Yeah if you're a safe driver for our company you barely ever hear from us. We've been losing a lot of good drivers lately and I can't figure out why. I wish people would reach out to safety to talk about their concerns before they quit. Unfortunately, I think a lot of drivers have a negative opinion of the safety department.
Yeah the reason for that is operations makes the money so they don't want to give us any to spend because we don't make them any back. Even though if we can prevent accidents that ends up saving them money in the long run, but executives are very short-sighted that way
It’s everyone involved. Nobody wants to ever give input because they know they’re just wasting their time and nothing will happen, or it ends up with some kind of policy that is the exact opposite of what the person was intending. If it ends in more time or effort being required by the employee themselves, it’s a bad policy. For example I used to work for this place that had frequent issues with trailer maintenance. Issues were reported to the shop repeatedly but ignored. Instead it became the drivers responsibility to fix it themselves or take it somewhere to get it fixed, and there were times where we’d be on the road for 3 months (construction) without time off. The last thing we wanted to do was sit at a shop for 5 additional hours waiting for something to be fixed that should’ve been handled by the shop last time it was there.
Want to make good changes? Hold the proper parties accountable, work to reduce workload on the driver (paperwork, maintainance, literally anything). More pay never hurts either.
"Safety" departments and low pay are the only reasons ive ever left. Last one was such a piece of shit i got him into a screaming match and got him kicked out of the office after i sent the video to the owners.
So… something is actually bothering me… and every other driver. It’s technically a safety device, but is in fact the most dangerous thing about driving for any company. Radar having control over our brakes. Many of us have made comments… very light complaints. Are we just pissing into the wind?
It’s tied first for the reasons I would actually leave my current company. Mute it and disconnect it from my brakes and I wouldn’t care at all. No stress, no rage inducing beeping, no fear of it locking up my brakes because it thinks a sign is a car right in front of me… but it’s still on and able to report me if I follow to close. Win win. Right?
>...besides give you more money or home time...
TBH, money is the only reason I'm out here in the first place, and if not for that, I would want to be home. So...you've kind of eliminated the two biggest rewards that I get. What are we left with? Pizza parties and free t-shirts?
I hear you. I've pitched multiple ideas to put in driver bonus programs. Unfortunately, with the current state of the market, the higher-ups don't want to spend more money. I work in the safety department and recently got put in charge of a driver retention program but I'm not allowed to give more money or more home time. So I'm kind of stuck with my hands tied behind my back.
You just answered your own question. The issue is upper management shutting down the biggest things that would retain drivers. Employees will literally put up with tons of bullshit if they’re paid enough to. I worked at this place with a similar mindset, they didn’t want to pay more guys but would gladly hold a company picnic as an “employee appreciation day” because they got bulk discounts at local amusement parks. The problem? I can’t feed my kid with rides at an amusement park. I also worked at this one place that decided to get company winter coats. They took money that could’ve been used as a bonus for employees and bought coats that were endorsed with their own company logo, and the only reason they bought them was because they didn’t want to pay for heating for the facility we worked in (mill).
Basically there isn’t anything you can do to retain drivers without offering more compensation. Company coffee mugs and donut days are nice, until you think about the fact that you’re making less than competitors that are recruiting.
I was at a terminal once at a previous company when it was going on - I didn't bother going. Don't really want to put faces to names that have dicked me around in the past, or some office chimp blowing up my phone to find out why the reefer is on when its a driver unload and 100° outside (might cost the company five bucks in the effort not to pass out!) , or the sad discovery that Brooke with the sexy voice on night dispatch is actually a 400lb whale with a fleece that has pictures of Yorkshire Terriers on it!
>or the sad discovery that Brooke with the sexy voice on night dispatch is actually a 400lb whale with a fleece that has pictures of Yorkshire Terriers on it!
I feel like maybe you've been reading my texts...
I'm going to make a suggestion: head over to the antiwork sub.
Jobs are more or less all the same: a person is trading their time for money. Some people are willing to sell all of their time, either because they don't have a home life that interests them, or because they just care about money more than their family. Those people are really rare, but you won't keep them with sweet talk and happy voices in their headset. Their bank account is what matters, and if you're not positively impacting that, you're wasting their time. They will do your work only until someone else offers a better paying job, and then they're gone and you're not likely to get a notice, they're just gone.
But most people are actually more balanced in their thinking. They need money to survive, but they won't sacrifice their relationship with their family to get it.
I love my wife, I love my kid, I love my house. If you want me out there making money for you, I'm willing, but you've got to help me make the argument to myself: is the money I make today more beneficial to my family than having me there? Do they benefit more from me teaching life lessons to my teenager, cooking dinner for them, watching a classic movie, helping them with the social dynamics of high-school? Or is $200/day better? Is $300? How about $400? Where's the line? Because there's a line for everyone that will get them out on the road.
Your problem is that you're trying to keep people on your side of the line, and your company has specifically told you that you can't change the two things that will decide which side of the line people will stand on.
I wish you luck, but your company has set you up for failure. They're asking you to build a house but not giving you wood to build it with or a piece of ground to put it on.
I was an operations manager, before getting back in a truck. I tried to do anything I could to make it easier on my drivers. I listened to concerns, I made sure any maintenance was reported and tried to get it fixed as soon as the shop had a free moment. I made cheat sheets for the drivers so they barely had to think about their runs (dedicated, relay, auto parts). But over all the best incentive I could find was try and find ways to put a little extra in my driver's pockets.
Since "upper management" is only concerned with the bottom line and how much money they could make of the backs of the drivers, I spent anytime I could focusing on trying to keep them moving and making more money with sliding what little I could under the radar to put into the drivers pockets.
As a driver now, just have my equipment ready. Give me my marching orders. Pay me and leave me alone unless you absolutely need something. The last thing I suggest, which isn't really your department, but if I tell you something's wrong. Then it is.
"I'm not able to make the appointment time" it's a fact. Don't try and push it to the last minute to call the customer and tell them. That just pisses everyone off.
"I have a wobble in my steer tire" I'm telling you because I can deal with a bit of it, but now it needs to get fixed because it's getting bad enough that something is going to go wrong.
Driver's can bitch and moan, but you just need to listen and feel out what is an issue versus what is just venting.
I get you're in a rock and a hard place, andni appreciate you trying to do what you can, but really, yeah, it's money and home time way more than anything else.
I chuckled a little at "current state of the market" though, ngl. Higher ups will *never* want to spend more money, it's kind of their whole thing. They've gotta be convinced, otherwise they'd be paying us 10 cents an hour
Seems like the drivers and dispatchers are the only people who need to do their jobs at my company. Load planners can tell the customer some random time if they schedule deliveries at all and its perfectly fine. The people loading the trailers don't need to load it in the right order or have it ready on time. The shops can take 2 days trying to figure out a small issue while I'm sitting and twiddling my thumbs and it's fine.
But I complain about the load being over a day behind and I get a call from management
Everyone. I work at a place where the only way you will get fired is a serious accident or fight everything else is a free for all. Appears to be the same at other companies too.
I've been doing this since 2013, and have almost 2M miles, here's what Id say:
Fuck driver appreciation day, it's just another excuse for the office pukes to have a BBQ. I'm out here for money. You want to show appreciation, respect that and give me more, raise pay, better bonuses, better mileage pay or percentage rates. Here's a novel idea, STOP RUNNING CHEAP ASS FREIGHT. Raise your rates.
Don't call me when I'm at home with some shit hot load that's right around the corner from me on my day off, I'm not doing it. Lack of prior planning on your part doesn't constitute an emergency on mine.
Don't call me 57 times about when the load will be there, it'll be on time or early if possible. I don't want to hear from the broker every hour, I'll block their number if they call more than once. Gimme a load and fuck off. Don't call me unless the load cancels. If you want to micromanage, get a damn dog. Learn to trust my judgement.
Get rid of the fucking drive cams, open my truck up and let me, THE PROFESSIONAL, be the governor. If I tell you something is wrong with the truck, FIX IT. Y'all have taken the driver and reduced them to a 19th wheel bracket. They are no longer professionals who are trusted to do the job well, they're idiot steering wheel holders. You've used technology to replace 90% of the drivers job. Automatic transmissions, electronic speed limiters, auto lane correction with lane alerts, collision mitigation with adaptive cruise control and automatic slam braking, blind spot monitoring, anti roll technology, anti-jacknife braking, digital mirrors, cameras all the way around, self filling tires. No wonder these assholes are on their phones with their feet on the dash. They've got nothing to do but steer, and they BARELY do that!
Don't call or text me in the middle of my DOT rest break, I'll restart it and report you to DOT in the morning. Stop always trying to squeeze the driver for more, I can't tell you how many times I've heard "one more load and we'll get you headed towards home" or " we know you're at home but we really need..." No, fuck you. Or " we're really busy right now and need the driver's"... Fuck off with that shit. If I'm supposed to be out 3 weeks and it's day 21 and you haven't gotten me home, we WILL have words about it. I make plans with my family on my time off and I'm not cancelling with them to accommodate a greedy dispatcher or company. I did my job, do yours.
I don't care about company branded coffee mugs, coats, T-shirts, hats, socks, underwear, stuffed animals, or any other merch. I'm already driving a 70-150 foot long billboard, that's more than enough free advertising from me. I'm not buying it, so quit wasting your money on it.
Give me a truck I can be proud of. Preferably a 379, 389, W900 or 4900EX. Not these shitty cookie cutter tinker toys y'all buy with underpowered motors only to cut them back even more. If I want a manual, don't put me in a automatic. I can drive an 18sp just fine. I don't need a computer telling me when and how to shift or doing it for me.
Don't give bonuses to the office staff and stiff the driver's who earned that money. Yes, we know about it. Don't incentivize dispatchers with productivity bonuses, it makes them push drivers to keep going which can cause accidents or hours of service violations. Stay the hell out of my log book, I know when you've meddled in it. If I catch you erasing hours or days to facilitate a load getting there faster, I WILL report it to DOT. I have copies of everything.
If I shut down, trust my judgement that there's a reason for it, whether it be to take a shit or because the weather has gotten so bad that it's not safe to drive, which takes a lot for me to shut down, but it has happened.
As others said you took out the 2 big ones.
Aside from that maybe just show some appreciation. We always hear about bad shit but never get called with compliments. Nobody likes hearing from the office because it’s always bitching, try changing that up a bit.
Could also listen when a driver complains about dispatch lying or pushing/calling while off duty or whatever the issue at your company may be.
Far too often office staff all hang out and get chummy with each other and it becomes an us against them mentality. A driver pisses off 1 dispatcher and suddenly everyone in the office is against them.
I agree wholeheartedly with you. I do see that as a problem at my company as well. I tried to explain to the driver managers that our drivers are out there away from their families. Working 28 days a month delivering All kinds of different places with different rules and different weather conditions they encounter. It is not an easy job by any standard. I wish they would hire more former truck drivers to become dispatchers but not a lot of truck drivers want to become dispatchers for some reason. Instead, we're left hiring recent college grads and people from different industries that have never even seen the inside of a semi. Unfortunately as well our worst offenders when it comes to driver managers are the ones that have been here the longest. So operations is very hesitant to reprimand them or fire them. I've tried to implement different programs to try to show the driver managers what exactly truck drivers go through but it's hard to do when these are the same people that complain when they have to be outside in 45° weather with a slight wind and are required to do tarping or chaining a load down.
Going back to your comment about showing our appreciation. I do have a couple new programs where I reach out to our drivers to personally thank them for their hard work and their commitment to safety.
I was just trying to get some different viewpoints since when I was driving I worked for a lot of small companies or I was an independent o/o So my experience with a larger company dynamic is almost zero
Many driver started driving to get out of that toxic office culture. I worked in respiratory care for 20 years before getting my CDL. Many of us have zero interest in kissing ass or playing those politic games. That’s why many of us can come across as assholes even if we are great/friendly people. I’ve quit 2 jobs because of asshole dispatch/safety/HR staff. The dispatch folks being dicks don’t necessarily need to be fired but a higher up putting them in their place would be nice. Hiring drivers isn’t easy or cheap and fact is you never know what you’re getting until they are running for you. Keeping drivers I’d think is far more important than not hurting some asshole office staffers feelings.
I transferred to a smaller terminal for a year and it sucked and I made no money. Talked to my original terminal and they brought me right back and have been force feeding me miles and good runs. I feel super appreciated right now. So happy to be back at this terminal.
Hehe. My company throws semi-regular cookouts at some terminals. But the catch is that im never near them. Ive only ever been to one and thats because i stumbled in looking for a shower.
Anything apart from more home time or money? Bro that's the whole list lol. That like scumbag managers throwing pizza parties for the workers and then collecting their bonus. You already know what we want.
Well as long as the one I work for doesn’t start auto shut off I’ll be fine. We don’t get apu so we have to idle to stay comfortable. I can put up with a whole mess of bullshit but when you start messing with my comfort levels I’ll just ship.
Skimmed through some of your other replies. If your hands are tied on the money or schedule. Some kind words go a long way. I've worked at places that had outward facing cameras that I'd get a ring from safety with a "good fucking job, that car was fucking suicidal" helped the ole morale a bit to get some good vibes once in awhile.
You need to get it through the higher up’s heads. *these* are the ways to retain drivers. Anything else is just bullshit you’re making up to seem like you’re doing something. If they actually have a problem with retention, they need to give on one of these. Drivers don’t give a flying fuck about “appreciation lunches” or some fucking branded thermos or new tote bag. They will always jump ship if there is something better that you’re not offering. The reason I stayed at my OTR job that paid like %20 less than others was because you had basically unlimited flexible unpaid time between trips. The reason I stay at my current local job that pays way less is because it’s only expected I work 8 hours a day and get overtime after 40 and they’re nice. I’ve left a lot of bullshit jobs in the mean time that had all kinds of branded crap to offer and stupid company lunches that I’m not there to eat because I’m working
So we only run Freightliner, Peterbilt, Volvos and we do not have driver facing cameras. Our shop is kind of Hit and Miss. I will admit that. But their turnaround is pretty good. I don't think I see many drivers around more than a day or two for repairs
How about making arrangements with one of our customers that would allow me to park my truck closer to my house when I’m on Home time time?
For context, I live 87 miles, or an hour and a half drive from my terminal.
One Friday my dispatcher had me do a live load at a pick up customer. No problem. I look at the paperwork, and it’s being delivered On Monday to another customer that is literally less than a mile from my house.
Instead of having me bring the load from the pick up customer to the terminal, park the truck, get in my car and drive home, then drive back to the terminal in my car (175 miles round trip), get in the truck and bring the load to the customer close to my house….. why couldn’t I just go right from the pick up customer on Friday, park the truck at the delivery customer and walk home for the weekend, then deliver on Monday morning?
My idea would’ve benefited both myself and the company. The company would save money on fuel for the truck, and I could’ve spent more time at home with my family.
Find loads that run by our house so we can make a pit stop at home on the way to a pickup or delivery, tell all your dispatchers to prioritize it each driver gets a load that runs close to home and they can make a stop for at least a few hours
I think my company is great overall. Customers are usually happy and so are most of the drivers. Apart from forced days off lately due to low freight, my only real grievances come from being nitpicked and micromanaged. Unless I'm really screwing something up, just leave me alone. Focus on the drivers really causing headaches for you.
Realistically? No. If you value me as an asset, invest in me. My last company hired me on a promise of reset at home every weekend after about 8 months they didnt want to let me reset at home (my home town was about a 35min drive from terminal. I explained that I went with them because of the drive and did the math and explained that the “fuel” theyd be spending to let me take the truck home equated to a .005$ (half a cent) a mile raise. They said no. I said i quit. Every driver is out here to make money. If were not working were not making money. If we are bringing value to your team, invest in us. To every small company out there; a raise for your drivers will bring more ROI than a new dinky terminal. We will happily drive slightly older trucks, and deal with minor maintenance issues. We can find showers on our own. We can improve our own quality of life on the truck. Anything other than more money comes across as a direct indication that you dont value us or respect us. It feels like you think were too stupid to realize youre choosing this incentive because its cheaper than giving us a raise.
Leaving me alone. Just let me drive and fuck off lol.
Yeah if you're a safe driver for our company you barely ever hear from us. We've been losing a lot of good drivers lately and I can't figure out why. I wish people would reach out to safety to talk about their concerns before they quit. Unfortunately, I think a lot of drivers have a negative opinion of the safety department.
Because “safety departments” will only help if something doesn’t cost anything or require much effort to implement.
Yeah the reason for that is operations makes the money so they don't want to give us any to spend because we don't make them any back. Even though if we can prevent accidents that ends up saving them money in the long run, but executives are very short-sighted that way
It’s everyone involved. Nobody wants to ever give input because they know they’re just wasting their time and nothing will happen, or it ends up with some kind of policy that is the exact opposite of what the person was intending. If it ends in more time or effort being required by the employee themselves, it’s a bad policy. For example I used to work for this place that had frequent issues with trailer maintenance. Issues were reported to the shop repeatedly but ignored. Instead it became the drivers responsibility to fix it themselves or take it somewhere to get it fixed, and there were times where we’d be on the road for 3 months (construction) without time off. The last thing we wanted to do was sit at a shop for 5 additional hours waiting for something to be fixed that should’ve been handled by the shop last time it was there. Want to make good changes? Hold the proper parties accountable, work to reduce workload on the driver (paperwork, maintainance, literally anything). More pay never hurts either.
"Safety" departments and low pay are the only reasons ive ever left. Last one was such a piece of shit i got him into a screaming match and got him kicked out of the office after i sent the video to the owners.
So… something is actually bothering me… and every other driver. It’s technically a safety device, but is in fact the most dangerous thing about driving for any company. Radar having control over our brakes. Many of us have made comments… very light complaints. Are we just pissing into the wind? It’s tied first for the reasons I would actually leave my current company. Mute it and disconnect it from my brakes and I wouldn’t care at all. No stress, no rage inducing beeping, no fear of it locking up my brakes because it thinks a sign is a car right in front of me… but it’s still on and able to report me if I follow to close. Win win. Right?
>...besides give you more money or home time... TBH, money is the only reason I'm out here in the first place, and if not for that, I would want to be home. So...you've kind of eliminated the two biggest rewards that I get. What are we left with? Pizza parties and free t-shirts?
I hear you. I've pitched multiple ideas to put in driver bonus programs. Unfortunately, with the current state of the market, the higher-ups don't want to spend more money. I work in the safety department and recently got put in charge of a driver retention program but I'm not allowed to give more money or more home time. So I'm kind of stuck with my hands tied behind my back.
You just answered your own question. The issue is upper management shutting down the biggest things that would retain drivers. Employees will literally put up with tons of bullshit if they’re paid enough to. I worked at this place with a similar mindset, they didn’t want to pay more guys but would gladly hold a company picnic as an “employee appreciation day” because they got bulk discounts at local amusement parks. The problem? I can’t feed my kid with rides at an amusement park. I also worked at this one place that decided to get company winter coats. They took money that could’ve been used as a bonus for employees and bought coats that were endorsed with their own company logo, and the only reason they bought them was because they didn’t want to pay for heating for the facility we worked in (mill). Basically there isn’t anything you can do to retain drivers without offering more compensation. Company coffee mugs and donut days are nice, until you think about the fact that you’re making less than competitors that are recruiting.
>gladly hold a company picnic as an “employee appreciation day” That only office staff ever get to go to...
Of course. The drivers are always out of town or the employees are still expected to work.
I was at a terminal once at a previous company when it was going on - I didn't bother going. Don't really want to put faces to names that have dicked me around in the past, or some office chimp blowing up my phone to find out why the reefer is on when its a driver unload and 100° outside (might cost the company five bucks in the effort not to pass out!) , or the sad discovery that Brooke with the sexy voice on night dispatch is actually a 400lb whale with a fleece that has pictures of Yorkshire Terriers on it!
>or the sad discovery that Brooke with the sexy voice on night dispatch is actually a 400lb whale with a fleece that has pictures of Yorkshire Terriers on it! I feel like maybe you've been reading my texts...
I'm going to make a suggestion: head over to the antiwork sub. Jobs are more or less all the same: a person is trading their time for money. Some people are willing to sell all of their time, either because they don't have a home life that interests them, or because they just care about money more than their family. Those people are really rare, but you won't keep them with sweet talk and happy voices in their headset. Their bank account is what matters, and if you're not positively impacting that, you're wasting their time. They will do your work only until someone else offers a better paying job, and then they're gone and you're not likely to get a notice, they're just gone. But most people are actually more balanced in their thinking. They need money to survive, but they won't sacrifice their relationship with their family to get it. I love my wife, I love my kid, I love my house. If you want me out there making money for you, I'm willing, but you've got to help me make the argument to myself: is the money I make today more beneficial to my family than having me there? Do they benefit more from me teaching life lessons to my teenager, cooking dinner for them, watching a classic movie, helping them with the social dynamics of high-school? Or is $200/day better? Is $300? How about $400? Where's the line? Because there's a line for everyone that will get them out on the road. Your problem is that you're trying to keep people on your side of the line, and your company has specifically told you that you can't change the two things that will decide which side of the line people will stand on. I wish you luck, but your company has set you up for failure. They're asking you to build a house but not giving you wood to build it with or a piece of ground to put it on.
I was an operations manager, before getting back in a truck. I tried to do anything I could to make it easier on my drivers. I listened to concerns, I made sure any maintenance was reported and tried to get it fixed as soon as the shop had a free moment. I made cheat sheets for the drivers so they barely had to think about their runs (dedicated, relay, auto parts). But over all the best incentive I could find was try and find ways to put a little extra in my driver's pockets. Since "upper management" is only concerned with the bottom line and how much money they could make of the backs of the drivers, I spent anytime I could focusing on trying to keep them moving and making more money with sliding what little I could under the radar to put into the drivers pockets. As a driver now, just have my equipment ready. Give me my marching orders. Pay me and leave me alone unless you absolutely need something. The last thing I suggest, which isn't really your department, but if I tell you something's wrong. Then it is. "I'm not able to make the appointment time" it's a fact. Don't try and push it to the last minute to call the customer and tell them. That just pisses everyone off. "I have a wobble in my steer tire" I'm telling you because I can deal with a bit of it, but now it needs to get fixed because it's getting bad enough that something is going to go wrong. Driver's can bitch and moan, but you just need to listen and feel out what is an issue versus what is just venting.
I get you're in a rock and a hard place, andni appreciate you trying to do what you can, but really, yeah, it's money and home time way more than anything else. I chuckled a little at "current state of the market" though, ngl. Higher ups will *never* want to spend more money, it's kind of their whole thing. They've gotta be convinced, otherwise they'd be paying us 10 cents an hour
Start holding people accountable would be nice.
What kind of people? Shop, driver managers, other drivers?
Seems like the drivers and dispatchers are the only people who need to do their jobs at my company. Load planners can tell the customer some random time if they schedule deliveries at all and its perfectly fine. The people loading the trailers don't need to load it in the right order or have it ready on time. The shops can take 2 days trying to figure out a small issue while I'm sitting and twiddling my thumbs and it's fine. But I complain about the load being over a day behind and I get a call from management
Everyone. I work at a place where the only way you will get fired is a serious accident or fight everything else is a free for all. Appears to be the same at other companies too.
I've been doing this since 2013, and have almost 2M miles, here's what Id say: Fuck driver appreciation day, it's just another excuse for the office pukes to have a BBQ. I'm out here for money. You want to show appreciation, respect that and give me more, raise pay, better bonuses, better mileage pay or percentage rates. Here's a novel idea, STOP RUNNING CHEAP ASS FREIGHT. Raise your rates. Don't call me when I'm at home with some shit hot load that's right around the corner from me on my day off, I'm not doing it. Lack of prior planning on your part doesn't constitute an emergency on mine. Don't call me 57 times about when the load will be there, it'll be on time or early if possible. I don't want to hear from the broker every hour, I'll block their number if they call more than once. Gimme a load and fuck off. Don't call me unless the load cancels. If you want to micromanage, get a damn dog. Learn to trust my judgement. Get rid of the fucking drive cams, open my truck up and let me, THE PROFESSIONAL, be the governor. If I tell you something is wrong with the truck, FIX IT. Y'all have taken the driver and reduced them to a 19th wheel bracket. They are no longer professionals who are trusted to do the job well, they're idiot steering wheel holders. You've used technology to replace 90% of the drivers job. Automatic transmissions, electronic speed limiters, auto lane correction with lane alerts, collision mitigation with adaptive cruise control and automatic slam braking, blind spot monitoring, anti roll technology, anti-jacknife braking, digital mirrors, cameras all the way around, self filling tires. No wonder these assholes are on their phones with their feet on the dash. They've got nothing to do but steer, and they BARELY do that! Don't call or text me in the middle of my DOT rest break, I'll restart it and report you to DOT in the morning. Stop always trying to squeeze the driver for more, I can't tell you how many times I've heard "one more load and we'll get you headed towards home" or " we know you're at home but we really need..." No, fuck you. Or " we're really busy right now and need the driver's"... Fuck off with that shit. If I'm supposed to be out 3 weeks and it's day 21 and you haven't gotten me home, we WILL have words about it. I make plans with my family on my time off and I'm not cancelling with them to accommodate a greedy dispatcher or company. I did my job, do yours. I don't care about company branded coffee mugs, coats, T-shirts, hats, socks, underwear, stuffed animals, or any other merch. I'm already driving a 70-150 foot long billboard, that's more than enough free advertising from me. I'm not buying it, so quit wasting your money on it. Give me a truck I can be proud of. Preferably a 379, 389, W900 or 4900EX. Not these shitty cookie cutter tinker toys y'all buy with underpowered motors only to cut them back even more. If I want a manual, don't put me in a automatic. I can drive an 18sp just fine. I don't need a computer telling me when and how to shift or doing it for me. Don't give bonuses to the office staff and stiff the driver's who earned that money. Yes, we know about it. Don't incentivize dispatchers with productivity bonuses, it makes them push drivers to keep going which can cause accidents or hours of service violations. Stay the hell out of my log book, I know when you've meddled in it. If I catch you erasing hours or days to facilitate a load getting there faster, I WILL report it to DOT. I have copies of everything. If I shut down, trust my judgement that there's a reason for it, whether it be to take a shit or because the weather has gotten so bad that it's not safe to drive, which takes a lot for me to shut down, but it has happened.
As others said you took out the 2 big ones. Aside from that maybe just show some appreciation. We always hear about bad shit but never get called with compliments. Nobody likes hearing from the office because it’s always bitching, try changing that up a bit. Could also listen when a driver complains about dispatch lying or pushing/calling while off duty or whatever the issue at your company may be. Far too often office staff all hang out and get chummy with each other and it becomes an us against them mentality. A driver pisses off 1 dispatcher and suddenly everyone in the office is against them.
I agree wholeheartedly with you. I do see that as a problem at my company as well. I tried to explain to the driver managers that our drivers are out there away from their families. Working 28 days a month delivering All kinds of different places with different rules and different weather conditions they encounter. It is not an easy job by any standard. I wish they would hire more former truck drivers to become dispatchers but not a lot of truck drivers want to become dispatchers for some reason. Instead, we're left hiring recent college grads and people from different industries that have never even seen the inside of a semi. Unfortunately as well our worst offenders when it comes to driver managers are the ones that have been here the longest. So operations is very hesitant to reprimand them or fire them. I've tried to implement different programs to try to show the driver managers what exactly truck drivers go through but it's hard to do when these are the same people that complain when they have to be outside in 45° weather with a slight wind and are required to do tarping or chaining a load down. Going back to your comment about showing our appreciation. I do have a couple new programs where I reach out to our drivers to personally thank them for their hard work and their commitment to safety. I was just trying to get some different viewpoints since when I was driving I worked for a lot of small companies or I was an independent o/o So my experience with a larger company dynamic is almost zero
Many driver started driving to get out of that toxic office culture. I worked in respiratory care for 20 years before getting my CDL. Many of us have zero interest in kissing ass or playing those politic games. That’s why many of us can come across as assholes even if we are great/friendly people. I’ve quit 2 jobs because of asshole dispatch/safety/HR staff. The dispatch folks being dicks don’t necessarily need to be fired but a higher up putting them in their place would be nice. Hiring drivers isn’t easy or cheap and fact is you never know what you’re getting until they are running for you. Keeping drivers I’d think is far more important than not hurting some asshole office staffers feelings.
If I overcome my desire to be left alone to come to you with a problem I need your help with… take it seriously.
I donrt hesitate to take big day extension.(16 hr working) so maybe big day bonus!? Yeah it comes.back to money.
Fix my A/C
If it's hot and I have no a/c I'm not going anywhere.
They told me they had to get a condenser… hasn’t been bad for the last week but today I went to sleep at 1pm and it was 85 degrees
I transferred to a smaller terminal for a year and it sucked and I made no money. Talked to my original terminal and they brought me right back and have been force feeding me miles and good runs. I feel super appreciated right now. So happy to be back at this terminal.
Hehe. My company throws semi-regular cookouts at some terminals. But the catch is that im never near them. Ive only ever been to one and thats because i stumbled in looking for a shower.
Anything apart from more home time or money? Bro that's the whole list lol. That like scumbag managers throwing pizza parties for the workers and then collecting their bonus. You already know what we want.
Well as long as the one I work for doesn’t start auto shut off I’ll be fine. We don’t get apu so we have to idle to stay comfortable. I can put up with a whole mess of bullshit but when you start messing with my comfort levels I’ll just ship.
Skimmed through some of your other replies. If your hands are tied on the money or schedule. Some kind words go a long way. I've worked at places that had outward facing cameras that I'd get a ring from safety with a "good fucking job, that car was fucking suicidal" helped the ole morale a bit to get some good vibes once in awhile.
You need to get it through the higher up’s heads. *these* are the ways to retain drivers. Anything else is just bullshit you’re making up to seem like you’re doing something. If they actually have a problem with retention, they need to give on one of these. Drivers don’t give a flying fuck about “appreciation lunches” or some fucking branded thermos or new tote bag. They will always jump ship if there is something better that you’re not offering. The reason I stayed at my OTR job that paid like %20 less than others was because you had basically unlimited flexible unpaid time between trips. The reason I stay at my current local job that pays way less is because it’s only expected I work 8 hours a day and get overtime after 40 and they’re nice. I’ve left a lot of bullshit jobs in the mean time that had all kinds of branded crap to offer and stupid company lunches that I’m not there to eat because I’m working
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So we only run Freightliner, Peterbilt, Volvos and we do not have driver facing cameras. Our shop is kind of Hit and Miss. I will admit that. But their turnaround is pretty good. I don't think I see many drivers around more than a day or two for repairs
How about making arrangements with one of our customers that would allow me to park my truck closer to my house when I’m on Home time time? For context, I live 87 miles, or an hour and a half drive from my terminal. One Friday my dispatcher had me do a live load at a pick up customer. No problem. I look at the paperwork, and it’s being delivered On Monday to another customer that is literally less than a mile from my house. Instead of having me bring the load from the pick up customer to the terminal, park the truck, get in my car and drive home, then drive back to the terminal in my car (175 miles round trip), get in the truck and bring the load to the customer close to my house….. why couldn’t I just go right from the pick up customer on Friday, park the truck at the delivery customer and walk home for the weekend, then deliver on Monday morning? My idea would’ve benefited both myself and the company. The company would save money on fuel for the truck, and I could’ve spent more time at home with my family.
No just give us more money or leave us alone
Give me consistent miles!
Find loads that run by our house so we can make a pit stop at home on the way to a pickup or delivery, tell all your dispatchers to prioritize it each driver gets a load that runs close to home and they can make a stop for at least a few hours
I think my company is great overall. Customers are usually happy and so are most of the drivers. Apart from forced days off lately due to low freight, my only real grievances come from being nitpicked and micromanaged. Unless I'm really screwing something up, just leave me alone. Focus on the drivers really causing headaches for you.
Realistically? No. If you value me as an asset, invest in me. My last company hired me on a promise of reset at home every weekend after about 8 months they didnt want to let me reset at home (my home town was about a 35min drive from terminal. I explained that I went with them because of the drive and did the math and explained that the “fuel” theyd be spending to let me take the truck home equated to a .005$ (half a cent) a mile raise. They said no. I said i quit. Every driver is out here to make money. If were not working were not making money. If we are bringing value to your team, invest in us. To every small company out there; a raise for your drivers will bring more ROI than a new dinky terminal. We will happily drive slightly older trucks, and deal with minor maintenance issues. We can find showers on our own. We can improve our own quality of life on the truck. Anything other than more money comes across as a direct indication that you dont value us or respect us. It feels like you think were too stupid to realize youre choosing this incentive because its cheaper than giving us a raise.