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Central Transport | The Glass Ceiling

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biglarry28

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First I would like to thank all the CT apologists that seem compelled to post on Vitran's board, Thank you for riding in on your white horse, slaying the dragon and saving us all. I wish I had the crystal ball that told you Vitran was going to close in a matter of weeks if not for your heroics. It's a shame they didn't fire Keylon after the first year. We saw a significant reduction in costs once the Sierra West area was closed and would have seen even larger savings had they completed the Milan shutdown. Vitran still had money in the bank and so on but I guess we have been down this road before. There were other options as well, Vitran Corp could have spun off the US LTL and issued stock. My guess is, if the employees had been given the choice between purchase a controlling interest in company stock or being sold to CT, Vitran would be an employee owned company today. During the 2007-2008 economic slow-down SAIA and Vitran were similar in size and performance, today SAIA employs 8,000 people and has an O/R in the low 90's. With the right leadership Vitran could have been saved.

Here in the midwest Vitran was comprised of 50-60% legacy employees and 40-50% that were second tier wage or short term employees. For second tier people CT might work out ok, for legacy employees it is a total bust. We have been told we will not see a reduction in pay but when you make 20 cents a mile more than a CT driver there is little chance you will ever get a raise. The loss of 10 paid days off is crushing and the chance of recovering them is between slim and none. Much higher insurance costs don't help either. How much more can you give up? The reality is there is no reason for any legacy employee to stay, you have hit the glass ceiling.

I can here it already from the CT bandwagon " if you don't like it then don't let the door hit you in the ace on the way out" I suppose it makes you feel good to say it but honestly if you have ever had to hire people (and I have) you would realize just how stupid a statement it is. Young people aren't becoming truck drivers, the labor pool is getting smaller and older, and good people are hard to find. Oh I know the attitude that has been promoted lately has been "yeah CT may suck but at least your getting a paycheck". Let me ask you something, if you're with the family in your vehicle driving down the interstate in a snowstorm and there are trucks all around you, who do you want behind the wheel of them? Someone with at least a million accident free miles, who is paid well and looks at their profession as a career that they want to keep? or someone with a few tickets and few fender benders and who could give a F... less as long as he gets a check on Friday?

To my buddy Joe, as to why people haven't been fleeing in large numbers? My guess would be concern over being hired at this time of year and potentially being laid-off in January. If you ever get an official payscale let me know how it stacks up against the premier carriers that are paying 54 to 62 cents a mile with better benefits. Once spring rolls around I think the departure will be slow but steady.

As for me, I'm taking my 2+ million accident free miles and I'm leaving the industry. I could spend the next 10 years working my way up the ladder at FedEx, OD or Conway but honestly I'm just not having any fun anymore. It's time to pursue a career where I will get paid for my experience even if I have to change employers.

So with that all being said, this will be my last post as Vitran is truly dead. R.I.P.
 
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"yeah CT may suck but at least your getting a paycheck". Let me ask you something, if you're with the family in your vehicle driving down the interstate in a snowstorm and there are trucks all around you, who do you want behind the wheel of them? Someone with at least a million accident free miles, who is paid well and looks at their profession as a career that they want to keep? or someone with a few tickets and few fender benders and who could give a F... less as long as he gets a check on Friday?

See Larry, this is my BIGGEST complaint with the elitist Vitran drivers like yourself. I know of many, many, many long term (15 years +) Central drivers who have spotless records and as many miles as you who are perfectly content and happy at Central. Where do you get the idea that every Central driver is a lowlife, scumbag, newbie driver who can't get a job anywhere else? Do you honestly believe Vitran and their drivers are far superior to Central? You may or may not know this but I worked at the big V longer than most of their drivers have been driving. Get off your hollier than thou high horse. YOU my friend are the type of personality that killed Vitran. Matter of fact your attitude reminds me of every one Keylons minions from Fed Ex. Would not surprise me if you weren't one of his cronies. We would have been profitable. We were turning it around. We were great. OK.................
 
biglarry28 said:
First I would like to thank all the CT apologists that seem compelled to post on Vitran's board, Thank you for riding in on your white horse, slaying the dragon and saving us all. I wish I had the crystal ball that told you Vitran was going to close in a matter of weeks if not for your heroics. It's a shame they didn't fire Keylon after the first year. We saw a significant reduction in costs once the Sierra West area was closed and would have seen even larger savings had they completed the Milan shutdown. Vitran still had money in the bank and so on but I guess we have been down this road before. There were other options as well, Vitran Corp could have spun off the US LTL and issued stock. My guess is, if the employees had been given the choice between purchase a controlling interest in company stock or being sold to CT, Vitran would be an employee owned company today. During the 2007-2008 economic slow-down SAIA and Vitran were similar in size and performance, today SAIA employs 8,000 people and has an O/R in the low 90's. With the right leadership Vitran could have been saved.

Here in the midwest Vitran was comprised of 50-60% legacy employees and 40-50% that were second tier wage or short term employees. For second tier people CT might work out ok, for legacy employees it is a total bust. We have been told we will not see a reduction in pay but when you make 20 cents a mile more than a CT driver there is little chance you will ever get a raise. The loss of 10 paid days off is crushing and the chance of recovering them is between slim and none. Much higher insurance costs don't help either. How much more can you give up? The reality is there is no reason for any legacy employee to stay, you have hit the glass ceiling.

I can here it already from the CT bandwagon " if you don't like it then don't let the door hit you in the ace on the way out" I suppose it makes you feel good to say it but honestly if you have ever had to hire people (and I have) you would realize just how stupid a statement it is. Young people aren't becoming truck drivers, the labor pool is getting smaller and older, and good people are hard to find. Oh I know the attitude that has been promoted lately has been "yeah CT may suck but at least your getting a paycheck". Let me ask you something, if you're with the family in your vehicle driving down the interstate in a snowstorm and there are trucks all around you, who do you want behind the wheel of them? Someone with at least a million accident free miles, who is paid well and looks at their profession as a career that they want to keep? or someone with a few tickets and few fender benders and who could give a F... less as long as he gets a check on Friday?

To my buddy Joe, as to why people haven't been fleeing in large numbers? My guess would be concern over being hired at this time of year and potentially being laid-off in January. If you ever get an official payscale let me know how it stacks up against the premier carriers that are paying 54 to 62 cents a mile with better benefits. Once spring rolls around I think the departure will be slow but steady.

As for me, I'm taking my 2+ million accident free miles and I'm leaving the industry. I could spend the next 10 years working my way up the ladder at FedEx, OD or Conway but honestly I'm just not having any fun anymore. It's time to pursue a career where I will get paid for my experience even if I have to change employers.

So with that all being said, this will be my last post as Vitran is truly dead. R.I.P.
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couldn't have expressed this better myself, very sad that this company was allowed to go down the drain and no one tried to stop it, except by throwing yet another video or email at the problems. Big larry sad to see you go but I totally understand, this industry has gone down hill bad in the last few years and I like you am not interested in climbing the ladder at any other LTL companies, if I move on it will be either out of trucking altogether or at least out of the LTL side of it.
 
joebobin said:
"yeah CT may suck but at least your getting a paycheck". Let me ask you something, if you're with the family in your vehicle driving down the interstate in a snowstorm and there are trucks all around you, who do you want behind the wheel of them? Someone with at least a million accident free miles, who is paid well and looks at their profession as a career that they want to keep? or someone with a few tickets and few fender benders and who could give a F... less as long as he gets a check on Friday?

See Larry, this is my BIGGEST complaint with the elitist Vitran drivers like yourself. I know of many, many, many long term (15 years +) Central drivers who have spotless records and as many miles as you who are perfectly content and happy at Central. Where do you get the idea that every Central driver is a lowlife, scumbag, newbie driver who can't get a job anywhere else? Do you honestly believe Vitran and their drivers are far superior to Central? You may or may not know this but I worked at the big V longer than most of their drivers have been driving. Get off your hollier than thou high horse. YOU my friend are the type of personality that killed Vitran. Matter of fact your attitude reminds me of every one Keylons minions from Fed Ex. Would not surprise me if you weren't one of his cronies. We would have been profitable. We were turning it around. We were great. OK.................
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Joe, I'm sorry but you just don't get it, a lot of legacy Vitran driver are losing a lot, and sometimes it is about more than just "getting a paycheck" if you and all those "many, many, many long term (15 years +) Central drivers" are content at CT then so be it, but a lot of drivers want more from their jobs than what CT has to offer and may very well move on down the road, I have sen a lot of negative stuff at the terminal I was moved to this week, not drivers but stuff, most of the drivers I've talked to this week seem to be pretty cool, but even they were talking a bunch of negativity about the company we work for, maybe I just haven't met any of these drivers that are so happy and content, hopefully I will see some soon, maybe they are like blue moons.....few and far between.
 
I really do try to get it, but you have to try and see my point too. When a Vitran driver makes statements about how horrible Central is and how their drivers don't care and aren't safe and so on, that's very unfair and demeaning to a lot. Just because you may have made a little more, got better insurance, more holidays and so, doesn't make you a better driver than a central guy. Some make it seem like a central driver is a slug that isn't fit to work anywhere else, that's simply not true. There are current central drivers that voluntarily left Vitran cause they didn't like it there. Just seems like being humble, thankful and maybe realize everyone's situation is different. Not one Central person on this board is bad mouthing drivers from Vitran and saying how bad they suck and how unsafe they are going down the road because of the name on the door. I could make the point anyone working for a company loosing $30 million a quarter just doesn't care and will run you and your family off the road because if they cared they would work for a profitable company. They obviously are sucky drivers cause they can only get hired at a failing company. That's not fair and neither is a lot of the stuff being spewed on here. I will agree with Larry though. I am done here. All this vitran board does is drag me down to the miserable bitchy person I was when I worked there. Best just to stay away from Vitran and its people and be happy with my job at the crappy company I work for now, that is making money and succeeding.
 
joebobin said:
I really do try to get it, but you have to try and see my point too. When a Vitran driver makes statements about how horrible Central is and how their drivers don't care and aren't safe and so on, that's very unfair and demeaning to a lot. Just because you may have made a little more, got better insurance, more holidays and so, doesn't make you a better driver than a central guy. Some make it seem like a central driver is a slug that isn't fit to work anywhere else, that's simply not true. There are current central drivers that voluntarily left Vitran cause they didn't like it there. Just seems like being humble, thankful and maybe realize everyone's situation is different. Not one Central person on this board is bad mouthing drivers from Vitran and saying how bad they suck and how unsafe they are going down the road because of the name on the door. I could make the point anyone working for a company loosing $30 million a quarter just doesn't care and will run you and your family off the road because if they cared they would work for a profitable company. They obviously are sucky drivers cause they can only get hired at a failing company. That's not fair and neither is a lot of the stuff being spewed on here. I will agree with Larry though. I am done here. All this vitran board does is drag me down to the miserable bitchy person I was when I worked there. Best just to stay away from Vitran and its people and be happy with my job at the crappy company I work for now, that is making money and succeeding.
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I do see your point, I also have seen this week alone, numerous law violations by central drivers like using lanes trucks are not allowed to use for miles on end, using hand held cell phones, operating dolphin while driving, I'm sure Vitran has drivers doing the same to as well as fedex, holland yrc etc. point being all companies have questionable drivers. and also fact being we never lost 30 mil a quarter as far as I remember the highest was only 17mil a quarter, not acceptable but a lot different than 30 mil. and like larry said Vitran is dead its time to let her rest in piece...... Here is to a bunch of years of memories some good some bad, she was a good ship in her day now that ship has sunk and its time to either go for the life raft or swim for another ship, even if that ship carries a different cargo.
 
I can understand veteran drivers being upset at what they're losing. It sucks, it really does. But there are 2 things that irritates about the Vitran drivers and the comments being made.

1) don't blame Central for your loss. Central didn't run your company into the ground, guys like CK did. Things are the way they are at CT, so yes , you have the option to walk. CT bought the Vitran assets, it isn't their responsibility to change the entire business model to make a few guys the acquired happy.

2) you are NOT better drivers just because you work at Vitran. There are a lot of us veteran CT guys without tickets or accidents. And, judging by the looks of all the Vitran equipment I see up here, even if we did it's the pot calling the kettle black.

I know you guys are frustrated. I've been through mergers, layoffs, and the like. You want to take a hit? Try working in the IT industry. It's a lot of fun to spend a few years getting settled in to a job, going through 3 major projects and upgrades that consume 90+ hours a week for a few years , and then be told you can take a layoff or move to a position that pays $50k a year less(you read that right ), since they were trimming IT staff and brining in overseas contractors.

I'm happy where I'm at, and we have some damn good drivers.
 
nophix said:
I can understand veteran drivers being upset at what they're losing. It sucks, it really does. But there are 2 things that irritates about the Vitran drivers and the comments being made.

1) don't blame Central for your loss. Central didn't run your company into the ground, guys like CK did. Things are the way they are at CT, so yes , you have the option to walk. CT bought the Vitran assets, it isn't their responsibility to change the entire business model to make a few guys the acquired happy.

2) you are NOT better drivers just because you work at Vitran. There are a lot of us veteran CT guys without tickets or accidents. And, judging by the looks of all the Vitran equipment I see up here, even if we did it's the pot calling the kettle black.

I know you guys are frustrated. I've been through mergers, layoffs, and the like. You want to take a hit? Try working in the IT industry. It's a lot of fun to spend a few years getting settled in to a job, going through 3 major projects and upgrades that consume 90+ hours a week for a few years , and then be told you can take a layoff or move to a position that pays $50k a year less(you read that right ), since they were trimming IT staff and brining in overseas contractors.

I'm happy where I'm at, and we have some damn good drivers.
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I agree with you for the most part but what you don't understand that at least in Dallas we are being treated like step children...All existing CT route drivers have seen very little change. They carry on with business as usual while we the step children get bounced around from route to route totally lost in most cases...We get all the BS....That's not fair. ..And to make matters worse are tractors don't have chargers in them for our handhelds causing them to die at the end of the day.....They have had plenty of time to put chargers in all of the tractors....Its totally bad management in my opinion at least in Dallas on this issue of chargers....I'm going to start a new thread shortly on the nightmare going on in Dallas.
 
runawaytrain said:
I agree with you for the most part but what you don't understand that at least in Dallas we are being treated like step children...All existing CT route drivers have seen very little change. They carry on with business as usual while we the step children get bounced around from route to route totally lost in most cases...We get all the BS....That's not fair. ..And to make matters worse are tractors don't have chargers in them for our handhelds causing them to die at the end of the day.....They have had plenty of time to put chargers in all of the tractors....Its totally bad management in my opinion at least in Dallas on this issue of chargers....I'm going to start a new thread shortly on the nightmare going on in Dallas.
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Oh, I'll be the first one to agree that the actual merging is a mess. I don't have an issue at all with people being mad at that, I'm one of them. What was getting to me was the attitude we were seeing of "I'm better than the CT guy because I drove for Vitran". It was turning into holier than thou, like they were too good for is. We're all in the mess together, and there has been a ton of irritating decisions.

Honestly, I'd be happy to have the Vitran drivers in the system so I can go back to my 10 and 11 hour days.
 
most of the negative c.t. stuff on this forum is concerning the company and not the drivers, sometimes it crossed the line and most likely not intended to be that way.
 
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