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runawaytrain

runawaytrain

Wear their scorn with pride.
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In the SW region of Vitran starting pay is 18.50.....Top pay is 21.25...with no overtime ever. But this is the deal if you start at 18.50 you will never get a raise until the pay freeze is lifted....It takes you 4 years to top out.....But if you were here when the pay freeze took place and were making 19.00....guess what you will never get to top pay no matter how long you been here...you will get the little bitty raises but you will never top out because of the pay freeze. If they released the pay freeze guys that were making 19.00 would go to 21.25 after 4 years...Over half of our drivers are caught up in that freeze...If they released that freeze that would mean a 2.25 an hour raise for each driver...in the SW....Thats alot of money for them to absorb...So my guess is they will never release it. Heres another thing, guys in the NE make much more plus overtime...at least to my understanding...Is it fair that we make so much less than them just because we live in Texas...Isnt that we live in Texas punishment enough??? I suppose the cost of living in the NE justifys why they structure the pay scale different...But dont we do the same job?? Are we less of a team member??? Shouldnt the pay scale be the same through out the whole system...Isnt it in the MASTER FREIGHT AGREEMENT...I know we are not union, but it seems to me that if it wasnt fair it wouldnt be that way.
 
you need to face facts man....vitran and southwestern motor transport have chosen to keep the pay freeze on all incremental increases for whatever reason....remember....smt also took away that monthy safety bonus and increased the payroll deduction for insurance up to 375.00 per month for family insurance with massive deductable, like 2500 per person up to 7500. that is not insurance. They are still missing over half that 10% pay deduct from years ago. unfortunatley the economy hasnt improved enough for people to leave where they are. I will say this...at least SMT shows loyalty to their good employees....vitran does not....you have so many opportunities to leave but you choose to stay....in retrospect if I had the choice....I would have stayed at SMT....they still call me to come back....I am glad I left vitran....ex dallas TM was a condiscending...disrepectful lowlife creep....who got what he deserved....you know my feelings on termination....but him....he deserved to be fired and if I ever see him on the street.....he might see my really bad me. You know I love my new job....bro, you need to stop thinking about what could be....and make a change....you are the best p&d driver I know......refresh and get back in the saddle....it will awaken you.
 
With so many companies "absorbed" one has to expect a pay scale issue. If you get paid overtime, I think it is just because most everyone else in that area does too, either by contract or just to keep drivers.
 
i will put it to you like this. very easy to understand. if where you live had a vitran express already in your area, or if you had a p-jax in your area, then you get paid overtime. for example. when we bought out milan, all the milan employees that worked in an area with a vitran of p-jax already there, well now they get paid o.t. after 45hrs. but for the states like n.c. s.c. ga. al. ms. those states do not get paid o.t at all. but for some reason I think I heard that atlanta term go o.t just becuz of the "big city" and yes those in the midwest and east coast do get paid alot more then us in the sw and south. do I agree with it? heck no, but what are you and me to do? we can come on here and #$tch and maon until we punch the computer monitor, or we can be smart about it, bite your lip, hit the pavement and go looking for another job. alot of other ltl companies pay alot more, I know that all of the ltl companies where i am at, once you walk in the door you make roughly around 1.85- 2.50 more an hour, but some of them dont pay overtime till 55hr or not at all. but you will top out around 21.50- 23.00 an hr. 54cpm- 59cpm. and we are actually talking about those ither companies giving you your raise when they say they will. you can be one of 2 things in this line of work. u can be the guy that, hates the money you make but you dont want to leave cuz in the couple years you have been with vitran you moved up close to the top of the senority list. now you got a good truck an easy pedle route and a early start time. since most people have left to see if the grass is greener on the other side. or you can go to the greener pasture, walk in the door making more money then you were at vitran for the years you were there and have to deal with being the low man of the bunch, get a crap truck, the crap peddle run and the crap start time. so which guy r u? remember when you started at vitran you were at the bottom, and now look at you, you arent that guy no more and you made it to the top. now how about doing it again, but for a company that will pay you for your time and hard effort.................
 
I get it now...Im at top pay 21.25 with no overtime...I work 60 hr weeks and have a gravy peddle...Maybe they let us work so many hours because they dont pay over time..I dont know how many hours a pjax worker gets...so maybe it an offset..But what bothers me is that guys that are making 18.50 will never top out because of the pay freeze...Young guys with familys to feed...But it is what it is...Maybe they will release it if the company starts doing better...Thanks for info SS
 
at my terminal we have several city drivers making $65k plus. i actually seen one drivers pay stub at a years end that was just over $70k. of course, these drivers average around 10 hrs o.t. every week.
 
I rarely get into the OT at 45, while less senior drivers with other routes brag about getting 55 to 57 hours (no matter how much freight they handle :clapping:) Just because someone makes more money is not a reflection as to their worth. Some great senior guys are real go getters, and most rookies are too, but some senior but mostly rookies know how to screw the system and make all the money
 
a wise man once said in the freight business. "you dont have to be a farmer to master milking the cow, timeclock. we have many that do it all the time, and now with this new set up with the tablet. when the early guys come in and do apointment peddle runs, the dispatcher will set up his 2nd run b4 he is even done with his 1st run, and the driver can see it on his tablet, that is the dispatchers 1st mistake, cuz when that driver sees it and say he isnt too pleased with it, well you know what happens next. the driver goes on cruise control, it happens all the time, and they wonder why alot of bring backs are a normal thing. but its their own dang fault. they say and do nothing to the driver, so to the drivers that cant find that extra gear to get the job done, congrats on just proving to the customers why are service sucks, and there for our salesmen have to undercut the next ltl company that has better service, just so we can fill the trailers. and then when the video comes out again and c.k says" our service is down our claims are higher, we take freight out on the street more then once to deliver and that is costing the company. you might think it is a b.s. excuse but there are alot of ways we lose money, i am not saying that is the only way but it is one way we can take the blame away from us and see what excuse c.k will give us at the end of the quarter. I know I know I sound like company man, well I am just speaking of what I see everyday at the barn, and what I believe we as drivers can change. me personally, I like to get my job done, punch out and get home to the ones I love, I get around 10-11hrs a day, that is becuz I do my route then I get back, and they tell me to do a swap, and every time I will take it and run with it. an afternoon swap take an extra hour to do, due to rush hour traffic. easy money if you ask me........ :stirthepot:
 
62k ....Get it while you can...ive been in this business longer than some of you have been alive...The writing is on the wall my friends...Dont think this company cant go belly up...They are right on the edge...and you can take that to the bank. We have burned so many bridges with good customers...And the word is getting around that our service and damages are out of control..So its getting harder to get new accts. Our pockets are not as deep as say Fed-Ex...You cant throw money at things and not get results...
We can hang on a little longer...But make no mistake if we dont put this train back on track i dont think we can survive 2013..we need an efficiency expert in the LTL field to come in and totally revamp city dispatch...and OS&D issues...and service times...and we need to do it in a hurry...We are standing at the crossroads...And we cant continue to take the wrong roads...We have been down too many dead end streets...And time is running out.
 
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Very well put. I would also add we have screwed ourselves with the notion of "get the freight" rather than "get the freight that pays" So much of what I hear is that we undercut everyone else to get contracts, then add in problems, and WHAM, we are in the whole. Not to say it is a lot of revenue, but what about the "extras" we do on a daily basis, but can't charge for them due to contract? breaking down at Wal Mart, Sysco, ect. Our Federal Tariff says we charge something like 60 cents per case, but I have never heard of us collecting anywhere near that, instead the next week dispatch goes "remember that 3 hours at Wal Mart, we got nothing" How many times have you broke a skid and handed down due to no dock (school ect.) all for free. Add lift gate service, inside delivery, before or after published hours, ect. I don't think it is enough to balance the books, but when you are in a negative, anything is a move towards profit.
 
Let me give you just one reason why OS&D needs a total over haul..We have an acct in Dallas that has a trailer spotted there everyday..maybe 10 shipment a day...Its a high claim product that is very easy to damage. On average i take back 3 or 4 shipments a week that has been refused due to damage. Each claim can be as much as 5 or 6 hundred dollars. Each week my friends...We have had this acct. for years...If you took the total revenue for one year and compared it to the damage we pay in that same year...We would be thousands in the hole...Thats a fact...Why dont we dump that acct...Its a loser...The reason is because the company does not look at those sort of the things...It would look bad on the salesman to do that, thats part of the reason...And the other reason is because its just the way we do business, hauling junk freight...The only reason the customer does not cut us off is probley because we are one of their best customers...see they resend it and they get paid twice..maybe three times if we tear it up again...and yes that happens...Why doesnt this company compare what they gain against what they lose in claims each year for certain customers...And cut them loose if its a loser...Someone needs to create a job to do just that...They could save thousands with just that one customer..Do the math people...This aint rocket science
 
We have done that with one I know of at my terminal this summer, but had doing that same thing for years, they just rebid the rate based on making a profit with all the OS&D claims once someone asked about the P&L on that customer, and customer dropped us. It is never good to fire a customer (which we kinda did, we knew they would not accept new rate) this all can be based on a P&L report, which should not just be the terminal, it should be at the customer level too. Sadly, you just cannot drop certain customers, checking into things you find this is a division of that which is a division of this and that is a national account worth millions. Basic customers do not care if we are in business tomorrow as long as we haul their stuff cheap, it has always been that way and will always be, less on transport equals more profit if sale price stays the same. It is up to us to put a value our service, improve OS&D claims 1 zillion times, and pray more bosses go out the door because this chasing greatness cannot happen with the same lame duck attitudes this place has had for 5 years, and more
 
I always try to stay positive when it comes to this company...But just when i think things are getting better they go and do some stupid things. Sometimes i just sit in amazement and think.....REALLY?????? I think we all want this company to survive...We want them to succeed...We want them to grow. But when they continue to do the same things over and over and never learn from their mistakes it makes you wonder. Nothing is served when you dwell in the past...I know this...I think we all know this.. Its only productive if you build on the mistakes of the past....When you learn....Nothing is truly a mistake as long as you learn and correct the problem and move forward in a positive manner..When you can say to yourself .....man i will never do that again...and truly know in your heart of hearts that you will never do that again...When you can learn to do that you have found a way to succeed...Whether its in life...or running a business...Its a winning formula for success.
 
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it starts with the salespeople. they go out and lowball accts, by giving them huge discounts and wave everything, to get them in the door and it looks good for them. instead of charging a little more and being selective on the accts, we overload the system and can't service them correctly. now we damage the freight packing it in the linehaul trailers, can't deliver it on time when it's out for city pedal, now it makes us late on pickups that are now closed. and don't forget all the o.t. they spend on us doing so. if they would weed out the non-profitable ones and quit giving cheap charges, that would reduce the freight volume, damage claims and o.t. but what do i know, i'm just a driver. eventually we'll lose enough accts that this will happen regardless. lmfao. chasing greatness right out the door.
 
if you cut down on the cheap freight. aka walmart, which only ships no less then 5skids a b.o.l. and I know pro trans is vitrans "baby", but they ship no less then 8skids a b.o.l. well thats half a trailer right there. so when it comes to getting those acts that do pay enuf to make a profit with, well its not hard to see that if you have to put your national acts on that 1st outbound trl first and leave your local acts on the dock till the 2nd cut, well like trainwreck says " its not rocket science". you will lose your profitable acts and be stuckwith your national acts, and thats when your local salesman go back into the customer that doesnt get serviced on time, and has to throw out that 85% discount just to keep him from going else where. i know one thing the bottom of the totum pole dont care. does the top?
 
And let's not forget freightquote.com I love going out of my way to scrap yards and loading dirty greasy used car parts for a service built on the notion of the lowest bidder gets the freight.
 
Not_wanted said:
And let's not forget freightquote.com I love going out of my way to scrap yards and loading dirty greasy used car parts for a service built on the notion of the lowest bidder gets the freight.
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freightquote, unishipper, ect... one time b.s. customer with usually an appt time and residential involved. "PLEASE CALL AN HOUR BEFORE DELIVERY." yeah right, i'll do that. lol. and why in the hell is it on this truck when it specifies a liftgate.
 
Junk yards galore in tx by Freightquote...and once you get there its a 30 min wait...they bring a leaking transmission out that should be drained wired to a pallet...should be drained but ...whatever...We have one Straight truck (Bobtail in Tx) and the liftgate is broken. We hire a mom and pop out fit to do ALL residential delivery's, and most of Downtown, and real tight spots...By the time you split the revenue with that you have lost money with the wait time thats involved..Yeah...Chasing Greatness one Fu**** up stop at a time..and by the way...We have no trailers with liftgates...not one..Personally im glad, because balancing a 2000 pound skid on the back doesnt sound to appealing
 
b4 we bought milan at our barn we had one liftgate, and that was on a straight truck, so when the houghlin mifflin books came in the summer, you ran it on your route with your 53ft trailer, yeah most of the school are on the country roads, real fun pulling books to the back then jumping off trl and bringing thaem in 4 at a time on a school lunch cart, cuz we didnt even have 2 wheel dollies, chasing greatness? how bout go chase me a lunch cart for me janitor lol
 
We have 30 city P&D drivers...10 pallet jacks...no dollies...How can you do your job when you dont have the tools to get it done...
 
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