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SAIA | Company mandated use of drivers personal (unauthorized) cell phones

C

curious trucker

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This may seem like a minor point, and some may think too trivial an issue for a company that ultimately gives me a good job -
but, every day I get two-three-four bills that require me to call the consignee with an ETA, delivery instructions etc., now Saia
tells us that the reason they don't provide cell service on our NEXTELs is because drivers were making private/personal calls on the company dime. In other words, THEFT. But flip the coin, isn't mandating the use of MY phone for company calls stealing from me?
Also, once saia customers get your number, they seem to get it into their heads that you are the company contact for their freight issues. I have received calls, ON MY VACATION DAYS, from customers looking for deliveries/pickup times. Frankly, I have no desire for this kind of customer interaction.
You might think that the answer is just to use the Nextel radio to have dispatch place the required calls, however, nextel works in only about 40-50 percent of the area I cover.
It is true that i rarely go over my monthly allotment, but i am reminded by my family sharing my minutes, that if we do, Saia sure as hell isn't going to reimburse their share of the calls.

Anyway, does anyone else have thoughts on this topic? Is it just MY cost of employment, or what?
 
I do not work for Saia but I can tell you how I handled the same situation . First go through your phones menu and block your number . That way when you call a customer it shows "PRIVATE " . Second since you are using your phone as a work tool you can deduct your phone bill on your taxes . Hope the two suggestions help .
 
Make good use of the caller ID feature as well as the above tips. Also explain to your regular customers that you aren't authorized to do tracing, etc. A lot of what you are experiencing can be changed by training your customers. Additionally, get plenty of the sales reps business cards. Pass them out to the customers who seem to repeat this behavior. The sales reps should be the first or second contact about customer service issues. Remember, repetition will retrain the customer. Saia doesn't want the employees using company equipment for personal use, so don't let the company use your cellphone for company use. If you choose to itemize the expenses of your cellphone use for company business on your taxes you will need to keep good records separating the personal use from the business use.
 
I don’t know if you'll haul a lot of Hazmat but I have written off my full basic cell phone bill ever since they started the rule that you had to have a two way communication device on you to haul it . My tax lady a couple of years ago checked with the IRS ( she's very honest ) and they said as long as the DOT say's you have to carry a two way communication device to haul hazmat and the company "phone" did not allow you to " call out " you can write off the bill . Check with your tax person and explain how much you use your private phone for work and see what they say . Hope this helps you . :thumbsup:
 
[quote author=R-14Driver link=topic=79737.msg826167#msg826167 date=1272735205]
I do not work for Saia but I can tell you how I handled the same situation . First go through your phones menu and block your number . That way when you call a customer it shows "PRIVATE " . Second since you are using your phone as a work tool you can deduct your phone bill on your taxes . Hope the two suggestions help .
[/quote]

If they don't allow personal calls on the company "phone", then I would not let company calls be made on my personal phone. Call dispatch BEFORE you run out of range or stop and use a pay phone to call dispatch and let THEM make the calls. THEY should be responsible for these calls. You are the driver and they are dispatch. They don't drive so you should not dispatch.
 
Most of the drivers I talked to said they were going to just not bring there phones to work as it seems if you have an accident they want to blame the cell phone. If you do not have your cell with you, there is no doubt it was not a cell phone issue. I guess there going to have to give all road drivers a two way communication device in order to keep hauling haz-mat. Also you can't talk on C.B. radio anymore. You can listen but you can't talk.LOL Central dispatch is really going to be screwed, calling drivers to correct there mistakes all time will come to a halt!!! Team drivers will really be in trouble, If you're riding with someone you have a tendancy to look at that person once and a while. Heaven forbid that!!! Found out there is zero tolerance, You get caught with headset on, Automatic termination!!! There worried to death about this , but according to Company C.D. accident %'s are down. Guess there more worried about us talking on cells out here than they are at operating at 1.01 than getting down to a .95 (thats when you'll gey your 5% back, go back and see when they last operated at a 95%).
 
You can take your personal phone and use it for company business when your stopped. That way you pay the bill and they get the free usage. Stop 10 min. and take a break and talk to your wife. They'll want to know what the problem is. Why were you late? Some of these run times are to tight anyway!!!
 
It could get quite interesting if we didn't use our cell phones at meet points. I suppose Central would require us to stop at the "nearest payphone." I can't remember the last time I saw or used a pay phone. May have even been in another life :clap:
 
Yea Jacknife you'r right. But that more or less means you can use it for the company when you have a problem, but when do you have time to use it for yourself if the wheels are always rollin!!! Those phones have helped out a whole lot more than they realize when drivers have had problems and another driver could help them out. Bottomline is You can use it for company business but other than that you don't have time to use YOUR phone. It also helps drivers stay awake when they get tired and passes the time. I understand we can't do anything about it, but its just frustrating to me that I can have my phone and use my phone but just for work and that is what there really saying.
 
[quote author=speckledtrout link=topic=79737.msg829500#msg829500 date=1273773264]
Yea Jacknife you'r right. But that more or less means you can use it for the company when you have a problem, but when do you have time to use it for yourself if the wheels are always rollin!!! Those phones have helped out a whole lot more than they realize when drivers have had problems and another driver could help them out. Bottomline is You can use it for company business but other than that you don't have time to use YOUR phone. It also helps drivers stay awake when they get tired and passes the time. I understand we can't do anything about it, but its just frustrating to me that I can have my phone and use my phone but just for work and that is what there really saying.
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The key word here is (unauthorized) .If it is not their's, it's unauthorized. Don't call 'em or answer to 'em. They WILL get the message sooner or later.
 
I don't work for SAIA. But our carrier uses a handheld comp. with a cell phone in it. They made us sign a waiver stating we would not use it for personal calls. We are allowed to call dispatch and customers. I'm not sure how they monitor the usage but the system seems to work good. I use my personal cell from time to time to call residential stops, only because its more convienient though, not because I have too. I guess if I were forced to I would also be upset.
 
[quote author=Flatfoot link=topic=79737.msg830064#msg830064 date=1273950257]
I don't work for SAIA. But our carrier uses a handheld comp. with a cell phone in it. They made us sign a waiver stating we would not use it for personal calls. We are allowed to call dispatch and customers. I'm not sure how they monitor the usage but the system seems to work good. I use my personal cell from time to time to call residential stops, only because its more convienient though, not because I have too. I guess if I were forced to I would also be upset.
[/quote]

the problem is we are not allowed to use our phones, cb's or company phone. no two way communications
 
It's them that is suppose to furnish two-way comm. I asked about it and they never responded. They don't want to deal with that part. They want you to have a cell to cover there behind!!!!
 
[quote author=speckledtrout link=topic=79737.msg830200#msg830200 date=1273982444]
It's them that is suppose to furnish two-way comm. I asked about it and they never responded. They don't want to deal with that part. They want you to have a cell to cover there behind!!!!
[/quote]

Set your ringtones to all saia phone numbers in your contact list to silent and don't answer to any unknown number. if anyone asks if you have a cell phone say no. flatly refuse to call dispatch on your phone for anything.
 
Get a googlevoice number and set it up as one of your favorites. This way you can call your googlevoice number and use that caller id instead of your cell phones. Another great feature is a temporary call forwarding number. Put in your companies number and when they call you back on this number your companies number will ring as well. Let your dispatcher and customer service talk to the customer when they call you. With this solution you aren't using up any peak minutes and have more calling options than you could ever imagine. I had to get a different cell number because when I first started delivering freight I to would get calls for this and that.
 
I would imagine as bad as they keep equitment that company would encourage a phone, they would at least know where to send wreckers. :banana:
 
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