Averitt | Rant !!

It's interesting all the info I get on Averitt. I read on some boards, and hear from old friends, that Averitt is a pretty darn good place to be for a driver. However, I read posts on here about how bad it is. To add to it, my bf started with Averitt a few months ago and has had nothing but trouble. If it is not trucks breaking down it is sitting for days at time waiting for loads. I'm thinking it is the home terminals that make the difference, but I don't really know. Some drivers are doing well and others are not. Sometimes the drivers fault and other times not.

I will assume your BF started in truck load. If that's the case then he is considered a 3rd rate employee at Averitt. Think about it shuttle drivers like Iceman get paid hub miles for their runs that means he gets paid for EVERY mile he runs. Dock workers, mechanics, office workers get paid by the hour so they get paid for EVERY minute they work. Truck load drivers get paid SHORT miles which means truck load customers do not want to have to pay for EVERY mile that truck moves so Averitt accommodates them and makes the driver EAT the extra miles. As for sitting and waiting for loads they could care less it costs Averitt NOTHING for a driver to sit and wait for loads, sit for hours waiting to get unloaded why should they...
 
Yeah, he is in truck load. A typical week for him is to leave Tues and be back home Thurs. That includes spending a day in between waiting. Sad to say, he made more money with Swift.
 
Yeah, he is in truck load. A typical week for him is to leave Tues and be back home Thurs. That includes spending a day in between waiting. Sad to say, he made more money with Swift.
Sounds like he has a" CRAP" fleet mgr, I've been with Avrt for 8 years, with the same fleet mgr, there are "GOOD ONES" and then they have a lot of "CLUELESS" ones, Even with a so called "BAD ECONOMY" I pulled down around 48k this year. I've had a couple over 50 and earned every penny. Avrt is NOT easy to work for, you have to adapt to THEIR way of doing things. I was ready to quit every week I worked here the 1st year. Tell your boyfriend to hang in there and switch fleet mgr's if he has to. If there is a chance to move into a city or line haul job GO FOR IT. As far as his work week, I've been pulling 5-6 day, some times 7 day work weeks for the last year. If he has one of those piece of crap shop queens, he needs to demand a better one, if his fleet mgr won't do anything for him a simple call to D Broyles should do the trick.
 
Sounds like he has a" CRAP" fleet mgr, I've been with Avrt for 8 years, with the same fleet mgr, there are "GOOD ONES" and then they have a lot of "CLUELESS" ones, Even with a so called "BAD ECONOMY" I pulled down around 48k this year. I've had a couple over 50 and earned every penny. Avrt is NOT easy to work for, you have to adapt to THEIR way of doing things. I was ready to quit every week I worked here the 1st year. Tell your boyfriend to hang in there and switch fleet mgr's if he has to. If there is a chance to move into a city or line haul job GO FOR IT. As far as his work week, I've been pulling 5-6 day, some times 7 day work weeks for the last year. If he has one of those piece of crap shop queens, he needs to demand a better one, if his fleet mgr won't do anything for him a simple call to D Broyles should do the trick.

Thanks, I will tell him what you said. He thought about asking for another FM but didn't want to be labeled a whiner with the company and thought it might hurt him more than help. His FM started the same week my bf did. I have an old friend who also drives for Averitt and has told me of others doing really well there although fairly new, and I know he would not steer me wrong about something like that. For that reason, I suspected it may have been the FM.
 
"You know, there is bad blood and ZERO communication between Central Dispatch and Breakdown. Truly pathetic.

I broke down, called Central, told them of problem, they transferred me to Breakdown, told "Hug" (who the hell is named Hug or Hud or whatever). Evidently he was under pressure with numerous calls and he told me to put it in Macro 53 (or some macro...don't remember) and they would have someone call me back. I have NEVER been told to put a breakdown in that screen EVER before. If you want us to do this, TELL US DAMN IT! I entered and then waited on the side of a foggy highway. Called breakdown (I don't have nor do I want the back number) to ask if he had gotten to me and he semmed to feel that I am bothering him....irritating to say the least.

Repairs are done, I call Central to advise that I am up and running, take me off of breakdown, and I roll. Breakdown calls me 2 hours after I roll and ask if I have been fixed. Told him "Yes, 2 hours ago". With his attitude he states that I should have called him and told him. That would have involved sitting on hold for unspecified amount of time. With Averitt's top notch computer system (ROFLMAO....not hardly) you would think that a message would be triggered to NAS when a driver is taken out of breakdown mode. Maybe I am just over thinking this. All I want is to get Averitt's ragged junk rolling so I can get my night completed and get to the house and away from Averitt...especially since I am unpaid for 2 hours whilst I babysit this scrap metal called equipment.

I am glad that they give the eastern terminal drivers priority. Everyone from top to bottom treats us in the west as stepchildren. I, for one, am sick of it. A sense of urgency is a concept unknown to these people."
 
Well Road Dust sadly as a rule when someone is happy and content they are silent, but the minute they feel mistreated or disgruntled they Google and land here. But that's ok, that what this site is for to vent and praise whenever possible. Me personally working out of Knoxville, an award winning service center with a service center director, ops manager, shop manager and several other key leaders with 20 plus year service at this location. Myself, being a 23 year member went through all the newbie bottom scraping in the beginning and stuck it out and persevered and now am literally floating in a bowl of gravy without a care in the world. But that hasn't come easy, I have worked for everything I have, starting from scratch on the dock and working my way through the ranks to my goal of being a Shuttle Driver.

This is the difference between a top notch terminal management team and a crappy management team. In a past life, I worked in a top notch operation and it made ALL the difference in the world.

Unfortunately, in the situation I am in now, working out of the facility that I work in now, the moral is in the toilet. That is not my nature but the employees, all of them, in this facility reflect the management demeanor and that is of "I don't give a crap". Bare minimum effort is given with zero extra done. We have a fairly new facility that has been allowed to become rundown and unkempt with much cleaning, painting, preventive maintenance done that has been neglected. The powers that be (ineffective regional manager, white shirts from corporate, etc.) have visited and ZERO effort to clean the place up; unheard of in past years.

So CM works in a nice facility under management that has a clue, unlike my current situation. How this manager has avoided the axe along with the regional dufus speaks volumes about our upper management and the lack of a handle that they have on the field. I wish we had the kind of operation that is in KNX. However, I don't foresee that happening and I think a facility's people and operations get to a point, after a while, to the point that it cannot be fixed. I see that as the case at my barn, sad as that is.
 
Lifer, I've been to KNX and yours numerous times, there is NO comparison....KNX is better. I've dealt with breakdown, never had a issue...did my mac and a few minutes later we were talking on the phone... Sounds like over on your dispatch... things are getting F.....up
 
I blew a trailer tire on I-65 in Kentucky one evening right as I came to a rest area. I pulled in and put my break down mac in. Breakdown calls me and asks me to drive 26 miles up the road to a Truck Stop and have it repaired. I told him I was grossed out nearly 80,000 pounds and didn't think it was safe to try and make it 26 miles up the road. He gets in my face about it and I tell him I'm not moving an inch to get a repair truck out to me and replace the tire. He hangs up on me. I called him back we had some words and he sent out the truck. Now think about it this moron was trying to save Averitt the cost of a road repair to replace the tire at the risk of me driving down the road perhaps blowing another tire losing control and maybe killing someone.
 
I blew a trailer tire on I-65 in Kentucky one evening right as I came to a rest area. I pulled in and put my break down mac in. Breakdown calls me and asks me to drive 26 miles up the road to a Truck Stop and have it repaired. I told him I was grossed out nearly 80,000 pounds and didn't think it was safe to try and make it 26 miles up the road. He gets in my face about it and I tell him I'm not moving an inch to get a repair truck out to me and replace the tire. He hangs up on me. I called him back we had some words and he sent out the truck. Now think about it this moron was trying to save Averitt the cost of a road repair to replace the tire at the risk of me driving down the road perhaps blowing another tire losing control and maybe killing someone.

You did the right thing. You know how every %^$# time you call any phone in this pathetic organization you get the canned (Thank you for calling Averitt Express. Your call may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance or training purposes". Obviously nobody is checking the calls for quality assurance or this clown would have been long gone.
 
I blew a trailer tire on I-65 in Kentucky one evening right as I came to a rest area. I pulled in and put my break down mac in. Breakdown calls me and asks me to drive 26 miles up the road to a Truck Stop and have it repaired. I told him I was grossed out nearly 80,000 pounds and didn't think it was safe to try and make it 26 miles up the road. He gets in my face about it and I tell him I'm not moving an inch to get a repair truck out to me and replace the tire. He hangs up on me. I called him back we had some words and he sent out the truck. Now think about it this moron was trying to save Averitt the cost of a road repair to replace the tire at the risk of me driving down the road perhaps blowing another tire losing control and maybe killing someone.

I think management should have it pointed out that breakdown asked you to violate the new CSA rules, the one where you are held accountable for driving with a flat tire- in other words, breakdown pressured you to act illegally, asking you to break the law. What's the difference in asking you that and asking you to drive in violation of hours of service?
 
It's interesting all the info I get on Averitt. I read on some boards, and hear from old friends, that Averitt is a pretty darn good place to be for a driver. However, I read posts on here about how bad it is. To add to it, my bf started with Averitt a few months ago and has had nothing but trouble. If it is not trucks breaking down it is sitting for days at time waiting for loads. I'm thinking it is the home terminals that make the difference, but I don't really know. Some drivers are doing well and others are not. Sometimes the drivers fault and other times not.

As Iceman said, you will mostly hear the negative.... It's kind of like when you read new car reviews, you dont hear much positive, mostly the negative. I owe a lot of people at this company a lot, they provided an excellent living and went out of their way to help me, but pay close attention, some of the "people" went out of their way, so AE is like anywhere else, they have their good and bad sides. The money is there to be made, it's not going to be made easily. If he doesnt have a good fleet mgr he's out of luck, he needs to change fleet mgrs. During slow times, he has to give up home time because the miles are shorter and fewer and farther between, so maybe he needs to leave sunday, get home saturday or even stay out the weekend and not come home every once in a while. Each person is different on what they need and what sacrifices they are willing to make. If he is just going to sit and wait on the fleet mgr he's not going to do well. The old term applies.... who ever is screaming for the miles will get the $$, otherwise his fleet mgr will assume he is happy and content.
 
Pam R.....Knew nothing when she started and she still doesn't! :frown:
On a serious and all due respectful note, please explain your disappointment. I must say that I have not talked with anyone in Central in over a year, much less the upper management. Pam has always respectfully answered any questions I have ever had, not saying I liked her answer, but none the less I received an answer.
 
I haven't talked to her in years. I just see the result of her actions. She is one who has been there, like all the rest, for far too long and like so much stinking garbage, needs to be sent packing. If you don't like what she says in shangri la KNX, just think of what we have to deal with here in step-child land.

This also is a woman who I actually heard say "Well that's not far, Dallas and Houston are only 2 inches apart on a map". Seriously?

She along with the rest of the stale old bread in that department need to go.
 
Some of these shuttle driver can sure have an attitude problem. I deliver my LTL load to the svc turn in my bills and told to drop the trailer in door 35. So I back into dock 35 begin to unhook when a shuttle driver screeches to a stop in front of me and barks "HEY I'm suppose to drop my trailer there"...Now resisting the over powering urge to tell him to go **** yourself I say "Check up front" he gets on his walkie talkie phone to the front and says a driver is dropping a trailer in his door. He gets a response I didn't hear because I continued to drop my trailer and he stormed off...
 
I watched a poor ole TL driver struggle to back into 28 door this am, he had a couple hundred feet to line up but he honestly pulled up five times ! I tooted my horn when he finally straighten up to inform him he had barn doors, only to get a look of where he wanted me to spend eternity, oh well.
 
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