You are the one complaining about short runs. I was pointing out how younger people see it more profitable to go to the competition to run short runs. Why? Because they will be paid more for time spent. I brought up the long runs because when one is on a long run, one does not care as much about all the little things that add up. On a longer run you are paid for most of ones time. I responded to a question asked on trucking boards, gave a honest answer. Estes knows all this. They don't pay more to keep drivers. It is a fact.
When companies pay more, they expect more. Notice how Estes doesn't expect much. They are aware of where they stand with the competition when it comes to pay. Just driving down the interstate you can see the competitions yards. Lights are bright, roomy, equipment not destroyed. Now compare that to Estes yards, not even close. You smash a trailer at Estes you just added to the art work. No room to get around, dark and pot holes galore. Should I mention the stinking filthy bathrooms. Don't worry cause the dispatcher behind the window is a class act who will treat you with dignity and respect. LOL
Third rate indeed but cream of the third rate. Keep it up. There is more where this came from.
I love how you turned it around on me. Never once did I complain about short runs. You said estes keeps drivers on short runs to keep costs down. Your words. Not mine. So dont turn this around on me.
Allow me.to explain to you the way Estes runs things. They dont carry much if any debt. At all. We can go down through history and name dozens, if not hundreds of trucking companies brought down by excessive debt. Yes, to do this estes typically doesn't have the nicest big and shiny terminals on the block. I'll give you that. Do they have a lot of older trailers and dollys? Yes
But I rarely, if ever have equipment problems with trailers or dollys. I had one airline blow out on a dolly and a few blown tires. Now that's par for the course, you are going to have those issues at any company. Unavoidable.
The tractors I have run for linehaul have been just fine. They tend to keep us in newish tractors. Cant speak for city guys. They do tend to have to run older stuff, but again, this is no different than any other LTL carrier.
In summation, to keep debt low to nonexistent, they to have to stretch on somethings like facilities and equipment(mostly trailers). As long as my tractor runs fine, is legal, and everything will pass a DOT, im.good..What difference does it make if the trailer I pull is shiny or not?
As long as.my check.clears every week im good. I've made more.money here for less hassle than anywhere else I ever worked. I ran for saia before I came here. They have shiny terminals and a brand new fleet. Guess what? They are also A-holes, will.crawl up your butt about everything, you'll sit at home when it's slow, and they dont pay any better than estes.
Estes ain't perfect, I'm not trying to convince you or anyone else that it is, but I'm strongly making a case that your third rate argument is BS. There arent many LTL carriers I'd rate high up that id rather work for. But there are a long list of them I'd never work for.
