ok so i sat in SLC for 2 days after that last laod (by request) got my 34 hour reset and accepted my load to reno, it would be tight but no problem.. they say i will have extra stops but after taking my 10 hour rest i figure it wouldn't be a problem. well i pick up the load and find out there are 5 additional stops each after 2 hours after the one before, so there is no way to make this because from pickup to last delivery is 21 hours with only an hour leeway between each stop.. anyways i tell this to night dispatch and they tell me to goto stop one and talk to my dispatcher in the morning. well i sent him a qualcom saying i hit my 14 hours and couldn't do the rest and what to do, well he tells me to call him and says i shouldn't ever beam that im out of hours on the qualcom because then they can't move me.. if i said i was close to running out or called they could have fudged me somewhere to get my load dropped or taken but i got left in the parking lot and had to sit at the receiver and someone had to come get my trailer.

now i have been told by a few different people at central (not all drivers even) that if i log everything exactly as i do it i will get stuck and such, and that as I'm out here longer i will learn how to log things so that I can earn more money.

and someone else said that central is a big company and is not looking at everyone with a fine tooth comb, as long as you don't do anything major your won't lose your job.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm of course you will never get this in official channels (i.e. qualcom)

Also the only point it seems to me for safty in this company is to cover thier own companies own rear end... totally unresponsive about questions to them about safety issues =\

every company has its ups and downs...

although i have said i have no intention of fudging my logs they are ok with that.. just allot of hinting i could run more miles if i did a few white lies..

Is this common in the trucking industry?

 

Too common! :?
But you and only you can control what you write in your logbook!
If something happens, it's all on you!!!
The company will dis own you faster then you know what!
Have them answer questions like this over the Qualcomm, see how that goes! First message you will get is "call dispatch!" They don't want nothing on record!
Invest in a micro-recorder, tape phone conversations! :wink:
You can work 14 hours in a day, you can drive for 11 of those, is that not enough??
Do factory workers hang around not getting paid for all they do?
Why should you lie and cheat only so you can do more unpaid and at a great risk to you? :roll:
The choice is yours!

 

I get the feeling that right now i am being tested to see what i will do, how far/hard i will run... I don't have a problem taking crummy loads that others dont like but _won't_ run illegally, my dispatcher so far seams really cool and just is trying to find out how I'll run.. he had no problem whatsoever and made no big stink about it when i refused to run with it. (though I could have run for 21 straight hours and figured out how i could have logged it where noone would have known!) Before a driver was tellign me he ran for 24 hours straight then stopped to let his book catch up and sleep and i didn't understand how that could happen but that was when i was back in orientation and hadn't been shown the tricks..

Also my dispatcher is REALLY cool about me running out of route and stuff like that, he is not always on my back like some others i have seen are. so far he doesn't seem to really push ppl to 'fudge' only to allow it if they want the extra $$? and remind me not to say i'm out of hours on my qualcom cause then he can't 'work with me' to get me to a truck stop or somethin.. hmm

honestly though if i'm tired, i'll goto a truck stop and say i'm out of hours, then they can't move me. right?

 

Hey Cockroach; What are you driving?New Volvo? Or freightliner?

 

I thought I said already, I got a volvo, used (120,000 mileS) but very good shape.

Today I just did my hardest back ever, blind-side back with a bunch of scrap metal laying where I needed to put my tractor but I got in fine after getting out 8 times and doing 15 pullups.

I am now on my way to tacoma washington with this craft load... I have one appointment at 7:30 am and another a few blocks down the road at 7:31 am... I wonder how they expect me to pull that off! haha They better unload my truck fast!

 

Cockroach, I just graduated from AIT in Tucson (24 weeks) and head to orientation in SLC on Sunday. Are the facilities decent there-the "VIP Lounge" as it was called by the recruiter? Do they provide any meals. Is it open bay "barracks" style sleeping or individual rooms? Any info would be very helpful. Thank you.

 

the rooms are about the size of a jail cell and constructed as such. You will be sleeping on a nice rubber bed

btw the hot and cold water in the showers are swapped so if you turn it all the way to hot you will get a nice cold surprise!

-----

So I've gone to 3 grocery warehouses so far and they aren't as bad as everyone makes them out to be.. of course one of the pro's of working for central is that so far ALL MY LUMPERS HAVE BE PAID FOR by who? the grocery warehouse, cool.. the lumpers even did the paperwork for me I just had to sign. woohoo plus i've never been paid detention because i've never hit the 2 hr mark.

I have hear that central charges the consignee like 200 per hour for each hour past 2, this doesn't surprise me.. when i went to supervalue she took a big marker and wrote 2 hr and what my 2 hr point was in huge big letters on my bill before having me give it to the lumper, she didn't write this on the papers for the other drivers who where not there.

so far I have still not fingerprinted a load..

one load i did go back and help the stores unloader push the pallet jack over the plate thing but he did all the work..

also I was told that any lumper fees paid are charged right back to the consignee, (plus a handling fee) I think thats why most of the warehouses pay the lumper directly for you.

 

Thanks for the help. See ya on the road!

 

Cockroach if you get up into the northeast, Give me a shout.I saw a Black Volvo 670 on the Mass Pike today.I thought only the Dick Simon trucks were Black? And Centrals were white with red stripes.

 

Company drivers have black or white trucks, mine is white. I can't remember the slogan but the truck colors has something to do with it, the solution is as clear as black and white or something like that.. I have not left oregon/washington/california since going solo... i mean im close to home which is cool but if i wanted to be on the west coast i woulda joined gordon.