[madaxeman]

Glen Moore treated me very well and weren't full of sheet like most companies who blow smoke up your rear. I think most Glen Moore drivers would agree after talking to and working along side them all year. I really enjoyed working for them.

Thanks for screwing me and a whole lot of other drivers the week before Christmas, Celadon! It only costed me $200 out of my pocket to get home with my property. You offer people a bus ticket or the price of one which does a whole lot of good to get home when you have all of your stuff in your truck. You force all of our Glen Moore loads there then give them away to Celadon drivers while we sit there in your fire hazard cluster funk of what you call a drivers lounge and classroom. That was the most disorganized sheet I've ever seen. You have several different management employees all telling you something different when you ask specific questions about the company. Then, you won't let us leave the terminal since we don't have our personal vehicles there because you forced us there with no advanced notice (like it's a Nazi concentration camp). That communal bathroom, those showers and those bunk rooms are beyond disgusting. Charge drivers for a prepass (a company expense...not a driver expense) then force them onto the crappiest route possible but don't pay them for the miles so they can use all of their hours on your e-logs. Sit for an entire 48 hours before you pay a dime of layover pay. Sit for four hours before you pay one cent of detention pay. Who cares, right? Celadon profits off of the misfortunes of others. Screw the drivers! You're number one...and I'm not holding up my index finger. Happy Holidays from Strap-it-on!

[Malaki86]

I take it that you didn't stay with Celadon? I've been here for 18 months now and, for the most part, pretty happy. They keep me rolling, that's for sure. I've got right at 120,000 miles in for this year and I've already had 3 weeks vacation, as well as my normal time off. I'm due home tomorrow to start my Christmas vacation and won't come back out until the 2nd.

No, they're anything but perfect, but, like I said, for the most part, they keep me happy.

BTW - if you think that the Indy terminal has nasty conditions in the bathroom/showers, glad you didn't go to our Laredo terminal and especially not the Richmond one. Greensboro, well, there's no shower, just a single bathroom. Waxahachie, that's a good one (best in the company).

[madaxeman]

Stay with Celadon? I never worked for Celadon. Large companies with 1000+ trucks suck. They don't care about you. I'm talking about companies like Celadon, Schneider, JB Hunt, Knight, Western Express, CRST, Transport America, etc...not the ones where you actually make great money. You are dispensible and they don't care if you work for them because they are a mill with 10 people to replace you. What you take home for the year, I made a lot more than that like 4 years ago. I was off 3-4 days every other weekend, too. I was home like clockwork. Sacrificing your entire year (about 85%-90% of your time) and making what you make isn't anything special. Celadon's pay (what you will take home) is a huge downgrade for drivers from Glen Moore. The insurance is a huge downgrade...and yet it costs drivers more! I don't need to be micro-managed 24/7 by ridiculous nonsense policies. You have e-logs because they hire idiot drivers who screwed you all! I'm not going to just park "wherever" because Celadon has given customers 4 hours of YOUR time for free! I'm not going to sit around for two days FOR FREE! I'm not going to be forced on some half-ass route and eat up all of my hours driving miles you are not going paying me for. Sorry! I drive to make a significant amount of cash...not pocket change. They couldn't even cover my cost to get home with my property after they forced me there...because they don't give a flying flock. I don't live in Indianapolis!

[Malaki86]

I was at the Carlisle yard today and spoke with a few of the Glen Moore drivers that were staying. They're keeping the same pay rate. They're also getting new trucks and we have a hell of a lot better trailers than Glen Moore. As for sitting for 2 days waiting on a load, that has happened to me a total of 1 time in the past 21 months I've been with them. And I wasn't the only one sitting - every truck in Laredo at the time was stuck. Why? How about a hurricane that flooded the river. Driving out of route to save tolls - nope. Hell, they deadheaded me home just south of MOrgantown, WV today and they routed me on the turnpike from Carlisle to Bedford. I get a day off for every 7 days I'm out. I get a week's paid vacation for every 30,000 miles I'm dispatched. I just started a 2-week vacation today, and that makes 4 weeks for the year. As for the e-logs, they're going to end up in every truck on the highway anyway, so why worry about it? I get more than enough LEGAL miles that I don't worry about it. I've worked for small companies that MADE you run and made a hell of a lot less money. But, you do your thing, I'll do mine.

[madaxeman]

Very few are "staying". They have either moved on already or they are looking for a new job right now. A lot just used the new truck to get home since Celadon forced everyone there and stranded people. YRC owns the terminal where I parked. I have nowhere to put a 70' truck. Celadon couldn't give me a straight answer about anything when I asked questions. How many days have you sat LESS THAN TWO DAYS AND GOT PAID NOTHING? How many times have you waited at a customer LESS THAN FOUR HOURS AND GOT PAID NOTHING? EXACTLY! Those policies have red flag written all over them or those policies wouldn't exist like that. I guess you never noticed how Glen Moore drivers (and every other company who gives two hours free) were in and out of shippers and consignees...and all of the drivers of companies who give away your time for free were still sitting there. You can dumb down the pay rate but it's not the same. Compare your take home check to a Glen Moore driver's one who was actually running. They are not even close. How many checks (take home pay after taxes, insurance, etc.) do you have that exceed $1000-1200? What is your average take home weekly? According to Celadon's CEO, he said $850 pre-tax which amounts to about 600-700/week. That is nothing! I can work two regular jobs, make more money, have a lot more free time (and by free time, I mean not stuck wherever babysitting a truck and/or load), etc. I made $40k+ the first year I drove, straight out of school, working for a medium-sized company (about 425-450 van drivers). That includes the fact that I started at .295 and got raises every three months boosting me to .35 after a year. That was practical mileage, too. I got paid for about 97-102% of the actual miles I drove. You might get paid for 85-90% of the miles you drive at an already cut rate. I don't think you really realize how much time you sacrifice (from the time you leave in your truck til you get home and out of the truck), the work you do which you get paid $0, etc. Divide your total pay by the quantity of hours you sacrifice of your life in a truck and the pay is mediocre (at best). Four weeks vacation plus the 42 days you earned off (7/8 of a day per week) equals 70 days off for the entire year...or 295 days in a truck 24/7. That is 7080 hours you are stuck in/with a truck. Even if you sleep 8 hours a day (which I don't) and subtract that, it's still 4720 hours. If you are lucky enough to make $40k for the year, that comes to less than $9/hr....and a year gone from your life. You can drive locally for a good company and make more than that. If you are happy with what you make, more power to you. I need a whole lot better than that. You can't "buy more time". I'm not 21 years old. Best of luck to you.

Originally Posted by Malaki86

I was at the Carlisle yard today and spoke with a few of the Glen Moore drivers that were staying. They're keeping the same pay rate. They're also getting new trucks and we have a hell of a lot better trailers than Glen Moore. As for sitting for 2 days waiting on a load, that has happened to me a total of 1 time in the past 21 months I've been with them. And I wasn't the only one sitting - every truck in Laredo at the time was stuck. Why? How about a hurricane that flooded the river. Driving out of route to save tolls - nope. Hell, they deadheaded me home just south of MOrgantown, WV today and they routed me on the turnpike from Carlisle to Bedford. I get a day off for every 7 days I'm out. I get a week's paid vacation for every 30,000 miles I'm dispatched. I just started a 2-week vacation today, and that makes 4 weeks for the year. As for the e-logs, they're going to end up in every truck on the highway anyway, so why worry about it? I get more than enough LEGAL miles that I don't worry about it. I've worked for small companies that MADE you run and made a hell of a lot less money. But, you do your thing, I'll do mine.

[Malaki86]

Well, I guess you can look at it like this: USF Glen Moore was in the process of closing down their operations when Celadon made the offer to purchase them. So, you would've been out of a job before the end of the year anyway, along with every other driver for them. It's possible that they could've even went as far as doing what Arrow Trucking did a couple years back. That information came from high up at Celadon's management.

BOL in the job searching

[madaxeman]

That's true that Yellow-Roadway Corp. was going to shut the doors down Jan 1. I heard that after the fact. That's fine...but it was the whole sneaky way that it went down. None of us were told anything! We were just forced to Indy at the last minute. They wouldn't even cover getting me home with my property. I had to pay $175 out of my pocket because Celadon gave me $48 and I had to rent a car which costed about $225 with gas. I could have just stayed at home with all of my stuff since I had just left two days earlier. Regardless, I cleaned the inside of the truck before I left because I have class and do what is right. They have none and don't care about anything. We made $560 million blah blah blah but we treat people like sheet. We don't care how or if you get home with your property. That's what it comes down to. Celadon was only looking at their own financial interests in acquiring the property and customer base for cheap and the almighty dollar they can make from it. They are a greedy corporation and all that matters is making money for shareholders.

[Malaki86]

They're not allowed to tell you anything. Ever hear of the term "insider trading"? Celadon and YRC are publicly traded companies.

As for them only paying you $48 and you had to pay the rest, why is Celadon responsible? You're the one that quit. They didn't fire you. You left on your own.

[Windwalker]

As I recall, back at the "turn of the century", Celadon did not have a very good reputation. A little better than C R England, but not by much. I still haven't figured out how they wiggled out of a conspiracy charge for paying the general manager of another company to run that company into bankruptcy. The (former) general manager of that company went to prison for industrial espionage, and Celadon was actually behind it all. I never worked for them, but I was working for the company that went bankrupt because of them. They got some of the drivers, picked the rolling stock they wanted, and took over the whole customer base.

[Mackman]

hey madaxeman. I dont blame you i would be pissed too. Sounds like you had a good job. Sucks a coolie bought you guys out. Just keep on looking im sure something will pop up.