This company is a joke... They're turnover rate must be unbelievable... I was supposed to start for them on a Wednesday, I got to the terminal at 11:00am with another new driver, we didn't leave the yard until 21:30.. They were supposed to be cleaning and getting them road ready... Yeah right... I finally started my load on Wednesday night it was a load less then 600 miles from Kentwood, MI to Laurel MD. I left Wednesday night after 21:30 and couldn't deliver the load until Monday morning... You do the math...
I got unloaded Monday morning and they told me to sit there until they got me another load... So here I sit at a secured building that I could not gain access to, to use the restroom or breakroom. No big deal right? We drivers have to deal with that quite a bit... Well, I finally talked my dispatcher into letting me drive the truck 2 miles to the T/A at exit 41A Jessop. Well you know as well as I that if you don't buy fuel, or purchase at least 20 dollars worth of product in the store, you have to pay a 12 dollar parking fee...
Well since I wouldn't see my first paycheck for 3 weeks, money was kinda short so I asked dispatch if they were going to pickup the 12 dollar parking charge since they couldn't find me a load... The answer was NO... I asked why I had to pay to park THEIR truck when THEY couldn't find me a load... Their answer?"That's our policy"... Now lets go back, I had 5 days to to drive less then 600 miles, why wasn't there a backhaul found within these five days? So here I sit, sun blairing into the windshield making the truck hot...
So I turn on the A/C... Lol... There is no A/C... in the process I'm loosing my voice and I don't know why, I feel fine but can't talk... Well I finally figured it out the next morning... You see I had to idle the truck for heat because it actually got cold thru the night... Well when I woke up, imagin my supprise when there was a smoky haze in the front cab of the truck... Yup, there was a really bad exahust leak... This is why I lost my voice. So I finally get another load the next day 24 hours and 6 minutes later...
Which means I don't get any layover pay, because the way they pay layover is to give you ten dollars an hour for up to 100 dollars, AFTER 24 HOURS OF SITTING... So I should have made $1.17 for the six minutes over 24 hours I sat... Well the back haul is from Middle River MD to Ann Arbor MI, I think the mileage they pay for was around 658... Now mind you, we are not to use the PA Pike or the OH Pike because they do not pay for them... So you have to go all the way across I-70 to I-68 to I-79 back up to I-70 then run thru the woods of OH, all the while knowing they've forced me to go this way because I don't have the money to pay for the Pike out of my pocket, and they won't pay for the additional miles for not using the Pike...
Well, I deliver to Ann Arbor, MI Wednesday morning... Sit all day and finally get a load From around Romulus, MI back to Kentwood, MI... I delivered in Kentwood, Thursday morning and deadheaded to the Terminal in Walker, MI... I wrote the truck up for the exhaust leak and no A/C... I sat with the truck all day Thursday waiting for them to fix it... I finally borrowed money from a family member to get a motel room for Friday because the truck still wasn't fixed... Guess what... It wasn't fixed Saturday either... So here I sit with a truck that I've run 1400 miles in 9 days... The shop was too busy working on the trucks of drivers that were home for the weekend instead of fixing the truck of a driver that was trying to get back on the road to make some money...
Well enough was enough... Saturday afternoon I packed my stuff up in the truck, transferred it to my car and quit... All I wanted to do was run and make some money... But I shouldn't have to beg for a load or to get my truck fixed... If you are thinking about going to Equity, please think it thru... I know it's tuff in Michigan right now, but you will make way more money on unemployment then you will with them... After 11 days with them I actually spent more money on the road sitting then I did running miles... Again, re-think driving for this company...
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