Very long read:
I work as a long haul trucker … it is a smallish company, with one guy running everything, almost… admin, payroll, service… what he calls customer service and dispatch…
Yes he'll find a customer for us, but we need to contact the customer ourselves to get jobs…. most of the time, we are told to have out dispatch, him called back… so it is a waste of time for me to call.
Payroll…archaic. we were getting paid by paper cheque… which takes 5 days to clear in any bank… that has gotten better since he I asked to have him etransfer my pay. Pay days, well, he has an payroll outfit doing his payroll. He writes the cheques…. and late most of the time. They still submit T4 by paper… how hard is it to set up submitting them electronically?
But because this guy is cheap, running everything on his own, when he is stressed in one area, other areas need to suffer, including getting jobs from customers.
He doesn't understand how hours of service work as to keep me on the road to maximize my hours to make as much as I should be.
Our hours of service in a 24 hour period are:
We can drive 13 hours
Work 14 hours
Over a 6 hour period
Once our clock starts for the day, we have 16 hours to complete the 1314 rules
The biggest issues are tho… most truck drivers get paid for the miles wee drive. If we don't drive, we don't get paid. So we get to a customers place of delivery, we may have to wait around to get into a dock (I'mnot driving, equals not getting paid, then our trailer needs to be unleaded which normally takes 1.5 to 2 hours, not driving, not getting paid.
Now we there are other issues, the guy sends me on a 15 hour trip through this one client telling me he had a direct return trip. This is for a client the week before who f*cked up sp bad, it took me 5 days to do a 2 day trip. Problem with that is, I could have done another trip within those 3 days that were wasted on me. And end up missing my plans for my birthday. That was week one… week two for the return trip, they had me sitting for 19 hours because they didn't have the trip back home they told me they would. So ok, they get a trip back home. The pick up is 6 hours from its destination. I have an easy ride there and have to wait over night to get loaded … not paid… get to the customers place 1.5 early, takes them 2.5 hours to load me…. not paid … now, delivery is 4 hours away, 45 minutes from home… they tell me afterwards I have to wait over night (15) again before I can make this delivery… yea, not paid becauseim not driving …
I tell him I'm dropping the trailer in the yard and he can have someone deliver it in the morning…
His response is what infuriated me:
It doesn't make sense to send someone out there in the morning when it is on your way home, diesel is not cheap.
My response: but it makes sense that I wait here for 15 hours instead of being home on time down time.
Silence
Those 34 hours of waiting translated into driving time is about $1,500… that doesn't include waiting times to be loaded or unloaded.
Now I tell my boss DO NOT SEND ME OUT TO WORK FOR THAT JACKASS.
So I get a trip 12 hours away for an older client… OK so the boss tells me there is no trip confirmed coming back, but one will be by the time I get to where I'm going. Yup, there was a trip coming back… guess for who?! Fucker … and of course, there is a problem and I had to wait over night aaaaaagain.
The asshole knew before I left that client was the return trip and tricked me into working for him and things got fucked up … again
I must be the idiot to stick around so long. There have been many problems where trucks are in such bad repair that they kept breaking down on me in different cities and I'd have to wait 4 to 7 days to have them repaired. Yea he paid for my hotel… Whoopi.
But I miss out on making that money because I'm not driving…
I begged and begged and begged for him to change mechanics in our home town because I felt they weren't doing a proper job maintaining my vehicle. Well March 14 l of 2021 these guys did an alignment on my vehicle after putting brand new tires on. Three days later on March 17, while driving at 110kms an hour, my passenger side front tire blew out on me. I was able to keep the truck and trailer under control and get it off the highway. But all that metal and steel ignited a fire and I had only time to grab my wallet and one of my 4 phones before the entire truck burnt to the ground. I lost everything else … about $4,000 worth of belongings.
When I asked if insurance is going to cover my stuff, he doesn't have insurance to cover that type of loss, and offered no financial help I'm recovering any of my items.
So what I have been doing since on an inconspicuous way is for each trip, adding on 50kms per trip… which equals about $15 one way… $150 per pay
He doesn't ask for recipts, so anything that i buy, I add $5 – $10 on the cost.
He provides fluids for our trucks from his office. I use to stock my truck. The when I used one, I'd put it down as an expense
I'm writing this as i sit waiting to get unloaded, then reloaded … not getting paid… I'll not eve get paid for driving over here because once I start my clock, my day starts and sitting here for two hours will deduct from driving time to get home