year. I said no thanks!

Hopefully you find better luck in a different line of work. Maybe union work would suit you better. Those guys love sitting around bitching. :roll:

[dollarshort]

Originally Posted by ColdFrostyMug

Perhaps. I'm just wondering how you could legally do 4,031 miles in a governed company truck? Average of 3k mpw....only way to do that is to put a good deal of elbow grease into the logbook. Been there, done that. I was one of those "high-milers" at one time...to see a picture of me back then...the drive/sleep/drive/sleep/drive/sleep mentality took a toll...had bags under the eyes, hardly ever saw home, got sick more often...it's a tough way to make a living and the risks involved are great. But dispatch will always throw bones to such drivers. That's just the way it goes.

I don't and never have driven illegally for Knight. There is no need to "grease" the log book if you are not sitting at docks or waiting for loads. Like I said....Drive 11 hours per day. It that simple, it's not rocket science. Yes my truck is goverened at 66 mph so what? I see guys passing me all day long running those triple digit trucks racing from truck stop to truck stop, usually passing me at least 4-5 times per day.

It's not how fast you truck will go. It's how often you open the drivers door.

[dollarshort]

Originally Posted by ColdFrostyMug

Perhaps. I'm just wondering how you could legally do 4,031 miles in a governed company truck? Average of 3k mpw....only way to do that is to put a good deal of elbow grease into the logbook. Been there, done that. I was one of those "high-milers" at one time...to see a picture of me back then...the drive/sleep/drive/sleep/drive/sleep mentality took a toll...had bags under the eyes, hardly ever saw home, got sick more often...it's a tough way to make a living and the risks involved are great. But dispatch will always throw bones to such drivers. That's just the way it goes.

And for those who are not smart enough to figure out how it's done let me do the simple math for you.......

4,031 miles total for 6 days. = 672 miles per day

672 miles per day divided by 11 hours driving per day = 61 mph average speed.

Not very hard to do even for the most novice driver.

If you see any smoke and mirrors to this I would like to know. Otherwise keep your negativity to yourself.

The problem in this world is there aren't many people left that are willing to put in a good days work never mind a good weeks worth.

Prior to trucking I was used to working 16 hour days so to me only having to work 11 or 12 hours a day is a breeze.

[conanj31]

Dollarshort said:

You are better off out of the trucking industry!

Again you are just bitching and complaining. Why would you be stupid enough to take per diem? Anyone with common sense would realize that if the company is pushing that hard for you to go on it it obviously is benefitting nobody but the company. They told me I had to go on per diem at the end of last year. I said no thanks!

Hopefully you find better luck in a different line of work. Maybe union work would suit you better. Those guys love sitting around bitching

Spoken like a true idiot. I'm not bitching or complaining. I'm stating fact and you know that. You work for them. So stop acting like you don't know this crap goes on with Knight. I asked numerous times, the whole time I worked for Knight as a matter of fact, to be taken off the per diem pay scale. Tell me, how many times must a driver call the terminal manager or Phoneix before they get taken off per diem? Obviously way more than the weekly calls I made. Don't preach to me about common sense obviously you have none, you work for them and refuse to admit the problems this company has that you KNOW they have. And you're gonna sit there and try to tell us that you only work 11-12hrs a day? Who are you trying kid, we're not new to this industry. You're right about one thing..I am better off out of the trucking world...I have a life outside of the truck. You have fun staying out for days on end away from family fand friends gettin paid penny's for making the company millions. You're stupid to try and convince everyone on here that you get 3000-4000 miles a week with Knight. I needed a good laugh..but whatever..keep the blinders on and keep on truckin...Oh by the way, I also found it funny how not only do you seem to know everything about me and my driving habits but now you know how unions work..but let me guess, now you're gonna say you use to work for a union...kind of figured you would...you're right about not needing to "grease" the log books as long as you don't sit waiting for loads or at load docks. One small problem with that though. ALL I DID WAS SIT AND WAIT FOR LOADS AND SIT AT LOAD DOCKS...congratulations you drive out of Carlisle...I drove out of Chicago...it would be nice to drive 11hrs a day on a load instead of spending 3 or 4 of that 14 hr day waiting for a load and then spending another 2 looking for empty trailers that don't exist. You are apparently the cream of the crop...

[dollarshort]

Originally Posted by conanj31

Dollarshort said:

You are better off out of the trucking industry!

Again you are just bitching and complaining. Why would you be stupid enough to take per diem? Anyone with common sense would realize that if the company is pushing that hard for you to go on it it obviously is benefitting nobody but the company. They told me I had to go on per diem at the end of last year. I said no thanks!

Hopefully you find better luck in a different line of work. Maybe union work would suit you better. Those guys love sitting around bitching

Spoken like a true idiot. I'm not bitching or complaining. I'm stating fact and you know that. You work for them. So stop acting like you don't know this crap goes on with Knight. I asked numerous times, the whole time I worked for Knight as a matter of fact, to be taken off the per diem pay scale. Tell me, how many times must a driver call the terminal manager or Phoneix before they get taken off per diem? Obviously way more than the weekly calls I made. Don't preach to me about common sense obviously you have none, you work for them and refuse to admit the problems this company has that you KNOW they have. And you're gonna sit there and try to tell us that you only work 11-12hrs a day? Who are you trying kid, we're not new to this industry. You're right about one thing..I am better off out of the trucking world...I have a life outside of the truck. You have fun staying out for days on end away from family fand friends gettin paid penny's for making the company millions. You're stupid to try and convince everyone on here that you get 3000-4000 miles a week with Knight. I needed a good laugh..but whatever..keep the blinders on and keep on truckin...Oh by the way, I also found it funny how not only do you seem to know everything about me and my driving habits but now you know how unions work..but let me guess, now you're gonna say you use to work for a union...kind of figured you would...you're right about not needing to "grease" the log books as long as you don't sit waiting for loads or at load docks. One small problem with that though. ALL I DID WAS SIT AND WAIT FOR LOADS AND SIT AT LOAD DOCKS...congratulations you drive out of Carlisle...I drove out of Chicago...it would be nice to drive 11hrs a day on a load instead of spending 3 or 4 of that 14 hr day waiting for a load and then spending another 2 looking for empty trailers that don't exist. You are apparently the cream of the crop...

Thank for the compliment :roll: No I never worked for a union and never will. I did load at alot of union companies in the past though.

You obviously are the type of person that always finds a reason to blame someone else for their failure. You said you asked numerous times to be taken off per diem. Why did you let it go for weeks at a time and still not get it taken care of? As far as blaming Lemont yard for your demise try thinking it could be something else.

I pick up many many loads that are dropped in Lemont usually going to Jersey. Those are the loads that nobody else will take.

As far as staying out for weeks at a time and being away from my family you couldn't be more wrong. I am usually home EVERY weekend unless I do a run like I did this week to Montana. But even still I will be back home before Friday. That's still only a total of 9 days away from home since I was home on Wednesday of last week.

And when I say I am home every weekend, I mean I am home Friday evening and don't leave out till Monday morning. And somehow I still manage to top the 2,500 mile mark every week. I guess it's because I "grease" my logs every week :roll: Give me a break CFM!

[conanj31]

Yeah you're right i'm the type of person to blame others for my failure cause it obviously couldn't be the companies fault. I never said that I let the per diem issue go on for weeks. I said I called EVERY week that I worked for them to get off the per diem. Understand? My demise was my dispatcher and terminal manager plain and simple. There's no smoke and mirrors here. 1500 miles a week is what I averaged. Did I ask for more? Daily. When I was at the Lemont yard did they ever offer me a Jersey load? Nope, not once. Somehow I knew you would say that you were home every weekend by Friday but still managed to get 3000 miles a week like you've been claiming. If thats what you want to make us believe well thats fine but we all know better. I take great offense in someone calling me a liar and telling me that I'm the reason Knight didn't work out for me which is basically what you're doing. Knight is the reason that it didn't work out for me. I stayed out on the weekends just so I could get more money and I still only got a little over 1500 miles a week. Got to San Antonio one Friday....didn't leave until that Sunday...Got to some backwoods town in Alabama to deliver to Walmart on a Friday evening..Didn't leave until that Sunday..Same story every weekend... Here's one for ya...how about delivering to Pet Smart just south of Dallas on a Wednesday afternoon...get there in time to drop and take a 10 hour break...no empty trlr so go to the Loves and break. Break is over about 1am...no load still...you would think that in the time my break started and ended they could have had something for me right? They knew I was there right? I did call to ask..."we're working on something for you"...1am no load...call the memphis dispatch...get a 30 mile run into Dallas...pick that loaded trlr up...about 2am...back to the drop yard by 4am...no load again...4pm that afternoon...its a Thursday now...get a load to pick up at DHL in Waco..told to tell DHL when I get there I'm picking up a team load to either Michigan or Ohio and it should be ready when I get there. Drive the hour and a half or so to Waco..its about 530pm now..had 2 10hr breaks basically back to back waiting to get loaded...now at DHL...tell them I'm picking up a team load..what do they tell me? Ok we'll put you on the stand by list and get you at 3am!!!! Are you kidding me? Call Knight and what do they say? This is all we have in the area.....5am Friday now I get the load...it doesn't go to Michigan or Ohio..it goes to Kansas City.....Now tell me how a driver is suppose to make money doing bullcrap like that....good luck with Knight...

[dollarshort]

Originally Posted by conanj31

Yeah you're right i'm the type of person to blame others for my failure cause it obviously couldn't be the companies fault. I never said that I let the per diem issue go on for weeks. I said I called EVERY week that I worked for them to get off the per diem. Understand? My demise was my dispatcher and terminal manager plain and simple. There's no smoke and mirrors here. 1500 miles a week is what I averaged. Did I ask for more? Daily. When I was at the Lemont yard did they ever offer me a Jersey load? Nope, not once. Somehow I knew you would say that you were home every weekend by Friday but still managed to get 3000 miles a week like you've been claiming. If thats what you want to make us believe well thats fine but we all know better. I take great offense in someone calling me a liar and telling me that I'm the reason Knight didn't work out for me which is basically what you're doing. Knight is the reason that it didn't work out for me. I stayed out on the weekends just so I could get more money and I still only got a little over 1500 miles a week. Got to San Antonio one Friday....didn't leave until that Sunday...Got to some backwoods town in Alabama to deliver to Walmart on a Friday evening..Didn't leave until that Sunday..Same story every weekend... Here's one for ya...how about delivering to Pet Smart just south of Dallas on a Wednesday afternoon...get there in time to drop and take a 10 hour break...no empty trlr so go to the Loves and break. Break is over about 1am...no load still...you would think that in the time my break started and ended they could have had something for me right? They knew I was there right? I did call to ask..."we're working on something for you"...1am no load...call the memphis dispatch...get a 30 mile run into Dallas...pick that loaded trlr up...about 2am...back to the drop yard by 4am...no load again...4pm that afternoon...its a Thursday now...get a load to pick up at DHL in Waco..told to tell DHL when I get there I'm picking up a team load to either Michigan or Ohio and it should be ready when I get there. Drive the hour and a half or so to Waco..its about 530pm now..had 2 10hr breaks basically back to back waiting to get loaded...now at DHL...tell them I'm picking up a team load..what do they tell me? Ok we'll put you on the stand by list and get you at 3am!!!! Are you kidding me? Call Knight and what do they say? This is all we have in the area.....5am Friday now I get the load...it doesn't go to Michigan or Ohio..it goes to Kansas City.....Now tell me how a driver is suppose to make money doing bullcrap like that....good luck with Knight...

Hey, I could argue with you all night over this, but I have to get to sleep. I have another 3,000+ miles week ahead of me so I should get some rest.

Ok, I call you a liar and you call me a liar. So we agree to disagree.

You did make a statement in another post that "we" are not new to this. Who is "we"? Do you have a mouse in your pocket?

You will also know after "we" have been out here for quite a few years you will know where NOT to go. Why were you going to Texas if you are out of Chicago? I never go to Texas because I know better. So of course you are going to sit. It's all about understanding the business.
Do a little research while surfing the web and find what areas are the best for ratio of incoming to outgoing loads. Then try to stay out of those areas that are overloaded with incoming loads.

I am truly sorry you didn't give it more of a realistic chance at Knight. I think you will realize you jumped ship too soon.

And you said " I asked week after week" to have me taken off per-diem."
To me that is letting it go on for weeks. I don't know any other way to see it.

By the way you described you were kinda stuck in Texas. This sounds like just a bad few days. Did you quit because of one bad week?
Like I said, if you would have stayed out of that area it wouldn't have snowballed into what it did.

If I am dispatched into an area that I don't know what the freight base looks like I will ask my dispatcher how it looks for pickups out of that area. This serves two purposes. It will let me know what to expect and it will give him a kick in the ass to start looking for something.

I am sure you probably never talked with your dispatcher until you were empty. Just guessing? That is why you sat all the time. The early bird gets the worm. So I might be coming into the same area as you are in, but because I planned ahead I will be getting a load before you will.

[conanj31]

The "we" refers to the other drivers reading this thread. Nope didn't quit because of one bad week. The weeks were all the same from July to December. Which are the very same weeks that I called to get taken off per diem. What am I suppose to do go to Phoneix and stand there why they take me off per diem? I called every week...they let it go on for weeks and weeks. Why? Who knows, cause they're too busy to do what a driver has aksed them week after week? My God, what does it take? It should have been done the first time I asked plain and simple not try to talk me out of it. I never called you a liar..Carlisle is known to get their drivers miles. Every terminal is run like its own comapny. The Lemont terminal is leaving drivers hanging. Ask any of them. You seem to think I'm making these stories up. Why would I, I don't work for them anymore thank goodness. Why wouldn't I go to Texas? The load that goes out there picks up 20 miles from where I live. I've never had a problem in Texas until Knight. Always talked to dispatcher before I was empty to try and avoid having to sit yet it happened anyway. Besides we're suppose to be preplanned right? Why couldn't they do that? It's the dispatchers job to make sure their drivers are set with another load before they're empty. Every other company seems to be able to do that. Its the dispatchers job to get the miles to the truck, not the truck driver. Those drivers that do that, are called Owner Operators. I'm company. I shouldn't have to call everyday to make sure they have something for me when I get empty. It's their job, thats why they're called dispatchers. They know the frieght thats in a particular area that a driver is in, not the driver. Can't turn down loads going to a slow area because I've all ready been sitting waiting on that load. Its a lose lose situation. Famous last words from the dispatcher when calling about loads.."We're working on something for ya...send it to the truck when we got it." Four hours later after delivering....Good luck with that 3000+ mile week.....

Originally Posted by dollarshort

And for those who are not smart enough to figure out how it's done let me do the simple math for you.......

4,031 miles total for 6 days. = 672 miles per day

672 miles per day divided by 11 hours driving per day = 61 mph average speed.

Not very hard to do even for the most novice driver.

Yeah, right. You're so full of crap it's coming out of your ears.

61 mph over six STRAIGHT days...during THIS time of year?!?! LOL maybe if you had a dual-stacked Pete with a 625hp Cat pulling light drop/hook dedicated freight in AZ or NV or something. No way that castrated Knight truck is gonna do that with the type of freight and the lanes you run.

I'll tell you what. I'll put up $10K cash on the barrellhead and you put up $10k....and we'll stick an EOBR in your truck...and if you can average 3-4k miles over a month pulling irregular-route Knight freight in that POS Volvo or whatever then you win the bet.

[dipstick]

My experience at Knight was identical to to Conanj31 only I refused the per diem at orientation. They had the nerve to send me a letter four months later telling me they were going to enroll me in per diem against my will because they knew what was best for me. The buried that little bit of info 3/4 of the way down in a per diem promotion letter that I am glad I actually read through or I would of had the same problem as Conanj31. I also was very dissatisfied at Knight, my average Knight check equaled my worst Crete check. Needless to say I am back at Crete, miles are up, and I have no more issues with MT's. No more sitting for hours for a load offering or having to do a FREE "continuation" load to get MT.

Dolloarshort , did you ever get your recruiting bonus from my time at Knight, If you didn't they ripped you off because I gave them your truck/name at orientation. To bad it cost me way more than the $300 you should of gotten for recruiting to find out the truth about Knight. You should come over to Crete, they pay $1000, and I have one on the way for another Knight driver following me over to Crete, ....big surprise huh.