Abandoned in Davenport, IA
 

After trying swift, hubby decided to go with Florilli out of West Liberty, IA. It went good for awhile then we ran into some problems with traffic and such, he got sick to while on a delivery and they just made it out to be ALL his fault. They kept asking him to bump the dock while on his ten hr break, When he wouldn't do it, they gave him a service failure. He also got the service failure when he re-powered with somebody in OH. Because the other driver was late.

After sitting in Aurora, IL for 2 days behind a restaurant that has truck parking, I told hubby to call them. They claim that they couldn't trust him anymore to make deliveries because he was late 5 times. WELL only one of them was HIS fault! But they made it out to be all his fault.They had us deadhead to freightliner in Davenport Thursday night. Said they were just going to have a meeting with him.

Well as it turns out they ended up firing him, taking his pay check for drug screen, physical and bus ticket. They left us stranded there at freightliner. Hubby asked well how am I going to get home now, Kurt, the guy who "tried to save his job" said that's not my problem. So we cleaned the truck out and waited till 3pm ct, to see if he got his check like Kurt promised. He called and bitched at him and all he could say was that's not my problem.
So we had to call my parents to wire us $400 to get home on. We are absolutely done with trucking. Tired of the Bull, it was nice to meet you all and you all have been very helpful. It's time for us to move on :)

I thought you were with Wenger ? what happened to that ?

And as far as bumping the dock on your 10 hr break , sometimes there is no way around it , that's trucking .

Re: Abandoned in Davenport, IA
 

What is re-powering?

Well wenger was a joke they asked him to back log and such, it's against the law to bump a dock on your ten hr break. We've asked tons of drivers that even owner operators.

Re: Abandoned in Davenport, IA
 

Was he up against his 11 hours? If not, I can see why they gave him a service failure. He would have had to re-start his break, but if he had the hours available, then the company was certianly within their right to demand that the load be delivered.

I'm confused here. How was he late 5 times, and it wasn't his fault 4 of them?

Yes - it's against the FMCSA rules to be ON DUTY during a 10 hour break. But it is NOT against the rules to cut a 10 hour break short to make a delivery when you have the hours available, and then take the 10 hour break after you have delivered.

Traffic, he was sick, and yes his day was up, when you are on your break, you are on your break. he was late 5 times and only one was his fault. A re-power is when you meet another driver to swap trailers.

Isn't that considered split logging then, if you do that on your break?

Sorry, but if he had the hours available, then he could have delivered. There is no FMCSA rule that says once you start a 10 hour break, you can't go back on duty if you have the hours available to do so.

It doesn't matter anymore, we are done, after being stranded by a company like this and worrying how we're going to get home, plus having to borrow money from my parents, its just NOT right. I mean being sick is not your fault when it happens while you are out there. I mean REALLY sick, plus being stuck in traffic due to a semi going off the road on I-75 held us up, plus construction for another 2 more hrs. We simply ran out of hours to get it there. So that wasn't his fault, that accounted for 2 of them, plus not bumping the dock when he had no hrs of his day left, the re-power being late. We tried to tell them to about getting a re-power or re-setting the appointment. Dispatch wouldn't do anything and they tell you on the computer, if you feel anything is going to jeopardize load to contact dispatch. Well we kept doing that it's not our fault night time dispatch can't do anything. Hell, even his day dispatcher wouldn't do anything. They basically wanted him to get it there even if it meant going over his 11 hr or 14 hr day. Tell me that is legal!

If the amount of time already spent in the sleeper is more than 2 hours, then yes - you can split log it. For example, if he had 11 hours driving and 2 hours in the sleeper, he could have done the unload (assuming he took the sleeper berth time at the shipper), and then taken the remaining 8 hours in the sleeper to satisfy the regs. He would have then had 11 hours driving available to him, and 12 hours on the 14 hour clock.

There are many ways to navigate through the regs while maintaining compliance. Something tells me that the company was right in this instance. Just a hunch, and not trying to be mean about it.

Yes - being sick is a legitimate excuse, as the FMCSA rules state that you cannot drive while sick. I assume that he called it in to the company with plenty of notice?

It is situations such as this that the adverse conditions clause was written for.

Were the company's loads just that tight on time, or was there a time management issue going on here as well?

Yes - being sick is a legitimate excuse, as the FMCSA rules state that you cannot drive while sick. I assume that he called it in to the company with plenty of notice?

Rev...I guess you have been an O/O to long. What sort of lead time do you require for calling in sick.

i don't know how long you have been driving,but surely you have been out long enough to realize sometimes you have to do what you have to do to get the ld delivered.the way you make it sound you were at the delivery and just sitting in the parking lot waiting to pick up hours to bump the dock.if that is the case,and i don't know if it is,i would have fired you to.this is trucking!

It all depends upon when the driver got sick. If they were halfway through a 2000 mile trip when they called in sick, then the company had plenty of notice that the load would be late. If they called in 50 miles from destination, then I can see why the company would be pizzed off.

Sorry but It sounds like someone cant take responsibility for there actions. Being sick? i have only had to call into work sick once since 2002 and the company completely understood. Ive drove with a temp at 102 and puking every couple hours but my load got there on time. You either wanna do this job or you dont. Sometimes you just gotta push and get the job done. sounds like someone is a whiner.

As far as "stranding you", they didnt strand you they just didnt give you a bus ticket. You expect them to spend more money on you when they may have already had to spend quite a bit compensating for late loads. If I owned a company and your hubby worked for me I would have fired his a!! after the second late in 6 months.

This is truck drivin' not pussyfootin. go drive a desk.
sorry for the harsh words but theres no room for whining. :x

C'mon Rev-Get real
you're Waaaaaaaaaaay off on this one

You should have bumped that dock. To a driver it may seem like it's just one load being late. But, to the company, you are jeopardizing a contract that is worth thousands or maybe even millions of dollars per year. :shock:

I have to agree with the rev here. It sounds like it's a time management issue and some just aren't cut out to be truck drivers. you know, once is a reason twice is a trend.

Well, aren't you special. To bad we all can't be a superman like you. :roll:

Well, aren't you special. To bad we all can't be a superman like you. :roll:[/quote]

Im not superman I just do my job. :)

As an EX-driver for FLORILLI I feel I can offer something here. This is STANDARD Procedure at this company more than one time I was given a load late on PU time and still was told GET IT TO THE CUSTOMER ON TIME OR YOU WILL BE HIT WITH THE SERVICE FAILURE. The owner of the company I know the man well cares more about 2 things his nose candy and sleeping with the payroll girls than his drivers.

I drove for this company from July of 1997 to November of 1998 and got tired of being told either run illegal or no miles. When TEAMS are running 2 logbooks trying to keep hours because the company can not keep drivers in the solo trucks there is a problem. My father and I the month of December of 1997 did not see East of Cheyene WY till we came home to BURY my Grandmother. We would get to Sapps there and would be told relay this load and if possible be back in Ontario CA the next morning or Stockton the next morning the worst one was be in Seatle by midnight.

The President of Ops the only reason he got that job is he married the owners stepdaughter. He was my fleet manager at the end and did not even know that there were 2 Portlands in the USA. So take it from someone who drove for this company they have a severe leadership problem from the top down. On the owner of the company on the payroll girls I personally walked into the office one day and caught him in the act pumping away at the head payroll girl at the time. His other issue when you see it on the desk in plain site that was when I left.

Sounds like someone needs "Creative Logging 101" :D If you were at the receivers and just had to unload, and DOT wasn't sitting there to check logs, just pull in and unload then pull off and figure the logs out.
Best thing I ever bought for the truck was Drivers Daily Log and put it on my laptop. Real easy to re arrange things so they fit. :D

Please - I'd love to know how I am "Waaaaaaaaaaay off" on this. If my driver stopped 50 miles from destination and called in sick, I'd be pissed off. If they stopped 1000 miles from destination and called in sick, then they left me some breathing room to either repower the load, or contact the consignee to reschedule delivery.

Yeah.........any company where they have sex in the office is probably not a good one. I mean sht, can't they go home?

I worked for one.

Ok, i'm sorry about what happened sevlow, and i'll get with you in a minute to try to help you.

But first, let me give some more juicy details:

When i worked at the food distributor one of the managers married one of the owners of the company. (the company is owned by serveral brothers) You could tell that she just did it for the money because this one owner was handicapped rather severly. You know, he couldn't function in bed much less at work. He would fall asleep regularly and was real slow both mentally and physically. I'm not putting him down now, I loved him as a friend and person. I'm just telling things like they are.

She was/is a really messed up Biaaatch. She didn't like me and i didn't like her. What happened was i became dispatcher and i wouldn't do things that she wanted me to do because i was looking out for my drivers see? She wanted me to stuff that was illegal and try to push the drivers to do things illegal. But i wasn't having any of dat sht. Hence, she started not to like me.

She ended up getting her a$$ fired and the other manager got fired too. Not because they got caught on the desk, but because they were both screwing up (figuratively) losing money etc.

So she's still married to that one brother( WHO SHE WAS CAUGHT CHEATING ON ON THE DESK) and she weaseled hew way back into the company somehow----because that's what slimy people do.

You ARE way off on this. I just have to ask how can YOU pick the time you get sick? It's not like you call up the Sick Fairy and say, "Hey, I need a nasty flu bug, but I need it to hit on Tuesday, not Wednesday."

It shouldn't matter whether you get sick 50 miles from your delivery or 1000, sick is sick.

Just like yoopr, you are missing the entire point. Look at it from a company's perspective, and maybe you'll get it eventually.

well Rev.... I understand where you are coming from.
Depending on how fast it came on and how bad it was ( and most of the time you know it's coming ) if I had 50 miles left, I would have bucked up, hit the dock, then called in sick.

He simply ran out of hours on both occasions. It was the 14 hr clock he ran out of on both times. And yes he let dispatch know, even nigh time dispatch told him you ran out of hrs take your break. We were still an hour and half away from receiver. Isn't no matter what you cannot go over your 14 hr clock?

Actually, both sides have a point.

From a company standpoint, a customer with a million dollar account isn't going to care about one driver getting sick. They're going to want to know that the company they are contracted with, has planned for such problems.

On the other side of the coin, sick is indeed sick. However, getting sick doesn't typically happen all at once. When you start feeling sick, you should let your dispatcher know ASAP so they can have contingency plans in effect, just in case you can't make it. But that said, sometimes things do come on all at once and when that happens, you simply do the best you can and communicate.

He was NOT 50 miles from destination we were in TN and it had to be delivered to Atlanta, GA when he started getting sick, and he doesn't pussyfoot around. He HATES being late somethings are just out of a drivers control. He doesn't like to LIE on his logbook, it'sNOT worth it. Who's going to pay the price if you lie, your dispatcher? Obviously not, it's going to be YOU! They never went to bat for the driver, and he can handle the job no problem, but when things come up it's up to dispatch to do their job as well isn't it? We were on time for everything else except these.

He LOVED the job but whenever he needed dispatch they never did ANYTHING. I mean giving him the service failure because he knew he couldn't deliver the load and contacted dispatch immediately to get a repower they told him to wait till the next morning to contact dispatch, then when they finally got him one we busted our a@! to get to the repower, even tried to save the company time and money but they wouldn't budge and the other driver was late so they put in on my hubby come on, since when did trucking become kindergarten??

And yet he was. 5 times.

Nobody is telling you to lie on your logbook. There are, however, 24 hours in a day, which means you can legally drive about 13 hours each and every day (figuring in for pre trip, post trip, and fueling). In 13 hours, you can do 780 miles easily (averaging 60 miles per hour). The only thing that will stop you is the 70 hour clock.

How was he up against the 14 hour clock? What caused this?

It is up to the driver to know whether or not a trip can be completed in the time given to do so. This is something that comes from experience. An experienced driver knows to give himself enough time to allow for things such as accidents and road construction. The job of dispatch is to assign loads, and make sure the drivers are doing what is expected of them. They assigned all 5 of those loads, and your husband accepted them. If there wasn't enough time to complete the load, then the time to discuss this with dispatch is when the load is assigned.

On time for everything, except when you weren't.

I still contend that this is a time management issue, rather than an impossible dispatch issue.

Rev until you drive for FLORILLI do not judge the drivers who get hit with the impossible demands they put on them. They love to try to get drivers to go Avon NY to Stockton CA southern route via El Paso Tx and Phoenix AZ. Total distance is around 3900 miles and they give you 5 days to drive it in. Now for a team not a problem at all 3 days you are there solo you are running hard max hours all the time to get it there. I got that run 4 times in a row yes the miles were great on the paycheck but the 15 hour days to get the load there sucked.

Hey welcome to the trucking game.....

Do you think some of the problem might be your husband? I looked at some of your other posts going back to July. He's worked for Wenger, Knight, Swift and Florilli? Are there more? Seems like there's always a problem at each company. He's going to start running out options for working for good companies.

THAT is exactly one of the problems with the biz and the people in it.

Instead of standing up for yourself and obeying the rules, you cower to the company and bend the rules for their benefit. All it takes is bending the rules once and you'll be expected to bend them again and again.

That is why trucking is in the crappy shape it is, people bending/breaking the rules for short term gain when it ends up f*****g them and the biz in the long term.

Its been that way for a long time.
Truck drivers made the business the way it is today.

Nobody makes drivers pull for this company.

That is so true.

The mistake that happened was that they saw the company starting to pull bull$hit, and stayed with them. I would guess that there is a lesson for everyone here.

The second a company forces you to run illegal, you should take their truck, at their expense, back to them, and give them the finger. There are other jobs.

As far as leaving you stranded....you got out of the truck. You should have drove yourself home. You got stuck with abandonment anyways, why not be home when you do?

And for all of you siding with the company.....try driving for them for awhile, then come back here and give your opinion.

just my .02 cents.

Well said, Highwayman. So many git-r'-done supertruckers with the "yeehaw loads gotta get there come hell, high water, or the DOT man" mentality. One mishap, wreck, accident, etc and their two-bit employers will wash their hands of them in a heartbeat. Regardless of how many years in, how many favors they did, how they covered for the company, everything else.

Hey, more power to your hubby, Sevlow. Tell him to suck in that gut and hold up his chin and keep on truckin'...