ABF | What do you like about ABF/ What do you hate abou ABF?

Muler

TB Veteran
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This should generate some great post. Let's hear what you like and don't like about working at ABF. YOUR CAN"T WAIT TO HEAR BROTHER ALWAYS!
 
6 posts and we are already off topic. I like the pay and benefits. I hate the dispatch procedure. Worst dispatch i have ever know. HOG board most horrible way to work.
 
I like the location of the air tank drain valve on the converter gears. It's easy to get at, unlike those that were on the units we inherited from Carolina Carriers.
 
I like. ABF is the best Trucking Company I have ever worked for. The relationship in Indy between Labor & Management is ok. My check is on time, & it is a rare occasion when it is not right. 1. When you are absent from work, some get paper, some don't. Not a level playing field on this subject. It is & can be a problem for ABF when you don't show up. But issue paperwork on a fair & consistent basis. 2. It is the little things that can & will change the attitude of an employee. Someone @ 050 last year called Maury Babs & told him of a constant & serious sanitation problem in our bathrooms. This is after 2 previous grievances were filed on it & God only knows what happened to that paperwork. Maury promised on Tuesday he would take care of it. He asked for a few days to solve the problem & we said yes. We even e-mailed him a complete Photo Album of the problem. By the following Monday nothing had happened. That day somebody called the Marion County Board of Health. The very next day the phone lines between 050 & Fort Smith started to melt. Our new terminal Manager was out of town & complained about the chain of command not being followed. The old Tm & the new one had been informed of this problem. The bathroom was cleaned & they now have a good cleaning crew that keeps it fairly clean. 3. It took 13 years to have the employees parking lot graded & good stone installed. 4. Lighting in the past for the yard was so bad @ one time somebody called OSHA, & they came out @ 4 in the morning with a light meter. Some lights, not all were fixed & we came in to compliance with OSHA. ABF just repaired the outer yard lights & you can see very well. Why did it take 14 years to take care of this problem? Our workmen’s comp cost I think had a 35% increase over last year. Does the lack of taking care of the little things have any effect on that increase? You know it does but how much? And @ what cost? In Indy, in the last 5 years, 2 LTL workers (not ABF) were killed when walking in the yard after being hit by a yard horse or a tractor. Both yards had poor lighting. Our job duties can be dangerous. I believe taking care of the little things can & do have positive effect on your attitude & how well you perform @ work.
 
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I like. ABF is the best Trucking Company I have ever worked for. The relationship in Indy between Labor & Management is ok. My check is on time, & it is a rare occasion when it is not right. 1. When you are absent from work, some get paper, some don't. Not a level playing field on this subject. It is & can be a problem for ABF when you don't show up. But issue paperwork on a fair & consistent basis. 2. It is the little things that can & will change the attitude of an employee. Someone @ 050 last year called Maury Babs & told him of a constant & serious sanitation problem in our bathrooms. This is after 2 previous grievances were filed on it & God only knows what happened to that paperwork. Maury promised on Tuesday he would take care of it. He asked for a few days to solve the problem & we said yes. We even e-mailed him a complete Photo Album of the problem. By the following Monday nothing had happened. That day somebody called the Marion County Board of Health. The very next day the phone lines between 050 & Fort Smith started to melt. Our new terminal Manager was out of town & complained about the chain of command not being followed. The old Tm & the new one had been informed of this problem. The bathroom was cleaned & they now have a good cleaning crew that keeps it fairly clean. 3. It took 13 years to have the employees parking lot graded & good stone installed. 4. Lighting in the past for the yard was so bad @ one time somebody called OSHA, & they came out @ 4 in the morning with a light meter. Some lights, not all were fixed & we came in to compliance with OSHA. ABF just repaired the outer yard lights & you can see very well. Why did it take 14 years to take care of this problem? Our workmen’s comp cost I think had a 35% increase over last year. Does the lack of taking care of the little things have any effect on that increase? You know it does but how much? And @ what cost? In Indy, in the last 5 years, 2 LTL workers (not ABF) were killed when walking in the yard after being hit by a yard horse or a tractor. Both yards had poor lighting. Our job duties can be dangerous. I believe taking care of the little things can & do have positive effect on your attitude & how well you perform @ work.
Well put. I hope any management that reads this post understands that when given the right tools to do the jobs most Teamsters will rise to the top. YOUR BROTHER ALWAYS!
 
I like the changes in the pintle hook plungers. The older ones used to get bound up if you left the jaws open on them when not in use.
 
I like. ABF is the best Trucking Company I have ever worked for. The relationship in Indy between Labor & Management is ok. My check is on time, & it is a rare occasion when it is not right. 1. When you are absent from work, some get paper, some don't. Not a level playing field on this subject. It is & can be a problem for ABF when you don't show up. But issue paperwork on a fair & consistent basis. 2. It is the little things that can & will change the attitude of an employee. Someone @ 050 last year called Maury Babs & told him of a constant & serious sanitation problem in our bathrooms. This is after 2 previous grievances were filed on it & God only knows what happened to that paperwork. Maury promised on Tuesday he would take care of it. He asked for a few days to solve the problem & we said yes. We even e-mailed him a complete Photo Album of the problem. By the following Monday nothing had happened. That day somebody called the Marion County Board of Health. The very next day the phone lines between 050 & Fort Smith started to melt. Our new terminal Manager was out of town & complained about the chain of command not being followed. The old Tm & the new one had been informed of this problem. The bathroom was cleaned & they now have a good cleaning crew that keeps it fairly clean. 3. It took 13 years to have the employees parking lot graded & good stone installed. 4. Lighting in the past for the yard was so bad @ one time somebody called OSHA, & they came out @ 4 in the morning with a light meter. Some lights, not all were fixed & we came in to compliance with OSHA. ABF just repaired the outer yard lights & you can see very well. Why did it take 14 years to take care of this problem? Our workmen’s comp cost I think had a 35% increase over last year. Does the lack of taking care of the little things have any effect on that increase? You know it does but how much? And @ what cost? In Indy, in the last 5 years, 2 LTL workers (not ABF) were killed when walking in the yard after being hit by a yard horse or a tractor. Both yards had poor lighting. Our job duties can be dangerous. I believe taking care of the little things can & do have positive effect on your attitude & how well you perform @ work.

Great post, Brother! Pretty comprehensive....we here in our terminal can relate to some of your problems. ABF can be a little tight when it comes to some of the "little things".....little to management, that is. By the way, I think you guys in Indy got our old TM. Or at least you had him for a while...heard he wasn't with ABF no more as of a year or so, ago. I like pretty much everything about ABF....EXCEPT when upper management tries to sell us a substandard agreement and enlists the IBT to help threaten us with Doom, Gloom and Disaster if we don't vote for it. (....Any IBT officers sneaking a quick peek here take note. Quite a few of us have long memories, and we'll be scrutinizing the contract negotiations closely. Be on our side this time and restore our faith in you.....)
 
I like the changes in the pintle hook plungers. The older ones used to get bound up if you left the jaws open on them when not in use.

I don't like those awful, ungainly, unwieldy, two-piece rusty, solid-boat-anchor iron ramps on our rusty old flatbed for hauling Relo-Cubes. Haven't you people in Equipment heard about aluminum? For crying out loud....I'm starting to look like Popeye the Sailor lifting these things up and down.....squint and all.....Man... I'm glad I'm too old to procreate, anymore.....these things sure would put a crimp (cramp?) in a young man's love-life. My voice gets higher and higher every time I go out for Relo-Cubes.....I'm waiting for something to pop and roll down my pant leg.
 
I don't like those awful, ungainly, unwieldy, two-piece rusty, solid-boat-anchor iron ramps on our rusty old flatbed for hauling Relo-Cubes. Haven't you people in Equipment heard about aluminum? For crying out loud....I'm starting to look like Popeye the Sailor lifting these things up and down.....squint and all.....Man... I'm glad I'm too old to procreate, anymore.....these things sure would put a crimp (cramp?) in a young man's love-life. My voice gets higher and higher every time I go out for Relo-Cubes.....I'm waiting for something to pop and roll down my pant leg.

That's funny right there, I don't care who you are, that's funny. I am sorry to hear that you have that to deal with when you go out with those cubes though. Yes some of those little things would make our lives much easier. But for every plus there is a minus to help diminish its glory. I expect that that old Eager Beaver your dragging around isn't 45' long with the axles mounted at the rear so you can take out signs, bushes, rocks etc. while you navigate your way around those neighborhoods. And BTW if it was my company I WOULD NOT place new rubber doughnuts in the right front outer position of the aforementioned 45 footer.
 
That's funny right there, I don't care who you are, that's funny. I am sorry to hear that you have that to deal with when you go out with those cubes though. Yes some of those little things would make our lives much easier. But for every plus there is a minus to help diminish its glory. I expect that that old Eager Beaver your dragging around isn't 45' long with the axles mounted at the rear so you can take out signs, bushes, rocks etc. while you navigate your way around those neighborhoods. And BTW if it was my company I WOULD NOT place new rubber doughnuts in the right front outer position of the aforementioned 45 footer.

Surely they're not putting new tires in the "scrub" position on a West Coast tandem setup with a towmoter hanging off the end? Surely not! Why, I would volunteer the worn out drive tires off my Mack to help them save money! Quick! Someone alert the Head of Maintenance!.....(..ummm,...do we have one?...)
 
That's funny right there, I don't care who you are, that's funny. I am sorry to hear that you have that to deal with when you go out with those cubes though. Yes some of those little things would make our lives much easier. But for every plus there is a minus to help diminish its glory. I expect that that old Eager Beaver your dragging around isn't 45' long with the axles mounted at the rear so you can take out signs, bushes, rocks etc. while you navigate your way around those neighborhoods. And BTW if it was my company I WOULD NOT place new rubber doughnuts in the right front outer position of the aforementioned 45 footer.

By doughnuts you mean "curb climbers"" right?
We just got one of those setups and its a big change getting around in the neighborhood. Especially since we don't have any vans at our terminal unless they come in as a full load and I haven't pulled one in about a year. Its terrible Canary Im tellin ya, just awful. The backup beeper is really loud and wakes up a whole neighborhood, the lift wont pick up a loaded cube unless you put down the outriggers and lift it up an pull it back over the tires which makes setting the cubes under trees somewhat problematic. And....ummm.... Ok I cant do it anymore, I was trying to make you feel better canary but I just cant go on. The Princeton lift setup is awesome. So you cant get down a street, just unload it and drive a block or two, you know you are not going to get the lift stuck. And if you have to pick up 3 loaded cubes and set one empty you can do it in one trip and in any order. And at the end of the day you back isnt hurting from lifting those ramps all day.
 
wow four man terminal gets drop deck and princeton and canaryinthemine gets none??? And I thought I was the unwanted stepchild.
 
I like how ABF promotes from within, those who rise to the top know what's going on because they have been through it. I don't like how they take our good sups away for promotions and stick us for decades with those who are not worthy. If you don't want them up in your company you can bet that we don't want them on a daily basis for decades.
 
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