New Company Policy. Does It Cross The Line?

So how does the wife feel about you going back to Prime?

Rick

I was gonna say that.

Not a chance.

I am making more money as local without dealing with shippers & receivers on a daily basis plus never, ever being home. By far the worst thing I could do is go back to Prime. I didn't bust my butt for 5 years to take steps back.

It was in jest.

You gonna give me a call or what? I wanna practice my Russian.

Keep in mind, Cali is changing the rules for speeding tickets, to a "sliding scale".

People who "earn less", will pay less for tix. People who earn more (and this means COMPANIES) will PAY MORE.

They might be getting "pro-active" in really monitoring speeds, because they could get hit really hard in fines.

Florida doesn't even write for less than 5MPH over.

Rick

My company WILL fire a driver for a 4+ mph over speeding ticket, even if they like you. It doesn't matter if you've been there 10 months or 10+ years. They're quite upfront about their policy and you can choose to work for them, or not. If they like you, they will allow you to come back after 1 year.

Strict, yup. But everyone knows this from day one.

BTW, I'd love to see a truck driving 65 in a 50 or 55 in Indy and not get a ticket. The area that's a 50 mph limit is fairly new.. and it's not a construction zone. Most everything else there is a 55. The cars will be whizzing by and rarely get stopped, but trucks?? Oh yeah, I see several pulled over every single time I drive through.

And here I've been wondering if you guys were actually governed at 54, or if it was just some kind of Big Brother "the speed limit is speeding in our opinion" nonsense. Thanks for answering the question I never got around to asking.

To answer your question, I'm gonna agree with Ernie. I'm a grown-ass adult, I don't need or want someone babysitting me from behind a desk, holding my hand, and chastising me--or worse, threatening me--if I do just happen to disobey a BS draconian arbitrary number that makes me an obstacle to be jumped past or an adversary to be conquered by the rest of the motoring public. Do I drive unsafely? Absolutely not. I don't jump back and forth from lane to lane in traffic trying to get one millimeter further down the road than the next guy, I dont exceed 5 over, nor do I go like a bat out of hell through work zones or on surface streets. But you will never convince me that this 55 mph truck speed has anything to do with safety and isn't just a blatant revenue scam. Not with the speed limit for everyone else being 15 mph faster.

Oh I completely agree.. it's a revenue scam for sure. Despite the rule, I love driving for my company so I accept the rule.

Despite the rule, I love driving for my company so I accept the rule.

Daniel, Sue summed this discussion up very wisely and succinctly with that statement. You could jump ship for greener grass and find you didn't recognize how good you had it.

Despite the rule, I love driving for my company so I accept the rule.

Daniel, Sue summed this discussion up very wisely and succinctly with that statement. You could jump ship for greener grass and find you didn't recognize how good you had it.

Not talking about jumping ship or how awful my company is.

Strictly for debate purposes to see what everyone thinks of this. Good discussion so far..

I was going to say a lot of what Sue already said. While I don't know what my company's policy is on speeding tickets, I'm sure they probably take a dim view of them, since they're fairly conservative about the way they want us to operate in other aspects. I don't think they fire people for a first speeding ticket, though, since I saw a list of violations hanging on a bulletin board at another terminal and it included a few speeding tickets.

As an admitted former chronic speeder and road rager (back in the 80s and 90s), I have a different view about speed limits now.

First, there is no reason at all I can't drive at or below the speed limit all the time, and especially in a big truck. Do I sometimes find myself a few miles an hour over the speed limit? Yes, but rarely.

An exception is that I usually drive 57 or 58 on the freeway in California, because that is the speed every other big truck is going so I'm "going with the flow."

Second, if my company makes a policy, I really, really try to stick to it, even if those around me don't. If I hate it so much that I can't work there, I'll look for another job.

I don't do passive-agressive stuff with that. It's too tiring and not worth it in the long run. I quit being a manager partly so I don't have to make or enforce policies any more. The least I can do for my managers is follow their policies the best I can, but that's because I've felt that pain they have from people who fight everything.

I've never quit a job over policy, but I have quit over being micromanaged for too long. I honestly don't know if I would feel micromanaged in this situation. I guess it would depend on how often they sent me notices and whether there were any additional consequences besides the notices.

I worked in safety and training for years. All the employees were paid by the hour. I had zero problems asking them to obey the law. I don't think it's micromanaging to ask an employee to follow the law or company policy. I would consider micromanaging as always changing policy for no reason, or always telling them how to do their job. So no I don't see it as micromanaging maybe a little harsh at 55.5 mph because my Speedo is not that accurate. And dangerous because now drivers will be looking inside more than outside.

I was thinking about this thread when I noticed the QC and the speed limits were different. The QC stated it was a 55mph road but the sign limit was 65. Big difference. Now I'm wondering if they terminate or would give you a chance to prove the speed limit