I and most of the people I talk with are convinced that Estes has no vested interest in creating an atmosphere that respects high senority. If that looks apealing to you new hires at the moment. Just remember my words when you get some years under your belt and you see newbies being pampered. And as far as getting my information correct in regards to terminal senority issues verses company senority slow ride stated it correctly. I don't care what you think is fare. The only way to conduct these issues is by company senority period. It's not called greed. It's called earning your position. If you are not aware of how business is done out west JIM BOB Ask the other trucking companys what they do in regards to bidding runs. At Fed ex freight if your run is cancelled, they rebid the board right away. They don't stick you on the extra board. At least in the smaller terminals. I do my home work. Do you?
yes i do. and acually they dont have to rebid right away and FXF has kinda a blend of seniority. and i wish i could remember the name of it when they do a complete rebid, which goes by company seniority , or when they do a rebid by terminal senority. sorry it is 345 am here so not thinking so clearly.
also just so you know i am #6 in seniority at my terminal. and ill tell you point blank why i want the Estes way of bidding. the run i am on i dont like, i work nights and drive over 2 11,000 foot hills to get to my turn point. i highly doubt that anyone wil transfer in to my terminal because of the runs avail. at my terminal there are day runs and night runs. now at some point i hope to get on a day run, when people retire and such, BUT until then i want the people that are on the day runs to be on those runs till they retire. 1 of the guys on hat run is a very close and personal friend of mine, and he is older, so i dont want to see someone come to my terminal and take his run away from him and make him run at night and throw chains 150 times a year. now you can call me selfish if you like but that my friend is why i like " lifetime" bids.
oh and for all those wondering where i am at this should be pretty easy to figure out.
and i will tell you what you come and run my run, over the contniental divide every night, with the 50mph winds and 2 feet of snow on the road in blizzard conditions on 7% grades on the interestate and 8% grades on the haz-mat route, which is 12,000feet from Oct - June and ill run yours :D i could really use a vacation after this year, and its the wet season now
the funniest thing that you are failing to notice is that estes does take care of the senior drivers. but either i am not saying it so you can understand or you do want to hear it.
terminal senority with annual bids is great. you are at a terminal you pay your dues, you drive the crap trucks on the crap runs. and when someone leaves you move up the board. the guy above you , quits, gets fired, transfers you get his run UNLESS someone else above you wants its. i got it i understand. i think we can agree with that. at least i hope we can.
company senority with lifetime bids works great also. you put in your time with the company. at your terminal if someone quits, gets fired or transfers that run is up for bid, if noone else above you wants that run you get it. and its yours until you quit, get fired, or transfer. i hope we can agree with that. also if for some reason you dont want to do that run anymore you can give it up, that is risky cause you may go to the extra board or maybe someone else doesnt like thier run and maybe you can just swap if noone above you wants that other run.
the Estes west way is company senority and anual bids. now lets just say you have this nice easy run from sacramento to la mirada during the day. you have been with the company for 15 years. last year you got that nice easy run cuse someone left, for whatever reason. your run before was from Sac. to reno. this year i transfer in from tampa, and i have 16 years with the company. when the rebids come out i am gunna take your nice easy run away from you and you will go back to nights running to reno over the pass. now with G.I.'s old policy i would never get the easy run till everyone above me left :D and with Estes policy i wont get it till you leave. however with Estes west policy i will get it the next time bids come up. i dont think that it is right that i can come into your terminal , take your run having NEVER spent 1 night on that pass, never once put on a chain in my life. i have not paid my dues at that terminal, i may have with the company but not at the terminal. and i dont think thats right. if you do that you bro it aint me.
now you talk about canceled runs. it is the slow season, yes its a lot slower than we had hoped, things are tight, but if they are canceling runs now i am sure they will be opening new runs in the future once things pick up. whenever there is a new run avail. the terminal is suppose to open the bids back up, i use suppose because we know it doesnt always happen like that, at that point we all get to rebid with BOTH policies. and then you can pick and choose what run you want. and like the last guy said, pick wisely, less miles but secure or the more miles less secure, that is your choice.
i have tried to be concice and nice in this post. and i notice you asked how G.I. stayed non union for 50 years. my question to you is, how did Estes stay non union for 75 years on the east coast? yes it probly was a different company under the old man, but that was then this is now. i have worked for other ltl companys in the past. they did things that i didnt like , such as conway using the linedrivers as dock workers for 4 to 5 hours a night, didnt liek it, i quit because of that. when i came back the the ltl companys that was 1 thing that brougt me to G.I., and i am glad estes has the same policy as G.I. reguarding that, or i would not be here any longer.
i will be awaiting your next post.
