Dakota
Veteran Expediter
I wonder, do they place free ads on here? I wish there was someway to warn teams about these owners. A rotten owner shouldn't be allowed free reign on EO just my opinion for what it's worth.
Fedex C.C.
- Thread starter alval650
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I wonder, do they place free ads on here? I wish there was someway to warn teams about these owners. A rotten owner shouldn't be allowed free reign on EO just my opinion for what it's worth.
I wonder, do they place free ads on here? I wish there was someway to warn teams about these owners. A rotten owner shouldn't be allowed free reign on EO just my opinion for what it's worth.
Totally agree [owners and drivers], but 'rotten' is subjective, and not everyone would agree on who qualifies. Plus, the potential for slandering someone in an attempt to preempt valid criticism is too high - it becomes a 'he said/she said' deal.
Best we can do is offer an opinion [preferably when asked to do so] via private msg. The reader can make his own inquiries, or decide it's not a legitimate warning, but it can't be done on the open forums - we've all seen too many one sided sob stories with a few [crucial] details left out.
Like the one who can't get his license back because of the terrible LEOs who lied - how long was it before he got around to mentioning the fatality he caused?
On topic: the advice given is excellent: don't trust the owner to pay what you're already owed, and CYA with lots of photos of the truck when you get out.
O - and please update us when it's all behind you - I'd like to hear how it all ended for you and the owner.
Monty
Expert Expediter
In my humble opinion ..... (we all have one, eh?)
If EO is wise .. they will, (like FEDCC), NOT get involved in issues between owners and their drivers.
Nor between company's in relationships with each other, except for when it directly affects EO and their community.
The fact the community interacts across all the boundaries from company to company is admireable, but that is not an offical EO function to blackball anyone, or anything.
Why ask management here to become involved in your petty squabbles, and perhaps alienate customers?
Ok, off my soapbox ... back to your regularly scheduled programming.
If EO is wise .. they will, (like FEDCC), NOT get involved in issues between owners and their drivers.
Nor between company's in relationships with each other, except for when it directly affects EO and their community.
The fact the community interacts across all the boundaries from company to company is admireable, but that is not an offical EO function to blackball anyone, or anything.
Why ask management here to become involved in your petty squabbles, and perhaps alienate customers?
Ok, off my soapbox ... back to your regularly scheduled programming.
Dakota
Veteran Expediter
I guess you have a good point, just like the Fed doesn't want to get involved in fleet owner/driver issues.
mcavoy33
Seasoned Expediter
You guys are over thinking this. It doesn't have to be any different than how we currently share info about carriers.
Someone makes a thread asking about Blair Expediting or whatever and people give their feedback.
Samething with Fleet owners, you simply ask about Acme fleet o/o LLC and people give feedback. It's no different than the bashing of LRT Expediting for low rates 2-3 days ago.
There is no difference imo, a company is a cocmpany and I'd actually be more afraid of a big company with staff lawyers as opposed to a tiny fleet owner who can't afford to get his truck home.
There is no need to involve EO, we are merely sharing our personal opinions about companies, not really any different than all of the other posts on the forum.
ChanceMaster
Expert Expediter
I had planned to stay off the Open Forum until Aug 1 but cases like this get my blood boiling.
Aval650, my EO mail box is filled to overflowing and inbound messages are rejected. Diane and I invite you to contact us by normal e-mail (follow the e-mail link on this page). If you wish, we will donate to OOIDA a membership in your name, thereby making you a member. You will only need to contact them to give them your particulars. We don't need your personal information, only your name so we can designate the membership.
I would dearly love to write an article about bad fleet owners but these stories always turn out the same. If the victim fights back, the fleet owners cave to pressure before public court documents go on record, so when someone like me wants to write a story that includes names, contract provisions, claims, counter-claims, etc., there are no solid facts to state; only he-said, she-said stuff that exposes a writer to lible charges or suits if published. Often, the driver caves too and the "settlement" worked out by the fleet owner includes a gag order that keeps the victim from saying anything more.
If I had affidavits (statements made under oath) and court findings in hand, I could write things up loud and clear without fear of retaliation from the fleet owner in question. There is no prohibition against telling the truth and having public-record, court documents in hand would provide all the power I would need to push back against any threat of a lible suit.
EO may not be willing to publish such a story, even if it was documented as described above, but I have other outlets and would proceed.
I hate to see bad fleet owners take advantage of drivers over and over again, but they do so again and again because drivers do not fight back to the point where the fleet owner can be exposed. That is often because they lack the skills, the means, the will or all three.
Newbies listen up! There are fleet owners out there who intend to screw you from the moment you answer their ad. They are smooth talkers and highly skilled in their craft. They will get you off to a good start to get the cash flow going and then spring the trap, sometimes waiting to do so until you are far from home and less able to fight back.
There are others who have good hearts but are terrible business people, and when their mistakes catch up with them, the financial pressures push them over the ethical edge and motivate them to put their interests ahead of the well-intended promises they once made to their drivers.
I have also seen it happen where money corrupts fleet owners who never saw it coming. One way or another, they find their way into the fleet owner business and, with good intentions, do the best they know how to do. But as the money starts to flow, it gets to them and changes them. Actually, they did not change a bit. It's just that they had never had so much money flow through their hands before and had never had such an opportunity to take an ethical stand and do the right thing. They fail the test and start keeping the money for themselves that legally and morally belongs to the drivers who earned it.
It is not a conscious decision but small temptations are given into and rationalized. Thus begins the downward slide.
Honest drivers sometimes fail to see these bad fleet owners coming because they do not recognize the behavior. It is so far away from how they would think to treat someone else that they get blindsided as the negative situation develops.
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MissKat
Expert Expediter
Thanks guys. I sent them a pm with my phone number because, as I posted earlier, these owners I am sure, are one in the same as our first owners. I have not heard back. I am sure they are panicked. Mrs. Owner claims she was a para-legal at one time in new York although her one page contract is rife with mispellings and wrong figures. She blames the mistakes on her computer. Once they have you in Amsterdam you are trapped because they leave you there with your truck they have given you with a list of items they didn't have time to fix and take off on their own. You've already spent your money to get there. After that its hell. Mrs. H calls you more than the fed sends 08's. Has every excuse why the toll pass says "low funds" at every gate, etc. But us drivers must protect their "four star status" at all costs. I am sure you remember my posts when this was occurring. They could not afford to repair the truck but could have a new mustang for Mrs. H under the Christmas tree. These folks are on Facebook and hopefully will now place another team wanted ad that reads like this "
Husband/wife team needed for FedEx custom critical white glove D unit. Never smoked in. Owner pays every Friday direct deposit. Must have DOD clearance. " they will also have to run one to fill their Tval unit since the poster stated they were recalling their "fleet." The ad will state Amsterdam ny or Balloon Spa ny. Thanks Phil for offering to pay their OOIDA membership. M
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Husband/wife team needed for FedEx custom critical white glove D unit. Never smoked in. Owner pays every Friday direct deposit. Must have DOD clearance. " they will also have to run one to fill their Tval unit since the poster stated they were recalling their "fleet." The ad will state Amsterdam ny or Balloon Spa ny. Thanks Phil for offering to pay their OOIDA membership. M
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MissKat
Expert Expediter
Oh ps. You as their new hires should expect, as you run XCountry as a Team, that you will be questioned why you chose a certain highway to run or fueled at a certain place because "Mr. H has never been on that road." Hmmm, you ask yourself, Isn't the shortest route between Seattle and Wall Street I90? Octopus Manager.
Posted with my Droid EO Forum App
Posted with my Droid EO Forum App
Dakota
Veteran Expediter
gotta love droids auto correct
On a more serious note hopefully the decription of their ad, etc will help someone else not fall prey to these owners.
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greg334
Veteran Expediter
I think here is a good point that makes yo an employee. when the owner questions your routing or anything that you do behind the wheel and wants you to drive a certain way, this can make you an employee.
jansiemoo
Seasoned Expediter
It has been noted to take lots of pictures when you turn in the truck, but that may not help if you didn't also document the condition when you picked UP the truck. Take lots of pics, shine a flashlight on stuff if you have to.
Am I right that you're paying for fuel?if there's no info in the contract regarding this situation, they can come get it. Driving for free is one thing, paying the fuel is a whole nother.
There was a lot of good advise given on this post. I hope you take up A-Team's offer, I offered the same thing to another couple in almost exactly the same boat as you. The guy was threatening to sue them for various charges, none of them valid. They drove for him for three years...but when trucks breakdown and the money is not there, he turned on them.
Good luck
Am I right that you're paying for fuel?if there's no info in the contract regarding this situation, they can come get it. Driving for free is one thing, paying the fuel is a whole nother.
There was a lot of good advise given on this post. I hope you take up A-Team's offer, I offered the same thing to another couple in almost exactly the same boat as you. The guy was threatening to sue them for various charges, none of them valid. They drove for him for three years...but when trucks breakdown and the money is not there, he turned on them.
Good luck
tenntrucker
Expert Expediter
Sounds like the people I drove for when I first got into expediting. I took a screwing, but it worked out. The company owner helped me get my own truck, I'm still with him, and the truck owners are not. A win/ win for me.
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