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Central Transport | After leaving Vitran I realize

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gladtobegone

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That the company is absolutely one of the worst run operations in the LTL business. The communications system dispatching is still in the stone age. Sure they brought in that hand held system but there are so many problems with it and bugs that still need to be worked out it will be a long time before anything changes. On top of that there are so many drivers that literally ride the clock for several hours per week the company will never make money enough to get people back on track. When I say several I mean 1 to 2 hours per day just at the yard let alone sitting in their respective areas. I was treated great by everyone I worked with. I will miss them. Did I like everything that went on?....NO! but in my case as with most of us it is hard making change. The truck situation regarding repairs at some of it's larger terminals with no shop is horrendous. It seems like most of the trailers are lease trailers. Have any of you tried to close the doors on those P-JaX swing doors? Ugly would be an understatement. The CEO at P-Jax was laughing all the way to the bank after Vitran acquired them. Have any of you tried cranking some of those really jammed landing gears lately? Wow. In parting I will say this. It was a cake job that I had trouble adjusting to the slow pace. The customer base is relatively small. The sales force....I mean what sales force. Well, good luck to all of you. I hope Vitran can pickd up the pace and keep you all employed.

BTW....have any of you ever worked for a well oiled machine? You will know when you have. Good Day Guys.
 
all my o.t. is due to the stupidity of the routing and dispatching, if they got their act together there would'nt be any overtime. there was a former driver that milked over $8k one year and bragged about it and never got questioned why it took him so long. i agree, this is the worse ran LTL in the industry and they might think of s-canning most of the corp f-ups and renaming this institution. how you like hearing this at your pickups? WHAT ARE YOU PICKING UP? WHO ARE YOU PICKING UP FOR? DO YOU KNOW WHERE IT'S GOING? DO YOU AT LEAST KNOW THE WEIGHT OR THE ZIP CODE? i usually look for the smallest awkward skid they have ready to ship and point to that, "THAT'S PROBABLY IT." and 9 out of 10 times i'm right. lol.
 
I have worked for TL company that was pretty screwed up, slowly but surely over five years things worker out, we got computer dispatch, computers in truck, more and more back hauls were arranged while you were still outbound becuase instead of answering phones all day, they could network the office and get your loads lined up, very little amount of communication issues, maybe talk once a week on phone to dispatch (fill in the blank dispatch page, so even if it was a customer pickup, we had destination, PU, PO, ect. BEFORE we came on your dock even though your paperwork did not say our company name) Left over hiring anyone who could pass safety so they could expand fleet, kinda sounds like what is here too. I could go anywhere, being home every night, weekend, holiday...... it is the ONLY thing keeping me here, kinda got used to my own food and shower. Vitran is five to seven years behind other carriers, but that is not the driver's problem, it was management falling asleep on the job. TM said no drivers punching early going on dock, guess what, lasted less than a week due to no one held responsible for breaking rules. Certain drivers get 55 to 57 hours every week, no matter how much work they are assigned, so I know where you are coming from.
Computers? Are we trying to invent the wheel here? Friend of mine uses people net online tablet for TL,
PeopleNet Tablet | A powerful and portable in-cab PC that runs powerful applications for route management, supply chain communications, safety, security and compliance and end-to-end vehicle management
Said best system he could imagine, dispatch en-route, camera to take pics of damage, electronic logbook, says between that and APU, would not ever go back to paper logs, truck idle, or phone calls.
 
our dispatcher is so lousy that when he has a day off and our service manager steps in, he dispatches better than the dolt that does it on a daily basis for years. of course, he starves the people he does'nt like and loads up the drivers that he likes. we got drivers that are on o.t. thursday night and others that hardly get any or little.
 
here to, dispatch is on an a** kissing system for some areas, don't like you? get drop and hook and come home by 4 or 5, make sure and take lunch and drive speed limit on two lanes dragging it out to get your 40, but like you and do PU so you get in a 645 or 700 like your suppose to. Some areas we have next to nothing for back hauls even though 250k metro, then in a 10k town we have 3 or 4 picks,,,,,,,,,,,,, don't get it, if them drivers f/u big metro area so they can go home, then boot them out and send me.
 
had enough said:
all my o.t. is due to the stupidity of the routing and dispatching, if they got their act together there would'nt be any overtime. there was a former driver that milked over $8k one year and bragged about it and never got questioned why it took him so long. i agree, this is the worse ran LTL in the industry and they might think of s-canning most of the corp f-ups and renaming this institution. how you like hearing this at your pickups? WHAT ARE YOU PICKING UP? WHO ARE YOU PICKING UP FOR? DO YOU KNOW WHERE IT'S GOING? DO YOU AT LEAST KNOW THE WEIGHT OR THE ZIP CODE? i usually look for the smallest awkward skid they have ready to ship and point to that, "THAT'S PROBABLY IT." and 9 out of 10 times i'm right. lol.
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what I love is when dispatch gets an attitude when you call in for info we should have been given in the first place and they do it with the customer listening.
 
Happens every week dude.......... I just love being in their uniform and being ignorant to what I am picking up,,,,,, my face, but your name on shirt and truck VITRAN.........no excuse........
 
I see a couple responses so I will add to this. One obvious moral downer is the fact that Vitran has purchased all these companies.....All called Vitran yet run like separate companies with separate pay scales....I mean the man standing next to you at the same terminal is making $5.00 more per hour? maybe 15 cents per mile more....out of the same terminal? No way. You can't leave anything in your assigned truck because tomorrow some out of state guy will clean your cab out? I never broke bread with TM. I was just there to do my job and go home. Yes I had alot of friends but that was on the job. I never b**ched about anything cuz I know it just goes in one and out the other. Vitran wants to be like the big boys but in reality they have nobody out there promoting their service....if you want to call it service. Even TM has referred to Vitran's service as horrible Big boys are out there giving discounts for everything and still making money. Company I work for now does easily 1500 bills per day and they have another terminal 15 miles away doing 2000. Better pay...better benefits....overtime pay. A far cry better than Vitran and they returned their 5% pay cut and have everyone reaching top pay within 2 years. Everyone else has given their 5% except the scrub lines. My buddies and I always referred to Vitran as a train wreck. Unfortunately for all of you it will be just that for a long time. One more thing...You mean you all just weren't scheduled on a daily basis? That's not a job....Vitran doesn't deserve that kind of loyalty if they are doing that. The area I work in has ads all the time looking for drivers at all the companies. I mean they are all hiring. All I can say to you is good luck. Maybe things will change.....but 1st Vitran needs to take care of it's drivers.
 
gladtobegone said:
I see a couple responses so I will add to this. One obvious moral downer is the fact that Vitran has purchased all these companies.....All called Vitran yet run like separate companies with separate pay scales....I mean the man standing next to you at the same terminal is making $5.00 more per hour? maybe 15 cents per mile more....out of the same terminal? No way. You can't leave anything in your assigned truck because tomorrow some out of state guy will clean your cab out? I never broke bread with TM. I was just there to do my job and go home. Yes I had alot of friends but that was on the job. I never b**ched about anything cuz I know it just goes in one and out the other. Vitran wants to be like the big boys but in reality they have nobody out there promoting their service....if you want to call it service. Even TM has referred to Vitran's service as horrible Big boys are out there giving discounts for everything and still making money. Company I work for now does easily 1500 bills per day and they have another terminal 15 miles away doing 2000. Better pay...better benefits....overtime pay. A far cry better than Vitran and they returned their 5% pay cut and have everyone reaching top pay within 2 years. Everyone else has given their 5% except the scrub lines. My buddies and I always referred to Vitran as a train wreck. Unfortunately for all of you it will be just that for a long time. One more thing...You mean you all just weren't scheduled on a daily basis? That's not a job....Vitran doesn't deserve that kind of loyalty if they are doing that. The area I work in has ads all the time looking for drivers at all the companies. I mean they are all hiring. All I can say to you is good luck. Maybe things will change.....but 1st Vitran needs to take care of it's drivers.
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that reminds of something I was told right out of trucking school..... If a trucking company takes care of its drivers and their family the driver will take care of the company and if the company doesn't take care of the drivers and families the driver will!
 
Like i wrote before, it has the makings to be a great place to work, so now we started with Pres, now let it trickle down to TM/dock/and drivers. When you buy a company, you also buy their headaches, and no one has tried to get rid of them. Don't get me wrong, not all TM's are bad, I know mine and met one other twice breifly, just saying when you micro manage everyone from Pittsburgh it tends to stifle ingenuity and "thinking outside the box".
 
I am not sure how long you have worked for Vitran but my interaction goes back several years....it is actually as it was in the early 90's. Nothing has changed. Like I said....I loved the drivers and dispatcher and office girls.
 
Here are a couple of good suggestions to maybe boost Vitran's bottom line. 1st of all close all mid and upper level management positions at offices like Wichita Ka. That operation is poorly run and mismanaged. They are probably costing Vitran 2 or 3 million a year in extra un-needed costs. It's like the YRC affect. TOO MUCH FAT!! Bring all operations under one office. Like this new Corporate facility. The overhead at Vitran is through the roof. I mean why are they operating with TM's that don't care. Usually problems are an extenesion of mismanagement. Vitran is notorious for bringing in dispatchers from other companies to be terminal managers. Any of those they have hired need to be dismissed. Houston and Dallas are as mismanaged as I have seen. Late cutoffs. Lots of damage. Nobody cares. Terminal managers not handling the big problems. Not doing their homework!! These guys sit in their offices not paying attention to anything going on out on the floor? The times they do is when it's too late. Dealing with Gibsonia is like dealing with a well oiled machine. People at outlying corporate offices are a joke. Build small shops at all facilities to do the cost affective repairs or use a shop close to terminals to do ALL repairs. This juggling of trucks is ridiculous. If Vitran wants to run with the big boys they need to start cleaning house. Too many people not justifying a paycheck. I am not naming names but if Vitran want to be profitable....they need to make some big changes.
 
7-98
gladtobegone said:
I am not sure how long you have worked for Vitran but my interaction goes back several years....it is actually as it was in the early 90's. Nothing has changed. Like I said....I loved the drivers and dispatcher and office girls.
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They were Overland transpotation originally. I think it was 97-98 when Vitran bought them.
 
And sold them too.......... As a person I guess I like my TM, but as a Manager he leaves a lot to be desired, of course I will look like an armchair quarterback, but if he spent less time on phone and email and more time taking care of his house, most of our issues would never happen, but as of now, I blame most on a lack of leadership. After we leave he searches dock for freight so he an ***** at someone, if your not gone in 30 minutes from punch in, it is your fault, if you found a flat tire, that is your fault, you should have done Inspection BEFORE you punched in so you had a plan to deal with it AFTER you punched in, that kinda crap.
 
my terminal only three don't get overtime, but that is because they don't want the extra hours, half are 54 to 57 hours every week
 
you do not and will not know me. As an employee I never missed one unscheduled day of work nor was I ever written up for any disciplinary action. I was a decent employee who after leaving Vitran am able to say what I feel. I knew when I worked there that Vitran does not hold a candle to any of the elite LTL companies. They are more like a mom and pop set up. People who work where I did are well known for doing the wrong thing although I just did my job and went home. The original Vitran employees are the one's who are laughing at the people who have come in under the other flags....ie....SWE, P-Jax(yuk yuk), quast....Chris(wichita) and MILAN? who the heck are they? Thing is nothing changes. They don't know how to get freight and their sales force is the same....I refer to Vitran upper and mid level manager as "A BUNCH OF MONKEYS PLAYING WITH A FOOTBALL". There is really know way to describe what a bunch of misfits run Vitran. They need sweeping changes....but with those changes comes backwards movement. Someties change hurts.....but eventually they may turn it around...until then all you bottom feeders will take pay cuts and live with pay freezes. adios
 
gladtobegone said:
you do not and will not know me. As an employee I never missed one unscheduled day of work nor was I ever written up for any disciplinary action. I was a decent employee who after leaving Vitran am able to say what I feel. I knew when I worked there that Vitran does not hold a candle to any of the elite LTL companies. They are more like a mom and pop set up. People who work where I did are well known for doing the wrong thing although I just did my job and went home. The original Vitran employees are the one's who are laughing at the people who have come in under the other flags....ie....SWE, P-Jax(yuk yuk), quast....Chris(wichita) and MILAN? who the heck are they? Thing is nothing changes. They don't know how to get freight and their sales force is the same....I refer to Vitran upper and mid level manager as "A BUNCH OF MONKEYS PLAYING WITH A FOOTBALL". There is really know way to describe what a bunch of misfits run Vitran. They need sweeping changes....but with those changes comes backwards movement. Someties change hurts.....but eventually they may turn it around...until then all you bottom feeders will take pay cuts and live with pay freezes. adios
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:wavey: g2bg
 
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