[BBJones]

Fuel at terminals?
APUs?
10 speed?
Lots of grocery warehouses?
Max Inverter size?
Idling Policy? Opti Idle?
Office personnel reasonable or totally by the book?
Time off as promised or blowin smoke?

Thanks for any replies

[Uturn2001]

Only thing I can tell you about the Blue Bird is that they have a zero booze policy and they mean zero. Know of a few drivers who have gotten canned for drinking in motel rooms that the company paid for.

[TK THE TRUCKER]

Originally Posted by BBJones

Fuel at terminals?
APUs?
10 speed?
Lots of grocery warehouses?
Max Inverter size?
Idling Policy? Opti Idle?
Office personnel reasonable or totally by the book?
Time off as promised or blowin smoke?

Thanks for any replies

Yes, fuel is available at the terminals.

Almost the entire fleet has APU's now, eventually all the trucks will have them.

10 speeds in Freightliners,Volvos and older T-600 and 379's
13 speed in newer T-600's and 379's
9 speed in 387's

I don't think it's lots of grocery warehouse but yes we do go there often but not every load. We do a lot of other stuff too. Pharmaceuticals, general freight (I just hauled a 9000 lb load of swimming pool filters), haz-mat, many other things.

The biggest inverter you can have is one that can plug into a cigarette lighter style outlet (400/800 watt). However, the trucks with APU's are equipped with at least 1500 watt inverters so no problem there.

All the trucks will have APU's so the idling policy won't be an issue but it does need to be under 5% which is easy to do with a APU. If you get under 5% you get some idle bonus, the amount varies.

As far as office personal it depends. They are human so it depends on the person you are dealing with. Some are better than others. Most of the time I don't have a problem when I talk to somebody in the office, they take care of whatever I needed. We have a fleet manager system so each fleet manager takes care of so many drivers. Some are really by the book and some aren't, luck of the draw.

I generally get home on time, every time. But I stay out for 4+ weeks. It can be a real pain in the ass to get a non-regional driver home every 2 weeks depending on where they live and still get them real good miles. This also depends on the fleet manger. Some do an excellent job getting drivers home and some do not. If drivers aren't getting home on time they need to start taking it to the higher ups until it's taken care of. I like our home time policy, 1 day off for every 5 out. I had 2 days in the bank so I'm taking 10 days off since I was out 40 days. Unfortunately this particular time I had to take a load that got me home tonight but I can't deliver it until Sunday night. If it was anywhere but Mclane I could have probably got the appointment moved up to this evening or tomorrow but Mclane is only open Sunday night through Thursday night. The good side is that since I have this load Saturday and Sunday doesn't count against my home time so I can keep 2 days of home time in the bank and still basically be home 10 days. My delivery is only an hour away so I'll leave Sunday night and get back first thing Monday morning 8) 8)

[stormothecentury]

Originally Posted by TK THE TRUCKER

(I just hauled a 9000 lb load of swimming pool filters)

D'you deliver that off of Genesee in Buffalo, right by the low bridge?

[TK THE TRUCKER]

Originally Posted by stormothecentury

D'you deliver that off of Genesee in Buffalo, right by the low bridge?

No, I dropped that in our Chicago drop yard for someone else to take into Wisconsin so I could pick up a load to get home. 8) 8)

[zipy46]

Will they hire me if I take blood pressure medicine :?:

I am a good driver with no accident in the past 2.5 years ,

they also have a terminal near my house in Ga.

I have been afraid to venture away from my current job because of the

BP situation.

The company I work for is about to begin their usual summertime no idling intimidation campaign and I would like to get on with someone who has Tri Pacs.

[SickofDriving]

Id give them a shot if I was you.
Ive worked for a lot of outfits out here and BlueBird treated me pretty good.
Their equiptment is very well kept.The shop guys really will get the work done too.
Its been a while since I was there but Randy Marten was implementing that all of his trucks were to have APU's 'Tripacs on them when i was there.
They kept their word with me on most of what they said so it wasnt bad.
They are a trucking company with all the usual trucking industry problems.
But they are better organized than most.(in my opinion)they paid me for any detention pay with out me even having to bug them about it etc.And every dispatcher can run differently,(some drivers I remember were complaining of having to do 3500 miles aweek.I got good miles,they will work with you.If you are not getting the miles you want just tell them and they'll get you the miles.Oh another thing i liked was that you dont have to take your hometime where you live,you can request hometime anywhere you want as long as the truck is gona be parked some where safe+ just deliver on time and all that good stuff you'll be fine.hometime policy is good too.1 day off for evry 5 days out.I liked it.But you may have already heard all about that.
I wish I still had the recruiters name I got hired on with there in Forest Park,Ga(Atlanta,Ga) but i think calling 800-395-3000 will get you someone up in the main office in Mondovi,Wi and maybe they'll help you from there.They may have regional or local positons avail aswell as otr.
Yeah with fuel prices getting really high this year id hate to be burning up in the bunk because some "office yahoo whos sitting in an airconditioned office telling me I have to idle less because its "company policy".But with an APU unit it changes things a bit.
Anywho, good luck on who ever you decide to go with,I had a parking lot accident from some years ago on my dac and I was suprised when they hired me.
As far as taking meds, Id think its what ever falls into what the "Dot standards" are when ever you do the medical exam in orientation etc. Im sure you should be fine dont let it stop you from going anywhere else if you have to quit from who ever your with.Randy Marten wasnt into hiring students that I remembered.
He is pretty much into getting experienced safe drivers in his trucks with good work history etc.
Good luck.Maybe the info will help.

[jonekatz1]

Good to SEE Ya,

Made Er home for Memorial Day, T.K. Made Er Home right in time for the nice weather. Good Move!




Click on Pic





[/quote] I Never Met A Man I Didn't Like, WiLL RoDGers 8) :idea:

[SickofDriving]

It looks like a Jelly Belly truck.
Id hate to see that truck crash somewhere.
It would be like an explosion of skittles everywhere.+yeah Iowa-80 truck stop isnt what it used to be, like back in the day,it sorta lost its luster a bit, but I used to stop there once in a while.
Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend,god bless.

[zipy46]

Anybody got the scoop on how Marten routes their drivers ?

I told the recruiter that I have truck mapping software that picks the

quickest and most efficient route and she said I can't use it :shock:

What tha :?: