Owners....got a question!

jay shipley · Jan 2, 2008

Any owners out there ever have this experience? Prospective drivers call, or you contact them......then they talk to you, sometimes to the bitter LAST minute.....then they're silent, never to be heard from again? I have had to cancel orientation for two different teams, who said they wanted to drive our truck....then disappeared from the phone lines.....and possibly the planet! Wondered if this is some sort of pattern potential drivers follow or something because I'm new to this hiring drivers deal. My one truck has been sitting since August, and it's totally loaded up with all the perks, including Direct TV....wonderfully comfortable truck, but no drivers. Someone PLEASE tell me if this is what I have to look forward to? It's leased to Fedex Custom Critical....great company, but nobody wants to drive my truck. And, if they do...maybe the aliens took them away????

x06col · Jan 2, 2008

jcandme, Here is some friendly advice. Never, never own more trucks than you can, or, are willing to drive by yourself, at the same time.

TeamCaffee · Jan 2, 2008

I think part of the problem is T-Val trucks and also the refrigerated trucks and the income they produce. Is this truck the dry box truck that does or doesn't have a lift gate on it? No matter how nice your sleeper is and I have no doubt it is nice the income for a White Glove T-Val or Refrigerated truck to a driver has to be a huge incentive to move to one of those. Now why the heck you have had two sets of drivers do the same thing to you is really odd.

tallcal101 · Jan 2, 2008

jcandme85 said:
Any owners out there ever have this experience? Prospective drivers call, or you contact them......then they talk to you, sometimes to the bitter LAST minute.....then they're silent, never to be heard from again? I have had to cancel orientation for two different teams, who said they wanted to drive our truck....then disappeared from the phone lines.....and possibly the planet! Wondered if this is some sort of pattern potential drivers follow or something because I'm new to this hiring drivers deal. My one truck has been sitting since August, and it's totally loaded up with all the perks, including Direct TV....wonderfully comfortable truck, but no drivers. Someone PLEASE tell me if this is what I have to look forward to? It's leased to Fedex Custom Critical....great company, but nobody wants to drive my truck. And, if they do...maybe the aliens took them away????

Your life is forever changed.Welcome to the nether world of driver recruiting.If you truly bought more then one truck ,and they are not TVAL reefer trucks,I suggest you find a good chimp trainer and prove once and for all that primates can indeed mimick humans.Teaching them top log correctly and argue with dispatch maybe the biggest challenge.
Otherwise,you may wish to find a good junk yard that pays high $$ for scap metal by the ton.
I'll bet you think I'm kidding,think again.

davekc · Jan 2, 2008

Hard to say. It could be the type of truck, the carrier, or too many folks looking for teams with that carrier. A quick search of the EO classifieds show a lot of Fedex owners looking for drivers. As mentioned, there could be a variety of reasons for that.
Maybe drop a email to other fleet owners there and see what their experience has been of late. No drivers since August seems like a long time.

greg334 · Jan 2, 2008

Yes, you should expect this all the time. Finding drivers is hard to do and my number one mistake was not being home to interview them but on the road which made it impossible to deal with. A lot of these people expect to jump in the seat the day after they talk to you because the company approved them.

Because t-val was mentioned, I think it goes to another problem which is the internal competition with the WG owners for many small fleet owners who are looking for teams. WG fleet owners should put people in the trucks as non-WG drivers and let them work their way up to that status. It really looks bad for the company when you have people who never drove a truck in their life become the 'elite of the fleet' without proving themselves like others have had to.

Doggie Daddy · Jan 2, 2008

greg334 said:
Because t-val was mentioned, I think it goes to another problem which is the internal competition with the WG owners for many small fleet owners who are looking for teams. WG fleet owners should put people in the trucks as non-WG drivers and let them work their way up to that status. It really looks bad for the company when you have people who never drove a truck in their life become the 'elite of the fleet' without proving themselves like others have had to.

I agree with you 100% Greg,but as you well know that probably ain't gonna happen.WG fleet owners seem to have alot of pull with the Fed,and after putting up BIG bucks for a WG or TVAL equipped truck they are not going to be happy running it as a surface expedite just because they are not able to find qualified drivers.

Meanwhile,drivers who are qualified and have now moved up to there own trucks are denied entry because of limits put on the WG fleet.It really makes no sense.DD.

bluejaybee · Jan 2, 2008

Strange that after 7 posts, nobody has mentioned it might be the money offered for driving. After all, if you can't afford your own truck, then you turn to the highest paying owner. Course this is just my thoughts.

dieseldiva · Jan 2, 2008

bluejaybee said:
Strange that after 7 posts, nobody has mentioned it might be the money offered for driving. After all, if you can't afford your own truck, then you turn to the highest paying owner. Course this is just my thoughts.

Excellent point!! There are a lot of variables on the contracts out there that might sway a decision. I knew a team that drove for an owner with the "best of the best" equipment and one of the problems they had with him was that they bought the fuel but didn't get 100% of the FSC. Money talks, as we all know.

Mike99 · Jan 2, 2008

Because you have to deal with loosers....I'm sorry but a lot of drivers are loosers!!!! 30-40-50 years old drivers with 0 (zero) money in their pocket....In this industry who has a little brain drive his own truck.You can promise to a looser $100 per week or $1000 they still loosers.And they always have a story...bed owner, divorce, wrong company,bed luck, etc.You try to help him with money advance, with tv, dvd ETC. , and they just quit...or no show up.

davekc · Jan 2, 2008

Mike99 said:
Because you have to deal with loosers....I'm sorry but a lot of drivers are loosers!!!! 30-40-50 years old drivers with 0 (zero) money in their pocket....In this industry who has a little brain drive his own truck.You can promise to a looser $100 per week or $1000 they still loosers.And they always have a story...bed owner, divorce, wrong company,bed luck, etc.You try to help him with money advance, with tv, dvd ETC. , and they just quit...or no show up.

If that is your view of the people that have worked for you, it is likely one of the reasons they left. My experiences have been much different. You will find that if you don't hire the undesirable ones in the first place, you usually don't have too many issues.

x06col · Jan 3, 2008

"Shouldn't be too many issues"?? Just where and what line do you cross for TOO many???
Would be my question. At what threshold does your "fun meter" get pegged out?