SAIA | Why the massive turnover will continue.

You wouldn’t know how many actually do something because you don’t work here. A very high percentage have left. Most just don’t come on here and speak about it and many don’t even work here. As for me I’m just simply week to week. I can retire anytime. At this point I’m just adding eggs to my basket and contemplating my next business adventure. It most certainly won’t be in trucking.
I started an aerial video company and I love it! beats the heck out of the truck!
 
Black steel toe flip flops per company dress code!

I always enjoyed when the TM, RM, Safety, or some other "Manager" would come out on the dock wearing dress shoes. Nice standard and policy there. And don't get me started on the tobacco policy...sheesh
 
It’s a little frustrating because I can’t upload the pictures I had taken of the new trucks. The administration seems to be making adjustments to the site. Perhaps all these uploads cost the owner more money to maintain this site. Not sure what’s happening. Most the uploads don’t come from the LTL side. Any changes should be made in the other forums IMO. This is just speculation on my part.
When you open your camera, before taking the picture to be uploaded here, you must go into the camera setting and lower the quality of the picture, usually just one notch from the highest resolution will work.
 
Saia says there technology will constantly change, and looking forword to have drivers followed by DRONES. The Military hires a company, and pays these KIDS Millions of dollars to the right ones. These kids sit in a basement and Fly DRONES overseas.
 
yes it is amazing the amount of hypocrisy that goes on at this company nearly ran over by salesman on the phone driving out of the parking lot, company equipment, do they have cameras, automatic braking?
 
Saia says there technology will constantly change, and looking forword to have drivers followed by DRONES. The Military hires a company, and pays these KIDS Millions of dollars to the right ones. These kids sit in a basement and Fly DRONES overseas.
I am retired SAIA driver, I am now certified by the FAA part 107and have 4 drones
and I will follow these trucks as soon as CEO pays me! lol actually very serious could be a new career opportunity for me!
 
If you guys hate the company so much why do you stay I don’t get it everybody on this board bitches about there job but does nothing about it

Its human nature, kinda like the weather or traffic issues, other people, your more than likely going complain about something. Its a easy thing to do. The vast majority of driving jobs are all the same way across the scale, some weight better than others, but hassle factor might be greater at something else. Pretty much pick your poison. I've seen guys come in that have many years with company working gravy, but are so stick of the red tape/politics/policy after policy that just spins their head.

I would guess a lot of drivers might not change because their stuck. Who wants to start over after yrs with their current company, and now your bottom guy. Most companies aren't going to match pay for experience. Companies want those new drivers for their honeymoon, so they don't realize exactly what their getting into and get the hooks in them.

just my two cents.
 
Some drivers have a completely different view of the cameras. Some guys just adapt and become a better driver. It’s the perception of the cameras that bother many. There really not that bad. It’s just a personal choice. I admit I’ve been up and down about them but the company is starting to use them in a more positive way so I am now back on board with them.

Completely stop, rotate your head and count to 8 than continue while maintaining both hands on steering wheel at all times.
 
Drivers continue to quit daily quicker than they leave C
Garland had a man ( won’t mention his name) down from ACO to sit in our quarterly meeting. After the meeting he ask if we had any questions and it was just crickets. Morale is at an all time low with drivers afraid to speak because of the fear of retaliation. Finally one driver spoke up and addressed the camera issue. Bluetooth was the hot topic and specifically why the company bans them when every other major LTL company allows them. Hell, the DOT ALLOWS THEM. Just a song and dance is all we received. No need to be specific about his response. This company has the right to run it however it sees fit but they will continue to have turnover because of this Bluetooth policy. I can’t see them reversing it because of the fear of litigation. Funny how Old Dominion and the rest doesn’t fear that. Even XPO’s heavy handed approach allows Bluetooths. This hardline approach to the Bluetooth policy is wrong IMO. It severely hurts productivity because drivers just pull over and set the brakes and chat away and forget about time when they actually would just take the call and keep moving if allowed that opportunity. Thus, more bring backs and an overall negative impact on productivity. This policy has created APATHY and that my friends has destroyed morale. And that is no way to grow a business. They will start to struggle in the N.E. unless they reverse this hardline approach on the Bluetooth issue IMO. Being heavy handed sometimes isn’t the best way to receive positive results and the Bluetooth ban is a prime example. I can’t stress enough how APATHY is hurting this company. When you start destroying driver morale you are undermining anything positive you are trying to create.
 
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Garland had a man ( won’t mention his name) down from ACO to sit in our quarterly meeting. After the meeting he ask if we had any questions and it was just crickets. Morale is at an all time low with drivers afraid to speak because of the fear of retaliation. Finally one driver spoke up and addressed the camera issue. Bluetooth was the hot topic and specifically why the company bans them when every other major LTL company allows them. Hell, the DOT ALLOWS THEM. Just a song and dance is all we received. No need to be specific about his response. This company has the right to run it however it sees fit but they will continue to have turnover because of this Bluetooth policy. I can’t see them reversing it because of the fear of litigation. Funny how Old Dominion and the rest doesn’t fear that. This hardline approach to the Bluetooth policy is wrong IMO. It severely hurts productivity because drivers just pull over and set the brakes and chat away and forget about time when they actually would just take the call and keep moving if allowed that opportunity. Thus, more bring backs and an overall negative impact on productivity. This policy has created APATHY and that my friends has destroyed morale. And that is no way to grow a business. They will start to struggle in the N.E. unless they reverse this hardline approach on the Bluetooth issue IMO. Being heavy handed sometimes isn’t the best way to receive positive results and the Bluetooth ban is a prime example. I can’t stress enough how APATHY is hurting this company. When you start destroying driver morale you are undermining anything positive you are trying to create.
It's a damn shame ,they are losing good drivers, some with 1,2,and 3 million miles in a red and yellow truck but you have have a damn camera and a person that has never drove a truck telling them how to drive. ..what a joke
 
It's a damn shame ,they are losing good drivers, some with 1,2,and 3 million miles in a red and yellow truck but you have have a damn camera and a person that has never drove a truck telling them how to drive. ..what a joke

It's amazing, isn't it? To be a driver in this country, you have to pass rigorous testing, background checks, physical, etc...and then you are granted the credentials to operate these vehicles. That testing process and those credentials is what sets "us" apart from "them". So what qualifications does someone sitting behind a desk, who lacks those credentials, have that would make any driver actually listen? Saia has bosses who are (for the most part) qualified to make business and operational decisions that would point the company in the right direction, and they have the credentials to back up those decisions. But to have an unqualified, unvetted person tell a professional driver what he/she should be doing? I find that the very height of ignorance, disgrace, and overall lack of vision.
 
But to have an unqualified, unvetted person tell a professional driver what he/she should be doing? I find that the very height of ignorance, disgrace, and overall lack of vision.
When the DOT says Bluetooths are OK and every other LTL trucking company allows them it just tells me that the head of safety could care less about the drivers. This company once stood apart in the LTL world of trucking and drivers loved coming to work. Now it’s just a job. That’s what being micromanaged does.
 
When the DOT says Bluetooths are OK and every other LTL trucking company allows them it just tells me that the head of safety could care less about the drivers. This company once stood apart in the LTL world of trucking and drivers loved coming to work. Now it’s just a job. That’s what being micromanaged does.
Train that's happening everywhere. Micromanaged or not these companies could care less about us these days. It started getting bad around 2005 my friends and I figured and the great recession only made it worse. I remember having a company Christmas dinner at a nice restaurant for us and spouse. A summer barbecue for the entire family. Quarterly steak dinners if we met goals for safety. Now you get a fake nod about we have great drivers. This wasn't at Saia but SEFL. Things are even worse since I've moved back up north to take care of elderly family.
 
I know when I was with Saia, I always looked forward to truck driver appreciation week. The “once a year” we will thank the lifeblood of the company. As time went on, I saw managers putting on fake smiles and forcing themselves to say “thanks”. The last one in particular was enough of the wondering about the writing on the wall in the past to...it’s right here in flesh and blood that we are all expendable, just a number, and your replacement is a phone call away. That’s when it dawned on me that this is the culture that Saia created, and will nurture. Trucking is so competitive, so why treat people like garbage? “Saia cares”??? Really?
 
The last one in particular was enough of the wondering about the writing on the wall in the past to...it’s right here in flesh and blood that we are all expendable, just a number, and your replacement is a phone call away. That’s when it dawned on me that this is the culture that Saia created, and will nurture. Trucking is so competitive, so why treat people like garbage? “Saia cares”??? Really
I’m not sure about all that Buck but I will say things have gotten a lot worse since the cameras. Something has got lost somewhere here in our culture and I’m not sure we can ever get it back with the way they have weaponized these cameras.
 
Train that's happening everywhere. Micromanaged or not these companies could care less about us these days. It started getting bad around 2005 my friends and I figured and the great recession only made it worse. I remember having a company Christmas dinner at a nice restaurant for us and spouse. A summer barbecue for the entire family. Quarterly steak dinners if we met goals for safety. Now you get a fake nod about we have great drivers. This wasn't at Saia but SEFL. Things are even worse since I've moved back up north to take care of elderly family.
We are definitely a dysfunctional family these days in LTL!!
 
Garland had a man ( won’t mention his name) down from ACO to sit in our quarterly meeting. After the meeting he ask if we had any questions and it was just crickets. Morale is at an all time low with drivers afraid to speak because of the fear of retaliation. Finally one driver spoke up and addressed the camera issue. Bluetooth was the hot topic and specifically why the company bans them when every other major LTL company allows them. Hell, the DOT ALLOWS THEM. Just a song and dance is all we received. No need to be specific about his response. This company has the right to run it however it sees fit but they will continue to have turnover because of this Bluetooth policy. I can’t see them reversing it because of the fear of litigation. Funny how Old Dominion and the rest doesn’t fear that. Even XPO’s heavy handed approach allows Bluetooths. This hardline approach to the Bluetooth policy is wrong IMO. It severely hurts productivity because drivers just pull over and set the brakes and chat away and forget about time when they actually would just take the call and keep moving if allowed that opportunity. Thus, more bring backs and an overall negative impact on productivity. This policy has created APATHY and that my friends has destroyed morale. And that is no way to grow a business. They will start to struggle in the N.E. unless they reverse this hardline approach on the Bluetooth issue IMO. Being heavy handed sometimes isn’t the best way to receive positive results and the Bluetooth ban is a prime example. I can’t stress enough how APATHY is hurting this company. When you start destroying driver morale you are undermining anything positive you are trying to create.
Rat at the Terminal I personally work out of (satellite terminal) everybody does their job and nothing else, because of cameras....Management cannot understand why nobody will volunteer to do extra runs....been trying to hire a P & D driver / Linehaul driver since the January only 1 applicant ( unqualified ) per TM.
 
Rat at the Terminal I personally work out of (satellite terminal) everybody does their job and nothing else, because of cameras....Management cannot understand why nobody will volunteer to do extra runs....been trying to hire a P & D driver / Linehaul driver since the January only 1 applicant ( unqualified ) per TM.
I can’t even count the guys that have left at Dallas and Garland because of the cameras. Seasoned professionals that just walked away. And when you’re top pay is $27.22hr. city and 66cpm in the line in Texas and you still struggle to find drivers you know you have serious issues. We have great numbers but not Old Dominion numbers and they will never achieve those numbers until they learn to not run drivers off with a heavy handed approach with the cameras. Conway (XPO) had massive turnover when they first rolled out DriveCam so you would think that SAIA would learn from their mistakes. NOPE!!! Some just have to learn the hard way I suppose. Sadly, it’s unnecessary, but it is what it is. BTW 80% of the drivers that left went straight to Old Dominion. It’s easy to see why they are the most profitable LTL trucking company in business today. No one even comes close to their operation ratio. XPO is the closest with 87.8 :6788:
 
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